Four critical success factors were identified relating to disclosure, the employment relationship, freedom from discrimination and workplace flexibility.

No abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues arising for women and men in senior management in New Zealand and Australian universities where life course and career trajectories intersect, and analyses how the stereotypical masculinist culture of universities can create additional problems for women. Design/methodology/approach – The data presented here comes from 47 interviews undertaken with women (27) and men (20) senior managers – a total of 26 interviews from New Zealand universities and 21 from Australian universities. “Senior Management” was defined in this study as those academic managers with university wide responsibilities, who were currently in senior management positions. Findings – Life-course issues for women aspiring to senior management roles in universities are framed around hegemonic constructions of masculinity; notions of academic careers subsuming personal life in professional roles; and structural constraints making rational choice impossible for many women. Furthermore, the excessive hours worked in such roles equate with the definition of extreme jobs. The paper concludes that the way in which women and men in senior HE endeavour to balance work and family life differs but creates issues for them both. Research limitations/implications – The structure and operation of Australian and New Zealand universities make gender diversity and management difficult to operationalise, given the competing imperatives of work and other life course trajectories. It is crucial to reframe life course and career intersections are conceptualised to ensure that diversity can be maximised. Originality/value – This paper focuses on women and men in senior management positions in New Zealand and Australian universities, but the findings can be generalised to other countries with HE systems based on the British University model. In discussing how institutional culture affects the intersection of career and life course trajectories, this paper highlights the detrimental outcomes for individuals and the resultant lack of diversity in the sector.

No abstract

No abstract

Late antenatal care attendance could be linked to Pacific women having higher rates of perinatal mortality, premature delivery and birth complications ( Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee (PMMRC), 2010 ). Aim: To explore, in depth, the attitudes of Samoan women towards antenatal and midwifery care. Methods: A qualitative study, where individual face-to-face audio-recorded interviews were conducted in either English or Samoan with 40 Samoan women and 10 key informants from professional organisations and midwifery practice. Results: Most women in this study did not have complications with their pregnancies and attended their first antenatal appointment in their first trimester of pregnancy. Fewer women attended antenatal care later in their pregnancies (15th week of pregnancy or after), but this group did not experience pregnancy complications either. The Samoan women viewed pregnancy as wellness and very few of them had planned their pregnancy. Although most participants did not relate to the content of mainstream antenatal classes because they were not culturally appropriate, they were satisfied with their midwifery care. Conclusions: While it is generally assumed that early attendance at antenatal care services is related to good pregnancy outcomes, this research tends to suggest that this is not always the case. Most of the Samoan women in the study had not planned their pregnancy and pregnancy was not considered to be an ‘illness’. Because they felt well during pregnancy, these women did not see the need to attend antenatal classes and did not necessarily register with antenatal services early in their pregnancy. Regardless of when they first accessed antenatal care services, most of the women had healthy pregnancies and were happy with the service provided by their midwives.

No abstract

Professional training has long been the target for evaluation. However, most evaluation of training is confined to simple end-of-course data collection and superficial analysis. We argue that evaluations that rely heavily on end-of-course data collection can provide useful findings if they are well designed. This involves thinking clearly about the variables that are to be measured, translating them into measures, and ‘making sense’ of the findings within a framework set by the phenomenon under review. A course that presented training in evaluation to graduate students and participants in New Zealand was chosen as a case to exemplify the application of these design principles.