Searching for the Panacea of Long-Term Equality: On the Art of Combining Quick-fix Solutions and Structural Measures to Increase the Presence of Women in Parliament

The issue of equality is at the centre of theoretical and practical discussions in modern democracies. Most political actors agree that the State should treat its citizens equally, in the sense that it should not discriminate against individuals due to certain physical characteristics, such as race or sex. Political controversy arises over what is to be done to bring existing inequalities to an end and to prevent others from developing. At issue is the extent to which governments should promote, say, political, social and economic equality through policies of redistribution and positive actions in order to reach de facto equality. In practice, political inequality, as related to the right to vote and to stand for election, together with broader socio-economic inequalities, have resulted in a disproportionate composition (with regard to certain characteristics) of the legislative assemblies. Discussion of the arguments and theoretical basis for and against proportional descriptive representation in parliamentary assemblies will not be undertaken here. The aim is, rather, to provide a stronger empirical basis for some of those theoretical and political arguments and tools that are aimed at giving rise to some degree of proportionality. The paper will therefore focus on one major empirical question, namely What affects women's presence in parliaments? Answers to this question could be linked to the length of time that women have had the right to vote and to stand for election, or the socio-economic, cultural and political context in which this has occurred. The paper will, however, examine a third possible answer, that is, specific institutional reforms such as quotas. It will first discuss under which conditions institutional arrangements are efficient. It is argued that, for a mechanism to be effective in bringing about de facto equality, it should be given both a hard content and form. That is to say, the mechanism should be far-reaching in its scope, while being legally binding and thus subject to sanction. Then it will focus on one case study: Belgium. Belgium introduced a first reform in its electoral law, enforcing sex-quotas in the political parties' composition of electoral lists of candidates. However, these quotas prioritised the number, leaving to one side the question of how male and female candidates were positioned on the parties' lists. Thus, the law had a soft content with a hard form, and, as a consequence, the increased number of female legislators after the elections was due more to other factors than to the reform itself. Instead, the new electoral legislation introduced in Belgium in 2002, and applied for the first time in the May 2003 elections, had both a hard form and a hard content, thereby ensuring de facto proportionality given that female candidates were granted a number of eligible positions in all the party lists. The last section addresses the last electoral and constitutional revisions in Belgium and briefly refers to other EU Member States as counterpoints.gender policy; European Parliament

¿Demanda insuficiente o insatisfecha? El caso de un programa municipal de provisión de guarderías en Chile

La baja participación de los hogares más vulnerables en los servicios públicos sigue siendo uno de los grandes desafíos para el diseño e implementación de políticas. Existe una vasta literatura documentando los beneficios de la educación inicial para cerrar inequidades y brechas en el aprendizaje, pero existe mucha menos evidencia sobre cómo lograr que las familias de más bajos ingresos utilicen los programas de atención y educación inicial en centros ofertados por el estado. En este estudio se argumenta que la razón por la que se mantienen las brechas de participación es una deficiente gestión de las necesidades de estos hogares, en contextos en los que la participación laboral de los adultos del hogar suele ser crítica. Utilizando un estudio de caso, se presenta un modelo de oferta que incorpora en su diseño estrategias de gestión de la demanda que hacen que, en un contexto de mayor cobertura que el promedio nacional, estos jardines tengan mayor demanda que otros establecimientos gratuitos también ofertados en la Comuna

Strategies to reengage patients lost to follow up in HIV care in high income countries, a scoping review

Background: Despite remarkable achievements in antiretroviral therapy (ART), losses to follow-up (LTFU) might prevent the long-term success of HIV treatment and might delay the achievement of the 90-90-90 objectives. This scoping review is aimed at the description and analysis of the strategies used in high-income countries to reengage LTFU in HIV care, their implementation and impact. Methods: A scoping review was done following Arksey & O'Malley's methodological framework and recommendations from Joanna Briggs Institute. Peer reviewed articles were searched for in Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science; and grey literature was searched for in Google and other sources of information. Documents were charted according to the information presented on LTFU, the reengagement procedures used in HIV units in high-income countries, published during the last 15 years. In addition, bibliographies of chosen articles were reviewed for additional articles. Results: Twenty-eight documents were finally included, over 80% of them published in the United States later than 2015. Database searches, phone calls and/or mail contacts were the most common strategies used to locate and track LTFU, while motivational interviews and strengths-based techniques were used most often during reengagement visits. Outcomes like tracing activities efficacy, rates of reengagement and viral load reduction were reported as outcome measures. Conclusions: This review shows a recent and growing trend in developing and implementing patient reengagement strategies in HIV care. However, most of these strategies have been implemented in the United States and little information is available for other high-income countries. The procedures used to trace and contact LTFU are similar across reviewed studies, but their impact and sustainability are widely different depending on the country studied

