Final Report: 1988 Iowa Department of Transportation Organizational Survey, 1988

In June 1988, 1341 employees of the Iowa State Department of Transportation (DOT) were surveyed via a mailed questionnaire. The sample was selected such that conclusions about all DOT employees, male employees, female employees, majority employees; minority employees, employees under age 40, and employees 40 years of age or older could be made. These sampling characteristics were chosen in order to facilitate comparisons between current DOT employee attitudes and employee attitudes evaluated in 1984. In addition, the sample size and response rates were sufficiently high that conclusions could be made about each of the six districts, the Ames Highway Division, and the Ames complex, excluding the Highway Division. Altogether fifty-five percent (or 739) questionnaires were· returned. Thirty additional employees voluntarily completed the survey, resulting in a final sample size of 769. The survey covered topics related to job satisfaction, work environment or climate, skill utilization, sexual harassment, communication and information adequacy, and morale. The first four topics were evaluated in 198- while the last two were unique to this survey.

Strävan efter värdighet : En studie av servicearbete

The focus of this study is dignity in low status service work. Using labels such as bad jobs, McJobs and dirty work, these jobs have been described as low-skilled, low-paid, monotonous and physically demanding with lack of voice and no job security. Research on dignity at work is especially relevant in a time when different ambitions for more dignified work, initiated by political parties as well as unions, tend to be forgotten or down-prioritized. This study investigates what conditions are preventing dignity among low status service workers and how they create and maintain dignity for themselves. What briefly has been found is that dignity can be prevented by unreasonable demands, constant control, exposed work and mismanagement. Moreover, customerprerogative can prevent dignity when employees are being mistreated by disrespectful customers. Dignity is also hindered by frightening customers, especially in the case of sexual harassment, threats and violence. In this study theories about working conditions and professional status are brought together to explain experiences of dignity at work. Service workers do not only have managers to deal with, but also customers whose treatment is reflected by the status of the service occupation. Besides, working conditions and professional status are two mechanisms acting together when it comes to experiences of dignity at work and may thus result in double tensions in daily work.   Acts for dignity, meaning different ways in which the service workers create and maintain dignity for themselves, are reactions to the obstacles to dignity at work. Three different categories of acts for dignity can be found. The identity-bolstering acts help the workers maintain their professional identity or self-image when it is threatened by different obstacles to dignity. The justifying acts mean that the workers legitimize different obstacles to dignity. Finally, the compensating acts help the workers to even out different obstacles to dignity.

The Demobilized Body: Transgressions of Personal Space and Political Participation

Grounded in the intersection between gender politics and electoral studies, this dissertation examines the demobilizing effects of violations of personal space (in the form of domestic violence, control over mobility, emotional abuse, and sexual harassment) on the propensity to vote. Using quantitative methods across four survey datasets concerning Lebanon, the United States, Morocco, and Yemen, this research concludes that cross-regionally, familial control over mobility reduces the propensity to vote among women. Conversely, mechanisms of empowerment such as education and employment increase the propensity to vote.

Can Consent Training End Sexual Violence On Campus?: Students, Consent and Sexual Ethics

The ongoing, potentially worsening problem of sexual violence and harassment on university campuses has emerged in the last few years as an area of concern. Female students have been identified as one of the most likely groups to experience sexual violence and this violence is exacerbated by contemporary student cultures around alcohol consumption and gendered and sexual norms. University campuses have also become central to prevention efforts in many countries due to their relatively accessible populations and an ability to implement social policies at an institutional level.
Many of these measures are based around promoting or educating students about sexual consent, and particularly notions of affirmative consent, expressed as ‘Yes means Yes’. However, there exists little research around sexual ethics with students exploring whether consent is in fact the best way to tackle cultural problems of sexual violence on campus. This paper makes use of existing literature on sexual ethics and focus group research undertaken with Australian university students to argue for an approach to the problem of sexual ethics on campus that is broader than simply focusing on training programs in sexual consent. It identifies a number of limitations to the consent framework and argues that prevention efforts need to more seriously engage with broader cultural norms around heterosexuality and gendered relationships.

Sexual selection in a tropical fruit fly : role of a plant derived chemical in mate choice

The specific mechanisms by which selective pressures affect individuals are often difficult to resolve. In tephritid fruit flies, males respond strongly and positively to certain plant derived chemicals. Sexual selection by female choice has been hypothesized as the mechanism driving this behaviour in certain species, as females preferentially mate with males that have fed on these chemicals. This hypothesis is, to date, based on studies of only very few species and its generality is largely untested. We tested the hypothesis on different spatial scales (small cage and seminatural field-cage) using the monophagous fruit fly, Bactrocera cacuminata. This species is known to respond to methyl eugenol (ME), a chemical found in many plant species and one upon which previous studies have focused. Contrary to expectation, no obvious female choice was apparent in selecting ME-fed males over unfed males as measured by the number of matings achieved over time, copulation duration, or time of copulation initiation. However, the number of matings achieved by ME-fed males was significantly greater than unfed males 16 and 32 days after exposure to ME in small cages (but not in a field-cage). This delayed advantage suggests that ME may not influence the pheromone system of B. cacuminata but may have other consequences, acting on some other fitness consequence (e.g., enhancement of physiology or survival) of male exposure to these chemicals. We discuss the ecological and evolutionary implications of our findings to explore alternate hypotheses to explain the patterns of response of dacine fruit flies to specific plant-derived chemicals.

