Covid-19 : Will the economic impact on women set gender equality back decades?

The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a global health emergency but an economic one. UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shrank by 10.4% in quarter two of 2020 with an unprecedented fall of 20.4% in April (ONS, 2020b). Undoubtably this will have a lasting impact on the labour market and exacerbate income inequalities particularly for women and minorities (Fasih et al., 2020). Emerging projections show that the current global recession will “result in a prolonged dip in women’s incomes and labour force participation” (United Nations, 2020). This could be compared to the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, however, there are stark differences which will have a greater negative impact on women (Alon et al., 2020 and Queisser et al., 2020) such as the sectorial differences in the impact on the labour market and the closure of all childcare facilities and schools. Although some argue that there are emerging signs of optimistic outcomes, such as the shift of household gender norms, the evidence is limited (Schulte and Swenson, 2020; Carlson et al., 2020). This essay explores these factors from a feminist economic perspective and argues that the COVID-19 emergency will have a damaging impact on gender equality, potentially setting back progress by decades. It argues that government interventions that move beyond the traditional economic stimulus packages are required to ensure that the recovery is one that rectifies rather than entrenches gender inequality

Climate change and variability, energy and disaster management: produced risks without produced solutions: rethinking the approach

Accelerated climate change and increasing climate variability is the single largest threat to the international goals of sustainable development, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and disaster risk reduction. Global discourses recognise the need for effective and sustainable responses tso produced climate risks. The risk types likely to occur are known, but only in broad terms - their scale, severity, longevity and frequency are not known. The challenge for policymakers is developing an effective framework within which sustainable responses can be formulated. To address the problems of produced risks a comprehensive approach to risk management is necessary. The mechanisms within the climate change, sustainable development and disaster risk reduction discourses are not sufficiently effective or integrated to respond to this challenge. Fundamental reform to current modes of risk reduction is needed, but this can only be achieved through a shift in the dominant perspective on formulating sustainable responses. This requires a shift to an enabling policy framework that encourages bottom-up resilient responses. Resilience is argued as a tool for policy development that can enhance adaptive capacity to current climate risks and shape energy policy to respond to mitigate future climate risks

Surveillance, risk and preemption on the Australian border

In this paper we will map and analyze Australian border surveillance technologies. In doing so, we wish to interrogate the extent to which these surveillance practices are constitutive of new regimes of regulation and control. Surveillance technologies, we argue, are integral to strategies of risk profiling, social sorting and “punitive pre-emption.” The Australian nation-state thus mirrors broader global patterns in the government of mobility, whereby mobile bodies are increasingly sorted into kinetic elites and kinetic underclasses. Surveillance technologies and practices positioned within a frame of security and control diminish the spaces that human rights and social justice might occupy. It is therefore imperative that critical scholars examine the moral implications of risk and identify ways in which spaces for such significant concerns might be forged

Surveillance, risk and preemption on the Australian border

In this paper we will map and analyze Australian border surveillance technologies. In doing so, we wish to interrogate the extent to which these surveillance practices are constitutive of new regimes of regulation and control. Surveillance technologies, we argue, are integral to strategies of risk profiling, social sorting and “punitive pre-emption.” The Australian nation-state thus mirrors broader global patterns in the government of mobility, whereby mobile bodies are increasingly sorted into kinetic elites and kinetic underclasses. Surveillance technologies and practices positioned within a frame of security and control diminish the spaces that human rights and social justice might occupy. It is therefore imperative that critical scholars examine the moral implications of risk and identify ways in which spaces for such significant concerns might be forged

Gender mainstreaming in action? The Scottish Structural and Investment Funding Program 2014-2020

