Clergywomen, women’s ordination, and “women’s issues”: women’s representation in American religious congregations

Social identity threat has been proposed as a key contributor to the underrepresentation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), but little research has sought to pinpoint naturally occurring contextual predictors of identity threat for women already training or working in STEM. The focus of the present research was to examine how cues to an identity-safe culture predict more or less positive interactions between men and women in STEM in ways that may trigger or minimize women's daily experience of social identity threat. Specifically, we examined the role of inclusive organizational policies and/or greater female representation as 2 identity safety cues. In 2 daily diary studies of working engineers' experiences, and in an experiment with undergraduate engineering students, we tested a model whereby cues to identity safety predict lower social identity threat for women in STEM, as mediated by having (or expecting to have) more positive interactions with male (but not female) colleagues. Results across each study and an internal meta-analysis of overall effects revealed that female engineers' actual and anticipated daily experience of social identity threat was lower in organizations perceived to have more gender-inclusive policies (but was not consistently predicted by gender representation). The link between gender-inclusive policies and lower social identity threat was mediated by women having (or expecting to have) more positive conversations with male (and not female) colleagues, and was only found for women and not men. The implications for reducing social identity threat in naturalistic settings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

In recent decades, much research has focused on how religious congregations affect individuals' political participation. However, only scant attention has been paid to examining the various ways in which religious congregations engage in political activism as formal organizational entities. Using data from the 1998 National Congregations Study (NCS), a survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,236 religious congregations, we begin to fill this gap in our knowledge about religion and politics. We report the rates at which congregations engage in a broad range of political activity, and we examine variations in this activity among major religious traditions. We emphasize two basic findings. First, although in absolute terms congregations' levels of political activism seem rather low, relative to other nonpolitical organizations they engage in politics in substantial numbers. Second, there are qualitative rather than quantitative differences in political activity across religious traditions. Religious traditions specialize in different modes of political participation, a fact that is obscured when attention is focused solely on the political activities of conservative religious groups.

This chapter focuses on how gender leadership affects people’s interactions with their religious congregations. Based on political science research on representation, the chapter develops a theoretical explanation about how gender representation in religious contexts might exert changes in the religious attitudes and behaviors of those in the congregations. The results find that while people are eager to say that the gender of their particular pastor or priest does not matter, they are also quick to offer observations on the many ways in which they have observed that it does matter. These include the empowering effect it can have on young girls, the way that women clergy can often provide better pastoral counseling on gender-specific issues such as pregnancy or miscarriage, and that women pastors can attract more families and youth.

Inclusive school policies and youth advocacy could promote well-being and positive development among youth of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Utilizing three waves of data over a 6-month period, we tested a three-level multilevel model on the extent to which youth's advocacy in gender-sexuality alliances (GSAs; school clubs affirming youth identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning or with other expansive sexual orientations or gender identities [LGBTQ+]) and attending schools that more thoroughly implemented LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and practices were associated with youth's self-worth. Participants were 627 youth (87% LGBQ+ youth, 45% transgender or nonbinary youth, 48% youth of color, Mage = 15.13) in 51 GSAs. Youth who reported greater involvement in advocacy over the 6-month period reported greater self-worth than others. There was also a contextual effect at the GSA level: Youth in GSAs whose members collectively reported greater advocacy reported even greater self-worth, beyond what was associated with a youth's own advocacy. Furthermore, GSA members in schools that more thoroughly implemented LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and practices reported greater self-worth over the study period. The findings highlight the importance of youth and school efforts to affirm the dignity and worth of LGBTQ+ young people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Despite heightened efforts to increase gender parity, organizations in the technology industry are struggling to implement and enact Gender Diversity and Inclusion policies (GDIPs). This purpose of this dissertation was to enhance understandings of obstacles to policy enactment and unearth ways in which organizations can create more equitable work environments. Specifically, this project investigated how members of technology organizations construct knowledge about Gender Diversity and Inclusion policies through their personal experiences, attitudes and beliefs, and interactions with others within and external to their organization. Utilizing a critical-interpretivist and intersectional feminism as ontological and epistemological frameworks, this dissertation study draws from structurating activity theory (SAT; Canary, 2010) and theories of organizational identification (Scott, 2007) to explore issues of policy knowledge construction, implementation, and enactment. Completed in two phases,this dissertation employed a mixed-methods design. Phase One used DeVellis’ (2017) framework to develop a Gender Diversity and Inclusion policy attitude scale (GDIPAS) to evaluate how personal opinions about GDIPs and larger constructs like sexism, feminism, identification, and social desirability contribute to the policy knowledge construction process. Phase Two used a parallel analysis design to quantitatively (i.e., surveys) and qualitatively (i.e., interviews) investigate how members of tech-based organizations construct GDIP knowledge through intra- and extra-organizational interactions, as well as personal beliefs and attitudes (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009). Phase One resulted in five-factors underlying Gender Diversity and Inclusion policy attitude: perception of policy abuse, policy familiarity, perception of workforce gender inequity, policy support, and perception of organizational gender diversity. Results from Phase Two indicated that members of technology organizations interact within and across activity systems to construct knowledge about GDIPs through structural contradictions that (re)produce barriers to policy implementation and enactment.This project contributed to organizational communication theory by investigating the role of organizational identification in the policy knowledge construction process. Further, this dissertation extended SAT by identifying two new structural contradictions and a primary system-level contradiction, and by centralizing power in the investigation of policy knowledge construction. Methodologically, this dissertation offers a new policy attitude measure for scholars and practitioners. Finally, results of this project provide practical insights into barriers to policy implementation and enactment.

