Suchergebnisse

Previous studies of the impact of gender upon legislatures have shown conflicting findings regarding the backgrounds, qualifications and types of men and women serving as legislators. Women appear to have narrowed the gap in terms of some of these background variables but still face significant obstacles. This study examines the impact of major institutional factors upon the roles of men and women. Survey and interview methodology compare two important aspects of institutionalization: The U.S. type legislature is compared with a major parliamentary system (Australia), and professionalized legislators are compared with the non‐professionalized. The study finds that women have achieved parity with men in regard to education and employment history, regardless of the type of system. However, there are significant differences in incumbency, with women being relatively recent entrants into the Australian system. Moreover, women in Australian parliaments encounter more problems regarding child‐care and marital responsibilities than their U.S. counterparts.

Compares education level, length of service, employment history, marital status, and number of dependent children of US and Australian women legislators.

Assesses the extent to which gender inequality within liberal democratic legislative institutions depends on institutional form, strength of party system, & degree of professionalization. Survey responses from 270 Australian state parliamentarians & 348 US state legislators regarding ideology, committee work, leadership roles, & professionalization reveal a positive relationship between gender & ideology among US Democrats. The data also indicate that women in both countries are far more likely to serve on committees involving welfare, education, & children's issues. While the data reveal no direct gender effect on leadership roles in Australia, they do indicate that women are significantly less likely to hold leadership roles in the US. Similarly, while there is no direct gender effect on the sponsorship of legislation concerning issues of concern to women in Australia, women are significantly more likely to introduce such legislation in the US. 3 Tables, 11 References. Adapted from the source document.

Whether the form of institutional structure and strong political parties have a significant effect on gendered behavior of legislators, based on 1988 US and 1991 Australian survey data.

A key question concerning the marketisation of employment services is the interaction between performance management systems and frontline client-selection practices. While the internal sorting of clients for employability by agencies has received much attention, less is known about how performance management shapes official categorisation practices at the point of programme referral. Drawing on case studies of four Australian agencies, this study examines the ways in which frontline staff contest how jobseekers are officially classified by the benefit administration agency. With this assessment pivotal in determining payment levels and activity requirements, we find that reassessing jobseekers so they are moved to a more disadvantaged category, suspended, or removed from the system entirely have become major elements of casework. These category manoeuvres help to protect providers from adverse performance rankings. Yet, an additional consequence is that jobseekers are rendered fully or partially inactive, within the context of a system designed to activate.