Effectiveness and safety of integrase strand transfer inhibitors in Spain: a prospective real-world study

IntroductionSecond-generation integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) are preferred treatment options worldwide, and dolutegravir (DTG) is the treatment of choice in resource-limited settings. Nevertheless, in some resource-limited settings, these drugs are not always available. An analysis of the experience with the use of INSTIs in unselected adults living with HIV may be of help to make therapeutic decisions when second-generation INSTIs are not available. This study aimed to evaluate the real-life effectiveness and safety of dolutegravir (DTG), elvitegravir/cobicistat (EVG/c), and raltegravir (RAL) in a large Spanish cohort of HIV-1-infected patients.MethodsReal-world study of adults living with HIV who initiated integrase INSTIs DTG, EVG/c, and RAL-based regimens in three settings (ART-naïve patients, ART-switching, and ART-salvage patients). The primary endpoint was the median time to treatment discontinuation after INSTI-based regimen initiation. Proportion of patients experiencing virological failure (VF) (defined as two consecutive viral loads (VL) ≥200 copies/mL at 24 weeks or as a single determination of VL ≥1,000 copies/mL while receiving DTG, EVG/c or RAL, and at least 3 months after INSTI initiation) and time to VF were also evaluated.ResultsVirological effectiveness of EVG/c- and RAL-based regimens was similar to that of DTG when given as first-line and salvage therapy. Treatment switching for reasons other than virological failure was more frequent in subjects receiving EVG/c and, in particular, RAL. Naïve patients with CD4+ nadir <100 cells/μL were more likely to develop VF, particularly if they initiated RAL or EVG/c. In the ART switching population, initiation of RAL and EVG/c was associated with both VF and INSTI discontinuation. There were no differences in the time to VF and INSTI discontinuation between DTG, EVG/c and RAL. Immunological parameters improved in the three groups and for the three drugs assessed. Safety and tolerability were consistent with expected safety profiles.DiscussionWhereas second-generation INSTIs are preferred treatment options worldwide, and DTG is one of the treatment of choices in resource-limited settings, first-generation INSTIs may still provide high virological and immunological effectiveness when DTG is not available

Searching for the Panacea of Long-Term Equality: on the art of combining quick-fix solutions and structural measures to increase the presence of women in parliament

http://www.iue.it/RSCAS/WP-Texts/04_07.pd

Are women in Parliament representing women? From descriptive to substantive representation... And back again?

Doctorat en sciences politiques (POL 3)--UCL, 200

Die Rolle der Frau und die konstitutionelle Zukunft der Europaischen Union

Die Gleichstellung der Geschlechter stand in der Europischen Gemeinschaft stets auf der Tagesordnung. Seit Inkrafttreten der Rmischen Vertrge sind insbesondere Fortschritte zur Gleichberechtigung und Gleichbehandlung von Frauen und Mnnern in der Arbeitswelt erzielt worden. Der europische Verfassungsprozess und der vorliegende Verfassungsentwurf sind eine hervorragende Mglichkeit, sich mit dem gegenwrtigen Stand der Gleichstellung von Mnnern und Frauen innerhalb der Union auseinander zu setzen und Verbesserungsmglichkeiten aufzuzeigen Vor dem Hintergrund europischer Verfassungsentwicklung liegt der Fokus des Beitrags zunchst auf dem Verfassungskonvent, um sich in einem weiteren Schritt anhand des Verfassungsentwurfs mit den Auswirkungen des konstitutionellen Wandels fr Frauen in der Union auseinander zu setzen. Im Zentrum der kritischen Analyse des Konvents als spezifische Methode der Verfassungsgebung richtet sich ihr Fokus auf die Reprsentation und Partizipation von Frauen innerhalb dieses Prozesses. Demgegenber beschftigt sich der zweite Teil mit dem geschlechtsspezifischen output des Verfassungsprozesses. Grundlage hierfr ist das Schlussdokument des Verfassungsentwurfs, das daraufhin untersucht wird, welche Auswirkungen es auf die Frderung der Gleichstellung von Mnnern und Frauen hat. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass der Gewinn der europischen Verfassung fr die Gleichstellung der Geschlechter als gering einschtzen ist