The classic white formal shirt : a powerful emblem of social change

The classic white formal shirt is a widely and readily familiar object with considerable historical cultural significance to diverse social groups, and is therefore deserving of iconic status. For more than two hundred years, this singular item of apparel has been able to define and represent status, wealth, gender shifts and fashion norms. This garment, which has historically been relinquished to undergarment status, deserves an escalation of standing. The classic white formal shirt, for both men and women, can be used as a mirror to map considerable social change and the diversity of influence can be traced through many examples, including: Beau Brummell’s dandy status with his legendry white shirting; the Gibson Girl with her decorated white shirt style blouse defining ideals of female beauty; IBM business employees in the 1920s marketing trustworthiness through the uniformity of white shirts; the fictional advertising creation of the Arrow Collar Man, with his rigid white shirt, promoting American masculine ideals; and the iconic 1980s Hugo Boss style crisp white dress shirt symbolising power. The origins of the influence of the white shirt can be best traced in the Victorian era where it was an important symbol of wealth and class distinction and a powerful emblem of sobriety and uniformity for men. The pure white colour fulfilled masculine ideals of resolute austerity and the shirt, through its constancy, epitomised conformity and dependability. For women, the white cloth of the ‘shirt-waist’ from this period was also linked to ideals of cleanliness and purity and was seen as an iconic symbol of the new independent working class woman. This paper will propose that the classic white formal shirt, for both men and women, has been a powerful marker of social shifts in Western society and this underrated item of apparel, with limited scholarly writing, is worthy of iconic status. The discussion will trace the historical development of both the men’s and women’s white shirt, each with their own unique history, and in doing so highlight the considerable historical cultural significance associated with the white formal shirt. Discussed first will be the men’s white formal shirt.

Gender and the capacity of women with NIDDM to implement medical advice

This qualitative study of women with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) examined constructions of their diabetes management and socio-familial relationships as potential sources of support. Semi-structured interview data was collected from 16 women. The transcripts were analysed with the aim of examining the ways in which Sender relations structured women's accounts of health-related behaviours. Women talked about themselves as wives, mothers, being pregnant and parenting, and friends of other women in ways that demonstrated how caring for others impeded their capacity to care for themselves. Meeting the food preferences of husbands and dietary requirements of diabetic husbands were dominant themes in women's accounts of marriage, and in various ways women justified their husbands' lack of support. Furthermore, the care of others during pregnancy and parenting was also an obstacle to women caring for themselves. An awareness of the gender politics inherent within social and family contexts is crucial to improving the effectiveness of medical advice for diabetes management.

Gender-diverse boards and properties of analyst earnings forecasts

Using a sample of 2,200 US listed firm year observations (2001-2007)this study shows a positive (negative) relation between female participation in corporate boards and analysts' earnings forecast accuracy (dispersion), after controlling for earnings quality, corporate governance, audit quality, stock price informativeness and potential endogeneity. Our findings are important as they suggest that board diversity adds to the transparency and accuracy of financial reports such that earnings expectations are likely to be more accurate for these firms.

Board age and gender diversity : a test of competing linear and curvilinear predictions

We test competing linear and curvilinear predictions between board diversity and performance. The predictions were tested using archival data on 288 organizations listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The findings provide additional evidence on the business case for board gender diversity and refine the business case for board age diversity.

Trends in the Australian gender wage differential over the 1980s : some evidence on the effectiveness of legislative reform

The article examines the legislative reforms incorporating the Sex Discrimination Act and the Affirmative Action Act introduced during the 1980s. We utilise the Australian Bureau of Statistics Income Distribution Surveys 1981–82 and 1989–90 to reflect pre- and post-legislative reform. The article adopts the Brown, Moon and Zoloth (1980) methodology which treats both the wage and occupational status of the individual as endogenously determined. In the current context this is a particularly flexible framework allowing one to capture both the direct and indirect effects of the legislative reforms. The indirect effect refers to the narrowing of the gender wage gap associated with legislative manipulation of the male-female occupational distributions. The results contrast the slow convergence in the gender wage gap during the 1980s with the much faster pace of the 1970s. The article concludes that despite the focus of the 1980s legislation on employment equity, changes in the male-female occupational distribution over the period are small and the associated impact on gender wage convergence is also small.

The gender wage gap: what has happened between 1973 and 1990 in Australia?

The current study examines the change in the gender wage gap in Australia over the period 1973 to 1990. The Juhn, Murphy and Pierce (1991) decomposition is used in order to evaluate the role and relative contribution of changes in observed and unobserved skills and their prices. The sensitivity of conclusions to the measure of labour market experience and industry and occupation structure are also examined. The analysis concludes that gender-specific effects are dominant in male-female wage convergence although wage-structure effects also play a minor role.

