scholarly journals Bringing Women on Board: The Social Policy Implications of Gender Diversity in Top Jobs

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 744-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
HELEN KOWALEWSKA

AbstractThis paper argues that analyses of the gendered character of welfare states should be broadened to include women’s share of board and executive roles, as well as the affirmative-action policies (e.g. gender boardroom quotas) that help to overcome the gender stereotypes (e.g. women are ‘nice’, men are ‘assertive’) and opaque selection procedures at the root of this. Such indicators may seem beyond the remit of social policy analysis, which is concerned foremost with the analysis of ‘social risk’. However, drawing on evidence from across multiple disciplines, this paper argues that achieving a ‘critical mass’ of women in board and executive positions can bring women’s issues onto companies’ agendas and lead to the adoption of female-friendly practices, policies, and cultures at the firm level. Crucially, these practices, policies, and cultures can help to reduce the incidence of gendered social risks (employment/care conflicts, economic dependence on a partner) and sexual harassment among women at lower levels of the labour market. Thus, the paper highlights another dimension to the social-regulatory function of welfare states which has to date been overlooked, namely legislative requirements on companies to achieve gender diversity in their leadership structures.

2020 ◽  
Vol 02 (02) ◽  
pp. 12-18
Author(s):  
Bilyk Olena

The article is devoted to the study of historical aspects of the formation of the social risk management system. The study is based on a deep retrospective analysis that allows to establish the stages of formation of social risk management systems in world practice. This is of fundamental importance for the rationalization of social policy, and within its framework, in particular, the policy of social risk management. The effective functioning of such a system should, in turn, refer to the historical awareness of social risks, the principles of organization of risk communities. According to the author, the study, conducted to describe and explain the attitude to the social risk management system through the prism of the evolution of the social state, aims to establish not only opinions on Social Security through social security systems, the scale of satisfaction with the possible benefits derived from this insurance, and trust in the institution associated with them. The result of these studies should also be a diagnosis of the attitude of society and states to the ideas and rules of the social risk management system, and in particular recognition of the degree of understanding of the need for social security by creating appropriate mechanisms. Therefore, it is important, taking into account the evolution of the development of the social state, to also answer the question of the possibility of directing other public institutions covering this important sphere of social relations formation in the social risk management system. The author finds in the article that social risk has a historical character, which is associated with both technological and cultural development of the individual. It is proved that the state played a key role in the development of the social risk management system. The stages of formation of the social risk management system are allocated and a scheme of methods of public management of social risks was built on the basis of the performed analysis. Also based on the analysis, strategic goals were identified in the system of public management of social risks, which allows to increase its effectiveness. Keywords: social risk, social risk management system, social security, state, social policy.


1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lester ◽  
Antoon A Leenaars

A study in Canada of the accidental death rate from firearms, and of suicide and homicide rates by firearms and by all other methods, for the period 1975–85, indicated that the rates were positively associated with one another. The results were interpreted using a subcultural theory of violence, and the social policy implications of the results were discussed.


Author(s):  
Huck-ju Kwon

One of the biggest challenges for developing a new more productivist social policy approach has been the apparent absence of a new, post-neoliberal, economic model even after the global financial crisis. This chapter explores the social policy implications of the official ‘pragmatism’ of the new economic model with its ‘institutionalist’ emphases on nation states finding what works best in their own contexts rather than looking to the one size fits all approach of recent decades.


2021 ◽  
Vol 06 (04(01)) ◽  
pp. 72-77
Author(s):  
Iryna Kolosovska Iryna Kolosovska ◽  
Radosław Zagórski Radosław Zagórski

This article conceptualizes modern approaches to the transformation of the social function of the state in the context of the influence of globalization processes, the ambiguity of the formation of the socio-cultural context, the actualization of the latest risks and threats associated with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. We accentuate the inconsistencies and contradictions between the declared social priorities and the inefficiency of the management mechanisms of their practical implementation. The article substantiates the priority directions of the regulatory role of the state in the context of social risk management, formation of social security, adherence to the principle of social justice, and harmonization of interests of representatives of various social groups. Key words: public administration, state, social functions, governance mechanisms, globalization, social risks, COVID-19 pandemic, social justice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 835-842
Author(s):  
Roman Garbiec

