Gendered dichotomies and segregation patterns in computing jobs in Australia

Sex segregation in employment is a phenomenon that can be observed and analysed at different levels, ranging from comparisons between broad classifications by industry or occupation through to finely defined jobs within such classifications. From an aggregate perspective, the contribution of information technology (IT) employment to sex segregation is clear--it remains a highly male-dominated field apparently imbued with the ongoing masculinity of science and technology. While this situation is clearly contrary to hopes of a new industry freed from traditional distinctions between 'men's' and 'women's' work, it comes as little surprise to most feminist and labour studies analysts. An extensive literature documents the persistently masculine culture of IT employment and education (see, among many, Margolis and Fisher 2002; Wajcman 1991; Webster 1996; Wright 1996, 1997), and the idea that new occupations might escape sexism by sidestepping 'old traditions' has been effectively critiqued by writers such as Adam, who notes the fallacy of assuming a spontaneous emergence of equality in new settings (2005: 140).

Xinjiang and Central Asia: Ethno-religious, political, and economic interactions

The neighboring regions of Xinjiang and Central Asia, linked historically on the famous Silk Road, later developed separately as a result of the incorporation of the former into China and the latter into the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. Thus, interaction between Xinjiang and Central Asia has been constrained by the nature of the Sino-Russian or Sino-Soviet relationship. However, the demise of the Soviet Union--which resulted in the independence of five Central Asian states--and the recent economic reforms in the People's Republic of China suggest dramatic new possibilities for interregional cooperation.^ In this thesis, an historical and comparative approach is employed to study Chinese policies in Xinjiang and Soviet policies in Central Asia, and concludes that despite several decades of separate development, the common ethnic and religious origins of the indigenous peoples and their former ties will facilitate greater interaction between the two regions. ^

Book review: The High Commissioners: Australia's representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010

The post of Australian High Commissioner in London has always been one of the most important and prestigious of Australia’s diplomatic posts. Indeed, as The High Commissioners demonstrates, for much of the one hundred years for which the post has existed it was an influential link between two parts of the British Empire, rather than a diplomatic mission in a foreign nation. It was for a long time a diplomatic post, but of a hybrid nature; an evolving child of empire. This handsomely produced book is a scholarly study of the position and of the many high commissioners. The chapters, which examine all the high commissioners and a range of related subjects, have been authored by many of Australia’s leading historians of empire and of foreign policy, with the most recent high commissioners covered by former government officials. While the book is designed as a celebration of the centenary of the Australian High Commission in London it is not a work of hagiography. Important analyses are presented of the strengths and weaknesses of many of the key high commissioners, such as George Reid, Andrew Fisher, S.M. Bruce, Alexander Downer senior and John Armstrong. Indeed, the book leaves the strong impression that some of the high commissioners, especially after the Second World War, were often well behind the Australian people in appreciating how the relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom was changing. The research and writing is of a uniformly high standard with each chapter providing many interesting insights into the history of Australian foreign policy.

The politics of productivity growth in Australia

A prominent feature of recent Australian economic discourse is the assertion that there was a ‘productivity surge’ during the 1990s, resulting from the neoliberal microeconomic reforms inaugurated in the early 1980s. However, the evidence for the productivity surge is routinely overstated, thus undermining the rationale for many past and future microeconomic reforms. There is also substantial evidence that productivity growth can have perverse socioeconomic and/or environmental consequences. Nonetheless, many policymakers, economists and commentators remain preoccupied with increasing productivity growth. This article examines the Australian productivity debate and concludes that this is driven more by neoliberal norms than socioeconomic necessity. These are manifest in a disciplinary discourse that constructs productivity growth as a national imperative, unencumbered by negative social and environmental externalities.

The failures of neo-liberal state building in Iraq: assessing Australia's post-conflict reconstruction and development Initiatives

This article examines Australia's post-conflict reconstruction and development initiatives in Iraq following the intervention of 2003. Overall, it finds that Australia privileged the neo-liberal model of post-conflict state building by investing in projects that would enhance the capacity of the new Iraqi state, its key institutions and the private sector towards the imposition of a liberal democracy and a free-market economy. To demonstrate, this article documents the failures of the Australian government's stated aims to "support agriculture" and "support vulnerable populations" via interviews conducted in Iraq with rural farmers and tribal members and those working in, or the beneficiaries of, Iraq's disability sector. It concludes by noting that such failures are not only indicative of the inadequacy of the neo-liberal state building model, but also that these failures point the way forward for future post-conflict reconstruction and development projects which ought to be premised on a genuine and sustained commitment to addressing the needs of those made most vulnerable by war and regime change.

The science of the COAG coordinated care trials

Objectives: To explicate the organisational change agenda of the COAG coordinated care trials within the Australian health system and to illuminate the role of science in this process. Methods and Results: This article briefly outlines the COAG coordinated care trial aims and the effect of the trial as a change initiative in rural South Australia. It is proposed that although the formal trial outcomes are still not clear, the trial had significant impact upon health service delivery in some sites. The trial involved standard research methods with control and intervention groups and with key hypotheses being tested to compare the costs and service utilization profile of intervention and control groups. Formal results indicate that costs were not significantly different between intervention and control groups across all sites, but that the trial, nonetheless, had a powerful impact on the attitude and behaviours of service providers in the rural trial on Eyre Peninsula in particular. Some of the key structural changes now in place are outlined. Conclusions: The COAG trial has had many and varied impacts upon those organisations and individual providers involved with it. It is argued here that since successive initiatives had been implemented before final evaluation results were published, other agendas were served by the trial apart from those of standard scientific research and hypothesis testing. That is, the main impact of the coordinated care trial in Eyre Region at least has been change by stealth, and not through scientific research and demonstration. Implications: The COAG trials have set in train a series of structural and procedural changes in the methods of delivery and management of primary health care systems; changes that are embodied in the Enhanced Primary Care packages (EPC) and other initiatives recently introduced by the Commonwealth Government. These changes have occurred and are occurring across the system without formal evidence as to their efficacy, suggesting that other financial motives are driving these new approaches apart from the goal of improving health outcomes for consumers. Also, if science is to be used in this way to drive policy and procedural change ahead of actual outcome evidence, it is important that we examine the more subtle agendas of such research projects in future if the integrity of the scientific method is to be maintained. The occurrence of such phenomena questions the very foundation of scientific endeavour and weakens the application of scientific principles in the arena of social and political science.