Equality with a vengeance : men's rights groups, battered women, and antifeminist backlash

This book investigates efforts by fathers’ rights groups to undermine battered women’s shelters and services, in the context of the backlash against feminism. Dragiewicz examines the lawsuit Booth v. Hvass, in which fathers’ rights groups attempted to use an Equal Protection claim to argue that funding emergency services that target battered women is discriminatory against men. As Dragiewicz shows, this case (which was eventually dismissed) is relevant to widespread efforts to promote a degendered understanding of violence against women in order to eradicate policies and programs that were designed to ameliorate harm to battered women.

Exercise, appetite and weight management: understanding the compensatory responses in eating behaviour and how they contribute to variability in exercise-induced weight loss

Does exercise promote weight loss? One of the key problems with studies assessing the efficacy of exercise as a method of weight management and obesityis that mean data are presented and the individual variability in response is overlooked. Recent data have highlighted the need to demonstrate and characterise the individual variability in response to exercise. Do people who exercise compensate for the increase in energy expenditure via compensatory increases in hunger and food intake? The authors address the physiological, psychological and behavioural factors potentially involved in the relationship between exercise and appetite, and identify the research questions that remain unanswered. A negative consequence of the phenomena of individual variability and compensatory responses has been the focus on those who lose little weight in response to exercise; this has been used unreasonably as evidence to suggest that exercise is a futile method of controlling weight and managing obesity. Most of the evidence suggests that exercise is useful for improving body composition and health. For example, when exercise-induced mean weight loss is <1.0 kg, significant improvements in aerobic capacity (+6.3 ml/kg/min), systolic (−6.00 mm Hg) and diastolic (−3.9 mm Hg) blood pressure, waist circumference (−3.7 cm) and positive mood still occur. However, people will vary in their responses to exercise; understanding and characterising this variability will help tailor weight loss strategies to suit individuals.

Tax and equality in 1972: The case of Lodge v FCT

This paper is part of a larger project described at http://www.law.uq.edu.au/australian-feminist-judgments-project as follows: This project draws its inspiration from two significant recent developments in law and feminist scholarship. The first has been the emergence in Canada and the UK of feminist judgment-writing projects, in which feminist academics, lawyers and activists have written alternative judgments in a series of legal cases, imagining the different decision that might have been made by a feminist judge hearing the case. The second has been the incremental shift in recent years in the number of women judges and Magistrates presiding in courts and tribunals throughout Australia. As part of this project, a group of scholars will write alternative feminist judgments. This paper is one of the alternative feminist judgements. The case used for this discussion is Lodge v Federal Commissioner of Tax [1972] HCA 49. In that case, a woman, earning income by way of commission in her occupation as a law costs clerk, which she carried out at her home, claimed to deduct from her assessable income child care fees that enabled her to devote time and attention to her work. The High Court held that no right to a deduction had arisen. It found that, although the purpose of the expenditure was for gaining assessable income, it did not take place in, or in the course of, preparing bills of cost. Further, the expenditure was of a ‘private or domestic’ nature. This seminal taxation decision, which prevents deductions for childcare, has broad financial ramifications for workers in the home and those with childcare responsibilities. It designates childcare duties as ‘private’, notwithstanding the need for these in order, particularly for women, to work in the public sphere.

Individual variability in compensatory eating following acute exercise in overweight and obese women

Background While compensatory eating following acute aerobic exercise is highly variable, little is known about the underling mechanisms that contribute to alterations in exercise-induced eating behaviour. Methods Overweight and obese women (BMI = 29.6 ± 4.0kg.m2) performed a bout of cycling individually tailored to expend 400kcal (EX), or a time-matched no exercise control condition in a randomised, counter-balanced order. Sixty minutes after the cessation of exercise, an ad libitum test meal was provided. Substrate oxidation and subjective appetite ratings were measured during exercise/time-matched rest, and during the period between the cessation of exercise and food consumption. Results While ad libitum EI did not differ between EX and the control condition (666.0 ± 203.9kcal vs. 664.6 ± 174.4kcal, respectively; ns), there was marked individual variability in compensatory energy intake (EI). The difference in EI between EX and the control condition ranged from -234.3 to +278.5kcal. Carbohydrate oxidation during exercise was positively associated with post-exercise EI, accounting for 37% of the variance in EI (r = 0.57; p = 0.02). Conclusions These data indicate that capacity of acute exercise to create a short-term energy deficit in overweight and obese women is highly variable. Furthermore, exercise-induced CHO oxidation can explain part of the variability in acute exercise-induced compensatory eating. Post-exercise compensatory eating could serve as an adaptive response to facilitate the restoration of carbohydrate balance.

