The European Investment Bank plants the seeds for many future success stories. Now another seed has been planted: EIB Global, the EIB’s development arm, which began operating in 2022. This report ...tells the stories of projects that make a difference on the ground, with sections on Ukraine, sustainability, climate and energy. The challenges we face know no borders. EIB Global represents our commitment to sustainable and inclusive societies everywhere.
Abstract
STUDY QUESTION
What are the experiences of same-sex mothers following identity-release sperm donation regarding equal treatment in society, parenting stress and disclosure to child?
SUMMARY ...ANSWER
Mothers predominantly reported equal treatment in society, low levels of parenting stress and early disclosure of the donor conception to the child, and half of the couples had also informed the child of his/her right to obtain the donor’s identity.
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
The number of two-mother families is increasing, and previous studies have reported about challenges related to heteronormativity, discrimination and the status of the non-birth mother. Same-sex mothers have been found to disclose the child’s donor conception earlier than different-sex parents, but little is known regarding disclosure of the child’s right to obtain identifying information about the donor.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
The present study concerns the fourth wave of data collection of a nation-wide longitudinal study. A total of 143 same-sex mothers (73% response rate) following identity-release sperm donation completed individual surveys when their donor-conceived child had reached age 7. These women represent a total of 82 couples who had undergone sperm donation treatment.
PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
The study is part of the longitudinal Swedish Study on Gamete Donation (SSGD). Couples accepted for gamete donation treatment at seven Swedish University hospitals were recruited between 2005 and 2008 and were requested to complete postal surveys during four waves of data collection. The present study sample includes same-sex mothers who completed a survey when their donor-conceived child had reached 7 years of age. Data were collected with the Swedish Parenting Stress Questionnaire (SPSQ), and study-specific items on experiences of treatment in society and disclosure behavior. Group comparisons (birth mothers vs non-birth mothers) were conducted using Chi2-tests, independent t-tests and Mann–Whitney U-tests, and written comments provided for open-response items were analyzed by qualitative content analysis.
MAIN RESULTS AND ROLE OF CHANCE
The mothers were generally open about the child’s donor conception and the large majority (>80%) reported being treated positively and in the same way as other parents. However, satisfaction with treatment in health care settings was significantly lower than that reported in contacts with the child’s school and recreational activities (P < 0.001) and open-response comments indicate that this may be related predominantly to heteronormative language and assumptions. Birth mothers and non-birth mothers reported similar treatment in society and similar levels of parenting stress. All but one couple had already talked with their 7-year-old child about his/her conception with donor sperm. Half of the couples had also informed the child about his/her opportunity to obtain identifying information about the donor, and remaining couples planned later disclosure. Children’s reactions were generally described as neutral, positive or characterized by interest and curiosity.
LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
The present study was performed within the context of the Swedish legislation on identity-release donation, which limits the generalizability to same-sex couples using anonymous or known sperm donors. Although no evidence of attrition bias was found, it is possible that those couples who initially declined participation in the SSGD (23%) or dropped out at the fourth wave of data collection (27%) differ from the study sample in terms of variables that we were unable to control for.
WIDER IMPLICATION OF THE FINDINGS
The present finding that most same-sex mothers in a population-based sample experience equal treatment in society is encouraging and validates previous results from predominantly qualitative studies. Nevertheless, the fact that a subgroup experiences discrimination and less favorable treatment indicates that further action is needed, particularly in child health care settings. The present study is the first to report on the timing of parents’ disclosure of the child’s right to identifying donor information and suggests that disclosure during preschool ages is feasible and does not appear to be related to negative consequences. In view of the increased availability and use of identity-release donation, there is a pressing need to investigate parents’ intentions, behaviors and needs with regard to talking with their child about his/her opportunity to obtain the donor’s identity.
STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
Financial support from the Swedish Research Council (2013-2712) and the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (2014-00876). There are no conflicts of interest to declare.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
N/A.
