This aim of this article is to trace the concept of ‘social value’ in public procurement (purchasing by the public sector from private and third sector contractors of goods, services and works) in the UK through four decades of the incorporation of social objectives, primarily in the form of equality and diversity requirements, into public purchasing from the practice of contract compliance. It is important to better understand the derivation and meaning of the widely-adopted but poorly-defined concept of social value as it becomes increasingly common in public policy on procurement. We argue that the policy of contract compliance used in the 1980s contained an explicit intention to advance social justice through public spending, rooted in philosophical conceptions of social justice that recognise structural inequalities on the basis of race and gender, but which have been diluted in the contemporary adoption of social value. Our historical analysis suggests that using public procurement to achieve social justice and equality objectives became an ideological battleground between those with opposing views of the role of the state in tackling disadvantage. The main contribution of the article is a framework for conceptualising the relationship of social justice and ideas of value within social procurement that we apply to the historical period under discussion.

This article analyzes in-depth empirical data from interviews with 43 female architects who migrated from India to the United Kingdom, using thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke. Theoretically, the article is informed by a gender analysis and a postcolonial lens, utilizing Bhabha's notion of ambivalence to demonstrate how our interviewees' qualifications and work experience were rendered unintelligible by the national bureaucracy and occupational closure mechanisms they encountered upon arrival. The architecture profession is of particular interest because its development in India was significantly influenced by the British Empire, with many shared systems and regulations, shaping the expectations of our respondents for a smooth transfer of their credentials. Our findings demonstrate how the respondents displayed agency and a "postcolonial consciousness" in negotiating the challenges put in their path, thus simultaneously perceiving some of the processes and systems they encountered as designed to exclude them while also seeking ways to navigate around these. A lack of UK work experience hindered them from taking their professional exams to register in the United Kingdom, and without UK registration, they in turn were unable to secure suitable employment to qualify for registration, which created a cycle of exclusion by design. Gender complicated their marginalization within a national bureaucracy that could not receive these women as highly skilled workers in their own right and where migration had, for many, resulted in their sudden positioning as dependents. Their ability to frame these experiences with what we term "postcolonial consciousness" meant that they were able to contextualize the hurdles they faced despite their highly skilled profiles.

There has been increasing interest from policy-makers in a variety of countries in using public sector procurement- government spending power- to achieve social objectives. Yet the academic evidence on the effectiveness of this practice is limited. This chapter examines the legal frameworks introduced by three countries- Australia, South Africa and the UK- that link public procurement practices to achieving social objectives relating to equality, in particular to advance gender, race and socio-economic equality. These countries have adopted different legal approaches to using public procurement for social ends, including placing requirements on public authorities to consider changes to their procurement practice and demanding equality information from companies seeking government contracts. The chapter also assesses the available evidence on how effective such interventions have been in advancing employment equality and highlights some key elements necessary for success.

On suggère parfois que les travailleuses lesbiennes bénéficieraient d’un « avantage » par rapport à leurs consœurs hétérosexuelles : elles auraient des salaires plus élevés, seraient perçues comme plus compétentes et seraient moins souvent la cible d’attentions sexuelles non désirées et de harcèlement sexuel. Cet article s’interroge sur l’existence d’un tel avantage en se basant sur des enquêtes qualitatives comparant l’expérience de femmes lesbiennes et hétérosexuelles employées dans trois secteurs à prédominance masculine au Royaume-Uni : les sapeurs-pompiers, la construction et les transports. Parmi les femmes ouvertement lesbiennes qui travaillent dans ces environnements de travail masculins, certaines parviennent effectivement à s’intégrer plus facilement aux cultures masculines et à éviter les interactions sexuelles non désirées. D’autres facteurs viennent toutefois compliquer l’expérience de ces femmes, notamment la génération, la classe sociale et la culture organisationnelle. En outre, ces avantages se limitent aux lesbiennes qui sont à l’aise avec les formes de comportement que l’on peut qualifier de « virilistes », ce qui n’est pas le cas de bon nombre d’entre elles. Ces résultats soulignent donc la nécessité d’adopter une approche intersectionnelle afin de mettre en évidence les relations entre genre, sexualité et classe sociale.

