The goal of this international study was to gain insight into a little-known approach to family home visiting: programs that make use of both volunteer and paid visitors. Using a qualitative embedded multiple case study design, I interviewed volunteers and staff at three such programs regarding the development of the service, and the strengths and challenges of this approach. Key findings suggest that this approach allows programs to provide preventative, universally available services; and to serve a greater number and broader range of families. These were important features given the local targeted, reactive service delivery systems. Common challenges included funding difficulties and some limited communication and workload issues. This approach shows promise as a way to increase program accessibility and impact. Considerations for program planners include the costs of qualified staff to coordinate volunteers and do home visiting, and organizational readiness to deploy volunteers effectively in home visiting roles. / A preliminary exploratory study of three family home visiting programs involving volunteer and paid home visitors.

Cyberspace offers many opportunities but is also a very hostile place for women. Studies claim that women are disproportionally affected by certain cybercrimes and suffer frequent rights violations in cyberspace. The aim of cybersecurity policies is, among others, to protect citizens from different cyberthreats and the EU has a vital role in designing such policies. This involves portraying what issues are seen as cyberthreats and in extension, which issues are prioritized over others. Therefore, it is important to problematize what key EU bodies depict as cybersecurity threats and how they incorporate gender in their cybersecurity policy and strategy. This study uses post-structural feminist theory to analyze the EU cybersecurity discourse and its implications for women’s rights. This is because the theory emphasizes the deconstruction of discourse to showcase hidden gendered power dimensions. It is a qualitative case study that uses the framing method to identify the discursive construction of threats, priorities, and key issues, and McPhail’s feminist policy analysis framework to investigate how gender is incorporated in the discourse. The findings confirm previous research, which states that cybersecurity is mainly state-centric and securitized and gender is silenced in the overall discourse. Among the five distinct frames that I identified in the discourse on cybersecurity, none includes a gendered perspective. No official EU document adopts or argues for a gender-sensitive approach to cybersecurity. Gender is only mentioned with regard to empowering women in the STEM sector, although the European Parliament stresses the need to target cyberviolence against women. The study concludes that a gender-neutral approach to cybersecurity has negative implications for women’s rights, as cybercrimes and violates women endure are overlooked and deprioritized in comparison to a gendered approach. This is because it is more likely that political measures can be taken if the policies and actors acknowledge the gendered issues, which then have positive implications for the protection of women’s rights in cyberspace.