Multi-victim sexual assault : a case study in rural Australia

Objective: There is a paucity of information regarding cases of multi-victim sexual assault of children. The reported incidence suggests that these cases are rare. The aim of this paper is to provide practitioners with information about effective intervention strategies arising out of the direct experience of managing a case of multi-victim sexual assault in an Australian rural community. --------- Method: A descriptive, case-report methodology summarizing the investigation and intervention in a case of multi-victim sexual assault is reported. A community based intervention arising out of the disclosures of 21 male children is described. The intervention occurred at an individual, group, and community level using a coordinated multi-disciplinary team and natural helping networks. ---------- Results: The coordination of police and welfare services increased the communication flow to victims, their families, and the community. The case also demonstrated the utility in regularly briefing political and bureaucratic authorities as well as local officials about emergent issues. Coordinating political and bureaucratic responses was essential in obtaining ongoing support and sufficient researching to enable the effective delivery of services. ---------- Conclusions: Interventions were focused at an individual, group, and community level using a coordinated multi-disciplinary team and natural helping networks. This provided a choice of services which were sensitive to the case setting. Recommendations are offered for practitioners who are confronted with similar events. While this paper describes an approach for intervening in a case of multi-victim sexual assault, further empirical research is needed to enable service deliverers to efficaciously target interventions which offer choice to victims and their families.

Differences between journalistic and academic accounts of child sexual abuse in Australia

The paper uses qualitative textual analysis to compare journalistic and academic accounts of child sexual abuse. There are seven main differences. Academic accounts suggest higher levels of neglect, emotional abuse, and physical abuse than sexual abuse in Australia, by contrast, journalistic accounts highlight sexual abuse. Academic accounts suggest that child sexual abuse in Australia is decreasing; journalistic accounts suggest that it is increasing. Academic accounts suggest that the majority of cases of child sexual abuse are perpetrated by family members; journalistic accounts focus on abuse by institutional figures (teachers, priests) or by strangers. Academic accounts have shown that innocent sexual play is a normal part of childhood development; journalistic accounts suggest that any sexual play is either a sign of abuse, or in itself constitutes sexual abuse. Academic accounts suggest that one of the best ways to prevent sexual abuse is for children to receive sex education; journalistic accounts suggest that children finding out about sex leads to sexual abuse. Academic accounts can gather data from the victims; journalistic accounts are excluded from doing so. Academic researchers talk to abusers in order to understand how child sexual abuse can be prevented; journalistic accounts exclude the voices of child sexual abusers.

Teachers reporting suspected child sexual abuse : results of a three-state study

Over 3000 cases of child sexual abuse are identified every year in Australia, but the real incidence is higher still. As a strategy to identify child sexual abuse, Australian States and Territories have enacted legislation requiring members of selected professions, including teachers, to report suspected cases. In addition, policy-based reporting obligations have been developed by professions, including the teaching profession. These legislative and industry-based developments have occurred in a context of growing awareness of the incidence and consequences of child sexual abuse. Teachers have frequent contact and close relationships with children, and possess expertise in monitoring changes in children’s behaviour. Accordingly, teachers are seen as being well-placed to detect and report suspected child sexual abuse. To date, however, there has been little empirical research into the operation of these reporting duties. The extent of teachers’ awareness of their duties to report child sexual abuse is unknown. Further, there is little evidence about teachers’ past reporting practice. Teachers’ duties to report sexual abuse, especially those in legislation, differ between States, and it is not known whether or how these differences affect reporting practice. This article presents results from the first large-scale Australian survey of teachers in three States with different reporting laws: New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia. The results indicate levels of teacher knowledge of reporting duties, reveal evidence about past reporting practice, and provide insights into anticipated future reporting practice and legal compliance. The findings have implications for reform of legislation and policy, training of teachers about the reporting of child sexual abuse, and enhancement of child protection.

I got drunk and lost my virginity : young women's magazines and the management of sexual identity

It has often been argued that young woman’s magazine’s, like Cosmopolitan, Cleo Dolly and Seventeen, constitute a significant instrument in the patriarchal repression of young women - their hegemonic success lying in the fact that they appear to be sites wherein young women are ‘free’ from the elements of coercion so obviously in evidence within other terrains, such as the school and the family. This paper will suggest an alternative approach to these magazines. Rather than locating such texts within an overall model of repression and patriarchal domination, it will be argued here that they can be regarded as practical manuals which enrol young women to do specific kinds of work on themselves. In doing so, they form an effective link between the governmental imperatives aimed at constructing particular personas (such as, for example, ‘the sexually responsible young woman’), and the actual practices whereby these imperatives are operationalised. These manuals do not prevent young women from learning to ‘project a unique self’, they constitute a significant source of practices and techniques through which particular types of self are shaped.