Public transport straddles public and private sector employment, with some transport services owned and run by public authorities. Commonly, however, services are commissioned by public authorities and operated by private companies. In the Global South, transport services are frequently operated by informal workers. The state has multiple roles in the production - and reduction - of gender inequality in public transport employment. The chapter considers the roles of the state as owner, regulator, procurer and funder of public transport, and in providing employment training and skills. It identifies key ways in which national and local states shape the experiences of transport workers, drawing on research on the future of work for women in public transport in five cities in the Global South. Paget-Seekins and Tironi's (2016) conceptualisation of 'public' offers a framework for considering how the state could intervene further to improve public transport through a stronger focus on gender equality.

This article examines two commonly adopted trade union strategies to increase the representation of under-represented groups – first, reserved seats on union decision-making bodies and second, self-organisation, involving separate structures. It does so through the case of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), whose equality reforms were considered remarkable within the union movement and fire service due to the union’s small size and highly male-dominated, white membership. However, reserved seats at senior levels were later removed following objection on the grounds of democratic legitimacy. The article examines this decision using original data comparing UK union rules for additional representation. It exposes the tensions for small, male-dominated unions of reconciling Young’s theoretical principles of ‘group-differentiated democracy’ with the realities of perceived democratic legitimacy, and argues that progress on union equality is contingent on both the particular forms of democratic representation and the political and industrial context.

The public transport sector is known for high levels of violence, but women are particularly at risk of gender-based violence, including sexual harassment, from both passengers and fellow workers. Furthermore, women transport users face high rates of sexual harassment. This chapter provides evidence of the extent of gender-based violence and harassment in public transport, arguing that attention, though minimal, has been paid to the experiences of female passengers, but overlooks women workers' experiences of gender-based violence. The chapter discusses the role of key actors in dealing with and preventing gender-based violence for both passengers and women workers. It draws on evidence from Kenya, collected as part of research for the International Transport Workers Federation on the future of work for women in public transport, and other published sources. It argues that the state (national and local), employers, trade unions and civil society actors all have a key role to play in preventing sexual harassment and gender-based violence at work, but need to do more, particularly through adopting and publicising a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence. It also highlights the importance of collaboration among key stakeholders for effective intervention and enforcement.The International Labour Organisation Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work, with an accompanying Recommendation, came into force in June 2021. This represents a potentially powerful new framework for action on tackling and preventing violence and harassment at work that recognises the interrelated effects of gender-based violence and harassment, gender stereotypes and unequal gender power relations, which underpin occupational gender segregation. The transport sector was particularly mentioned in the Convention as an area where change is needed. The chapter briefly considers the Convention's potential to tackle gender-based violence in the transport sector and how global trade unions are using this opportunity.

The focus of this chapter is intersectional bullying and harassment in the rail sector in Britain, where the workforce is male-dominated, gender-segregated and ethnically diverse. There have been significant gender and race equality issues in the sector that have resulted in a number of high profile legal cases. The authors draw on data from a trade union survey of members (Transport and Salaried Staffs Association) focussing on their experiences achieving equality at work. The survey received 1,054 useable responses. The authors have used both additive and multiplicative data analysis methods to capture the methodological debates concerning intersectional analysis. The analyses provided some varied responses, depending on the methods used, but an enduring factor was that older, ethnic minority women were the group who were most likely to feel that they had suffered bullying and harassment. The authors discuss these findings in relation to the limited legal interventions for intersectional bullying and harassment. The authors argue that employers and trade unions must develop proactive institutional responses to mitigate its damaging consequences.

The adoption of religious nationalism as a public project by the Saudi state continues to intimately shape the experiences of Saudi women, despite recent initiatives facilitating the participation of women in the workforce. Through interview-based evidence, the paper shows how patriarchal societal norms and practices rooted in a particular interpretation of Islam and enshrined in legislation are transported into the workplace and impact upon the daily lives of Saudi women auditors. Although various barriers to the progression of women auditors are already identified in the accounting and gender literature, our study provides additional insights into how the profession in Saudi Arabia takes a very distinctive gendered form due to the interaction of gender with religious and cultural norms. Additionally, our evidence highlights the role of the global audit firms, particularly the predominantly male audit managers and partners, in adapting their diversity management practices to navigate the constraints on female auditors in the Saudi context. We find evidence of pervasive inequality and the re-segregation of the Saudi female auditing workforce into ‘woman-friendly’ areas, with potentially damaging effects on career progression.

