Gender Transformation, Homelessness and Economic Precarity in Ontario, Canada

Here we explore the well-being of sexual and gender diverse (LGBTQ+) people using three socioecological dimensions of homophobia, family, community and national and their socioeconomic status via a convenience sample of 82,324 participants. Participants from the Middle East and North Africa reported the lowest subjective well-being (mean 4.78, s.d. of 2.70), followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia (mean 5.22, s.d. of 2.13). The Structural Homophobic Climate Index (β = -1.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) -2.38 to -0.99) and family-level homophobia (β = -0.84, 95% CI -0.87 to -0.81) were negatively related to LGBTQ+ well-being. Economic precarity significantly interacted with the negative association between homophobia and participants' well-being. The weight of a country's homophobic climate on well-being was nearly halved for economically secure participants compared with those economically deprived. Participants unaware of their human immunodeficiency virus status reported the lowest well-being (β = -0.20, 95% CI -0.23 to -0.16) controlling for homophobia. Public health measures should address homophobic stigma and discrimination, focusing on the lowest socioeconomic strata.

This chapter critically examines gender equality within Canadian party politics, with a specific focus on six principal political entities: the Liberal Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada, the Bloc Québécois, the New Democratic Party, the Green Party of Canada, and the People’s Party of Canada. It investigates the extent to which these parties address women’s rights and gender equality within their respective party documentation and programmatic agendas. Utilizing a comparative analytical approach, it seeks to elucidate both convergences and divergences in how Canadian political parties address gender equality concerns. To this end, a lexicometric analysis was employed to quantify the occurrence of terms such as ‘woman’, ‘female’, and ‘gender’ in party documentation. Additionally, qualitative methodologies were applied to contextualize the utilization of such terminology. Mirroring patterns observed in other countries, left-leaning and liberal parties are expected to demonstrate greater attentiveness to women’s rights and gender equality issues in their official documents compared to their conservative counterparts. However, this pattern primarily applies to the constitutions of Canadian parties. Regarding the programmatic space, there is a broad consensus encompassing the majority of Canadian parties. It is only questioned by the People’s Party of Canada. An interesting position is also held by the Bloc Québécois, which, despite supporting feminist demands, as a separatist party, pays less attention to gender equality. The prominence of concerns regarding Indigenous women in the agendas of most Canadian parties underscores the progression of Canadian feminism.

SUMMARY South Africa lags behind with regard to an effective framework supporting substantive equality in the legal profession. The structure of the legal profession and the number of women represented in the legal profession do not as yet reflect the diversity of South African society. A number of factors play a role in the skewed representation of female attorneys and advocates in the legal profession. In addition, formal equality cannot translate into gender transformation, as the issues that cause such inequalities extend beyond the scope of attaining sameness. International instruments suggest that special measures be adopted to achieve substantive equality specifically with regard to the role of women in the workplace. This article analyses the current composition of the legal profession from the perspective of gender and race, while promoting the concept of substantive equality as a preferred approach to gender transformation in the legal profession. It considers the theoretical framework for gender equality as a human right in South Africa by examining relevant legislation and international and regional instruments, and analysing the extent to which the Cape Bar maternity policy, as an existing transformation initiative, implemented on the basis of a gender stereotype, encourages substantive gender transformation in the legal profession. Key words: gender equality; human rights; legal profession; substantive equality; formal equality; gender transformation; gender stereotypes

The role of Islamic social finance instruments in providing services in Nigeria

There is an identified need for specific support for trans and gender diverse young people who are also autistic. However, health professionals frequently lack awareness and training on trans health, bodies and identities, and there are also gaps in knowledge and service provision for young autistic people. This chapter examines the ways in which gender diversity intersects with autism in the narratives of health professionals working with trans and gender diverse young people, and how the limitations in the current healthcare system might produce additional barriers for young people who are autistic and gender diverse. The chapter explores the extent to which the existing healthcare model for young trans and gender diverse people takes autism into account. It also asks the critical question of what ideas and understandings of both gender diversity and autism are reproduced when the two are held together and analysed in relation to one another. Keywords: gender identity, autism, trans health, health services for transgender persons, young people

This study sought to explore perspectives of trans and gender diverse (TGD) people of ways to alleviate gender dysphoria in service provision and to develop a framework for application in health and other areas that can be used by researchers and service providers to design study protocols, assess organisations and enhance everyday practice in ways that are sensitive to TGD people's experiences. Data from a national Australian survey on TGD people conducted in 2018-2019 (n = 340) were used to develop a framework for alleviating dysphoria. Participants were asked an open-ended question on ways that body discomfort could be minimised in clinical encounters. Inductive thematic analysis was used to develop themes true to participant sentiment, which formed the basis for the development of a framework. The sample was overall young, with 60.6% aged 18-24, and a strong representation of gender diverse people (42.6%). The most important theme for participants was the context of the experience, which included the subthemes of the interpersonal qualities of service providers, language and pronouns, and practical aspects. Aspects of systems were also important, with education and awareness being particularly emphasised, followed by inclusive environments. Access to gender affirming medical and surgical procedures was rarely mentioned (2.6%). A minority of participants indicated that there was nothing that could be done to alleviate their gender dysphoria (4.4%). The study proposes a framework that can help facilitate assessment of a service's current practices, inform a practitioner's daily practice and be used by researchers to appropriately design studies. The most important areas to address centre on the context of the immediate experience, which may be influenced through systems-level characteristics.

