It's all about relationships : women managing women and the impact on their careers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Listed in 2017 Dean's List of Exceptional ThesesWomen represent nearly half of New Zealand’s workforce, making it likely that a woman will, at some stage during her working life, have a woman manager. She may also manage women employees. However, despite this likelihood, very little is known about the nature of women’s hierarchical workplace relationships and even less about the impact these relationships have on women’s careers. This research used narrative inquiry, relational cultural theory and the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) to explore the relational experiences of 15 New Zealand women and the impact of these hierarchical relationships on career decisions. It was undertaken in two phases. Phase One used a combination of creative methods and semi-structured interviews to explore the participants’ experiences. Phase Two brought the participants together in workshops to develop personal and organisational strategies aimed at strengthening workplace relationships. Phase One found that most of the participants had experienced a negative relationship with a women manager and/or employee. Many of those participants subsequently left the organisation they worked for as a direct or indirect result of that relationship. Conversely, nearly half of the participants spoke of a positive relationship and while these were beneficial, they were not linked to a subsequent career decision. These findings suggest that negative relationships affect a woman’s career decisions to a greater extent than positive relationships. The research also extends the KCM by adding the impact of women’s hierarchical relationships to the career parameters of balance and challenge. Phase Two delved further into these findings to determine that women have genderbased expectations of women managers, such as an expectation of a higher degree of emotional understanding and support from a woman manager than would be expected from a man. In addition, while the participants look to women managers for some form of career support, most were not striving for senior management positions. They were instead motivated by a desire to make a difference and live a balanced life, with the demands of senior organisational roles seen as being in conflict with their relationships and family responsibilities. This raises a dilemma from a gender equity perspective, with research suggesting that a critical mass of women at the senior leadership level reduces the gender pay gap and increases the promotional opportunities of women at all organisational levels. Phase Two identified a number of personal and organisational strategies to better support women’s hierarchical relationships, as one way of enhancing women’s careers. Taking a relational approach, an holistic gendered framework is proposed that situates relationships within the broader personal, organisational, societal and temporal context. Strategies are recommended to enhance personal and organisational relational awareness and acceptance, development of relational skills and support, as well as structural change to better align career paths to senior management with women’s career aspirations and realities. In doing so, this thesis aims to progress the discussion on the ways in which organisations and women can better support each other to promote workplace gender equity

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Photographed by Holly K. Powel

Making progress in genetic kin recognition among vertebrates

A recent study in BMC Evolutionary Biology has shown that genetically similar individual ring-tailed lemurs are also more similar in their scent composition, suggesting a possible mechanism of kin recognition. Theoretical and experimental studies reveal challenges ahead in achieving a true systems-level understanding of this process and its outcomes

The male sex pheromone darcin stimulates hippocampal neurogenesis and cell proliferation in the subventricular zone in female mice

The integration of newly generated neurons persists throughout life in the mammalian olfactory bulb and hippocampus, regions involved in olfactory and spatial learning. Social cues can be potent stimuli for increasing adult neurogenesis; for example, odors from dominant but not subordinate male mice increase neurogenesis in both brain regions of adult females. However, little is known about the role of neurogenesis in social recognition or the assessment of potential mates. Dominant male mice scent-mark territories using urine that contains a number of pheromones including darcin (MUP20), a male-specific major urinary protein that stimulates rapid learned attraction to the spatial location and individual odor signature of the scent owner. Here we investigate whether exposure to darcin stimulates neurogenesis in the female brain. Hippocampal neurons and cellular proliferation in the lateral ventricles that supply neurons to the olfactory bulbs increased in females exposed for 7 days to male urine containing at least 0.5 μg/μl darcin. Darcin was effective whether presented alone or in the context of male urine, but other information in male urine appeared to modulate the proliferative response. When exposed to urine from wild male mice, hippocampal proliferation increased only if urine was from the same individual over 7 days, suggesting that consistency of individual scent signatures is important. While 7 days exposure to male scent initiated the first stages of increased neurogenesis, this caused no immediate increase in female attraction to the scent or in the strength or robustness of spatial learning in short-term conditioned place preference tests. The reliable and consistent stimulation of neurogenesis by a pheromone important in rapid social learning suggests that this may provide an excellent model to explore the relationship between the integration of new neurons and plasticity in spatial and olfactory learning in a socially-relevant context

Study Protocol – Metabolic syndrome, vitamin D and bone status in South Asian women living in Auckland, New Zealand: A randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind vitamin D intervention

