A new book critically examined presumptions that women's conduct was shaped by either choice or coercion. It developed an analytical framework for discerning the meaning and value that women might ascribe to morally ambiguous practices, drawing on an analysis of the law's approach to polygamy, surrogacy, and sex work, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Source: Angela Campbell, Sister Wives, Surrogates and Sex Workers: Outlaws by choice?, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Dec
An article examined the new policy emphasis on parenting, and on services for parental instruction and education, using England as a case study. It said the concept of parent underlying these developments was gender blind rather than gender neutral, being traceable to instrumental views about children's development and the roles of women and men in contemporary economy and society. A key purpose of some of the provisions was to exercise control over the parenting-related behaviour of low-income groups, and women were potentially the best means of achieving this.
Source: Mary Daly, 'Parenting support: another gender-related policy illusion in Europe?', Women's Studies International Forum, Volume 41 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Nov
An article examined the Allen report (2011) on early intervention. It criticized the way in which the report attributed the disadvantages faced by working-class children to the parenting practices of their mothers. The report was part of a long tradition in which elites linked notions of respectability to the parenting and housekeeping skills of mothers. It failed to acknowledge the income needs of poor working-class mothers, and denied the importance of material conditions to mothering.
Source: Chris Grover and Claire Mason, 'The Allen report: class, gender and disadvantage', Families, Relationships and Societies, Volume 2 Number 3
Links: Abstract
See also: Graham Allen MP, Early Intervention: The Next Steps, Cabinet Office (2011)
Date: 2013-Nov
A new book examined how marketing and consumer culture constructed particular images of what mothers were, what they should care about, and how they should behave. It explored how women's use of consumer goods and services shaped how they mothered, as well as how they were seen and judged by others.
Source: Stephanie O'Donohoe, Margaret Hogg, Pauline Maclaran, Lydia Martens, and Lorna Stevens (eds), Motherhoods, Markets and Consumption: The making of mothers in contemporary western cultures, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Sep
The interim report of a Labour party commission on older women said that reform was urgently needed in the areas of work, care, and public life. Older women could face double discrimination, on the grounds of gender and age: the Equality Act already had provisions to tackle this, which the coalition government should be implementing.
Source: The Commission on Older Women: Interim Report, Labour Party
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2013-Sep
An article examined policy and practice responses to the 'hidden' population of birth mothers who experienced successive, permanent removal of their children to state care and/or adoption. Falling so far outside normative expectations of motherhood and presenting with multiple problems of daily living, this population raised particular practical, ethical, and legal challenges: however, these challenges should not stand in the way of a concerted prevention agenda.
Source: Karen Broadhurst and Claire Mason, 'Maternal outcasts: raising the profile of women who are vulnerable to successive, compulsory removals of their children – a plea for preventative action', Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, Volume 35 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Sep
An article examined whether recent changes in family structure and female employment patterns had altered the distribution of income in some western countries. Increased female employment was found to reduce income inequality: but an increased prevalence of single-mother families heightened income inequality.
Source: Christopher Kollmeyer, 'Family structure, female employment, and national income inequality: a cross-national study of 16 western countries', European Sociological Review, Volume 29 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
An article said that a feminist economics perspective was essential in order to fully understand the gender consequences of the recent recession and the ongoing economic crisis. Male workers had suffered the greatest job losses in the initial phases of the recession: but this situation appeared to have been reversed by the cuts in public sector employment and social security, which were more likely be hit women. The use of statistics relating only to paid work gave a partial analysis: a more inclusive understanding of the range of impacts on both men and women was more useful in the formulation of gender-aware, as opposed to gender-blind, policy responses to recession and recovery.
Source: Ailsa McKay, Jim Campbell, Emily Thomson, and Susanne Ross, 'Economic recession and recovery in the UK: what's gender got to do with it?', Feminist Economics, Volume 19 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
A new book examined the relationship between law and gender. It considered how law was conceptualized, organized, articulated, and legitimated from a gender perspective; and how gender could operate within the law while simultaneously appearing to be outside it.