Since 2018, Canada, through its Rohingya Response Strategy in Bangladesh, has been providing targeted assistance to the impoverished Bengali host communities and Rohingya refugees living in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Under Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), gender equality and gender-responsive humanitarian action constitute some of the core priority areas for the Canadian government. In Cox's Bazar, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) funds programmes to empower women and girls through skill-based and livelihood training and to provide sexual and reproductive health services. However, scholars like Jennifer Cadesky and Rebecca Tiessen caution against the conflation of gender equality and empowerment, arguing that it often leads to short-term, quick-fix solutions without any long-term benefit to women. Canada needs to go beyond funding recovery assistance programmes at a surface level. Without understanding social norms and cultural practices that influence women's participation, mobility, and visibility in public spaces, gender equality in Canada's response strategy will be limited to only checklist goals.

In late 2011, Canada’s Conservative government banned face coverings for those taking oath at citizenship ceremonies. The ban was unequivocally interpreted by the press to be targeting veil-wearing Muslim women. This paper analyzes newspaper coverage in the month following the announcement of the policy. It argues that most commentators conceptualized citizenship to be a neoliberal tool of rescuing veiled Muslim women from their male oppressors and making them more like the equal/neoliberal “us” and/or as a reward for those who already are or will become equal/neoliberal. Most non-Muslim commentators constructed gender oppression as the reason for which veiled women should (not) become citizens. Gender equality in Canada was represented as a key national value and inequality was erased or minimized and presented as a Muslim problem. In attempting to deflect these arguments, most Muslim commentators silenced gender inequality among Muslims by arguing that veiled Muslim women choose the practice and by relegating gender oppression to Western societies, thereby constructing veiled Muslim women as ideal neoliberal subjects worthy of Canadian citizenship.
 
 Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v11i1.253

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is globally unique in that it includes explicit commitments to the values of multiculturalism and gender equality. Section 27 of the Charter provides that: “[It] shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians,” whereas section 28 states that: “Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.” The Canadian experiment (as I will call it) offers us a rare, living laboratory in which a thriving constitutional system searches for legal and institutional pathways to addressing seemingly incongruous demands, obligations, rights, and protections. This article identifies a range of concrete legal responses developed and articulated by Canadian judges and other policymakers in response to claims for fair inclusion raised by members of religious minority communities. Contributing to ongoing theoretical and legal debates, I will conceptualize three variants of such fair inclusion claims. I will then assess what the Canadian multicultural experiment can teach other comparable countries about principled and pragmatic responses to the challenge of “living together” in shared spaces such as workplaces, schools, courthouses, and during citizenship ceremonies. The discussion will then explore the promises and pitfalls of a jurisprudential approach that resists the hierarchy of rights formulas, and tries instead to cover all grounds so as to neither erase diversity nor sacrifice equality.

In late 2011, Canada’s Conservative government banned face coverings for those taking oath at citizenship ceremonies. The ban was unequivocally interpreted by the press to be targeting veil-wearing Muslim women. This paper analyzes newspaper coverage in the month following the announcement of the policy. It argues that most commentators conceptualized citizenship to be a neoliberal tool of rescuing veiled Muslim women from their male oppressors and making them more like the equal/neoliberal “us” and/or as a reward for those who already are or will become equal/neoliberal. Most non-Muslim commentators constructed gender oppression as the reason for which veiled women should (not) become citizens. Gender equality in Canada was represented as a key national value and inequality was erased or minimized and presented as a Muslim problem. In attempting to deflect these arguments, most Muslim commentators silenced gender inequality among Muslims by arguing that veiled Muslim women choose the practice and by relegating gender oppression to Western societies, thereby constructing veiled Muslim women as ideal neoliberal subjects worthy of Canadian citizenship.

One of the critical indicators of a gender equal society is the proportional and balanced representation of male and female in all spheres of life. Within the higher education sector in Mexico, gender transformation and equality is measured through the proxy of increased access of female students in higher education. Such demographic changes are occurring as a response to feminist demands for gender equality. While we acknowledge the physical visibility of female academics and students in higher education, this has not been achieved without opposition from male defenders of the status quo. In this study we examine the perceptions of male students and male faculty with regards to the gender policies and their attitudes to the presence of more female students taking up Sciences and Engineering graduate programs. Focusing on the perspectives of men is crucial in gender issues since transformation which does not involving men will likely be opposed by men in defence of gender privileges. The findings reflect that male academics and students men were caught up in conflicting position of accepting the policies in principle but rejecting them in practice. This contradiction arose from deeply internalized and normalized gender stereotypes which deserve educational attention and pedagogical intervention. Officially, the gender policy has affirmed female access and participation in the Science and Engineering graduate program at NPI. However, cultural and institutional gender regimes have not yet aligned themselves to the new policy framework. The question remains as to whether men can change their perceptions about traditional gender roles and responsibilities in order to leverage gender equity and transformation for women justice. Despite literature that suggests that men should be partakers in the fight for gender equality, findings in this study have no affirmative answer to the question.

