This study draws on an ecological framework in testing relationships between individual, family, and community characteristics and the likelihood of women experiencing domestic violence in Peru. The sample of 15,991 women was taken from the 2000 Peru Demographic and Health Survey. Logistic regression models revealed that at the individual level, low educational attainment, early union formation, and a violent family background increase a woman's likelihood of abuse. Family-level risk markers include cohabitation, large family size, partner alcohol consumption, employment, and a woman's having higher status than her husband. At the community level, living in a noncoastal area and having an urban residence increase the likelihood of abuse.

No abstract

No abstract

A recent ideological revolution promoting women's status has raised questions concerning determinants of autonomy and their implications for policy formation. This study seeks to identify objective indicators determinant of autonomy, and then examine their relationship in light of women's subjective experiences of autonomy. Potential determinants include education, literacy, household size, age at marriage, employment, and socioeconomic status. Analyses are based on these data sets: the 2000 Bolivia Family Interaction and Children's Well-Being (FICW) Survey, the 2000 Peru Demographic Health Survey and the 1997/1998 Nicaraguan Demographic and Health Survey. Our findings indicate that autonomy is multidimensional. Utilizing Structural equation modeling, we identify two major domains autonomy: decision-making autonomy and personal autonomy in Bolivia, and family autonomy and public autonomy in Nicaragua and Peru. This study shows that each of our specified determinants has some influence on autonomy, with education and socioeconomic status being the most important. We conclude that policies designed to change educational, economic, and familial characteristics of women will only have a modest impact on women's overall sense of autonomy.In recent years there has been an ideological revolution in theories of human rights. This ideological shift has been accompanied by efforts to improve the status of women worldwide. While governments, researchers, and volunteers have implemented programs and policies aimed to better the lives of women in developing countries, their efforts have produced varying results (Blim 2001;Emadi 1993;Safa 1995). A shortcoming manifest in these efforts is that we still do not know much about which types of policies are most effective. This is mostly due to inadequate -and often contradictory -information available about which familial, educational, and economic factors affect women's status.The success of social reform policies relies upon a firm understanding of how specific indicators of autonomy interact with women's actual experiences. Potential policies might be aimed at educational Population Research and Policy Review (2005) 24: 283-300 Ó Springer 2005

For the sixty-five million Americans with a criminal record, it is cruelly ironic that perhaps the most important resource for turning their lives around-employment-is also often the most elusive. Shut out from legitimate job opportunities, many ex-offenders resort to illegal means of survival that hasten their return to prison. Recidivism has devastating consequences not only for the individual offender, but also the family, the community, and society at large. This article proposes three amendments to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that seek to balance ex-offenders' need for employment with employers' safety concerns. First, employers should be prohibited from discriminating against an ex-offender whose criminal record is not directly related to the job in question or who does not pose an unreasonable threat to property or to the safety of others. Second, employer inquiries about an applicant's criminal record should be delayed until after at least one job interview. Third, a negligent hiring provision should be added to Title VII that creates a rebuttable presumption against negligence and that caps damages in certain cases. These measures represent a sensible, middle-of-the-road approach that promotes the employment of ex-offenders in appropriate cases, while ensuring that neither employers nor the public are unduly burdened as a result.