<p> In the latter half of the twentieth century and especially in the last twenty-five years, soccer has grown exponentially in the United States. Historically, the country has been lagging behind most of the world when it comes to adoption and diffusion of the sport; however, recent studies suggest that it has been a space of exceptionalism when incorporating the participation of women.</p><p> Studies on soccer from a geographic perspective are relatively isolated and demonstrate a tendency to favor male professional athletes. There is no similar research to examine the origins of female professional soccer players. This study will contribute to filling this identified gender gap in geographic sports studies. These previous studies on male professional athletes suggest that they can geographically originate from areas of lower socioeconomic standing. The findings from this study show a distinct contrast between male and female professional athlete origins.</p><p> Results reveal that the origins of most female professional players can be connected to suburbanized middle to upper middle class white communities close to major cities mainly in coastal regions. From a per capita perspective, the results also show that states in the West produce more players than states in the East. Socio-cultural perspectives explain these patterns, supporting a common hypothesis that most female professional soccer players in the USA are white and come from areas of relative affluence.</p><p>

In this thesis I analyse sub-national differences in the employment trajectories of mothers of young children in Germany (Bundeslaender) and the UK (Government Office Regions and Metropolitan counties). The thesis combines longitudinal and spatial approaches to paid work, and focuses on mothers of children under 6 - arguably the group at the core of the social (re)production of gender differences in employment. One of its aims is to nuance the existing literature explaining the differences in women's involvement in paid work in terms of national welfare and/or breadwinner regimes - by looking at the nature and extent of regional variations in the patterns of involvement that make these countries typical of such regimes. Its specific goals consist in testing the Latent Growth Curve (LCM) framework as a method for modelling variations in participation in paid work over time, then in exploring three possible explanations for the regional differences observed. The respective role of regional differences in the family formation and social position of the maternal labour force, of the availability of suitable jobs in particular segregated jobs, and finally of economic histories in relation to women's orientations to work is assessed. The results confirmed that LCM represents an innovative tool to understand variations of involvement in paid work over time, and revealed significant regional differences, beyond the 'North South' and 'East-West' divides documented respectively in the UK and Germany. In both countries, results pointed at a combined effect of the three explanatory factors analysed. Whilst composition and labour demands effects went some way towards explaining some of the variations observed, at the same time additional regional variations were discovered once composition factors were taken into account. Finally the pattern of association between the remaining unexplained regional variation and aggregate attitudes of women towards paid work suggests an influence of long term trends in participation on present levels of involvement.

Many changes have occurred in the United States trucking industry over the last thirty years. This study examines the effects of these changes by looking at three related themes: life on the road and life at home, body image and bodily health, and the experiences of women and sexual minorities in the industry. This research is based on a discourse analysis of interviews conducted with truck drivers and trucking industry leaders. Most truck drivers say that they value the independent nature of their workplace. Yet the independence that is a part of the trucker mystique is challenged by increased surveillance and the availability of more invasive surveillance technologies to motor carriers and the United States government. At the same time drivers face long periods of time away from home and they experience disconnection from their families. Families must learn to adapt to the absence of their trucking loved ones which is a difficult task. However, sometimes these adaptations can result in positive changes for partners at home, such as increased independence and more authority in the home. The bodies of truck drivers are also examined. Many drivers believe that their image as workers has taken a turn for the worst and the bodily presentation plays an important role in image. Drivers seek to set themselves apart from drivers who they think perpetuate negative images of their industry through sloppy dress and a lack of professionalism. At the same time, there is increasing evidence that the working conditions of this industry lead to unhealthy bodies that are diseased and worn out. Finally, very little has been written about women or gays and lesbians in this workplace. Women represent only five percent of this industry and they face significant barriers to surviving in this occupation because many male workers seek to marginalize them through exclusionary practices like sexual harassment. Members of the LGBT community are represented in the industry and find both comfort and exclusion in trucking. This work also examines the sexual subcultures in trucking such as sex workers and truck chasers.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Bimal K. Paul / According to the UNAIDS (2008) estimated, in 2005, that about 2.4 million Indians were living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). This makes India one of the most HIV vulnerable countries in Asia and thus this problem cannot be ignored. The main purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the awareness about HIV/AIDS preventive measures of female college students (in the 18 to 24 age group) in Kolkata, India, who were widely believed to be members of the low risk group. Specifically, the study measured the willingness to comply with HIV/AIDS preventive measures of the female college students. Few studies have investigated the perception, knowledge and opinions of female students regarding the effectiveness of HIV preventive measures, this study will add a new dimension to HIV/ AIDS literature. In order to assess the information available to the students an attempt has been made to examine the knowledge of the respondents concerning the modes of transmission of HIV and HIV prevention methods. The study also identified the significant sources of information that the respondents used to derive pertinent information enabling them to protect themselves from the virus. A host of variables (e.g. socio-economic and behavioral) have been studied in order to identify the factors influencing the willingness to comply with the preventive measures of these college students. From the results it was evident that religion, income and age play a role in influencing the students’ willingness to comply. This study has important public health implications because the information collected can be used to design HIV prevention interventions that can reduce HIV transmission in West Bengal and other states of India.