Labour market segregation continues to be a major barrier to gender equality, with the construction industry an example of a particularly male-dominated sector. Drawing on evidence from the Women into Construction project, established to increase women’s opportunities to work on the construction of London’s Olympic Park, the article argues that public procurement is a potentially powerful tool for breaking down gender segregation. This is particularly effective when new forms of responsive and reflexive legislation require private sector contractors to achieve social objectives. The authors argue that this could be made more effective through greater powers of engagement for stakeholders, including trade unions.

Inspired by two of Acker's interconnected concepts, inequality regimes and intersectionality, the authors revisit their intersectional research. By exploring their various studies on inequality regimes and intersectionality, the authors propose some novel insights that have emerged from an aggregate appraisal of some 17 empirically researched papers, all shaped by Joan Acker's sociology. While Acker's work on gender and organizations has provided crucial insights into much of this work, this article concentrates on the overarching concept of inequality regimes and then focuses in on less-developed aspects of intersectionality in Acker's work. In doing so, it reconsiders the value of inequality regimes in pushing the boundaries of intersectional insights.

The automation and digitisation of work are heavily impacting on the public transport workforce worldwide. Many of the jobs affected are those typically done by women. Yet much discussion about the future of work in public transport is gender blind, or considers women primarily as users of public transport. This paper draws on original research commissioned by the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) to address this gap, based on five cities that have introduced changes to public transport with significant implications for women's employment – Bangkok, Bogota, Cape Town, Mexico City and Nairobi. It was a qualitative study involving 164 interviews in five cities, primarily with women transport workers but also union representatives, community organisations, policy makers and employers. It finds both opportunities from and risks to women's employment, including the chance to move from informal work to new formal employment, as well as job loss from integrated fare payment systems. It considers the possibility of breaking down traditional patterns of occupational gender segregation in public transport when new systems or technologies are introduced. However in order for women to move into traditionally male jobs such as driving in greater numbers, several barriers must be addressed, such as gender stereotyping, violence at work and working hours and shift patterns. The paper offers some suggestions for how unions, employers, transport authorities and funders can address such barriers.

This contribution to On the Front Line records a dialogue between two female Fire Brigades Union (FBU) representatives in the Essex Emergency Control Room, who led industrial action over the imposition of a shift system that stretched their work–life balance to breaking point and constrained their ability to work full-time. Their testimony reveals how male members were mobilised in the interests of predominantly female control staff. Kate and Lynne’s discussion illuminates the interaction of gender and class interests and identities in the union and in the lives of its women members. It provides insight into the efficacy of trade unions for women’s collective action.

Gender, Work & OrganizationVolume 26, Issue 9 p. 1360-1363 BOOK REVIEW We'll Call You if We Need You: Experiences of Women Working Construction by Susan Eisenberg. Ithaca, NY: IRP Press, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2nd ed., 2018, pp. 246. hardcover $95.00, paperback $19.95. ISBN 978-1501-72493-0. Tessa Wright, Corresponding Author Tessa Wright t.wright@qmul.ac.uk orcid.org/0000-0002-3038-6771 Queen Mary University of LondonSearch for more papers by this author Tessa Wright, Corresponding Author Tessa Wright t.wright@qmul.ac.uk orcid.org/0000-0002-3038-6771 Queen Mary University of LondonSearch for more papers by this author First published: 13 January 2019 https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12321Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume26, Issue9September 2019Pages 1360-1363 RelatedInformation

British Journal of Industrial RelationsVolume 55, Issue 3 p. 676-678 Book Review A Gedenkschrift to Randy Hodson: Working with Dignity, edited by Lisa A. Keister and Vincent J. Roscigno. Emerald, Bingley, 2016, 237 pp., ISBN: 978-1-78560-727-1, £72.95, hardback. Tessa Wright, Tessa Wright Queen Mary University of LondonSearch for more papers by this author Tessa Wright, Tessa Wright Queen Mary University of LondonSearch for more papers by this author First published: 10 August 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12246Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume55, Issue3September 2017Pages 676-678 RelatedInformation

Women's domestic circumstances and responsibilities continue to constrain their participation in the labour market. The long hours, shift patterns and lack of flexible working that characterise the construction and transport sectors (see Sect. 3.3.3 ) make it difficult to accommodate home and family lives, and are factors limiting women's greater participation in these sectors. This chapter explores women's working hours and what flexibility is available to them, and examines the interaction of their domestic and work arrangements. It finds that in the context of long and inflexible work patterns, atypical domestic situations are often required to support women in male-dominated work.