Author: Guest editor

By Dr Sarah Forbes and Dr Holly Birkett Co-directors of the Equal Parenting Project As the country moved towards mass homeworking, dads were at home with their children for the whole working week, often for the first time. Dads began taking on more caring responsibilities (even if mothers were still doing more). Increasingly, questions are … Continue reading “How can father inclusivity help drive gender equality in the workplace?”

By Dr Emma Gardner and Dr Amir Qamar Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham Given that the number of cash points has also decreased – resulting in just under 53,000 ATMs in the UK in 2021, over 12,000 of which charge for transactions – this has important implications for the viability of the cash system. … Continue reading “Banks need to be more responsible: the impact of branch closures”

By Dr Etlyn Kenny Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham While white women face a glass ceiling, many minority ethnic women face a concrete ceiling – their route to leadership is more opaque and much more difficult to crack. Much attention and focus has gone into increasing the number of women in top jobs, with … Continue reading “Increasing the representation of minority ethnic women in management and leadership”

By Dr Julie Whiteman Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham By giving me an awareness of the multiplicity of sexisms women face and the ways that race intersects with gender and sexuality to create complex discriminations, bell hooks introduced me to intersectional feminism This International Women’s Day, I would like to reflect on an inspirational … Continue reading “bell hooks: intersectionality and influence”

By Dr Sarah Montano and Dr Inci Toral Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. Given that women have such power, it is surprising that retail activity is male centric. Often, we feel patronised, frustrated that products do not meet our needs or are actually dangerous for women. Join Sarah and Inci for an event on … Continue reading “Women in retail: who holds the power?”

By Professor John Bryson Department of Strategy and International Business, University of Birmingham There has been a consistent message coming from Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin concerning Russia’s security. This discourse is based around the mantra that Russian interests and security are non-negotiable. There are many ways of reading this statement. Does Putin mean military … Continue reading “The Putin Paradox? Russian National Security and the Ukrainian Military Crisis”

By Professor Ian Thomson and Dominic Bates Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business Over the past 25 years, Fairtrade estimates it has helped generate an extra one billion Euros for farmers and their communities around the world by guaranteeing sustainable prices for their produce and paying an additional sum to invest in social and … Continue reading “What can other ecolabels learn from the success of Fairtrade?”

By Dr Edward Pinchbeck Department of Economics A growing body of evidence has led to a better understanding of the extensive and pervasive ways in which air pollution affects our health, well-being, and cognitive development. One of the contributions economists have made to this debate has been to estimate the monetary value that people attach … Continue reading “The price of indoor air pollution”

By Professor John Bryson Department of Strategy and International Business, University of Birmingham The COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent lockdown measures, led to unprecedented adaptations by individuals and communities including places of worship, their clergy, and congregations across the UK. Across the UK, Anglican churches are the oldest surviving organisations with the longest adaptation histories. Nearly … Continue reading “Levelling-up and the Diocese of Worcester: What can be learnt?”

By Grigorios Lamprinakos, Solon Magrizos, Ioannis Kostopoulos, Dimitrios Drossos & David Santos Birmingham Business School The COVID-19 pandemic has cemented our growing dependency on the internet, with social distancing seemingly tipping our preference towards shopping online for good. According to ‘COVID-19 and E-commerce’, which surveyed more than 1,800 consumers from nine countries around the world, … Continue reading “The covert truth about online personalised advertising”