AbstractSocial risks are an unusual type of risks occurring in insurance. Their specific feature is the implementation of risk in the sphere of social life of a person with special regard to the work environment. Social risks are an element of research in economics and law and in social policy. The author of the paper shows that the structure of the Polish social insurance system is not optimal and requires radical reform. This paper contains, among others, characteristics of the scope of protection of social risks identified in Poland by Social Security Administration and the basis for financing benefits from this system. The summary of the paper presents opinions on improving the financial efficiency of this system.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kosta JOSIFIDIS ◽  
John B. HALL ◽  
Novica SUPIC ◽  
Emilija BEKER PUCAR

This paper examines the nature of changes within the EU–15 welfare states affected by the 2008 crisis. We try to answer the question of whether the differences that exist among different welfare state regimes, according to prevailing welfare state typologies, lead to different responses to the consequences of the crisis. Welfare state regimes are the result of different institutional perceptions of social risks hence it is realistic to expect specific responses to the effects of crisis among different welfare state regimes, and similar responses among the countries that belong to the same welfare state regimes. In order to recognize convergent vs. divergent processes, we perform a comparative analysis of the dynamics of the key welfare state determinants of the EU–15 countries, grouping according to welfare state regimes, in the pre-crisis and crisis periods. The results indicate that institutional rigidity and inherent inertia has remained a key factor of convergent welfare state processes in countries that belong to the Social Democratic and Corporatist welfare state regimes. Deviations from such a course are the most evident in the Mediterranean welfare state regimes, especially in Greece and Portugal where austerity measures have been formulated under the strong influence of the Troika.


2021 ◽  
pp. 900-920
Author(s):  
Ian Gough

This final chapter concentrates on global environmental challenges to rich-country welfare states: climate breakdown and associated ecological disasters. These common threats add two new raison d’êtres for welfare states: first, that the security and equity they seek should be sustainable through time; second, that their scope is broadened to take account of global equity and well-being. With a few notable exceptions, these fundamental questions have been ignored in the social policy community. I argue here that we need to transform our understanding of social policy in four ways, each more difficult than the previous one. First, we need to develop novel eco-social programmes to tap synergies between well-being and sustainability via transformative investment programmes such as a Green New Deal. Second, we need to recompose consumption in rich countries in two ways: to realize the best principles of the welfare state by extending the range of universal basic services and to work towards a private ‘consumption corridor’ to end waste, meet basic needs, and reduce inequality. Third, we must develop strategies of ‘reduce and redistribute’ to adapt welfare systems for a future of slower, if not negative, economic growth. And finally, we need to develop a global equity framework to meet climatic and ecological threats in a globally just way that recognizes current international inequalities.


This book presents an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship over the past year. The book considers current issues and critical debates in the UK and the international social policy field. It contains vital research on race in social policy higher education and analyses how welfare states and policies address the economic and social hardship of young people. The chapters consider the impacts of austerity on the welfare state, homelessness, libraries and other social policy areas. The book begins by asking what are the pressing racial inequalities in contemporary British society and to what extent is social policy as a discipline equipped to analyse and respond to them. It then discusses the key analysis and messages from the Social Policy Association (SPA) race audit, looking at the challenges facing the discipline, and moves on to examine the experience and views of young British Muslim women in Sunderland. Attention is given to the ‘othering’ of migrants, family welfare resources on young people's transition to economic independence, youths' labour market trajectories in Sweden, innaccessibility to community youth justice in England and Wales, benefits entitlement of different UK families, and the book concludes with the final chapters focussing on the impacts of austerity.


Author(s):  
Pei-Yuen Tsai

This chapter examines the low fertility phenomenon in Taiwan and argues that the low fertility problem can be identified as a type of new social risk. Existing studies on new social risks tend to focus on the social risks that have negative influences on individuals but ignore those that have more negative influences on the whole society, such as the low fertility problem. This chapter illustrates how the Taiwanese government recognizes low fertility as a social risk and how such recognition facilitated the recent development of policies that support families and children.


Author(s):  
Dana Atslēga ◽  
Līga Enģele ◽  

A lack of social skills makes it very difficult for people to function and stay social, this is particularly the case with teenagers, where social networking is an important function for self-development and building up ones’ personality, as well as building a social group in order to fell affiliation. The study summarized various studies and their results on social skills and social networking as well as the impact of social risk families on the social networking process of teenagers. Also, a collection of different music therapy studies and sources for promoting social skills for teenagers from social risk families is evaluated. The selection consisted of the teens living in the crisis center from social risk families, who have received the referral of the social service of Rīga municipality or Jūrmala municipality. The amount of the selection that participated in 12 musical therapy sessions consisted of 59 teens aged 11 to 15 years. The results show that the musical therapy promotes social skills for teens from families of social risks.


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