Resistance to exercise-induced weight loss : compensatory behavioral adaptations

In many interventions that are based on an exercise program intended to induce weight loss, the mean weight loss observed is modest and sometimes far less than what the individual expected. The individual responses are also widely variable, with some individuals losing a substantial amount of weight, others maintaining weight, and a few actually gaining weight. The media have focused on the subpopulation that loses little weight, contributing to a public perception that exercise has limited utility to cause weight loss. The purpose of the symposium was to present recent, novel data that help explain how compensatory behaviors contribute to a wide discrepancy in exercise-induced weight loss. The presentations provide evidence that some individuals adopt compensatory behaviors, that is, increased energy intake and/or reduced activity, that offset the exercise energy expenditure and limit weight loss. The challenge for both scientists and clinicians is to develop effective tools to identify which individuals are susceptible to such behaviors and to develop strategies to minimize their effect.

The Australian mining industry and the ideal mining woman : mobilizing a public business case for gender equality

Despite ongoing ‘boom’ conditions in the Australian mining industry, women remain substantially and unevenly under-represented in the sector, as is the case in other resource-dependent countries. Building on the literature critiquing business-case rationales and strategies as a means to achieve women’s equality in the workplace, we examine the business case for employing more women as advanced by the Australian mining industry. Specifically, we apply a discourse analysis to seven substantial, publically-available documents produced by the industry’s national and state peak organizations between 2005 and 2013. Our study makes two contributions. First, we map the features of the business case at the sectoral rather than firm or workplace level and examine its public mobilization. Second, we identify the construction and deployment of a normative identity – ‘the ideal mining woman’ – as a key outcome of this business-case discourse. Crucially, women are therein positioned as individually responsible for gender equality in the workplace.

No worries – we’ll take care of it!! An examination into managing equality and inclusivity in multicultural Australia

This paper explores the various paths to equality and inclusivity developed in the past 40 years within the Australian workplace with a view to critically examining their capability of addressing diversity and equality within the cultural needs of a unique society. A society which struggles to overcome the tyranny of distance and a colonial past as it takes its place in the world as a global 1st world economy country in what is often considered ‘the global north’ despite its geographical location. Findings indicate that despite various legislative and non-legislative approaches including anti-discrimination; affirmative action; equal opportunity; managing diversity and more recently gender equality, the individual members of the many diverse groups in the Australian workplace still experience inferior work conditions and work opportunities.

Small firms and the challenge of equality, diversity and difference

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers contributing to this special issue and to locate them within the broader questions about the role of small firms in enabling or alleviating issues of equality, diversity, and difference for various groups in society. Design/methodology/approach The literature dealing with the issues of equality, diversity, and difference pertaining to the operation of and/or working in smaller firms was reviewed prior to drawing out the key points from the submitted papers and considering the contribution they make to this literature. Findings Overall, one's these five papers contribute to one's understanding of the issues facing those in business or self‐employment, working in small business or wanting to pursue enterprise. Originality/value Rarely are questions asked about the assumed role small firms play in mitigating social exclusion for a range of groups in society. By addressing questions which explore the challenge of equality, diversity, and difference for small business in their establishment, management, and effective operation using interdisciplinary frameworks and different methodologies, a better understanding of the role of small business in society can be developed.

Eastern twists on Western concepts: Equality jurisprudence and sexual harassment in Japan

A rich source of Japanese jurisprudence on sexual equality underlies Japan's emerging law against sexual harassment. With no law specifically outlawing sexual harassment, academics and the courts have invoked the principle of sexual equality to support their conclusion that Japanese law carries an implicit prohibition against acts of sexual harassment. In developing a legal case against sexual harassment, Japanese courts and academic commentators have introduced novel constructions of equality. The key innovations include relational equality, inherent equality and quantifiable equality. In presenting some of these Japanese contributions to equality jurisprudence, the hope is that feminist discourse on equality can take place in a broader context-a context that does not ignore the Eastern cultural experience.

On the sufficient conditions for the equality of the unassignable polynomial and Davison's fixed polynomial of strongly connected systems

In this technical note, it is established that the unassignable polynomial defined for a not strongly connected decentralized control system is not equal to Davison's fixed polynomial. This leads to a "sufficient condition" for the equality of the unassignable polynomial and Davison's fixed polynomial for strongly connected systems.