Women are the grown engines of society, nation and economy as well. Gender inclusive policies are vital in ensuring that women embrace entrepreneurship development to build a strong economy, increase innovation, and achieve better social justice. The position of women in business has improved over the years. However, they still experience hurdles like restricted funding, limitations to access markets, and social prejudices. This research aims to analyse how gender responsive policies help in supporting women's entrepreneurial development by following financial, legal and social barriers. It discusses strategies such as affirmative action in the award of funds, capacity enhancement initiatives, mentoring, and supportive legislation that guarantees equity in business entrepreneurship and executive positions. In this regard, this study contributes to the existing literature by analysing the effects of these policies to demonstrate the positive effect on gender equality and in improving women's employment rate. Moreover, it reveals flaws in the existing frameworks that need to be addressed to enhance their functionality, especially in developing countries where institutions are not fully developed. The research also raises awareness of the importance of more complex and diverse analyses that take into account ethnicity, socio-economic status, and specific industry barriers. Thus, in addressing the gap in literature on the direct relationship between gender-inclusive policies and entrepreneurial performance, this study has the potential to effectively inform policymakers, business executives, and advocacy organizations. Thus, it reiterates the need to focus on intervention strategies aimed at supporting women in business and entrepreneurship that would ensure an improved and fair environment for the practice of business that would catalyse the achievement of sustainable economic development.

This article analyzes women's substantive representation in Iran to highlight the opportunities and obstacles facing women critical actors when a critical mass of women in politics is absent. Through a case study of progressive women policy makers of the Hassan Rouhani era, this research demonstrates that despite an undemocratic political context dominated by conservative gender mandates, the presence of three interrelated factors contribute to the rise of women critical actors in Iranian formal politics: electoral support and grassroots mobilization around women's rights, willingness of elites to adopt measures toward greater inclusion of women in politics, and occasional openings in Iran's fragmented political context that facilitate the nomination and election of women who are likely to advocate for women's rights. However, the absence of these conditions, as observed during the 2020 parliamentary elections, leads to the marginalization of such critical actors, resulting in limited attention to women's rights in key institutions.

Research indicates that religiosity inhibits adolescent and young adult sexual behavior, but few studies examine how religious contexts may shape sexual behavior. When religious contexts are considered, studies rarely test multiple spheres of religious influence simultaneously. Moreover, little research examines how either individual religiosity or religious contexts shape emotional responses to sex. We analyze nationally representative, longitudinal data that allow for concurrent examination of multiple religious contexts and several measures of young adult sexual behaviors and sexual regret. The influence of religiosity on sexual behavior and regret varies within and across both the spheres and outcomes tested. Individual religious salience and close ties with parents are the most consistent deterrents to initiation of sexual intercourse and having numerous intercourse partners. Closeness to parents and participation in religious activities are associated with lower odds of sexual regret, but ties to adults in one’s religious congregation are associated with increased sexual regret.