"Why have Americans expressed concern about immigration at some times but not at others? In pursuit of an answer, this book examines America’s first nativist movement, which responded to the rapid ...influx of 4.2 million immigrants between 1840 and 1860 and culminated in the dramatic rise of the National American Party. As previous studies have focused on the coasts, historians have not yet completely explained why westerners joined the ranks of the National American, or “Know Nothing,” Party or why the nation’s bloodiest anti-immigrant riots erupted in western cities—namely Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis. In focusing on the antebellum West, Inventing America’s First Immigration Crisis illuminates the cultural, economic, and political issues that originally motivated American nativism and explains how it ultimately shaped the political relationship between church and state. In six detailed chapters, Ritter explains how unprecedented immigration from Europe and rapid westward expansion reignited fears of Catholicism as a corrosive force. He presents new research on the inner sanctums of the secretive Order of Know-Nothings and provides original data on immigration, crime, and poverty in the urban West. Ritter argues that the country’s first bout of political nativism actually renewed Americans’ commitment to church-state separation. Native-born Americans compelled Catholics and immigrants, who might have otherwise shared an affinity for monarchism, to accept American-style democracy. Catholics and immigrants forced Americans to adopt a more inclusive definition of religious freedom. This study offers valuable insight into the history of nativism in U.S. politics and sheds light on present-day concerns about immigration, particularly the role of anti-Islamic appeals in recent elections."
As seen in "a NULL" Wired and "a NULL" Time
A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms
Run a Google search for "black ...girls"-what will you find? "Big Booty" and other sexually explicit terms are likely to come up as top search terms. But, if you type in "white girls," the results are radically different. The suggested porn sites and un-moderated discussions about "why black women are so sassy" or "why black women are so angry" presents a disturbing portrait of black womanhood in modern society.
In Algorithms of Oppression, Safiya Umoja Noble challenges the idea that search engines like Google offer an equal playing field for all forms of ideas, identities, and activities. Data discrimination is a real social problem; Noble argues that the combination of private interests in promoting certain sites, along with the monopoly status of a relatively small number of Internet search engines, leads to a biased set of search algorithms that privilege whiteness and discriminate against people of color, specifically women of color.
Through an analysis of textual and media searches as well as extensive research on paid online advertising, Noble exposes a culture of racism and sexism in the way discoverability is created online. As search engines and their related companies grow in importance-operating as a source for email, a major vehicle for primary and secondary school learning, and beyond-understanding and reversing these disquieting trends and discriminatory practices is of utmost importance.
An original, surprising and, at times, disturbing account of bias on the internet, Algorithms of Oppression contributes to our understanding of how racism is created, maintained, and disseminated in the 21st century.
Safiya Noble discusses search engine bias in an interview with USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
A random assignment is robust ex-post Pareto efficient whenever for any of its lottery decomposition, each deterministic assignment in its support is Pareto efficient. We show that ordinal efficiency ...implies robust ex-post Pareto efficiency while the reverse does not hold. We know that strategy-proof and ordinal efficient mechanisms satisfy neither equal treatment of equals nor equal division lower bound. We prove that it is not possible to avoid these two impossibilities by weakening ordinal efficiency to robust ex-post Pareto efficiency.
Zusammenfassung
Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich zunächst mit der Frage, ob die Volljährigkeit Voraussetzung für den Zugang zur Notfallsanitäterausbildung ist. Hintergrund ist der Wegfall der noch in § 5 ...Rettungsassistentengesetz (RettAssG) enthaltenen ausdrücklichen Altersgrenze von 18 Jahren als Zugangsvoraussetzung für die Teilnahme an einem Lehrgang gemäß § 4 RettAssG in der nunmehr geltenden Regelung des § 8 Notfallsanitätergesetz (NotSanG). In der Ausbildungspraxis herrscht diesbezüglich erhebliche Verunsicherung, weshalb im Hinblick auf die Erfüllung der schulischen Voraussetzungen geeigneten Jugendlichen der Zugang trotz knapper Personalressourcen mitunter verwehrt wird. Der Beitrag betrachtet zur Beantwortung dieser Frage die Rechtsentwicklung vom RettAssG zum NotSanG, zieht Vergleiche zu anderen früheren und aktuellen Gesundheitsfachberufegesetzen (z. B. PflBG, KrPflG, HebG, MTAG) und beleuchtet die Gesetzes- und Normsystematik des NotSanG. Darüber hinaus wird der Wille des Gesetzgebers ermittelt und es wird eine verfassungsrechtliche Betrachtung im Hinblick auf Art. 12 Abs. 1 GG vorgenommen. Das Ergebnis dieser Analyse ist, dass es kein Mindestalter für die Notfallsanitäterausbildung gibt. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden im Anschluss die wesentlichen, im Rahmen der Ausbildung Jugendlicher zu beachtenden Vorgaben des JArbSchG dargestellt und schlussendlich mit Blick auf das AGG darauf hingewiesen, dass eine Altersbeschränkung in Stellenausschreibungen unzulässig ist.
