This landscape before me

Poem

American factories and their female operatives; with an appeal on behalf of the British factory population ...

Mode of access: Internet.

The institutional environment and its influence on political options to Protect Winnipeg’s Female garments Workers against the impact of globalization

The principal objective of this paper is to identify the relationship between the re­sults of the Canadian policies implemented to protect female workers against the impact of globalization on the garment industry and the institutional setting in which this labour market is immersed in Winnipeg. This research paper begins with a brief summary of the institutional theory appro­ach that sheds light on the analysis of the effects of institutions on the policy options to protect female workers of the Winnipeg garment industry. Next, this paper identi­fies the set of beliefs, formal procedures, routines, norms and conventions that cha­racterize the institutional environment of the female workers of Winnipeg’s garment industry. Subsequently, this paper descri­bes the impact of free trade policies on the garment industry of Winnipeg. Afterward, this paper presents an analysis of the ba­rriers that the institutional features of the garment sector in Winnipeg can set to the successful achievement of policy options addressed to protect the female workforce of this sector. Three policy options are considered: ethical purchasing; training/retraining programs and social engage­ment support for garment workers; and protection of migrated workers through promoting and facilitating bonds between Canada’s trade unions and trade unions of the labour sending countries. Finally, this paper concludes that the formation of isolated cultural groups inside of factories; the belief that there is gender and race discrimination on the part of the garment industry management against workers; the powerless social conditions of immi­grant women; the economic rationality of garment factories’ managers; and the lack of political will on the part of Canada and the labour sending countries to set effective bilateral agreements to protect migrate wor­kers, are the principal barriers that divide the actors involved in the garment industry in Winnipeg. This division among the prin­cipal actors of Winnipeg’s garment industry impedes the change toward more efficient institutions and, hence, the successful achievement of policy options addressed to protect women workers. 

Quality control of Cotesia flavipes (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from different Brazilian bio-factories

The goal of this study was to evaluate the quality of Cotesia flavipes from different bio-factories as biological control agents. We evaluated biological characteristics of the parasitoids throughout their lifespan, and measured the body length and width, abdomen width, thorax width and width and length of the right forewing of female and male parasitoids. Our results showed that the number of males and pupal viability were similar among the bio-factories; the number of emerged females was greater in bio-factories I and II; the egg-pupa period and the pupal period were shorter in bio-factory IV; and a greater longevity was found in bio-factories II and III. Sex ratio (at approximately 60% females) was satisfactory (in terms of suitability for release) across all bio-factories. For morphometric measurements, the body, abdomen and wing widths were similar in males; however, thorax width was greater in the males from bio-factory I; bio-factory III produced females with the highest body length; bio-factory I produced females with the greatest abdomen width; bio-factories III and IV produced females with the greatest wing length. Among the bio-factories studied, bio-factory IV produced the best quality C. flavipes, with respect to the greatest number of parasitoids per pupal mass (a mean of 57% more parasitoids) in a satisfactory sex ratio, and with the shortest developmental time, which facilitates faster rearing in the laboratory. Studies such as this, which assess the quality of a mass-produced C. flavipes, are crucial for the continued use of this parasitoid in controlling Diatraea saccharalis in the field. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

What motivates female operators to enter the garment industry in Pakistan in the post-MFA period?

Pakistan's knitwear exports had been struggling since the quota phase-out until 2009. A particular feature of Pakistan's garment industry is that hiring more male sewing operators at piece rates. Recently, a few surviving knitwear factories have adopted a strategy of shifting from male piece-rate operators to salaried female operators. In Pakistan, female participation in general workforce is very limited and hiring salaried female operators requires management effort and expertise. However, even in the factories with such management skills, household factors prevent females from working outside because Pakistani culture disrespects women working in factories. Our survey reveals that financial motives compel female household members to work outside their homes and that female operators contribute substantially to their households' finances.

Work, class and conflict: a comparative study of three Cork factories, incorporating oral testimony

