No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Men's View of Female Scientists Work/Life Balance at the University of Benin, Nigeria
Abstract
A survey of men's views about female scientists' family and work/life balance was carried out at the University of Benin, Nigeria. The study focused on male academics in science disciplines. Out of the 10 faculties in the University, 5, science-based faculties were sampled. These are the Faculties of Science, Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry and Agriculture. An instrument on family and work/life balance was administered to a sample of 200 male scientists. The result showed that men realise the fact that they need women scientists to complement their efforts. They also noted that there is conflict between the demands of a scientific career and bringing up a young family. The effect of the prevailing work environment on female University scientists' work/life balance, men's views and establishment of a University gender policy were discussed.
... This created a globalized workforce sharing many similar characteristics and culture. Most noticeable of these character changes include the increasing globalization of labour skills (Castells 2000;Quah 1996 and; the feminization of employment where special considerations are made with respect to the employment of women, and new less secure working patterns (Mishel, Bernstein and Schmitt 1999) Nigeria, for instance, has increased work/life pressure substantially among all the classes of people (Alutu and Ogbe, 2007). ...
This paper examines the role of ICT in the maintenance of balance between work and personal life roles of private universities staff in South-Western Nigeria. Data for the study was gathered through a three-paged structured questionnaire administered to a randomly selected group of staff of Fountain University, Osogbo. It was discovered that ICT has not only contributed to the extension of work roles beyond the work place but it has also created opportunities for cross roles transfer of responsibilities. Using regression analysis method, it was discovered that on a general level, rather than increase the pressure of work on the respondents, ICT (ß = 0.31745 ; p<0.05) significantly help maintain balance. However, the use of ICT for the purpose of working at home is negatively correlated (R =-0.1144; p<0.05) with the work-life balance perception of respondents. It was also discovered that using ICT to work while in transit is positively correlated (R=0.4523; p<0.05) with perception of a balanced work-life by the respondents. The study concluded that usage of ICT by private university staff should rather be encouraged and expanded upon for the purpose of work-life balance.
This article reviews aspects of contemporary theory and research on work-life balance. It starts by exploring why work-life balance has become an important topic for research and policy in some countries and after outlining traditional perspectives examines the concept of balance and its implications for the study of the relation between work and the rest of life. A model outlining the causes, nature and consequences of a more or less acceptable work-life balance is presented and recent research is cited to illustrate the various dimensions. Finally, the topic is linked to the field of work and organizational psychology and a number of theoretical and conceptual issues of relevance to research in Europe are raised.
The Working Group on Women in Physics of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) subcontracted with the Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) to conduct an international study on women in physics. This study had two parts. First, we conducted a benchmarking study to identify reliable sources and collect data on the representation of women in physics in as many IUPAP member countries as possible. Second, we conducted an international survey of individual women physicists. The survey addressed issues related to both education and employment. On the education side, we asked about experiences and critical incidents from secondary school through the highest degree earned. On the employment side, we asked about how the respondents’ careers had evolved and their self‐assessment of how well their careers had progressed. In addition, the questionnaire also addressed issues that cut across education and employment, such as the impact of marriage and children, the factors that contributed the most toward the success they had achieved to date, and suggestions for what could be done to improve the situation of women physicists.
Mathematics is the bedrock of national development. It is a subject without which a nation cannot move forward scientifically or technologically. It has been observed that the level of female participation in Mathematics studies in the Universities is very low and over the years there has been a steady decline. The study involved focus group discussions with the lecturers in Mathematics Department from these Universities from 1995-2000. This paper has established the low level of female undergraduates and female lecturers in Mathematics Departments in the Universities in Edo and Delta States. The major strategies identified in this paper for the promotion and retention of female mathematics teachers are as follows: (a) Early professional counseling of school children; (b) Gender education for parents and teachers; (c) Sensitization seminars for girls in particular. The paper discusses the effects of this shortfall and suggests some of the strategies for promoting enrolment and retention of female students in mathematics studies in the Universities.
Although typically excluded from strategic human resource models, bundles of work-family policies may be an HR approach related to competitive advantage. Symbolic action and resource-based views provide conceptual support for such a relationship. Results from a national sample of 527 U.S. firms suggest that organizations with more extensive work-family policies have higher perceived firm-level performance. In addition, there was partial support for the hypotheses that the relationship between work-family bundles and firm performance is stronger for older firms and firms employing larger proportions of women.
This article introduces work/family border theory - a new theory about work/family balance. According to the theory, people are daily border-crossers between the domains of work and family. The theory addresses how domain integration and segmentation, border creation and management, border-crosser participation, and relationships between border-crossers and others at work and home influence work/family balance. Propositions are given to guide future research.
This paper examines a range of positive and negative consequences for women of Quality Assurance (QA) initiatives in one Australian university. Drawing on Foucaults concepts of governmentality and power/knowledge, it is argued that the popular repressive hypothesis of power via governmentality hides a positive and potentially productive dimension of power. Following recent work by feminist political theorists, my claim here is that a corporatist managerial discourse such as QA can be used strategically for a politics of transformation in the interests of women. The paper begins with an outline of the parameters of debate about and critiques of the QA agenda in the Australian higher education sector, and highlights some potentially negative consequences for women in terms of their structural location in the university. An overview of QA audit processes then leads into a closer examination of one universitys response to QA initiatives. The culture and management style of this regional university was significantly transformed from an informal and pastoral model to one with open systems of accountability and performance targets built around equity issues. In that regard, it is argued, equity target groups including women, became the visible focus of the development and implementation of new systems designed to bring equity into the mainstream. In closing, I argue that in this particular university, the new managerialism of QA was indeed a panoptic mechanism of making visible: productivity, equity groups, procedures and outcomes. But in an institutional context where open systems were lacking and womens contributions invisible and undervalued, the QA agenda brought new opportunities not only for women but for other groups previously marginalised and silenced.
Careers for women in industrial research and good practices of companies. Women in Industrial Research - Speeding Up Changes in Europe
- B Miihlenbruch
Getting institutions right for women
- A Goetz
The Biochemical Society of learning Curve. The Biochemist
- E Dallimore
Career for Women in UK Higher Education. Paper presented during the Association of Commonwealth Universities Conference of Executive Heads at Malta
- J Finch