This thesis explores the working realities of gay police officers and performers in relation to ‘gay-friendly’/‘gay-hostile’ worksites and embodied sexual identity, developing an understanding of the meanings gay workers attach to their working lives by mobilising conceptual resources primarily from sociology. Deep seated assumptions pervade current perceptions regarding gay male sexuality and certain occupations. The idea is that there are gay industries like fashion, nursing and the performing arts. In contrast, occupations such as the police and the armed forces are often seen as homophobic, yet a dearth of academic research investigates the lived experiences of gay men located within perceived ‘gay friendly’ or ‘gay hostile’ worksites. Acknowledging this as a missed opportunity for developing empirical insight, I bring to the fore the work realities of some of these overlooked people. Taking the performing arts as an example of a ‘gay-friendly’ occupation, the police as an example of a ‘gay-hostile’ occupation, and drawing on in-depth interview data with 20 gay performers/police officers, I show that the perspectives and experiences of these men allow us to nuance existing research on how LGB employees understand, value and experience ‘gay-friendly’ workplaces, an emerging construct in the organisation studies literature. Focusing on the significance of embodied, sexual identity for the performance of the occupational roles of interest allows this study to consider the relationship between gender and sexuality at work. Literature on the gendered nature of work along with the promising literature on (homo)sexuality in the workplace have proceeded relatively separately, with the exception of the literature on sexualized labour and the commodification of women's (assumed hetero)sexuality in sales-service work (Tyler, 1997). The effect is that the experience and performance of gender and/in/through sexuality at work has been neglected as a topic of empirical investigation. Although sociologists argue that sexuality cannot be understood without reference to gender, and vice versa, few organizational scholars explore the experiences of work with this in mind. This thesis addresses this gap in knowledge. It brings together the perspectives of gay performers and police officers and highlights the prevalence of a „gender imperative‟ throughout the day-to-day lives of these workers. In detailing the workplace experiences of my participants, this thesis also builds on existing studies that tend to focus solely on the general working lives of gay employees. Gay workers face important contextual issues relating to 'passing', 'coming out' and homophobia. Although these are key areas of interest to existing literature, studies so far fail to address these concepts in detail with reference to specific occupational settings. In other words, the research contributes to the area of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) disclosure and management at work. Stigma-based models (Goffman, 1963) are particularly useful here in framing some of the empirical insights of my research.

This thesis explores how mothers and children in the UK are affected by domestic violence, resist it, and actively support one another's recoveries. The focus extends beyond 'incidents' of physical violence, into the commonplace, the subtle and the everyday. This thesis shows that supportive mother-child relationships may enhance the well-being and recoveries of both mothers and children. It highlights the need to expand professional supports that repair and strengthen mother-child relationships. The study is located on different theoretical ground from most research in the domestic violence field. Usually, within the field, mothers' parenting is seen as promoting or not promoting resilience in their (passive) children. Often, children supporting mothers is seen as inappropriate and indicative of children taking on 'adult roles' or being 'parentified'. There has been little attention to the ways that children, along with mothers, may be active in producing the strong, supportive mother-child relationships that promote resilience and well-being. By contrast, this study conceptualises children, along with mothers, as active contributors to mother-child relationships. Mutual supports between mothers and children are viewed as potentially positive and productive. Thirty participants, 15 mothers and 15 children (aged 10-20) from the UK with experiences of domestic violence, were interviewed for this study. These interviews were conducted using a semi-structured, feminist-informed approach. Participants were recruited through organisations that support those with experiences of domestic violence, using a combination of purposive and snowball sampling. All participants were residing in the community, and the majority had never accessed refuge services. Ethical approval to conduct the study was granted by the University of Nottingham. This thesis presents findings that show how children supported mothers, while mothers continued to parent and support their children. The children and mothers interviewed described supporting each other in multiple ways. During the domestic violence, helpful supports could occur even as mothers and children struggled to communicate about what was happening and suffered negative behavioural and mental health impacts. Some mother-child relationships were more strained than others during this period. This study identifies five factors that influenced the extent of the damage caused to mother-child relationships during the domestic violence. These factors centred on the behaviours of perpetrators/fathers (their treatment of the children, the types of abuse they perpetrated, and the extent to which they undermined mother-child relationships) and the impacts of these behaviours on mothers and children. In the post-separation violence phase, children and mothers were on the 'frontlines' of each other's recoveries. Often, they acted as 'recovery-promoters' for one another, especially when they had received professional supports that repaired and strengthened their relationships. Recovery-promotion frequently occurred in subtle, everyday, age-appropriate ways not usually considered in previous research, including the giving of compliments and praise and 'having fun' together. However, mothers and children also described exchanging some supports that may have been more problematic, and not all mothers and children were able to support one another to the same extent. Based on these findings, this thesis proposes a framework for identifying the different levels and contexts of supports exchanged by mothers and children, and their complex, varied impacts. This framework has utility for future research, policy and practice with domestic violence survivors.

