Is gender a factor in perceived prison officer competence?

Background The introduction of women officers into HM Prison Service raised questions regarding women's ability to perform what had traditionally been a male role. Existing research is inconclusive as to whether female prison officers are as competent as male prison officers, and whether there are gender differences in job performance. This study examined prisoners' perceptions of male and female prison officers' performance. Hypotheses The hypotheses were that overall competence and professionalism ratings would not differ for men and women officers, but that there would be differences in how men and women were perceived to perform their roles. Women were expected to be rated as more communicative, more empathic and less disciplining. Method The Prison Officer Competency Rating Scale (PORS) was designed for this study. Ratings on the PORS for male and female officers were given by 57 adult male prisoners. Results There was no significant difference in prisoners' ratings of overall competence of men and women officers. Of the PORS subscales, there were no gender differences in Discipline and Control, Communication or Empathy, but there was a significant difference in Professionalism, where prisoners rated women as more professional. Conclusion The failure to find any differences between men and women in overall job competence, or on communication, empathy and discipline, as perceived by prisoners, suggests that men and women may be performing their jobs similarly in many respects. Women were rated as more professional, and items contributing to this scale related to respecting privacy and keeping calm in difficult situations, where there may be inherent gender biases. Copyright © 2005 Whurr Publishers Ltd.

Lexico-grammatical portraits of vulnerable women in war:the 1641 depositions

The 1641 Depositions are testimonies collected from (mainly Protestant) witnesses documenting their experiences of the Irish uprising that began in October 1641. As news spread across Europe of the events unfolding in Ireland, reports of violence against women became central to the ideological construction of the barbarism of the Catholic rebels. Against a backdrop of women's subordination and firmly defined gender roles, this article investigates the representation of women in the Depositions, creating what we have termed "lexico-grammatical portraits" of particular categories of woman. In line with other research dealing with discursive constructions in seventeenth-century texts, a corpus-assisted discourse analytical approach is taken. Adopting the assumptions of Critical Discourse Analysis, the discussion is extended to what the findings reveal about representations of the roles of women, both in the reported events and in relation to the dehumanisation of the enemy in atrocity propaganda more generally. © John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Motherhood on ice? A media framing analysis of older mothers in the UK news

Changing gender roles and increased sexual and economic freedom have created opportunities for women to give birth relatively late in life. However, stigma and misplaced fears about physical capacity are often reported as sources of anxiety among older, and in vitro fertilisation-induced mothers. In this study, we apply a specially adapted method for analysing news media content to a week's selection of material in the British media following the dissemination of research at an international medical conference. Our findings suggest, despite some positive commentaries, that much negative discourse is circulated by the media about older mothers, from implied claims of selfishness (older mothers as 'delaying' conception) to violations of the 'natural order'. These latter claims reflect the long-standing ambivalence by the media generally towards scientific advancement, but they also reveal continuing resistance towards unorthodox lifestyles.

Being female doing gender:narratives of women in education management

The paper explores gender relations in academia and discusses how gender is constructed within academic institutions. It is based upon the study of a business school, part of a British university. The construction of gender relations within this institution was of special interest because the majority of managerial roles were occupied by women. All female academic managers (dean, associate deans and heads of department) and a random selection of female and male academics were interviewed. The process of construction of gender relations is investigated through the analysis of the discrepancy between the ‘masculine culture’ of high education institutions and the dominance of women managers within this organization. It is suggested that the numerical dominance of women managers may create tensions between their individual identities as women and their managerial identities, due to the predominance of masculine practices and values within the organization. Additionally, it emerged that the maintenance of masculine ideals and practices is also associated with downplaying women’s achievements.

Women in management in the new economic environment:the case of India

Liberalization of the Indian economy has created considerable employment opportunities for those, including women, who possess marketable skills and talent. Historically, women in India have not enjoyed a good status in workplace settings whether in managerial or operative roles. This traditional positioning of women has restricted the intensity of their efforts towards realizing the benefits of the globalisation process. An attempt has been made in this contribution to highlight the important issues relating to women in management in the Indian context. The messages from a review of the literature are analysed. Research evidence from various sources is presented to highlight the dynamics of developments in the status of Indian women managers. The contribution discusses the main aspects of the historical, socio-cultural and economic factors influencing women managers: issues concerning gender-based stereotypes; the main barriers to women's movement to top managerial positions; the impact of developments in information technology (IT) on women managers; and the way forward. Results from two research projects are also presented. The analysis has important messages for practitioners and contributes to women's studies and management in the Indian context. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Ltd.

'Between a rock and a hard place':towards a theorisation of the role of gender in junior management

This paper seeks to theorise the role that gender plays in the careers of junior female managers. We do this by drawing upon two separate empirical studies, firstly a largescale study based on interviews with female managers in the West Midlands (UK) is used to explore the growth of female participation in junior managerial roles with reference to the notion of managerial careers as seduction. We explore the routes the women have taken into junior management careers and the barriers that exist to progression toward more senior roles. Secondly, a small-scale ethnographic study of a large service-based organization, also based in the West Midlands, is documented in an attempt to theorise the organizational role of female junior managers. While the dominance of masculine values and practices in organisations is explored, we also argue that growing female participation at junior managerial levels can only partly be explained by female managers adopting, or appearing to adopt, masculine behaviours. We seek to contribute to a fuller explanation by drawing attention to the way in which senior managers in the case study sought to employ female junior managers particularly for their perceived feminine skills. Significantly, however the ethnography reveals the ambiguously gendered construction of female junior managers roles through an exploration of the enactment of both masculine and feminine practices during the ‘doing’ of management.

