Double-trouble: Negotiating Gender and Sexuality in Post-colonial Women’s Rugby in Fiji

Although women’s exclusion in sport has attracted significant attention in the western context, similar issues in relation to post-colonial societies have remained in the margins of the sociology of sport. By analysing primary, interview-based evidence, in this article we explore the challenges female rugby players face regarding gender and sexuality in Fiji; a male dominated post-colonial society. In particular, we focus on participants’ resistance to dominant cultural practices and ways in which they (re)negotiate gender norms and sexuality in a double-bind struggle against both traditional and sporting male hegemonies. We argue that the case of Fijian women rugby players illustrates an interplay between a multiplicity of power relations in sport in a post-colonial society and the resilience with which the athletes negotiate and respond to them, as well as the dynamic nature and the transformative potential of their everyday practices.

Exploring and Improving Access to Direct Payments by People with Dementia Living in Rural Communities

Direct payments are cash payments made to individuals eligible for social care services which allow them to manage their own social care. Research suggests that direct payments can enable people with dementia to stay in their own home for longer and experience greater choice, flexibility and an improved social life. However uptake of direct payments is currently low. The first objective of this research was to explore the experiences of people with dementia living in rural communities, in relation to their access to direct payments. 26 semi-structured interviews were conducted with people with dementia in receipt of social care services in the community, and their carers and social workers. Focus groups were carried out with two community social work teams. Direct payments appeared to afford particular benefits to people with dementia and to those living in rural communities in terms of flexibility, continuity of care and access to local facilities. However it was found that many service users were daunted by the thought of managing their own social care budget. The second objective of the research was to design and pilot test an intervention aimed at increasing uptake of direct payments by people with dementia. This comprised a session delivered to a team of social workers, aimed at encouraging them to offer combined direct payments to service users as a potentially less daunting alternative to full direct payments. Combined direct payments enable service users to receive part of their social care budget as a direct payment while the remainder is retained and managed by the Local Authority. In order to evaluate the intervention direct payment uptake will be examined for the six-month period before and after the intervention session, and social workers in the intervention team will be interviewed about their experiences of offering combined direct payments to service users.