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SummaryNearly a quarter of the world's neonatal deaths take place in India. The state of Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for one-quarter of all neonatal deaths in the country. In this study 892 married women aged less than 50 years living in a peri-urban area of Kanpur city in Uttar Pradesh were interviewed. In all, 109 women reported neonatal deaths. Characteristics of the last neonatal deaths of these 109 women were compared with those of the last surviving children. Also, characteristics of women who had a neonatal death were compared with those of 783 women who had no neonatal death. It was found that as compared with neonatal deaths, the last surviving children of the 109 women had: (a) significantly better antenatal tests during pregnancy, intake of iron/folic acid tablets and higher percentage of tetanus toxoid immunization; (b) safer delivery practices such as a higher percentage of institutional delivery, sterilization of instruments and application of antiseptic after removal of umbilical cord; (c) postnatal care, such as application of antiseptic to the navel and postnatal checkups; and (d) higher maternal age and greater birth spacing. Likewise, better antenatal care and safer delivery practices and postnatal care were observed among the 783 women with no neonatal deaths, when compared with women who had experienced neonatal death. The complexities of inter- and intra-household differences in health care are discussed. The paper concludes that to improve child survival general education and awareness regarding safe delivery should be increased. Continuing cultural stigmas and misconceptions about birth practices before, during and after childbirth should be an important part of the awareness campaigns.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine perspective of "gendered labour process" to explore the aspectsof managerialism, which utilize gender as a control measure to achieve its ends. The paper seeks to integrate gender and labour process theory and contribute to studies on gendering of organizations that focus on organization logic as well as integrated studies of labour process theory and gender.Design/methodology/approachThe paper utilizes thematic analysis as the method for analysing the interviews of senior managers in an information technology service organization in India, to identify managerial ideologies and practices.FindingsA gendered labour process perspective could reveal the institutional orders that systemically discriminate or exclude women in organizations, rather than gender ideologies alone.Practical implicationsRather than focussing on gender sensitization alone, as is the case with the gender diversity initiatives, it may be fruitful to revisit work design and work organization, to identify and implement changes, so that women's marginalization and exclusion from certain workplaces could be minimized.Social implicationsA view of gendered labour process could aid public policies aimed at enabling women to continue their employment without disruptions.Originality/valueThe paper attempted to integrate gender and labour process theory by delineating the organization logic that deploys gender as a means of managerial control.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that Bourdieu's concept of masculine domination offers a comprehensive social theory of gender as compared to Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity through examining the proposition of positive hegemonic masculinity.


Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that argues that Bourdieu's concept of masculine domination offers a comprehensive social theory of gender as compared to Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity.


Findings
The findings demonstrate that Bourdieu's concept of masculine domination incorporates both discursive and material structures of the gender system that privileges men/masculine over women/feminine, making it a comprehensive social theory of gender.


Research limitations/implications
The concepts of hegemonic masculinity and masculine domination have not been reviewed in the light of emerging perspectives on hegemony, power and domination. The future research could focus on a review of research methods such as institutional ethnography, in examining masculine domination.


Practical implications
Using masculine domination perspective, organizations could identify specific managerial discourses, aspects of work organization and practices in order to eliminate gender-based discrimination, harassment and unequal access to resources.


Social implications
Public policy interventions aimed at inclusive development could examine women's condition of continued disadvantageousness, through masculine domination perspective.


Originality/value
The authors seek to provide a comparative view of the concepts of hegemonic masculinity and masculine domination, using the categories of comparison that was not attempted earlier.

AbstractMitigating the impact of pollution on human health worldwide is important to limit the morbidity and mortality arising from exposure to its effect. The level and type of pollutants vary in different urban and rural settings. Here, we explored the extent of air pollution and its impacts on human health in the megacity of Delhi (India) through a review of the published literature. The study aims at describing the extent of air pollution in Delhi, the magnitude of health problems due to air pollution and the risk relationship between air pollution and associated health effects. We found 234 published articles in the PubMed search. The search showed that the extent of air pollution in Delhi has been described by various researchers from about 1986 onwards. We synthesized the findings and discuss them at length with respect to reported values, their possible interpretations and any limitations of the methodology. The chemical composition of ambient air pollution is also discussed. Further, we discuss the magnitude of health problem with respect to chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), bronchial asthma and other illnesses. The results of the literature search showed that data has been collected in last 28 years on ambient air quality in Delhi, though it lacks a scientific continuity, consistency of locations and variations in parameters chosen for reporting. As a result, it is difficult to construct a spatiotemporal picture of the air pollution status in Delhi over time. The number of sites from where data have been collected varied widely across studies and methods used for data collection is also non-uniform. Even the parameters studied are varied, as some studies focused on particulate matter ≤10 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) and those ≤2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5), and others on suspended particulate matter (SPM) and respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM). Similarly, the locations of data collection have varied widely. Some of the sites were at busy traffic intersections, some on the terraces of offices and residential houses and others in university campuses or airports. As a result, the key question of the extent of pollution and its distribution across various parts of the city could be inferred. None of the studies or a combination of them could present a complete picture of the burden of diseases like COPD, bronchial asthma and other allergic conditions attributable to pollution in Delhi. Neither could it be established what fraction of the burden of the above diseases is attributable to ambient air pollution, given that other factors like tobacco smoke and indoor air pollution are also contributors to the causation of such diseases. In our discussion, we highlight the knowledge gaps and in the conclusion, we suggested what research can be undertaken to fill the these research gaps.

BACKGROUND: Despite the provision of maternity leave benefits under the maternity benefit amendment act, its access by working mothers in the community is unknown. OBJECTIVES: The objective is to find out access to maternity leave among working mothers and its association with breastfeeding practices. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional, community-based study was conducted among 150 working mothers with children 6 months to 3 years of age. Chi-square tests and logistic regression were applied to find the association of breastfeeding practices with maternity leave and independent predictors of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), respectively. RESULTS: Paid maternity leave was accessed by majority (103, 68.7%) of the working mothers. EBF among mothers working in government organizations was more (Adjusted odds ratio: 2.3, 95% confidence interval: 1.0–5.1) than in private organizations. CONCLUSION: Lower proportion of mothers in private organizations had availed paid maternity leave as compared to government organizations. Increase in coverage of maternity benefits in the private sector is needed.