Taking a lifecycle approach: redefining women returners to science, engineering and technology

Measures to support women to return to the science, engineering and technology (SET) labour market have been implemented over the past three decades in response to the overall shortage of SET skills, as well as with the aim of (re)empowering individual women through their improved financial independence and labour market participation. Yet their needs remain poorly analysed and the impact of labour market reintegration measures appears to have been patchy. This paper examines the experiences of women re-entering the SET labour market after a break from employment in the light of assumptions made about them in UK public policy, particularly related to labour market and employment. Drawing on evidence from surveys and interview data from two groups of women returners to SET we conclude that their needs are more diverse and complex than is recognised in much policy thinking and practice, and that these differ at specific points within the lifecycle. These differences include their relationships to the labour market, patterns of employment, reasons for leaving SET and obstacles to re-entry. Our conclusion is that, to respond effectively to the needs and requirements of women returners to SET, UK public policy therefore needs to be considerably more nuanced than it currently appears to be. In particular, policy needs to reflect the diversity and changing situations of women returners over the lifecycle, and needs to provide for a range of interventions that tackle different obstacles to women's return throughout their working lives. It may also be that the very term 'returners' - which tends to evoke a single episode of exit from and reentry to the labour market – will need to be revisited in future scholarly and policy frameworks on women in SET

Disease Surveillance Networks Initiative Africa: Final Evaluation

The overall objective of the Foundation's Disease Surveillance Networks (DSN) Initiative is to strengthen technical capacity at the country level for disease surveillance and to bolster response to outbreaks through the sharing of technical information and expertise. It supports formalizing collaboration, information sharing and best practices among established networks as well as trans-national, interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral efforts, and is experienced in developing and fostering innovative partnerships. In order to more effectively address disease threats, the DSN has four key outcome areas:(1) forming and sustaining trans-boundary DSN;(2) strengthening and applying technical and communication skills by local experts and institutions;(3) increasing access and use of improved tools and methods on information sharing, reporting and monitoring; and(4) emphasizing One Health and transdisciplinary approaches to policy and practice at global, regional and local levels

What do Europeans do at Work? A Task-Based Analysis: European Jobs Monitor 2016

[Excerpt] Europe continues its recovery from the economic slump caused by the global financial crisis in 2008, exacerbated by the euro zone single currency crisis in 2010–2011. In 2014–2015, aggregate employment levels rose faster than at any time since 2008 and over four million new jobs were created in the 28 EU Member States. The fifth annual European Jobs Monitor report looks at employment shifts at Member State and aggregate EU level from the second quarter of 2011 to the second quarter of 2015. Part 1 presents the jobs-based approach, used to describe employment shifts quantitatively (how many jobs were created or destroyed) and qualitatively (what kinds of jobs). This approach relies on breaking employment down into detailed ‘job’ cells, with a job defined as ‘a specific occupation in a specific sector’, for example, a health professional in the health sector, or a skilled craft/tradesman in car manufacturing. A particular focus is placed on the time profile of recent shifts in employment structure. Ranking the jobs according to their wage and educational levels – or a broader multidimensional index of job quality – adds a qualitative dimension to the analysis. In this year’s report, a further level of detail is provided by measuring the intensity involved in carrying out different categories of task: physical, intellectual and social in terms of the job’s content, methods and work organisation, as well as the tools used (such as information and communication technologies (ICT) and machinery). Parts 2 and 3 of the report introduce a new set of indicators on the task content, methods and tools used at work. Derived from international databases on work and occupations, these indicators enable the analysis to go beyond characterising jobs by quality alone – to give a detailed account of what Europeans do at work and how they do it. The indicators provide valuable new insights on the structural differences and recent evolution of European labour markets, as well as a better understanding of labour input in the production process and the changing nature of the skills required. The jobs-based approach has been used since the 1990s to assess the extent to which employment structures in developed economies are polarising, leading to a shrinking middle quintile, or upgrading as the demand for, and supply of, highly qualified workers increases. These are the two main patterns identified in recent analysis of developed economy labour markets, although more recent analysis in the US – corroborated by some evidence in this report – suggests that a downgrading of the employment structure (relatively faster growth at the lower end of the wage distribution) is also emerging as an alternative pattern