Background While prior research has revealed a dynamic relationship between individual religiosity and punitiveness, much less is known about how religious context might affect attitudes toward punitiveness. In addition, even less is known about how religion, individual or contextual, might shape public attitudes toward an important aspect of punitiveness—police use of force, an issue that has evoked large-scale social movements in recent years. Purpose The present research aims to fill in the gap from prior research by examining the relationship between religious context and attitudes toward police use of force. Particularly, this study intends to investigate whether said relationship varies by race. Methods In this study, individual-level data from the General Social Survey (GSS) 2000–2018 were merged with contextual-level data from the U.S. Census 2000 and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS) 2000 enabling a multilevel analysis of the religious effects on attitudes toward police use of force. Results Study results suggest that higher county-level Catholic population share was associated with less support for police use of force. In contrast, when county-level evangelical Protestant population share rose, residents, including Blacks, became more supportive of police use of force. However, the evangelical Protestant contextual effect was stronger for Whites than Blacks, and this White-Black difference grew when county-level evangelical Protestant population share increased. Conclusions and Implications The findings suggest that religious effects on attitudes toward punitiveness are multilevel. Religious context exerts independent and divergent influences on one's perceptions of police use of force above and beyond important individual characteristics. Therefore, religious contextual characteristics may need to be considered in the ongoing debate on police brutality and reform.

This study investigates the underrepresentation of women in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, and Cloud Infrastructures, exploring the barriers and challenges they face and assessing the effectiveness of current policies and initiatives to promote gender diversity within the tech industry. Employing quantitative research methods, the study used a survey distributed to 572 female professionals in tech-related roles across various industries, achieving a 67.9% response rate. Multiple regression analysis was utilized to test four main hypotheses concerning barriers to entry and advancement, the inclusivity of educational programs, the impact of diverse teams on innovation and performance, and the effectiveness of gender-inclusive policies. Key findings indicate that the type of organization and specific tech sectors significantly influence the barriers experienced by women. Notably, gender diversity within teams correlates strongly with improved innovation and performance. However, educational and training programs often fail to be sufficiently inclusive, underscoring the need for programs better tailored to women's needs in tech fields. Moreover, the study confirms that implementing gender-inclusive policies substantially increases women's participation in tech roles, especially when these policies are applied long-term. Based on the findings, recommendations are made for adopting comprehensive, inclusive practices at organizational and educational levels, promoting diversity in team composition and leadership, committing long-term to effective policy implementation, and developing supportive networks through mentorship and sponsorship programs. These measures are aimed at reducing gender disparities and enhancing the integration of women into the high-tech economy. The study underscores the critical role that strategic policy-making and organizational change play in fostering an inclusive tech environment that not only addresses gender disparities but also enhances overall industry innovation and performance.

The descriptive representation of women in cabinet is a necessary but not sufficient condition to achieve women-friendly policy outcomes. Rather, substantive representation of women by women political leaders also requires women’s political activism. In this article, I explore the idea that institutionalised separate spaces are important sites of labour women’s activism which promote and sustain women’s policy leadership and the substantive representation of women. Through an examination of the New Zealand Labour Women’s Council and four Labour women ministers who have used this space to pursue positions of influence and implement women-friendly policies, it becomes evident that it is not always possible for women leaders to publicly represent a ‘feminist’ claim, but this does not diminish their attempts at substantive representation. Rather, I suggest that an active and influential feminist reference group is a necessary supplement to women’s executive presence.