Source: Joanne Conaghan, Law and Gender, Oxford University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Aug
A think-tank report said that women in their sixties had taken great strides forward in education and employment, and were healthier, wealthier, and more active than ever before. But despite these changes, women remained the nation's carers – many of them balanced care responsibilities and work throughout their lives, which affected their careers, income, and pensions. A 'sandwich generation' was emerging, whose members were caught between providing care for both grandchildren and elderly parents, often while continuing to earn and pursue their career. The report called for up to 6 months of parental leave to be made transferrable to a nominated working grandparent, in specific circumstances.
Source: Dalia Ben-Galim and Amna Silim, The Sandwich Generation: Older women balancing work and care, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report | IPPR press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Aug
An article examined the 'feminization' of poverty in 12 welfare states (including the United Kingdom) between the 1980s and the 2000s. Although the feminization of poverty had been slowed down and even reversed in certain cases, cross-regime differences had become increasingly visible. A new measurement of poverty would be required to capture the multi-dimensional features of the feminization of poverty, including human capital.
Source: Jin Wook Kim and Young Jun Choi, 'Feminisation of poverty in 12 welfare states: consolidating cross-regime variations?', International Journal of Social Welfare, Volume 22 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
A report examined the mechanisms through which gender representation by mass media (television, advertising, news, and new media) hampered the achievement of gender equality in Europe. It provided an overview of the main definitions, theories, and studies; and explored the regulatory acts existing in European Union member states.
Source: Elisa Giomi, Silvia Sansonetti, and Anna Lisa Tota, Women and Girls as Subjects of Media s Attention and Advertisement Campaigns: The situation in Europe, best practices and legislations, European Parliament
Links: Report
Date: 2013-May
A report provided a gender impact assessment of the coalition government s March 2013 Budget, describing it as a 'Budget for inequality and recession'.
Source: Susan Himmelweit and Diane Elson, The Impact on Women of Budget 2013: A budget for inequality and recession, Women's Budget Group
Links: Report | WBG press release (1) | WBG press release (2)
Date: 2013-Apr
An article said that an active ageing strategy could provide a basis for European countries to respond to the challenges presented by an ageing population. But this strategy needed to reflect the need for a partnership between citizens and society, and be comprehensive, non-coercive, and inclusive in its approach. In particular, it needed to acknowledge the gendered nature of ageing and previous life course events, and to emphasize well-being rather than just the production of resources and services.
Source: Liam Foster and Alan Walker, 'Gender and active ageing in Europe', European Journal of Ageing, Volume 10 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined how 'sexualization' had come to be recognized as a social problem in the United States and Britain. Feminist media narratives had portrayed young women as threatened by contamination, and had proposed measures to regulate and nurture female sexuality: but in doing so they had unintentionally given support to right-wing discourses, which had used the issue to demand regulation of female sexuality and the dismantling of welfare state protections for adults. Underpinning this coalition had been an inadequate account of the sexual and commercial choices that young women made.
Source: Robbie Duschinsky, 'The emergence of sexualization as a social problem: 1981–2010', Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, Volume 20 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
A new book examined key debates concerning the representations of motherhood and the maternal role in contemporary television programming.
Source: Rebecca Feasey, From Happy Homemaker to Desperate Housewives: Motherhood and popular television, Anthem Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Jan
An article examined the debate on gendering welfare states. It criticized typologies based on the differentiation between degrees of familialization and defamilialization, and proposed a new typology based on the notion of genderization and degenderization. It also argued against the notion of regime types, which included outputs in their classification systems. Instead it argued that typologies should concentrate on policies to make it possible for researchers and policy-makers to analyze the influence of different types of policies on different societies. It was important to know whether similar policies would lead to different outcomes under different socio-economic or cultural conditions. The author showed it was possible to analyze family policies using a typology based on genderization and degenderization.
Source: Steven Saxonberg, 'From defamilialization to degenderization: toward a new welfare typology', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 47 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan
A new book examined the notions of agency and coercion, and their interrelationships, within feminist studies.
Source: Sumi Madhok, Anne Phillips, and Kalpana Wilson (eds), Gender, Agency and Coercion, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Jan