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No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Sandra Aparecida Alves - 2015.pdf: 4686791 bytes, checksum: 3de6a8c0144e4ea4c7eaf87df13c210b (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In the last decades in the Brazilian rural areas, the agrobusiness imposed itself making stronger the large properties (estates), the transnational companies and intensifying the use of agrotoxics and the production of monoculture for exportation, instead of producing health food via the peasant agriculture. This model threats the peasants, especially the women that need to work inside and outside their houses because their families need care and food - while the men are used to search for income just outside. The low incomes that the peasant agriculture is getting during the last decades make impossible to the families to invest in technologies and habitation towards better life conditions. The federal government published, in 2009, the Programa Nacional de Habitação Rural (PNHR) - Rural Habitation National Program – intending to reduce the social deficit in rural habitations, but before this, in 2008, the Movimento Camponês Popular (MCP) – Popular Peasant Movement – had already accomplished a important project of rural habitation in the state of Goiás – Brazil, using other program that was, at first, oriented to urban areas. This research intends to comprehend the transformations that had occurred in the lives of the peasant women during the processes of overcoming the frontiers of the private spaces of their houses and gaining class consciousness since the moment the women started to engage in political participation and political organization in the Movimento Camponês Popular – Popular Peasant Movement – to struggle for a peasant habitation. The engagement of the women in the social movement achieved - more than the conquest of the habitation - a change in their social behavior, because the recognition of the active role of women as actors of social transformation is historically denied and this denial tends to exclude them towards a social and political invisibility. The political participation of the women in the social movement enable the visibility of their demands, defeating their isolation by going beyond the private spaces of their lives when they occupy the public spaces of the meetings, the struggles and the political decisions reunions of a social movement. / No decorrer das últimas décadas no campo brasileiro, o agronegócio se impôs, fortalecendo o latifúndio, as empresas transnacionais e intensificando o uso de agrotóxicos e a produção de monoculturas para a exportação, em detrimento da produção de alimentos e da agricultura camponesa. Este modelo ameaça os camponeses, sobrecarregando principalmente as mulheres, que têm atribuições, dentro e fora de casa, pois necessitam suprir a família de cuidados e alimentação, enquanto grande parte dos homens busca renda da “porteira pra fora”. A descapitalização sofrida pela agricultura camponesa nas últimas décadas impossibilita que as famílias façam investimentos na melhoria de suas condições de vida, como na moradia, maquinários, etc. O governo federal lançou, em 2009, o Programa Nacional de Habitação Rural (PNHR) com o objetivo de reduzir o déficit habitacional rural no Brasil, mas antes, ainda no ano de 2008, o MCP já tinha conseguido efetuar um importante projeto de habitação rural no estado de Goiás, ainda que mesmo através de um Programa destinado para a realidade urbana. Este estudo propõe compreender as transformações ocorridas na vida das mulheres camponesas, sua saída do espaço privado para o público e a tomada de consciência de classe a partir de sua participação, organização e luta no Movimento Camponês Popular – MCP pela moradia camponesa. O engajamento das mulheres no movimento social trouxe, além da conquista da moradia, uma mudança necessária no comportamento social delas, a quem, historicamente, foi negada o papel ativo nas transformações, relegando-se as à invisibilidade social e política. A participação das mulheres no Movimento lhes permite dar visibilidade às suas demandas, tira-as do isolamento da vida privada e insere-as no espaço público mediante sua participação nos encontros, lutas e espaços de decisão política do Movimento.