Conservative women are increasing their presence in politics – whether as elected representatives or organized as women’s groups in civil society- and women’s role in the public and private sphere is often a core theme of centre-right parties and policies. Nevertheless, rightist women and the role of centre-right parties are blind spots in the research on women and representation. Overviews of women’s presence in parliaments, for instance, rarely segregate by party affiliation and research on the substantive representation of women - what difference women representatives make ‘for women’ - tend to focus women’s issues that are traditionally associated with women (such as child-caring and the family), or those with a ‘feminist accent’ (such as abortion or domestic violence) – with feminism being interpreted sui generis on the left of the political spectrum. We contend that such an exclusive focus on leftist-feminist actors and policies creates bias in our empirical research, but also, and furthermore, limits our theoretical understanding of representation and of what constitutes ‘good’, democratic representation. Increasingly, we are seeing conservative representatives claiming to act for women. Feminists, to be sure, might well recoil from the idea of conservative women like Margaret Thatcher or Sarah Palin as representatives of women. But, pre-emptively dismissing conservative acts and claims of acting for women on the grounds that this is either false consciousness or that these women are but ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ (where claims and acts that unintentionally or intentionally harm women’s interests are disguised as claims in favor of women) cannot lead to good conceptual or empirical research. It is our contention that it cannot only be left-feminist substantive representation that makes for ‘good’ women’s substantive representation (even if this is what feminist scholars might desire). Given that ‘women’ are not a homogeneous but heterogeneous group – and because progressive feminism simply does not speak for, or to, all women – good representation is enhanced by the ‘the making present of’ complementary, competing and conflicting views on what women, and their interest and needs are. Accordingly, gender and politics scholars should both admit to the presence of conservative’s representatives in our parliaments (and elsewhere, for that matter) and investigate their role in the substantive representation of women. To do that requires that our analytic frameworks and research designs are capable of including conservative women and their representative claims in our analyses. The main goal of the paper is to establish such a framework for conducting comparative research on the role of rightist parties (conservatives and Christian-democrats) in gendered representation, and apply them to recent U.K. and Belgian processes of the substantive representation of women in which Conservatives and Christian-democrats were involved.

Objectives We examine the relationship between political and religious context and juvenile court dispositions, including whether case-level indicators of focal concerns are moderated by community politics and religion. Methods Using a sample of 55,328 juvenile defendants across 175 counties in three states, we first employ multilevel modeling to estimate the direct effects of political and religious context on odds of placement. Second, we examine cross-level interactions between political and religious context, on the one hand, and major case-level predictors of placement, on the other. Results We found mixed support for the hypotheses. While neither political nor religious context were directly associated with odds of placement, religious context moderated several case-level effects. Specifically, findings indicated that violent offenders were punished more harshly in more religious and more religiously homogeneous counties, defendants with a prior record were punished less harshly in more religious and more religiously homogenous counties, Hispanic defendants were punished less harshly in more evangelical counties, and male defendants were punished less harshly in more religiously homogeneous counties. Conclusion Juvenile punishment varies across different courts and systems, yet major contextual hypotheses for this variation (e.g., minority threat) have received limited empirical support. Our findings indicate that other aspects of community context, most notably religiosity, may moderate the relationship between case-level factors and juvenile court punishment.

Because judges make influential decisions, understanding how they are selected is paramount. This chapter documents variations in judicial selection worldwide, specifically focusing on how different selection rules allow political and other societal actors to impact the selection process, which could provide such actors with an additional veto point in policy-making. The chapter reviews and categorizes general and specific types of selection mechanisms for 218 constitutional and supreme courts, finding substantial variation in the extent to which certain political actors dominate the process. While a large number of constitutional courts reviewed use a mixed selection mechanism, whereby different political actors choose a specific number of judges, selection dominated by a judicial council or commission is more prevalent for Supreme Courts. However, while it is assumed that judges selected by political actors will favour their selectors in their decisions, the exact design of the selection mechanism as well as the composition of the court and the political context within which it makes decisions may attenuate this expectation. Additional rules and norms related to judicial selection also may influence gender, ethnic, and professional diversity on the court as well as diversity of judicial ideologies or biases. Selection rules viewed in conjunction with other institutional rules and informal practices may undermine the intended effect of selection. The chapter highlights how different selection rules and informal practices influence judicial independence and behaviour and have the potential to allow either for political manipulation or the creation of diverse forums for decision-making.

Prior research has found that descriptive representation by race, ethnicity, or gender increases political action, but it has paid less attention to how the intersection of these identities influences participation. We extend this literature by assessing the effects on voter turnout of collective descriptive representation in U.S. state legislatures on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, and their intersections. We argue that members of historically excluded groups respond to the overall composition of their state's legislature. We test this proposition in seven elections (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012). Our results are consistent with the minority empowerment literature, as overall collective representation does substantially increase turnout among previously excluded groups. However, the impact varies intersectionally. For white women, gender trumps race, as higher collective gender representation, regardless of race or ethnicity, increases voter turnout. For African Americans, race trumps gender, as both black men and women respond most consistently to higher levels of collective racial representation. For Latinos, we find less consistent results, but note a collective ethnic turnout effect for 2002 and 2006. We conclude that collective representation, especially at the intersection of identities, is an important factor influencing levels of turnout among previously excluded groups.