The women in IT (WINIT) final report

The Women in IT (WINIT) project was funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) from March 2004 until April 2006 under HE ESF Objective 3: Research into equal opportunities in the labour market. Specifically the project came under Policy Field 2, Measure 2: Gender discrimination in employment. The project was run in the Information Systems Institute of the University of Salford. One of the Research Associates has an information systems (IS) background, the other has a background in sociology. We begin this report with an overview of the current situation with regards women in the UK IT sector. Whilst gender is only recently being recognised as an issue within the mainstream IS academic community, thirty years of female under-representation in the ICT field in more general terms has received more attention from academics, industry and government agencies alike. Numerous research projects and centres (such as the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology) exist to tackle the under-representation of women in SET careers, although the figures for women’s participation in the ICT sector remain disheartening, with current estimates standing at around 15% (EOC 2004). Various innovative initiatives, such as e-Skills’ Computer Clubs for Girls, appear to have had little impact on these low female participation rates. Additionally, these and other initiatives have been interpreted as a means to fill the skills gap and ‘make up the numbers’ to boost the UK economy (French and Richardson 2005), resulting in ‘add more women and stir’ solutions to the ‘problem’ of gender in relation to inclusion in IS and ICT (Henwood 1996). Given that there have been decades of equal opportunity and related policies as well as many government initiatives designed to address the gender imbalance in IT employment patterns, sex segregation in IT occupations and pay and progression disparity in the IT sector (including the latest initiative- a one million pound DTI funded gender and SET project), we could be forgiven for assuming that these initiatives have had a beneficial effect on the position and number of women in the IT workforce, and that even if we have not yet achieved gender equity, we can surely argue that there are positive moves in the right direction. Although we do not wish to make definitive claims about the success or failure of specific initiatives, our research, backed up by recent major surveys, paints a picture that remains far from rosy. Indeed a recent comparative survey of the IT workforce in Germany, Holland and the UK indicates that women are haemorrhaging out of the UK IT workforce (Platman and Taylor 2004). From a high point of 100,892 women in the UK IT workforce in 1999, Platman and Taylor (ibid., 8) report a drop to 53,759 by 2003. As the IT industry was moving into recession anyway, the number of men in the industry has also declined, but by nothing like as much, so the figures for women are stark. When it comes to number crunching who is employed in the UK IT sector and when trying to make historical comparisons, the first obstacle is defining the sector itself. Studies vary quite substantially in the number of IT workers quoted suggesting there is quite a bit of variation in what is taken to be an IT job. The IT industry has experienced considerable expansion over the past twenty years. In spring 2003 in Britain, it was estimated that almost 900,000 people worked in ICT firms, and there were over 1 million ICT workers, filling ICT roles in any sector (e-Skills UK, 2003). This growth has resulted in talk of a ‘skills shortage’ requiring the ‘maximization’ of the workforce to its full potential: ‘You don’t just need pale, male, stale guys in the boardroom but a diversity of views’ (Stone 2004). In spring 2003 the Equal Opportunities Commission estimated there to be 151,000 women working in ICT occupations compared with 834,000 men (clearly using a different, much wider job definition from that of Platman and Taylor (2004)) , whilst in the childcare sector, there were less than 10,000 men working in these occupations, compared with 297,000 women (EOC 2004). It is estimated that the overall proportion of women working in ICT occupations is 15% (EOC 2004). In the UK, Office of National Statistics (ONS) statistics indicate that women accounted for 30% of IT operations technicians, but a mere 15% of ICT Managers and only 11% of IT strategy and planning professionals (EOC 2004). Although women are making inroads into technical and senior professions there remains a ‘feminisation’ of lower level jobs, with a female majority in operator and clerical roles and a female minority in technical and managerial roles (APC 2004).

ICT Intensity and New Zealand's Productivity Malaise: Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

This paper contributes to the conflicting international evidence on the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on labour productivity (LP) growth. We examine the link between ICT intensity and New Zealand's LP growth in 29 industries over the period 1988-2003, and over relevant sub-periods. After deriving an ICT intensity index to classify industries into 'more ICT intensive' and 'less ICT intensive', we compare LP growth rates for these two industry categories. We also employ dummy variable regression models to more formally test the relationships between ICT intensity and LP growth. The results prove sensitive to the time period specified. When breaks in the data series are taken into account, there is support for the view that LP growth of more ICT intensive industries has improved over time relative to that of other industries, even though overall LP growth was weak. Lack of LP growth per se, therefore, is not necessarily evidence against the beneficial productivity impacts of ICT

ICT cluster developments in European cities during the 1990's: developoment patterns and policy lessons

The paper is based on a research project called "MUTEIS"(Macro-economic and Urban Trends in Europe's Information Society), a research project designed to get a better understanding of the different patterns of growth of cities and their ICT clusters in 12 urban regions across Europe. The research reveals developments over the 1990's, starting a few years before the dot.com hype, end ending with the first signs of the dot.com crises. The paper is based on the results of fieldwork in two different kind of regions in Finland, Ireland, Sweden and The Netherlands. One region being the national frontrunner in taking up ICT, the other being more remote, but apparently successful in ICT too. While Europe as a whole seems to have been slow in its transition towards the new, digital economy, these smaller European economies actually witnessed a rapid uptake in computer- and internet use and in ICT investment more generally over the second half of the 1990's, accompanied by a remarkable growth and employment performance over those same years. However, behind the aggregate stories of success, sometimes initiated by the private sector, sometimes by public authorities, we can see significant differences in the regional and urban development patterns in the field of ICT- and Internet use. We aim to get a better understanding of these disparities. What are the triggers for growth of an ICT-cluster? How does it affect the growth of the region - and vice versa? Which parameters constitute the critical factors for a region's success - or failure? What do the development roadmaps look like? Are they market-driven or government-driven, or rather based on new forms of partnership? How about the impact of the European and national institutional frameworks? Does policy matter? The quantitative part of the analysis is based on statistical data. It describes the size, composition and growth patterns of the ICT sectors over the 1990's. The paper reveals some interesting findings relative to the size, the location and the national hierarchy of urban regions themselves. This is followed by an in-depth analyses of qualitative differences between the ICT-clusters in the urban regions. This part of the paper is based on available data, existing documents and approx. 20 interviews in each region. The successful regions witnessed a more rapid diffusion of IST goods and services throughout their economies, appeared to be better equipped to exploit some of the new digital growth opportunities, adapted existing "old" economic activities to the new e-business environment and more generally learnt more from the new opportunities to exploit those advantages across the European Union. Furthermore, the national policy makers appeared to be more aware of the increasingly limited degrees of freedom of their national policy actions, liberalising more rapidly their national telecommunications monopolies.

Stimulating innovation in Russia: the role of institutions and policies

This paper examines the potential role of innovation policy in enhancing long-term productivity growth in Russia. It begins by exploring the role of framework conditions for business in encouraging innovative activities, particularly with respect to intellectual property rights and competition. Realising Russia’s innovation potential will also require reform of the large public science sector. This raises issues pertaining to the organisation and financing of public research bodies and, in particular, to the incentives and opportunities they face in commercialising the results of their research. Finally, the paper looks at the potential role of direct interventions, such as special economic zones and technoparks, as well as the scope for improving the tax regime for private-sector R&D