In a global context of rising right-wing governance, feminist and gender equality actors are facing the reversal of hard-won gains and the deterioration of what they view to be the conditions for advancing gender equality. While these shifts are not failures of feminism, they do represent devastating setbacks that fundamentally challenge the strategies and tactics of gender equality movements. In response, gender equality actors are joining with a range of others in broad resistance coalitions, often with regime change goals. Although this is a common strategy of gender equality actors under similar political conditions, scholars do not typically analyze how joining with these broad coalitions impacts opportunities to work on gender equality. In other words, it is not common to examine within-movement opportunity structures and how gender equality actors are impacted by them. To contribute to addressing this gap, in this article I build on the concept of “gendered opportunity structure” to analyze the within-movement gender dynamics of Myanmar’s resistance movement and how gender equality actors are responding to them. My findings indicate that, while the current gendered opportunity structure of the movement provides some openings for the expanded participation of individual well-established gender equality actors and gender-diverse people, critical shifts in the within-movement opportunity structure have had the net effect of narrowing the objectives and strategies of gender equality actors. Via this case analysis, I propose that the concept “within-movement gendered opportunity structure” may be generative in helping scholars and practitioners better think about how gender equality actors are enabled and constrained by joining heterogeneous resistance movements. This concept, along with the suggested framework and model of analysis worked through in this article, could be adapted for analysis of other relevant cases. More consistent casework on the experiences of gender equality actors within broad-based resistance movements would help build knowledge about the conditions under which resistance movements of this kind may support gender equality outcomes.

Sexual health education is mandatory in South Korea. However, gender equality, and the rights of sexuality and gender-diverse people are contentious issues in Korean society. This study describes school health teachers’ experiences delivering sexual health education especially in relation to gender equality and the rights of sexuality and gender minorities. A descriptive approach based on grounded theory methodology was adopted. The participants included 23 elementary, middle, and high school health teachers certified by the Korean Institute for Gender Equality Promotion and Education. One-to-one interviews were conducted with participants. Education authorities, students, other teachers, and parents create challenges for health teachers because of the tension between gender-sensitive and conservative perspectives on sexual health education. Social factors influencing these challenges include patriarchy, cultural misunderstandings regarding sexuality, conflicts between feminism and anti-feminism, heterosexual familism, and homophobia. Teachers’ strategies to overcome these challenges include improving personal understanding, skills and attitudes, and asking other teachers and parents for their support. Addressing gender equality and power is the key to improving students’ sexual and reproductive health. Educational authorities and civil society should support school health teachers’ efforts to advance gender equality and prevent sexuality and gender identity-based discrimination.

ABSTRACTBackground: In the Peruvian Amazon, historical events of colonization and political marginalization intersect with identities of ethnicity, class and geography in the construction of gender and health inequities. Gender-based inequalities can manifest in poor health outcomes via discriminatory practices, healthcare system imbalances, inequities in health research, and differential exposures and vulnerabilities to diseases. Structural violence is a comprehensive framework to explain the mechanisms by which social forces such as poverty, racism and gender inequity become embodied as individual experiences and health outcomes, and thus may be a useful tool in structuring an intersectional analysis of gender and health inequities in Amazonian Peru.Objective: The aim of this paper is to explore the intersection of gender inequities with other social inequalities in the production of health and disease in Peru’s Amazon using a structural violence approach.Design: Exploratory qualitative research was performed in two Loreto settings – urban Iquitos and the rural Lower Napo River region – between March and November 2015. This included participant observation with prolonged stays in the community, 46 semi-structured individual interviews and three group discussions. Thematic analysis was performed to identify emerging themes related to gender inequalities in health and healthcare and how these intersect with layered social disadvantages in the reproduction of health and illness. We employed a structural violence approach to construct an intersectional analysis of gender and health inequities in Amazonian Peru.Results: Our findings were arranged into five interrelated domains within a gender, structural violence and health model: gender as a symbolic institution, systemic gender-based violence, interpersonal violence, the social determinants of health, and other health outcomes. Each domain represents one aspect of the complex associations between gender, gender inequity and health. Through this model, we were able to explore: gender, health and intersectionality; structural violence; and to highlight particular local gender and health dynamics. Intersecting influences of poverty, ethnicity, geography and gender served as significant barriers to healthcare in both rural and urban settings.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa: Call for a Paradigm Shift.