This dissertation presents a comparative study of three factories in Cork Harbour area, Sunbeam Wolsey (1927-90), Irish Steel (1939-2001) and the Ford Marina Plant (1917-84). All three factories were significant industrial employers in both a domestic (Irish) and a local (Cork) context and are broadly representative of the Irish manufacturing industry that was developed under the policies of tariff protection introduced in the 1930s and gradually phased out between the late 1950s and the mid-1980s. Sunbeam Wolsey was a textile and clothing concern located on the north side of Cork City that possessed a borderline monopoly within its economic sector and was among the largest private employers of female labour in twentieth century Ireland. Irish Steel was the country’s only steel mill, located on Haulbowline island, a brief ferry-ride from the seaside town of Cobh, and was unusual in being one of the few manufacturing concerns operated as a nationalised industry under the auspices of the state. The Ford Marina plant predated the introduction of protectionism by more than a decade and began as the centre of the Ford empire’s tractor manufacturing business, before switching to the production of private motor vehicles for the Irish market in 1932. All three industries were closed or sold off when the state withdrew support, either in the form of tariff protection (Ford, Sunbeam) or direct funding (Irish Steel). While devoting much attention to the three firms, the central concern of this dissertation is not the companies themselves (though the economic history portion of the dissertation is substantial), but the workers they employed, examining the lives of these individuals both as members of the Irish working class, and, more specifically, as employees of the three factories under consideration. The project can be best described as a comparative factory study, comparing and contrasting the three workforces, focusing primarily on industrial relation and the experience of work. This dissertation utilises both documentary evidence and a significant quantity of oral testimony, breaking new ground by making the workplace the central focus of its investigation. The principal aims of the study are: 1. To document the lives of those who worked in these factories, capturing through oral testimony their subjective experiences of social class and factory life, as well as differences among narrators in terms of gender and status. In achieving this aim, the study will provide a broader social context for its detailed analysis of work and industrial relations in each firm. 2. To analyse the three workplaces and determine how and why each developed such distinct systems of industrial relations at the factory level, as well as to compare and contrast these systems. 3. To examine the nature of work in each factory and to determine how work and industrial relations in each firm developed over time, relating these changes both to internal and external factors. Additionally, the project will provide a comparative analysis of these changes.

Female Entrepreneurship in Australia: Revisited

This paper is a ten-year follow-up on a study conducted in 1995 that profiled women entrepreneurs in Australia (Bennett and Dann 2000). The aim of the paper is to identify changes in demographic profile, motivation and personality traits of women entrepreneurs over the past ten years by replicating a study from1995 and reporting the results.

Geek goddesses go to school : A study of female pre-service teachers in information technology courses

Various reasons have been proffered for female under-representation in tertiary information technology (IT) courses and the IT industry with most relating to cultural moirés. The 2006 Geek Goddess calendar was designed to alter IT’s “geeky image” and the term is used here to represent young women enrolled in pre-service IT teaching courses. Their special mix of IT and teaching draws on conflicting stereotypes and represents a micro-climate which is typically lost in studies of IT occupations because of the aggregation of all IT roles. This paper will report on a small-scale investigation of female students (N=25) at a university in Queensland (Australia) studying to become teachers of secondary IT subjects. They are entering the IT industry, gendered as a “male” occupation, through the safe space of teaching a discipline allied to feminine qualities of nurturing. They are “geek goddesses” who – perhaps to balance the masculine and feminine of these occupations - have decided to go to school rather than into corporations or government.

Chlamydial infection and spatial ascension of the female genital tract : a novel hybrid cellular automata and continuum mathematical model

Sexually transmitted chlamydial infection initially establishes in the endocervix in females, but if the infection ascends the genital tract, significant disease, including infertility, can result. Many of the mechanisms associated with chlamydial infection kinetics and disease ascension are unknown. We attempt to elucidate some of these processes by developing a novel mathematical model, using a cellular automata–partial differential equation model. We matched our model outputs to experimental data of chlamydial infection of the guinea-pig cervix and carried out sensitivity analyses to determine the relative influence of model parameters. We found that the rate of recruitment and action of innate immune cells to clear extracellular chlamydial particles and the rate of passive movement of chlamydial particles are the dominant factors in determining the early course of infection, magnitude of the peak chlamydial time course and the time of the peak. The rate of passive movement was found to be the most important factor in determining whether infection would ascend to the upper genital tract. This study highlights the importance of early innate immunity in the control of chlamydial infection and the significance of motility-diffusive properties and the adaptive immune response in the magnitude of infection and in its ascension.

Self-referencing and consumer evaluations of larger-sized female models : a weight locus of control perspective

In two experiments, we show that the beliefs women have about the controllability of their weight (i.e., weight locus of control) influences their responses to advertisements featuring a larger-sized female model or a slim female model. Further, we examine self-referencing as a mechanism for these effects. Specifically, people who believe they can control their weight (“internals”), respond most favorably to slim models in advertising, and this favorable response is mediated by self-referencing. In contrast, people who feel powerless about their weight (“externals”), self-reference larger-sized models, but only prefer larger-sized models when the advertisement is for a non-fattening product. For fattening products, they exhibit a similar preference for larger-sized models and slim models. Together, these experiments shed light on the effect of model body size and the role of weight locus of control in influencing consumer attitudes.