Language and peace

This work's central thesis is that language, as historically used, has been a significant factor in creating political oppression, and economic and social discrimination. The editors argue that the challenge for the next century is to begin using language to inspire inclusion rather than exclusion.

Weight-based discrimination, body dissatisfaction and emotional eating:the role of perceived social consensus.

Objective: Discrimination can have a negative impact on psychological well-being, attitudes and behaviour. This research evaluates the impact of experiences of weight-based discrimination upon emotional eating and body dissatisfaction, and also explores whether people's beliefs about an ingroup's social consensus concerning how favourably overweight people are regarded can moderate the relationship between experiences of discrimination and negative eating and weight-related cognitions and behaviours. Research methods and procedures: 197 undergraduate students completed measures about their experiences of weight-based discrimination, emotional eating and body dissatisfaction. Participants also reported their beliefs concerning an ingroup's attitude towards overweight people. Results: Recollections of weight-based discrimination significantly contributed to emotional eating and body dissatisfaction. However, the relationships between experiencing discrimination and body dissatisfaction and emotional eating were weakest amongst participants who believed that the ingroup held a positive attitude towards overweight people. Discussion: Beliefs about ingroup social consensus concerning overweight people can influence the relationships between weight-based discrimination and emotional eating and body dissatisfaction. Changing group perceptions to perceive it to be unacceptable to discriminate against overweight people may help to protect victims of discrimination against the negative consequences of weight-based stigma.

Non sexist-translation and/in social change: gender issues in translation

Following centuries of feminist struggle, centuries which have born witness to the close relationship between linguistic discrimination and social reality, there is a growing tendency in modern society to acknowledge the vital role played by language in overcoming gender discrimination. Political institutions are currently compensating by instituting the use of non-sexist language through legislative guidelines, and this makes an important contribution to social reform for equality between the sexes. Seeing that translation is so important for the creation of the collective identities on which modern global society depends, it is clear that non-sexist translation is crucial if there is to be non-sexist language. In this article I examine the potential of non-sexist translation in the struggle for gender equality from a both a theoretical and a practical viewpoint, and I end with a critical evaluation of non-sexist translation methods.

The sound of silence. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender discrimination in 'inclusive organizations'

Most studies on diversity and discrimination in the workplace have focused on 'visible' minorities such as gender or race, often neglecting the experiences of invisible minorities such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers. In this paper we explore the practices of inclusion/exclusion of LGBTs in the workplace in Italian social cooperatives, which are specifically founded to create employment for people who are disadvantaged in the labour market. The study examines how organizations, which have an ethos focused on inclusion and mainly employ workers from specific social minority groups, manage the inclusion of LGBT workers. We also explore the experience of LGBT workers within these organizations. The paper reports that the culture of silence existing in the five organizations studied prevents LGBT employees from constructing a work identity which encompasses their sexual identity and prevents the organizations from achieving their aim of being fully inclusive workplaces. © 2013 British Academy of Management.

Do women earn less even as social entrepreneurs? The gender pay gap among UK social enterprise directors

Based upon unique survey data collected using respondent driven sampling methods, we investigate whether there is a gender pay gap among social entrepreneurs in the UK. We find that women as social entrepreneurs earn 29% less than their male colleagues, above the average UK gender pay gap of 19%. We estimate the adjusted pay gap to be about 23% after controlling for a range of demographic, human capital and job characteristics, as well as personal preferences and values. These differences are hard to explain by discrimination since these CEOs set their own pay. Income may not be the only aim in an entrepreneurial career, so we also look at job satisfaction to proxy for non-monetary returns. We find female social entrepreneurs to be more satisfied with their job as a CEO of a social enterprise than their male counterparts. This result holds even when we control for the salary generated through the social enterprise. Our results extend research in labour economics on the gender pay gap as well as entrepreneurship research on women’s entrepreneurship to the novel context of social enterprise. It provides the first evidence for a “contented female social entrepreneur” paradox.