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The identification of the vitamin D receptor in the endocrine pancreas suggests a role for vitamin D in insulin secretion. There is also some limited evidence that vitamin D influences insulin resistance, and thus the early stages of the development of type 2 diabetes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eighty-four women of South Asian origin, living in Auckland, New Zealand, were randomised to receive either a supplement (4000IU 25(OH)D₃per day) or a placebo for 6 months. At baseline, all participants were vitamin D deficient (serum 25(OH)D₃<50 nmol/L), insulin resistant (HOMA-IR > 1.93) and/or hyperinsulinaemic, hyperglycemic or had clinical signs of dislipidaemia. Changes in HOMA-IR, lipids, parathyroid hormone, calcium and bone markers were monitored at 3 months and 6 months.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This randomised, controlled trial will be the first to investigate the effect of vitamin D supplementation on insulin resistance in non-diabetic subjects. It will subsequently contribute to the growing body of evidence about the role of vitamin D in metabolic syndrome.Registered clinical.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Registered clinical trial – Registration No. ACTRN12607000642482</p

Sperm competition risk drives plasticity in seminal fluid composition

Background Ejaculates contain a diverse mixture of sperm and seminal fluid proteins, the combination of which is crucial to male reproductive success under competitive conditions. Males should therefore tailor the production of different ejaculate components according to their social environment, with particular sensitivity to cues of sperm competition risk (i.e. how likely it is that females will mate promiscuously). Here we test this hypothesis using an established vertebrate model system, the house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus), combining experimental data with a quantitative proteomics analysis of seminal fluid composition. Our study tests for the first time how both sperm and seminal fluid components of the ejaculate are tailored to the social environment. Results Our quantitative proteomics analysis reveals that the relative production of different proteins found in seminal fluid – i.e. seminal fluid proteome composition – differs significantly according to cues of sperm competition risk. Using a conservative analytical approach to identify differential expression of individual seminal fluid components, at least seven of 31 secreted seminal fluid proteins examined showed consistent differences in relative abundance under high versus low sperm competition conditions. Notably three important proteins with potential roles in sperm competition – SVS 6, SVS 5 and CEACAM 10 – were more abundant in the high competition treatment groups. Total investment in both sperm and seminal fluid production also increased with cues of heightened sperm competition risk in the social environment. By contrast, relative investment in different ejaculate components was unaffected by cues of mating opportunities. Conclusions Our study reveals significant plasticity in different ejaculate components, with the production of both sperm and non-sperm fractions of the ejaculate strongly influenced by the social environment. Sperm competition risk is thus shown to be a key factor in male ejaculate production decisions, including driving plasticity in seminal fluid composition

The effects of graded levels of calorie restriction : II. Impact of short term calorie and protein restriction on circulating hormone levels, glucose homeostasis and oxidative stress in male C57BL/6 mice

This work was supported by BBSRC BB009953/1 awarded to JRS and SEM. PK and CD were funded by the Erasmus exchange programme. JRS, SEM, DD, CG, LC, JJDH, YW, DELP, DL and AD are members of the BBSRC China Partnership Award, BB/J020028/1.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Genetic Basis of Individual-Recognition Signals in the Mouse

SummaryThe major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is widely assumed to be a primary determinant of individual-recognition scents in many vertebrates [1–6], but there has been no functional test of this in animals with normal levels of genetic variation. Mice have evolved another polygenic and highly polymorphic set of proteins for scent communication, the major urinary proteins (MUPs) [7–12], which may provide a more reliable identity signature ([13, 14] and A.L. Sherborne, M.D.T., S. Paterson, F.J., W.E.R.O., P. Stockley, R.J.B., and J.L.H., unpublished data). We used female preference for males that countermark competitor male scents [15–17] to test the ability of wild-derived mice to recognize individual males differing in MHC or MUP type on a variable genetic background. Differences in MHC type were not used for individual recognition. Instead, recognition depended on a difference in MUP type, regardless of other genetic differences between individuals. Recognition also required scent contact, consistent with detection of involatile components through the vomeronasal system [6, 18]. Other differences in individual scent stimulated investigation but did not result in individual recognition. Contrary to untested assumptions of a vertebrate-wide mechanism based largely on MHC variation, mice use a species-specific [12] individual identity signature that can be recognized reliably despite the complex internal and external factors that influence scents [2]. Specific signals for genetic identity recognition in other species now need to be investigated