Dissertation (Ph.D.) -- The Institute for Clinical Social Work, 1991. / A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Institute of Clinical Social Work in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Abstract This Concept of micro-entrepreneurship deriving from APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation), it is said that the best method to improve women¡¦s economy is to encourage them by involving into it. Traditionally, Taiwan indigenous peoples had always earned their living by farming, foresting, fishing, and herding as primary industries, which relatively caused tribal society an inferior situation and low income. With recent years of social, industrial, and educational change in structure, the development of knowledge economic gives indigenous peoples an option to start their own enterprise, or chances to serve in all walks of life. On the other hand, our government also makes every effort to popularize to start a enterprise and provides plural entrepreneurship loans. After effective guiding and assisting, a number of entrepreneurships grow by 3000 to 5000 cases per year and have higher portions for women. In 2006, entrepreneurship for women is up to 44.9% and not far from 55.1% for men. From 2002 to 2006, Council of Indigenous People, Executive Yuan had issued 822 loan cases in total from Indigenous People Developing Fund, whiled 346¡]40%¡^ were for women. Therefore, entrepreneurships for indigenous women are growing in market. In Taiwan, about one hundred thousand small and medium-sized enterprises establish every year, but only twenty thousand exist. Low capitalization and less-than-five-people micro enterprises turn over faster. Entrepreneurship is easy, but holding achievements is hard. Council of Indigenous People, Executive Yuan had selected 14 successful indigenous women in 2006. This study, thus, focuses onindigenous women who have their own business by using In-Depth Interviewing and ATLAS.ti software. And we get the result that the key factors for indigenous women in entrepreneurship are keeping practicing and possessing great sense of mission for indigenous culture. We have demonstrated with figures of network. This study finds that when surveying their experiences and progress, responders recalled the major problems were lack of entrepreneurship capitals (mainly), lack of turnover capitals, lack of managing experiences, and lack of adaptable talents. Some would think that government is not a helper but a barrier during entrepreneurship progress. In the future, government should let it as a mirror when driving indigenous policies.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 34).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

With its origins in sociological debates about individualisation, personalisation and the transformation of intimacy, this research explores the long-neglected subject of the surnames of married women. Drawing on in-depth biographical interviews with 30 married or once-married women, respondents are found to engage in complex negotiations with cultural assumptions about wifehood, motherhood and the family when called to change surnames upon marriage. Through their interviews, women account for their surname ‘choice’ via a range of, often-contradictory, discourses – thereby identifying marital naming as an issue of tension and struggle for wives, as well as for women considering marriage. Their ‘talk’ frequently calls upon debates of social stability and change, as well as ideas of autonomy and connectedness. Overall, their narratives speak of social control and a dominant institutional structure in life – and women either accepted the norms of naming or dealt with the consequences. This finding was underscored by the responses of 453 people to a street survey. For interviewees, the opposing role of surnames in marking out both individual identity and social connections led to conflicts. Relational identities were often placed in opposition to autonomy. Yet, women more frequently positioned themselves as interdependent negotiators rather than autonomous agents. For interviewees, surname ‘choices’ were imbued with social meanings and were not rated equally – their choice of surname either ‘displayed’ that they were ‘doing gender well’ or ‘doing gender poorly’. However, discussions of gender were largely absent or neutralised in the interviewees’ accounts, while women who kept their maiden names spoke about feeling the need to silence their naming decision. The research concludes that marital naming forms part of women’s exhaustive efforts at ‘relationship work’. Married women were accountable for their surnames as assumptions of marital naming were found to pervade notions about wifehood. Whatever surname an interviewee decided upon, she was responsible for conducting a gendered and classed performance, and her surname ‘choices’ involved both personal sacrifices and gains.

Gender inequality continues to exist in the labour market and this project contributes to discussions on why women are not equally represented in management hierarchies relative to their labour participation rates. Competition is the central lens used to evaluate current debates and add new perspectives to gendered processes in management. As an area of research, competition is largely neglected in the gender and management body of work. This study is important in exploring how as a concept and a practice, competition can operate in organisations and in the individual careers of men and women managers. Informing the thesis is a review of theories including gender performance, individualization, stereotypes and management styles which contribute to building a framework for understanding and engaging with competition and competitive relations. Adapted from Bradley’s (1999) model of gendered power, competition is defined as a series of dimensions which are investigated to research how and in what ways competition is gendered. Qualitative data was collected and analysed with the findings indicating a confused and often contradictory picture demonstrating how managers engage with competition and competitive relations. Within organisations and management hierarchies competition, some managers claim, remains distant from their experiences at work and is not widely discussed. For others external competition located within the marketplace is strongly identified with, whereas other managers cite personal competition and its role in their own self development as the base for their experience. Suggesting competition is a single concept or has a single location for practice has limitations. The model designed and used in this project builds competition as a multidimensional concept which can be explored across a range of activities and attitudes examining how increased visibility and understanding of competitive relations can inform those management practices and policies which sustain gender inequality.

This study aimed to contribute to the small evidence-base on the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) programme. SEAL is a school-based approach to developing children’s social and emotional skills. It was launched by the government in 2005 and has been adopted by schools across the UK. This study focused on the small group aspect of SEAL, which is aimed at children who are targeted for additional practice with their social and emotional skills. The researcher used a non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of two of the small group SEAL interventions, New Beginnings and Getting On and Falling Out. Pupils, parents and teachers completed questionnaires before and after the interventions and, in the case of New Beginnings, around six weeks after the intervention ended. The level of fidelity to the government guidance was assessed through observations and interviews. No positive results were found for the New Beginnings intervention group in comparison with the control group, but there was some support for the Getting On and Falling Out intervention; with improvements in teacher-rated empathy, total emotional literacy and pro-social behaviour. In common with previous research, no effects were found for parent-ratings or for children who had been selected to take part in the interventions as role models. The results are discussed in terms of implications for practitioner educational psychologists and suggestions are made for further studies in this under-researched area.

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