Does economic geography matter for Pakistan? a spatial exploratory analysis of income and education inequalities

Generally, econometric studies on socio-economic inequalities consider regions as independent entities, ignoring the likely possibility of spatial interaction between them. This interaction may cause spatial dependency or clustering, which is referred to as spatial autocorrelation. This paper analyzes for the first time, the spatial clustering of income, income inequality, education, human development, and growth by employing spatial exploratory data analysis (ESDA) techniques to data on 98 Pakistani districts. By detecting outliers and clusters, ESDA allows policy makers to focus on the geography of socio-economic regional characteristics. Global and local measures of spatial autocorrelation have been computed using the Moran’s I and the Geary’s C index to obtain estimates of the spatial autocorrelation of spatial disparities across districts. The overall finding is that the distribution of district wise income inequality, income, education attainment, growth, and development levels, exhibits a significant tendency for socio-economic inequalities and human development levels to cluster in Pakistan (i.e. the presence of spatial autocorrelation is confirmed).Spatial effects; spatial exploratory analysis; spatial disparities; income inequality; education inequality; spatial autocorrelation

“Students’, Parents’ and EFL Teachers’ Perceptions about the Project of Learning English From Grade 1 in Bahraini Primary Government Schools”

The purpose of this case study is to explore the perceptions of Bahraini students, parents and English as a Foreign Language, EFL, teachers about the project of learning English starting from Grade 1 in Bahraini primary government schools. This case study describes and analyses the similarities and differences between the perceptions of all participants. Data was collected from self-completed questionnaires and interviews from students, parents and teachers were analysed. The sample consisted of 262 Grade 6 students with whom the project was applied, 234 parents whose children have been part of the project, 69 parents whose children were not part of the project, and four Bahraini EFL teachers who have been applying the project since it first started in September 2004. The study administered semi-structured interviews for the EFL teachers and Likert-scale questionnaires for students and parents. Interpretation of the data revealed that the participants have a positive stance towards the project. They agreed on the advantages of starting English from Grade 1. They also revealed the perceived importance of learning English from an early age for the future of both their children and the future of Bahrain. The participants expressed their concerns about the project’s textbooks and claimed that they lacked aspects of the Bahraini culture. The parents of the students who were not part of the project had divergent perceptions towards the project. They approved of the advantages of the project of learning English from Grade 1 but were perturbed that their children were not part of it. The EFL teachers stated that the project needed some improvements because it had not been developed since it was first applied in 2004. The study recommends giving voice to the EFL teachers in the improvement of the project by involving them in the project’s developmental plans and processes. The study also recommends adjusting the project’s English language textbooks to include the Bahraini culture and heritage and not just the culture of English speaking countries

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Employment Discrimination Faced by Muslim Women Wearing the Hijab: Exploratory Meta-Analysis

Abstract With the recent increase in global immigrant and refugees, there are many Muslim women seeking employment in Western countries. However, those who wear the hijab often struggle to secure work, which may be in part due to Islamophobic discrimination. However, there is limited research on this phenomenon. The current study tested the hypothesis that Muslim women who wear the hijab are disadvantaged in employment processes relative to their counterparts who do not wear the hijab. A meta-analysis synthesized the findings of seven studies published between 2010 and 2019. The estimate was sample-weighted and pooled among experimental studies that were deemed the most internally valid. The findings suggest that the chances of being hired and so gainfully employed were 40% lower among Muslim women wearing the hijab than they were among, otherwise similar, Muslim women not wearing the hijab: relative risk (RR) = 0.60 within a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.54, 0.67. This religion-based discrimination effect was deemed hugely significant in human, public health, and policy senses. Immigration trends suggest that millions of Muslim women in the West likely experienced such employment discrimination between 2010 and 2019, and millions will likely suffer in the same way if policy status quos are retained. Based on participants’ responses, much of the employment discrimination experienced by Muslim women who wear the hijab is due largely to potential employers’ prejudicial reactions to the hijab itself. Practice and policy implications and future research needs are discussed. Keywords: Employment, discrimination, hijab, headscarf, Muslim wome

Human rights in health systems frameworks: what is there, what is missing and why does it matter?

