An article examined the role of women, and particularly of mothers, in campaigns against miscarriages of justice.
Source: Sarah Charman and Stephen Savage, 'Mothers for justice? Gender and campaigns against miscarriages of justice', British Journal of Criminology, Volume 49 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Nov
A think-tank report said that most women did not aspire to the kind of lives that their 'supposed champions' wanted for them. Rather than being committed to a career, the overwhelming majority of women would prefer to realize themselves instead in their other roles as carers, partners, community members, and above all mothers. Society as a whole was undermined by the attempt to impose 'masculine aspirations' on everyone. The government should stop funding institutionalized childcare, allowing women instead to choose how to bring up their children; change the tax and benefit systems to stop privileging lone parents while penalizing stay-at-home mothers; and cut bureaucracy to make part-time work more attractive.
Source: Cristina Odone, What Women Want ..And How They Can Get It, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report | CPS press release | BBC report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Oct
A new book examined youth transitions, focusing on the question of how gender identities were formed, based on in-depth accounts of four young lives.
Source: Rachel Thomson, Unfolding Lives: Youth, gender and change, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Jul
A report examined why minority-ethnic women were excluded from power.
Source: Zohra Moosa, Lifts and Ladders: Resolving ethnic minority women's exclusion from power, Fawcett Society (020 7253 2598)
Links: Report | Summary | Fawcett Society press release
Date: 2009-Jun
A journal special issue examined the links between social capital and women's support systems.
Source: New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, Volume 2009 Issue 122
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2009-Jun
A new book examined the relationship between women's reproductive bodies and women's productive work; and how women's potential for maternity affected their workplace opportunity. It called for the 'reconceptualization' of pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding as forms of labour.
Source: Caroline Gatrell, Embodying Women's Work, Open University Press (01280 823388)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-May
A report presented findings from research on the concerns and experiences of the economic downturn among women and families. The qualitative findings suggested that women were generally more concerned than men about the effects of the downturn on themselves and their families. This concern was heightened among parents and carers, as well as among women in industries they perceived to be more vulnerable to recession, such as service industries. The survey results showed that more women than men were concerned on many measures, including: concern about the impact of the economic downturn on family life (80 per cent of women compared with 70 per cent of men); and feeling that the economic downturn had 'reduced the quality of their family life'.
Source: Julia Clark, Jerry Latter, Isabella Pereira, Katrina Leary and Tom Mludzinski, The Economic Downturn: The Concerns and Experiences of Women and Families, Government Equalities Office (020 7944 0601)
Date: 2009-Apr
The equality and human rights watchdog said that there were still too few women in positions of power and influence in Welsh life.
Source: Who Runs Wales? 2009, Equality and Human Rights Commission (020 3117 0235)
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Mar
A collection of essays explored the nature and limits of individual autonomy in law, policy, and the work of regulatory agencies. It considered the nature and scope of the regulation of 'private' lives – from intimacies, personal relationships, and domestic lives to reproduction.
Source: Shelley Day Sclater, Fatemeh Ebtehaj, Emily Jackson and Martin Richards (eds.), Regulating Autonomy: Sex, reproduction and family, Hart Publishing (01865 517530)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Mar
A report provided data on the prevalence of both treated and untreated psychiatric disorder among those aged 16 and over in England. The proportion of women (aged 16-64) suffering a common mental disorder – typically, depression or anxiety – increased from 19.1 per cent in 1993 to 21.5 per cent (1 in 5 of the adult female population) in 2007. The rate in men did not change significantly.
Source: Sally McManus, Howard Meltzer, Traolach Brugha, Paul Bebbington, Rachel Jenkins (eds.), Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in England, 2007: Results of a household survey, NHS Information Centre (0845 300 6016)
Links: Report | NHS press release | Leicester University press release | MHF press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report | Womensgrid report
Date: 2009-Jan