There is building evidence in India that the delivery of health services suffers from an actual shortfall in trained health professionals, but also from unsatisfactory results of existing service providers working in the public and private sectors. This study focusses on the public sector and examines de facto institutional and governance arrangements that may give rise to well-documented provider behaviors such as absenteeism, which can adversely affect service delivery processes and outcomes. The paper considers four human resource management subsystems: postings, transfers, promotions, and disciplinary practices. The four subsystems are analyzed from the perspective of front line workers, that is, This paper is a product of the Health, Nutrition and Population Unit, South Asia Region. It is part of a larger effort by the World Bank to provide open access to its research and make a contribution to development policy discussions around the world. Policy Research Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://econ.worldbank.org. The authors may be contacted at glaforgia@worldbank.org. physicians working in rural health care facilities operated by two state governments. Physicians were sampled in one post-reform state that has instituted human resource management reforms and one pre-reform state that has not. The findings are based on quantitative and qualitative measurement. The results show that formal rules are undermined by a parallel modus operandi in which desirable posts are often determined by political connections and side payments. The evidence suggests an institutional environment in which formal rules of accountability are trumped by a parallel set of accountabilities. These systems appear so entrenched that reforms have borne no significant effect.

The article addresses the question of representation by highlighting some of the methodological challenges I encountered in the field during a study on women's experiences of empowerment and change in northern Pakistan. I trace positionality of a researcher within the wider context of reflexivity, which is important for feminist and other research on gender. I argue that engaging with my own identity during the fieldwork and the writing stages allowed me to gain an in-depth understanding of the intimacies of the participants' worlds and assisted me in drawing an intricate interpretation of empowerment from their narratives in their unique social situation. It was also useful to maintain balance between the responsibilities associated with being a researcher and a member of the community returning home. Through the comparison of my life history with the women informants, I hope to present autoethnographic presence as an alternative way of understanding representation. The process defines positionality as a significant component of the trajectory of contemporary feminist experience and its description.

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This paper has been drawn from a larger PhD research project on women's experiences of academic leadership in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. This qualitative study aims to examine the influence of socio-cultural factors on women's leadership experiences in higher education. In-depth interviews were taken from eleven participants, who were selected through purposive sampling method. The data analysis is informed by Foucauldian discourse analysis. This paper argues that leadership norms are discursively produced, according to the cultural system of Pakistani society, to limit women's participation at senior leadership positions in higher education. This research article encompasses a combination of four themes highlighting the cultural dynamics in women academic leadership: (a) socialization of women as leaders (b) gender stereotypes and labeling women in academic leadership (c) harassment and critical attitudes and (d) discursive construction of the balance between family and profession. The findings reveal that women leaders confront with gendered leadership discourses, stereotypes, harassment, and overwhelming personal and professional commitments. While, strong socialization, family support, housemaids and mentors facilitate them in their professional success. It is suggested that women should utilize the culturally informed strategies to negotiate discriminative practices and widely share their success stories with other women to improve their visibility in higher educational leadership.

<p>Stereotypical portrayal of women through images and text in the media has been discussed and debated widely across the globe. The area remains relatively under published in the context of the third world especially Pakistan. To fill this gap this paper is an attempt to examine the role of the media in creating gender identities. Data for this study comes from selected English language newspaper namely “THE NEWS”. Discourse analysis of text and images - the most common way of producing and transmitting social meaning attached to social realities was employed to interpret of the data. The data reveals that the images and text produced through the media are biased, patriarchal and they reinforce male hegemony and control over women’s bodies and their minds. By doing this the media is strengthening the existing power structure of the Pakistani society. The images of women produced are those of victims of violence both domestic and public, sex objects, passive, dependent, weak and engaged in domestic roles. Consequently, standard images of feminity are idealized and normalized in the real world. Such practices act as barrier for women to escape traditional gender roles and expectations. The study argues that such images reinforce stereotypical roles and hence promote gender inequality instead of emancipation.</p>