Global initiatives and recent G8 commitments to health systems strengthening have brought increased attention to factors affecting health system performance. While equity concerns and human rights language appear often in the global health discourse, their inclusion in health systems efforts beyond rhetorical pronouncements is limited. Building on recent work assessing the extent to which features compatible with the right to health are incorporated into national health systems, we examine how health systems frameworks have thus far integrated human rights concepts and human rights-based approaches to health in their conceptualisation. Findings point to the potential value of the inclusion of human rights in these articulations to increase the participation or involvement of clients in health systems, to broaden the concept of equity, to bring attention to laws and policies beyond regulation and to strengthen accountability mechanisms

Does economic geography matter for Pakistan? a spatial exploratory analysis of income and education inequalities

Generally, econometric studies on socio-economic inequalities consider regions as independent entities, ignoring the likely possibility of spatial interaction between them. This interaction may cause spatial dependency or clustering, which is referred to as spatial autocorrelation. This paper analyzes for the first time, the spatial clustering of income, income inequality, education, human development, and growth by employing spatial exploratory data analysis (ESDA) techniques to data on 98 Pakistani districts. By detecting outliers and clusters, ESDA allows policy makers to focus on the geography of socio-economic regional characteristics. Global and local measures of spatial autocorrelation have been computed using the Moran’s I and the Geary’s C index to obtain estimates of the spatial autocorrelation of spatial disparities across districts. The overall finding is that the distribution of district wise income inequality, income, education attainment, growth, and development levels, exhibits a significant tendency for socio-economic inequalities and human development levels to cluster in Pakistan (i.e. the presence of spatial autocorrelation is confirmed)

Does economic geography matter for Pakistan? a spatial exploratory analysis of income and education inequalities

Generally, econometric studies on socio-economic inequalities consider regions as independent entities, ignoring the likely possibility of spatial interaction between them. This interaction may cause spatial dependency or clustering, which is referred to as spatial autocorrelation. This paper analyzes for the first time, the spatial clustering of income, income inequality, education, human development, and growth by employing spatial exploratory data analysis (ESDA) techniques to data on 98 Pakistani districts. By detecting outliers and clusters, ESDA allows policy makers to focus on the geography of socio-economic regional characteristics. Global and local measures of spatial autocorrelation have been computed using the Moran’s I and the Geary’s C index to obtain estimates of the spatial autocorrelation of spatial disparities across districts. The overall finding is that the distribution of district wise income inequality, income, education attainment, growth, and development levels, exhibits a significant tendency for socio-economic inequalities and human development levels to cluster in Pakistan (i.e. the presence of spatial autocorrelation is confirmed)

Association of oxidative stress with female infertility - a case control study

Objective: To compare stress markers and reproductive hormones in fertile and infertile females, and to relate the markers with age, duration and cause of infertility, and body mass index..Methods: The case-control study was conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from March 2017 to February 2018. Females aged 16-50 years regardless of ethnic background were recruited from the Australian Concept Infertility Medical Centre, Karachi, and were equally divided into infertile cases group A, and fertile controls group B. Serum follicular stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, estradiol, glutathione reductase and cortisol were measured using enzyme-linked innmunosorbent assay. SPSS 19 was used for statistical analysis..Results: There were 328 female subjects divided into two equal groups of 164(50%). Serum luteinizing hormone and cortisol was higher in the group A than in group B (p\u3c0.001). Serum glutathione reductase was low in group A compared to group B (p\u3c0.001). Duration of infertility, serum levels of glutathione reductase and cortisol were also significantly different among infertile females when distributed on the basis of cause of infertility (p\u3c0.05). Serum cortisol had negative correlation with glutathione reductase (p\u3c0.001). Age and body mass index had a positive correlation with serum cortisol (p=0.035; p=0.63), while there was a negative correlation with glutathione reductase (p = -0.732)..Conclusions: Prolonged duration of infertility, age of females and body mass index enhanced the production of stress hormones and decreased antioxidant activity which augmented the risk of infertility