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This book moves the discussion of affirmative action beyond the United States to other countries that have had similar policies, often for a longer time than Americans have. It also moves the discussion beyond the theories, principles, and laws that have been so often debated to the actual empirical consequences of affirmative action in the United States and in India, Nigeria, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and other countries. Both common patterns and national differences are examined. Much of what emerges from a factual examination of these policies flatly contradicts much of what was expected and much of what has been claimed.

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- CHAPTER 1: An International Perspective -- CHAPTER 2: Affirmative Action in India -- CHAPTER 3: Affirmative Action in Malaysia -- CHAPTER 4: Affirmative Action in Sri Lanka -- CHAPTER 5: Affirmative Action in Nigeria -- CHAPTER 6: Affirmative Action in the United States -- CHAPTER 7: The Past and the Future -- Notes -- Index.

We examine the influence of individual characteristics and targeted and universal social policy on single-mother poverty with a multilevel analysis across 18 affluent Western democracies. Although single mothers are disproportionately poor in all countries, there is even more cross-national variation in single-mother poverty than in poverty among the overall population. By far, the United States has the highest rate of poverty among single mothers among affluent democracies. The analyses show that single-mother poverty is a function of the household's employment, education, and age composition, and the presence of other adults in the household. Beyond individual characteristics, social policy exerts substantial influence on single-mother poverty. We find that two measures of universal social policy significantly reduce single-mother poverty. However, one measure of targeted social policy does not have significant effects, and another measure is significantly negative only when controlling for universal social policy. Moreover, the effects of universal social policy are larger. Additional analyses show that universal social policy does not have counterproductive consequences in terms of family structure or employment, while the results are less clear for targeted social policy. Although debates often focus on altering the behavior or characteristics of single mothers, welfare universalism could be an even more effective anti-poverty strategy.

Why have governments responded to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in such different ways? During the past quarter century, international agencies and donors have disseminated vast resources and a set of best practice recommendations to policymakers around the globe. Yet the governments of developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean continue to implement widely varying policies.Boundaries of Contagionis the first systematic, comparative analysis of the politics of HIV/AIDS. The book explores the political challenges of responding to a stigmatized condition, and identifies ethnic boundaries--the formal and informal institutions that divide societies--as a central influence on politics and policymaking. Evan Lieberman examines the ways in which risk and social competition get mapped onto well-institutionalized patterns of ethnic politics. Where strong ethnic boundaries fragment societies into groups, the politics of AIDS are more likely to involve blame and shame-avoidance tactics against segments of the population. In turn, government leaders of such countries respond far less aggressively to the epidemic. Lieberman's case studies of Brazil, South Africa, and India--three developing countries that face significant AIDS epidemics--are complemented by statistical analyses of the policy responses of Indian states and over seventy developing countries. The studies conclude that varied patterns of ethnic competition shape how governments respond to this devastating problem. The author considers the implications for governments and donors, and the increasing tendency to identify social problems in ethnic terms.

This article focuses on three countries with distinct policies toward motherhood and work: Germany, Sweden and the United States. We analyze the length of mothers' time out of paid work after childbirth and the short-term career consequences for mothers. In the United States, we identify a career punishment even for short timeout periods; long time-out periods increase the risk of a downward move and reduce the chances of an upward move. In Germany, long time-out periods destabilize the career and, the longer the leave, the greater the risk of either an upward or downward move. In Sweden, we find a negative effect of time out on upward moves. Hence, even in \"woman-friendly\" Sweden, women's career prospects are better if they return to paid work sooner rather than later.