Work/Family Reconciliation: Corporate Management, Family Policies, and Gender Equality in the Finnish Context

Work/family reconciliation is a crucial question for both personal well-being and on societal level for productivity and re-production throughout the Western world. This thesis examines work/family reconciliation on societal and organisational level in the Finnish context. The study is based on an initial framework, developing it further and analysing the results with help of it. The methodology of the study is plural, including varying epistemological emphasis and both quantitative and qualitative methods. Policy analysis from two different sectors is followed by a survey answered by 113 HR-managers, and then, based on quantitative analyses, interviews in four chosen case companies. The central findings of the thesis are that there indeed are written corporate level policies for reconciling work and family in companies operating in Finland, in spite of the strong state level involvement in creating a policy context in work/family reconciliation. Also, the existing policies vary in accessibility and use. The most frequently used work/family policies still are the statutory state level policies for family leave, taking place when a baby is born and during his or her first years. Still, there are new policies arising, such as a nurse for an employee’s child who has fallen ill, that are based on company activity only, which shows in both accessibility and use of the policy. Reasons for developing corporate level work/family policies vary among the so-called pro-active and re-active companies. In general, family law has a substantial effect for developing corporate level policies. Also headquarter gender equality strategies as well as employee demands are important. In regression analyses, it was found that corporate image and importance in recruitment are the foremost reasons for companies to develop policies, not for example the amount of female employees in the company. The reasons for policy development can be summarized into normative pressures, coercive pressures and mimetic pressures, in line with findings from institutional theory. This research, however, includes awareness of different stakeholder interests and recognizes that institutional theory needs to be complemented with notions of gender and family, which seem to play a part in perceived work/family conflict and need for further work/family policies both in managers’ personal lives and on the organisational level. A very central finding, demanding more attention, is the by HR managers perceived change in values towards work and commitment towards organisation at the youngest working generation, Generation Y. This combined with the need for key personnel has brought new challenges to companies especially in knowledge business and will presumably lead to further development of flexible practices in organisations. The accessibility to this flexibility seems to, however, be even more dependent on the specific knowledge and skills of the employee. How this generation will change the organisations remains to be seen in further research.

Evidence for follicle-stimulating hormone mediation in the hemiorchidectomy-induced compensatory increase in the function of the remaining testis of the adult male bonnet monkey (Macaca radiata)

Hemiorchidectomy (HO) in the adult male bonnet monkey results in a selective increase in circulating concentrations of FSH and testosterone, and this is accompanied by compensatory increase in sperm production by the remaining testis. We investigated the possible role of increased FSH concentration that occurs after HO in the compensatory increase in the activity of the remaining testis. Of eight adult male bonnet monkeys that underwent HO, four received i.v. injections every other day for 30 days of a well-characterized ovine FSH antiserum (a/s) that cross-reacts with monkey FSH. The remaining four males received normal monkey serum (NMS) as control treatment in a protocol similar to that employed for ais-treated males. Blood samples were collected between 2100 and 2200 h before and 1/2, 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 22, and 29 days after HO. Testicular weight, number of 3 beta-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase-positive (3 beta-HSD+) cells, and DNA flow cytometric analysis of germ cell populations were obtained for testes collected before and at the termination of NMS or ais treatment. In NMS-treated males, circulating serum FSH concentrations progressively increased to reach a maximal level by Day 7 after HO (1.95 +/- 0.3 vs. 5.6 +/- 0.7 ng/ml on Days -1 and 7, respectively). Within 30 min of ais injection, FSH antibodies were detected in circulation, and the antibody level was maintained at a constant level between Day 7 and end of treatment (exhibiting 50-60% binding to I-125-hFSH). Although circulating mean nocturnal serum testosterone concentration showed an initial decrease, it rose gradually to pre-HO concentrations by Day 7 in NMS-treated males. In contrast, nocturnal mat serum testosterone concentrations in a/s-treated males remained lower than in NMS-treated controls (p < 0.05) up to Day 22 and thereafter only marginally increased. Testicular weights increased (p < 0.05) over the pre-HO weight in NMS- but not in ais-treated males. After HO, the number of 3 beta-HSD+ cells (Leydig cells) was markedly increased but was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in NMS-treated males compared to a/s-treated males. A significant (p < 0.05) reduction in the primary spermatocyte population of germ cells was observed in ais-treated compared to NMS-treated males. These results suggest that the increased FSH occurring after HO could be intimately involved in increasing the compensatory functional activity of the remaining testis in the male bonnet monkey.