Since its inception, the European Union (EU) has been at the forefront of the promotion of gender equality. A key feature of the EUs approach to gender equality was the development and promotion of Gender Mainstreaming (GM) as an innovative approach to achieving gender equality. GM has been used as an approach to integrate gender into programme formulation, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation across the EU policy programmes, including the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), which plays a key role for both the inclusion and promotion of the contributions of women in economic development. GM is a well-researched gender equality strategy, however there is little consensus on its effectiveness and its ability to transform the policy paradigm and attempts to operationalise GM have been limited. Despite a large body of academic literature, there is limited recent research which links GM and the ESIF, specifically at a local level. Therefore, this article aims to do that by considering whether GM as part of regional development policy can be utilised as a tool for delivering transformative changes. Scotland’s approach to GM within the ESIF is analysed utilising process tracing and semi-structured interviews with ESIF stakeholders in Scotland. Key findings are outlined for the 2014-2020 funding period at the national and project level.Desde su inicio, la Unión Europea (UE) ha estado a la vanguardia de la promoción de la igualdad de género. Una característica clave del enfoque de la UE sobre la igualdad de género fue el desarrollo y la promoción de la integración de la Perspectiva de Género (PG) como un enfoque innovador para lograr la igualdad de género. La PG se ha utilizado como un enfoque para integrar el género en la formulación, diseño, implementación, monitoreo y evaluación de programas de la agenda política de la UE, incluidos los Fondos Estructurales y de Inversión Europeos (FEIE) que desempeñan un papel clave tanto para la inclusión como para promover las contribuciones de mujeres en el desarrollo económico. La PG es una estrategia de igualdad de género ampliamente investigada, sin embargo, hay poco consenso sobre su efectividad y su capacidad para transformar el paradigma de decisiones políticas. Además, los intentos de operacionalizar la PG han sido limitados. A pesar de una gran cantidad de literatura académica, existe una limitación de investigaciones recientes que vinculan la PG y FEIE, específicamente a nivel local. Por lo tanto, este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar si la PG integrada en la política de desarrollo regional se puede utilizar como una herramienta para generar cambios transformadores. La experiencia en Escocia sobre los GM dentro del FEIE se analiza utilizando el seguimiento del proceso y entrevistas semiestructuradas con las partes interesadas del FEIE en Escocia. Los resultados clave se describen para el período de financiación 2014-2020 a nivel nacional y de proyecto

Teaching, learning, and play in the outdoors: a survey of school and pre-school provision in Scotland

First paragraph: In Scottish pre-schools and schools, through the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence and other policies, it has become an expectation that pupils will receive opportunities to learn outdoors within subject areas and in interdisciplinary studies. This expectation needs empirical investigation. To what extent, in what ways, and with what impacts are schools and pre-schools utilising the school grounds, local areas, and other places beyond as settings for the delivery of Curriculum for Excellence

Nurse education leaders' perspectives on the teaching of numeracy to undergraduate nursing students : a qualitative research study

Aim The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives of nurse education leaders of Australian undergraduate nursing degrees on the teaching of nursing numeracy and how the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Accreditation Standards influence curriculum development. Background Nurses’ numeracy skills are reportedly deficient worldwide, posing a significant threat to patient safety. This is an issue for the education of undergraduate nurses and thus for the nursing profession. The international literature reveals a heterogeneous blend of learning approaches, but it is unclear which approaches are best suited to improve the numerical calculation ability of nurses. In the Australian context, there are no accreditation standards referring to numeracy, therefore, it is important to discover how nurse education leaders’ design and implement the teaching of numeracy. Design A qualitative approach using thematic analysis was employed. The setting was Australian universities that delivered an accredited undergraduate nursing degree leading to nursing registration. Methods Purposive sampling was used to recruit 17 nurse education leaders of Australian undergraduate nursing degrees. Individual, semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted between November 2022 and January 2023. Interview data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six phases of thematic analysis. Findings Five themes emerged from the analysis: (i) indistinct accreditation standards, (ii) teaching basic maths for clinical applications, (iii) a range of bespoke teaching approaches (iv) we’re nurses, not numeracy educators and (v) assumptions about an unprepared cohort. Conclusion The leaders of undergraduate nursing degrees assumed that nursing students would have proficiency in numeracy skills on entering university. However, this was not the case, hence numeracy was an essential skill that needed to be taught to the undergraduate nursing students. Lack of direction from the accreditation council led to the existence of various curricula and an array of approaches to teaching numeracy and medication calculations, which challenged nursing academics who did not consider themselves numeracy educators. This study makes a novel contribution to knowledge, teaching and practice in undergraduate nursing numeracy curricula

The effects of social distancing and self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic on adults diagnosed with asthma: A qualitative study

This study aimed to explore how social distancing and self-isolation measures, aimed at protecting vulnerable groups from COVID-19, affected the wellbeing and physical activity levels among adults diagnosed with asthma. Twenty-seven participants took part across four online focus groups. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Participants reported becoming more health conscious due to being labelled as vulnerable. Their relationship with the severity of their asthma was altered and they reported making positive changes to increase their physical activity levels. Findings suggest there is a window of opportunity to engage with people diagnosed with asthma to promote beneficial lifestyle changes and self-management