This was a large population-based study to develop and validate the Iranian version of the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) for use in health related quality of life assessment in Iran. A culturally comparable questionnaire was developed and pilot tested. Then, the Iranian version of the SF-36 was administered to a random sample of 4163 healthy individuals aged 15 years and over in Tehran. The mean age of the respondents was 35.1 (SD = 16.0) years, 52% were female, mostly married (58%) and the mean years of their formal education was 10.0 (SD = 4.5). Reliability was estimated using the internal consistency and validity was assessed using known groups comparison and convergent validity. In addition factor analysis was performed. The internal consistency (to test reliability) showed that all eight SF-36 scales met the minimum reliability standard, the Cronbach's α coefficients ranging from 0.77 to 0.90 with the exception of the vitality scale (α = 0.65). Known groups comparison showed that in all scales the SF-36 discriminated between men and women, and old and the young respondents as anticipated (all p values less than 0.05). Convergent validity (to test scaling assumptions) using each item correlation with its hypothesized scale showed satisfactory results (all correlation above 0.40 ranging from 0.58 to 0.95). Factor analysis identified two principal components that jointly accounted for 65.9% of the variance. In general, the Iranian version of the SF-36 performed well and the findings suggest that it is a reliable and valid measure of health related quality of life among the general population.

This paper examines gendered housework in the larger context of comparative social change, asking specifically whether cross-national differences in domestic labor patterns converge over time. Our analysis of data from 13 countries (N = 11,065) from the 1994 and 2002 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) confirmed that social context matters in shaping couples' division of labor at home, but also showed that context affects patterns of change. Our results suggested that, compared to the most egalitarian countries, the shift in housework patterns was greatest among the most traditional countries. This provides support for the thesis of cultural convergence, but the evidence did not suggest that such convergence will lead to complete equality in the foreseeable future.

The belief that men are the new victims of sexism and anti-male bias is gaining traction globally. The concept of reverse sexism, called the belief in sexism shift, is a new and particularly insidious form of contemporary anti-female sexism that combines the prejudice of hostile sexism with the subtlety of modern sexism. Facilitating the cross-cultural study of a rising form of sexism, in this paper, we provide an Italian translation of the BSS and examine its psychometric properties. In Study 1, we confirmed that the Italian BSS scale has the same uni-dimensional factor structure as the English version. In Study 2, we established that the Italian BSS scale measures the same construct among women and men. In Study 3, we found that the Italian BSS scale was a better predictor, compared to other measures of sexism, of numerous perceived career constraints. Subsequently, explorative analyses revealed that BSS escalated the effect of perceived career constraints on perceived job satisfaction and development opportunities among women and men. Together, our results suggest that BSS is a prevalent form of sexism in Italy that has the potential to negatively affect women and men.

Past cross-national comparisons of socioeconomic segregation have been undercut by lack of comparability in measures, data, and concepts. Using IRIS data from the French Census of 2008 and the French Ministry of Finance as well as tract data from the American Community Survey (2006–2010) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Picture of Subsidized Households, and constructing measures to be as similar as possible, we compare socioeconomic segregation in metropolitan areas with a population of more than 1 million in France and the United States. We find much higher socioeconomic segregation in large metropolitan areas in the United States than in France. We also find (1) a strong pattern of low-income neighborhoods in central cities and high-income neighborhoods in suburbs in the United States, but varying patterns across metropolitan areas in France; (2) that high-income persons are the most segregated group in both countries; (3) that the shares of neighborhood income differences that can be explained by neighborhood racial/ethnic composition are similar in France and the United States; and (4) that government-assisted housing is disproportionately located in the poorest neighborhoods in the United States but is spread across many neighborhood income levels in France. We conclude that differences in government provision of housing assistance and levels of income inequality are likely important contributing factors to the Franco-U.S. difference in socioeconomic segregation.

Previous studies on subjective well-being primarily focus on individuals’ own characteristics. Pooling data from recent Chinese General Social Surveys (N = 9445), we examine individual happiness among young and middle-aged married people in urban China, by taking into account their spouses’ characteristics. Drawing on the male breadwinner model, we reveal that husband’s employment is much more strongly related to individual happiness of both the husband and the wife than wife’s employment. In addition, a man’s contribution to the household income has a more positive effect on his happiness than a woman’s contribution on her happiness. Meanwhile, those coresiding with both dependent children and parents have lower likelihoods of happiness than those with no dependents. Our results demonstrate that gender roles remain strictly defined in urban China, in which the husband bears the breadwinner role and the wife assumes the homemaker role. Relatedly, living with both parents and dependent children does not lessen the level of happiness any more for women than for men, suggesting that Chinese women do not shirk their caregiving responsibilities.