Gender and feminine Identities - women as managers in a UK academic institution

The paper considers gender identities in higher education. It examines how people involved in university life engage in (re)creating gender identities and in (re)producing gender-related expectations (and stereotypes) of managerial behaviour. The process of construction of feminine identities is explored through the discourses of academics from a UK university (mainly women who hold managerial positions). The paper reports findings from a series of in-depth interviews with women managers (dean, associate deans and heads of departments) and with university academics (men and women) from a Business School, part of a large British new university. The school was of special interest because women held the majority of senior managerial posts. It appears that the process of construction of femininities is mainly developed around four (stereo-)typical aspects generally associated with feminine management practices (multi-tasking, supporting and nurturing, people and communication skills, and team-work).

A cross-national comparative study of the roles of men in contemporary France and Britain

The purpose of this thesis is to increase understanding and contribute to knowledge about the attitudes and behaviour of men in contemporary France and Britain. The thesis has three main aims: firstly, to provide the first cross-national comparison of French and British writing and research on the place of men in contemporary society; secondly, to identify similarities and differences in the roles of men in France and Britain; and thirdly, to determine to what extent and in what way such similarities and differences are linked to the social structures and cultural background of each country. The thesis focuses on two main facets of the male experience: the relationship between men and women and the interaction between fathers and their children. Men's attitudes and behaviour are examined in relation to issues such as the division of household tasks and child care within the family, parental roles, female employment, role reversal, gender stereotyping and changes towards a new image of masculinity in society. Particular consideration is given to differences in governmental attitudes in France and Britain towards the introduction of family policy measures for men as fathers. The thesis ends with a discussion of legislative, social and educational measures which could be introduced in France and Britain in order to promote greater flexibility in men's roles and consequently improve gender equality in each country. The data analysed in the thesis are derived from a questionnaire-based empirical study involving 101 men in Britain and seventy-five men in France. The respondents' experience of and attitudes towards their roles in society are analysed and interpreted in the light of profile data relating to their family circumstances and with reference to knowledge about the broader socio-cultural context.

No gender differences in brain activation during the N-back task:An fMRI study in healthy individuals

Gender differences have been well established in verbal and spatial abilities but few studies have examined if these differences also extend into the domain of working memory in terms of behavioural differences and brain activation. The conclusions that can be drawn from these studies are not clear cut but suggest that even though gender differences might not be apparent from behavioural measures, the underlying neural substrate associated with working memory might be different in men and women. Previous research suggests activation in a network of frontal and parietal regions during working memory tasks. This study aimed to investigate gender differences in patterns of brain activation during a verbal version of the N-back working memory task, which incorporates the effects of increased demands on working memory. A total of 50 healthy subjects, aged 18 to 58 years, that were equally split by gender were recruited matched for age, levels of education and ethnicity. All subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that men and women performed equally well in terms of accuracy and response times, while using similar brain regions to the same degree. Our observations indicate that verbal working memory is not affected by gender at the behavioural or neural level, and support the findings of a recent meta-analysis by Hyde ([2005]: Sex Roles 53:717-725) that gender differences are generally smaller than intra-gender differences in many cognitive domains. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Gender comparisons of fat talk in the United Kingdom and the United States

This study compared different forms of body talk, including "fat talk," among 231 university men and women in central England (UK; n = 93) and the southeastern United States (US; n = 138). A 2 (gender) by 2 (country) repeated measures ANOVA across types of body talk (negative, self-accepting, positive) and additional Chi-square analyses revealed that there were differences across gender and between the UK and US cultures. Specifically, UK and US women were more likely to report frequently hearing or perceiving pressure to engage in fat talk than men. US women and men were also more likely to report pressure to join in self-accepting body talk than UK women and men. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Constructing their own space: British Asians explore cultural identity, women, gender differences and feminism within multicultural society.

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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.

Navigating equality:religious young women's perceptions of gender and sexuality equality

Equality has become an important concept within secular-liberal societies (Perrons 2005), with white, secular Western women interpellated as quintessentially embodying this equality (Gill and Scharff 2011; McRobbie 2011; Nayak and Kehily 2008). For religious organizations, the interacting spaces of gender and sexuality constitute two of the most contested terrains in rights-giving, and many religions are seen as less progressive regarding equality vis-à-vis other social institutions (Plummer 2003; Tosh and Keenan 2003; Weeks2007). Young religious women have to articulate how they fit into the contours of secular-liberal equality norms as religious subjects. This chapter will focus on how young religious women living in the UK made sense of equality in the context of their religion, focusing on attitudes to gender equality and sexuality equality.