Gender differences in rumination : a meta-analysis

Starting in adolescence and continuing through adulthood, women are twice as likely as men to experience depression. According to the response styles theory (RST), gender differences in depression result, in part, from women's tendency to ruminate more than men. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate gender differences in rumination in adults (k = 59; N = 14,321); additionally, an analysis of subtypes of rumination - brooding and reflection - was conducted (k = 23). Fixed effects analyses indicated that women scored higher than men in rumination (d = .24, p < .01, SEd = .02), brooding (d = .19, p < .01, SEd = .03) and reflection (d = .17, p < .01, SEd = .03); there was no evidence of heterogeneity or publication bias across studies for these effect sizes. Although statistically significant, the effect sizes for gender differences in rumination were small in magnitude. Results are discussed with respect to the RST and gender differences in depression

Retaining female postgraduates in academia : the role of gender and prospective parenthood

Women remain under-represented in almost all academic levels at universities internationally, and previous evidence has suggested that women move out of the university system in increasing numbers as they progress from postgraduate study to an academic career. The current study aimed to explore the role of gender in the reports of study experiences and future career plans of Australian postgraduate research students (n = 249). Questionnaire data indicated women were significantly less likely than men to rate an academic career as appealing. In particular, female postgraduate students without dependent children were least likely to want to pursue an academic career. On the basis of qualitative analysis, we attribute this finding, at least in part, to a perceived incompatibility between motherhood and an academic career and discuss the implications for gender equity in higher education.

Schools in New Zealand, doing more with less?

In much the same terms as Australia, New Zealand state schools are funded on a socio-economic status model. The New Zealand model is known as a ‘decile’ system. A decile system is one that “indicates the extent to which the school draws its students from low socio-economic communities” so that students in a Decile 1 school “are the 10% of schools with the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic communities”1. The effect of decile funding is supposed to be that funding to state and state-integrated schools is structured to enable schools to attract funding that meets the specific needs of students from lower socio-economic communities. The lower the school’s decile, the more funding they receive”2. This leads to two interesting questions for the uninitiated into New Zealand education. Firstly, how are deciles calculated? Secondly, what is a state school and how is it different from a state-integrated school?

A gender comparison of food shopper typologies

This research segments male and female food shoppers based on store and product attribute evaluations, enjoyment, planning, and shopping responsibility. A rich profile for each segment is developed from a sample of 580 primary food shoppers. Gender comparisons are operationalized and these developed food shopper typologies are contrasted against earlier works. Factor analysis, cluster analysis, and ANOVA were employed to develop specific segments of shoppers. This is the first study to identify specific groups of male food shoppers and contrast these to traditional female shoppers and earlier typographical works. The research provides the basis for further cross-cultural, cross-contextual comparative studies.

Does board gender diversity have a financial impact? Evidence using stock portfolio performance.

There is growing regulatory pressure on firms worldwide to address the under-representation of women in senior positions. Regulators have taken a variety of approaches to the issue. We investigate a jurisdiction that has issued recommendations and disclosure requirements, rather than implementing quotas. Much of the rhetoric surrounding gender diversity centres on whether diversity has a financial impact. In this paper we take an aggregate (market-level) approach and compare the performance of portfolios of firms with gender diverse boards to those without. We also investigate whether having multiple women on the board is linked to performance, and if there is a within-industry effect. Overall, we do not find evidence of an association between diversity and performance. We find some weak evidence of a negative correlation between having multiple women on the board and performance, but that in some industries diversity is positively correlated with performance.

Gender-based undervaluation and the equal remuneration powers of Fair Work Australia

We investigate gender-based wage undervaluation in light of FairWork Australia’s major recent decision for social and community service workers. Using regression methods, we demonstrate that wages for employees in female-dominated occupations are significantly lower than for comparable employees in male-dominated and integrated occupations. This undervaluation is present for both male and female employees, and persists after controlling for industry of employment. We then estimate the undervaluation within industry and juxtapose the results with evidence on the industry distribution of award reliance, a proxy for Fair Work Australia’s equal remuneration powers. There is not a strong relationship within industries between the extent of gender-based undervaluation and award reliance. This suggests that ‘equal remuneration for work of equal or comparable value’ is unlikely to be achieved universally by Fair Work Australia without substantial spillovers between awards and non-award agreements.

Female concentration and the gender wage differential in the United Kingdom

The paper utilizes the methodology proposed by Johnson and Solon (American Economic Review, 76 (5), 1117-1125, 1986) to examine the impact of job segregation on the gender wage gap in the UK in 1991. The results suggest that despite implementation of the UK 1983 Equal Pay Amendment there remains clear evidence that male/female workers in female dominated jobs continue to earn less for work of ‘similar worth’ than their counterparts in male dominated jobs within the same firm. This conclusion is insensitive to whether one adopts an occupation or firm based measure of gender concentration.

Convergence in the gender wage gap in Australia over the 1980s : identifying the role of counteracting forces via the Juhn, Murphy and Pierce decomposition

The paper utilises the Juhn Murphy and Pierce (1991) decomposition to shed light on the pattern of slow male-female wage convergance in Australia over the 1980s. The analysis allows one to distinguish between the role of wage structure and genderspecific effects. The central question addressed is whether rising wage inequality counteracted the forces of increased female investment in labour market skills, i.e. education and experience. The conclusion is that in contrast to the US and the UK, Australian women do not appear to have been swimming against a tide of adverse wage structure changes.