Acceptable Masculinities: Working-Class Young Men and Vocational Education and Training Courses

<div><p>Theta burst stimulation (TBS) is thought to affect reward processing mechanisms, which may increase and decrease reward sensitivity. To test the ability of TBS to modulate response to strong primary rewards, participants hypersensitive to primary rewards were recruited. Twenty men and women with at least two opposite-sex, sexual partners in the last year received two forms of TBS. Stimulations were randomized to avoid order effects and separated by 2 hours to reduce carryover. The two TBS forms have been demonstrated to inhibit (continuous) or excite (intermittent) the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex using different pulse patterns, which links to brain areas associated with reward conditioning. After each TBS, participants completed tasks assessing their reward responsiveness to monetary and sexual rewards. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. They also reported their number of orgasms in the weekend following stimulation. This signal was malleable by TBS, where excitatory TBS resulted in lower EEG alpha relative to inhibitory TBS to primary rewards. EEG responses to sexual rewards in the lab (following both forms of TBS) predicted the number of orgasms experienced over the forthcoming weekend. TBS may be useful in modifying hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity to primary rewards that predict sexual behaviors. Since TBS altered the anticipation of a sexual reward, TBS may offer a novel treatment for sexual desire problems.</p></div

Gender segregation in the labour market : root causes, implications and policy responses in the EU

The aim of this report is to analyse employment segregation for women and men in the European labour market at both the sectoral and occupational levels. It provides a comparative analysis of trends in segregation across the 27 EU Member States, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and examines the root causes of the phenomenon, the consequences, and current and desirable policy responses. Gender-based employment segregation is so pervasive that distinctions have multiplied in order to facilitate analysis: occupational versus sectoral segregation, overall or horizontal versus vertical segregation, vertical versus hierarchical segregation. Horizontal segregation is understood as under- (over-) representation of a given group in occupations or sectors, not ordered by any criterion, and is often referred to as segregation tout court. Vertical segregation denotes the under- (over-) representation of the group in occupations or sectors at the top of an ordering based on ‘desirable’ attributes — income, prestige, job stability, etc. Finally, hierarchical segregation stands for under- (over-) representation of the group at the top of occupation-specific ladders. All forms of gender-based segregation are considered in this report, although overall and vertical segregation in occupations receive closest attention. The first part of the report examines levels and change in overall segregation in European countries (Chapter 1). It goes on to review the most important factors that impinge on segregation (Chapter 2) and to assess three main implications, namely undervaluation of women’s work, confinement in ‘low quality’ jobs, and skill shortages (Chapter 3). Policies are reviewed and assessed in Chapter 4. The second part of the report summarises the highlights from case-study research conducted at national level on 10 occupational groups, the evidence from this research being used as a reference throughout the report.peer-reviewe

The provision of childcare services : a comparative review of 30 European countries

In recent decades, childcare services have become a matter of serious public concern. Affordable and good-quality childcare services may improve the reconciliation of work and family life and thus foster labour market participation and gender equality. Childcare facilities may also provide an important answer to declining fertility rates, by lowering the cost of childbearing in terms of labour market and career opportunities. Finally there is a growing tendency to see childcare services from a social pedagogical perspective. In this perspective the main policy rationale is no longer the reconciliation of work and care, but rather the contribution of childcare services to child development and socioeconomic integration. The importance of providing childcare services has also been recognised at the EU level. At the Barcelona Summit in 2002, some explicit conclusions and targets were defined with regard to the provision of childcare services. Confirming the goal of full employment, the European Council agreed that Member States should remove disincentives to female participation in the labour market and strive to provide childcare by 2010 to at least 90 % of children between 3 years old and the mandatory school age and at least 33 % of children under 3 years of age. The importance of these targets has been reaffirmed as recently as 2008 in the employment guidelines (2008–10) adopted by the Council.peer-reviewe

Explaining Gender Gaps in Legislative Committees

Legislative committees are often the epicenter of parliamentary influence, so their composition matters. Men are widely overrepresented in prestigious, influential committees, with women concentrated in low-status committees. These gender gaps have repercussions for power, visibility, careers, and policy outcomes. Yet the puzzle of why committees are gendered remains unsolved. Combining insights from quantitative and qualitative methods, we offer two major advances. We develop the literature on committee allocations, providing the first comprehensive gendered analysis. And we show how gender permeates all aspects of political careers from socialization to the political summit, leading to deep-rooted inequalities of power, influence, and opportunity

Gender segregation in the labour market : root causes, implications and policy responses in the EU

The aim of this report is to analyse employment segregation for women and men in the European labour market at both the sectoral and occupational levels. It provides a comparative analysis of trends in segregation across the 27 EU Member States, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and examines the root causes of the phenomenon, the consequences, and current and desirable policy responses. Gender-based employment segregation is so pervasive that distinctions have multiplied in order to facilitate analysis: occupational versus sectoral segregation, overall or horizontal versus vertical segregation, vertical versus hierarchical segregation. Horizontal segregation is understood as under- (over-) representation of a given group in occupations or sectors, not ordered by any criterion, and is often referred to as segregation tout court. Vertical segregation denotes the under- (over-) representation of the group in occupations or sectors at the top of an ordering based on ‘desirable’ attributes — income, prestige, job stability, etc. Finally, hierarchical segregation stands for under- (over-) representation of the group at the top of occupation-specific ladders. All forms of gender-based segregation are considered in this report, although overall and vertical segregation in occupations receive closest attention. The first part of the report examines levels and change in overall segregation in European countries (Chapter 1). It goes on to review the most important factors that impinge on segregation (Chapter 2) and to assess three main implications, namely undervaluation of women’s work, confinement in ‘low quality’ jobs, and skill shortages (Chapter 3). Policies are reviewed and assessed in Chapter 4. The second part of the report summarises the highlights from case-study research conducted at national level on 10 occupational groups, the evidence from this research being used as a reference throughout the report.peer-reviewe