Do We Value Our Cars More Than Our Kids? The Conundrum of Care for Children

Formal child care workers in the United States earn about $21,110 per year. Parking lot attendants, in contrast, make$21,250. These relative wages are telling: the market values the people who look after our cars more than the people who look after our kids. This article delves below the surface of these numbers to explore the systemic disadvantages of those who care for children—and children themselves. The article first illuminates the precarious economic position of U.S. children, a disproportionate number of whom live in poverty. The article then shows both that substantial care for children is provided on an unpaid basis in households, predominantly by women, and that care for children is undervalued when provided through the market. After presenting three distinct perspectives on market payments for care for children—(1) a public goods analysis, (2) a patriarchy analysis, and (3) a gift analysis— the article proposes a set of income tax breaks for jobs involving care for children

Extending the Carrel system to mediate in the organ and tissue allocation processes: a first approach

In this paper we extend the formalization of Carrel, a virtual organization for the procurement of tissues for transplantation purposes, in order to model also the procurement of human organs for transplants. We will focus in the organ allocation process to show how it can be formalized with the ISLANDER formalism. Also we present a first mechanism to federate the institution in several geographically-distributed platforms.Postprint (published version

Agricultural extension for women farmers in Africa

Women are responsible for at least 70 percent of food staple production in Africa. They are also important in other agricultural activities, including food processing and marketing, cash cropping and animal husbandry. Women's involvement is significant not only in terms of their labor input, but also in terms of their decision-making authority. This paper proposes a series of operational guidelines on how to provide agricultural extension services in a cost-effective way to women farmers. All small-scale farmers, regardless of gender, face constraints, but the focus here is on women farmers in order to foster a better understanding of the particular gender-related barriers confronting women and the strategies needed to overcome them. Attention is concentrated on sub-Saharan Africa in view of the crucial role of women in agriculture throughout the sub-continent. This paper addresses the question of why women need help -- the role women have in agriculture and the particular constraints they face in terms of access to resources and information. It examines the information needed to modify extension systems to better reach women farmers, to modify the focus of research to address women's activities and to monitor and evaluate programs. The paper also deals with the transmission of the extension message to women farmers and the formulation of the message to be delivered, and the linkage between extension and agricultural research and technology.Agricultural Research,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Primary Education,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems

Empowering Women Through Livelihoods Orientated Agricultural Service Provision: A Consideration of Evidence from Southern Africa

The paper considers the impact of livelihoods oriented agricultural service provision for smallholder farmers on gender relationships and food security. The paper contents that the democratization and liberalization of agricultural services towards participatory, bottom-up approaches, from the early 1990s has brought favourable gender gains to women. The paper examines the background to this shift in agricultural service provision. The resulting gender gains, we argue, should be seen in terms of Sen?s notion of entitlements. We examine evidence of these gains from developments and cases in Malawi and Zambia and draw supporting evidence from Zimbabwe and South Africa. ...gender empowerment, food security, sustainable livelihoods, rural development

Segmented Europeanization: the transnationalization of public spheres in Europe ; trends and patterns / Michael Brüggemann; Stefanie Sifft; Katharina Kleinen

The existence of a European public sphere, a public network of exchange of opinions and ideas on political issues, has come to be seen as a prerequisite for the democratic legitimacy of the European Union. The paper conceptualizes the Europeanization of the national public spheres as a gradual process that may occur on four different dimensions: 1. monitoring governance, 2. mutual observation, 3. discursive exchange, and 4. collective identification with Europe. It then presents the results of our empirical research on the transnationalization of public spheres in Europe: What is the prevailing pattern of Europeanization that can be observed in different countries of the EU? We have conducted a quantitative content analysis of the political discourses in quality newspapers of five EU member states (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain) over a period of twenty years. According to our analysis of more than 3,000 articles the main pattern of transnationalization to be found in all countries is segmented Europeanization: Within each public sphere we find more and more talk about European institutions and policies but there is no indication of an increase in the debate in between the national public spheres. In addition, we find weak indications of a gradually developing European we-perspective. --

Outcome Evaluation of the work of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) on soil and water management in Ethiopia

In 2019, the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) Leadership chose to evaluate WLE’s work in Ethiopia as one of its countries where it has had most success. The objectives of the evaluation are: To determine how and in what ways WLE contributed to the achievement of intended/unintended outcomes; Based on the findings of the evaluation, make recommendations of how WLE (and its partners) can become more effective in supporting soil and water management in Ethiopia; To serve as a participatory learning experience for WLE and its partners. This report describes the evaluation process, findings, conclusions and recommendations