Suchergebnisse

In this paper, I examine the dairy cow, her body and disposition, with a specific focus on the way we humans have designed her for our purposes, through the use of selective breeding and reproductive technology. I will also examine the consequences of this design for the health and welfare of the dairy cow and her calf. I will conduct this examination through the concept of 'naturalistic mystification', which I will use to challenge the dominant, hegemonic message, which presents the cow as natural, and milk as a nonharm product. Rather, I will demonstrate that the cow and her milk are the creation of human intention, effort and the application of technology with a view to using the animal for gain, and that while these technologies have greatly increased the milk yields of dairy herds, it has come at a high cost to the dairy cow and her calf. This design project is now embedded in a variety of social, legal, political and economic institutions, which work to mystify the materiality of human interference and the exploitation of the animal. Its scope and impact will be demonstrated through an examination of the historical changes wrought on the body of the dairy cow over many centuries.

The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health was established to track the health of three age cohorts of Australian women - 40,000 in total - over a twenty year period. It provides opportunities for research into health and related issues for women. In this paper, we investigate (1) baseline data from the young cohort of 1400 survey participants and (2) follow up in-depth interview data from a small sample of 57 of the original respondents. The focus of the paper is on the aspirations of young women (aged 18-23) for work, their ideal job, relationships (including children) and further education, particularly in the context of gender inequality in labour markets.Through an analysis of the data, we look at the extent to which gender inequalities are the result of free choices and preferences and to what extent they are conditioned by socio-economic structures and processes that reproduce inequalities over time. This issue is further explored through a classification of women by socio- economic status. In this way, we can analyse the gender dimension of labour market inequality in general as well as the relationship of gender inequality to class inequality in the areas of work, work choice and the ability to combine work and family responsibilities. Analysis of the two data sets sheds light on debates about women's workforce participation as well as establishing baseline data for future research on the options chosen and available for this group of young women. The results will have significance for policy debates in several areas, including those concerned with worker entitlements, childcare, access to higher education and workforce planning. More particularly, it makes a significant contribution to the current debate, initiated by Catherine Hakim, about women's supposed preference for part-time rather than full-time work.