Climate For Women Research Articles

The Effects of Climate Change on Maternal, Fetal and Neonatal Health: An in-Depth Review

The substantial elevation in atmospheric greenhouse gas levels is a consequence of human activities, resulting in a 1.1°C elevation in surface temperature as the worldwide average. The detrimental outcomes of this temperature rise encompass severe weather events, deterioration in food, water, and air quality, alongside an escalation in vector-borne infectious diseases and/or transmission risks. The mitigation and adaptation to climate change are pivotal factors for the survival of humanity in the midst of this existential crisis. Climate change exerts notable effects on maternal, fetal, and neonatal health, with women experiencing more adverse impacts compared to men. Pregnant women may face conditions such as hypertensive disorders like preeclampsia and eclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), variations in pregnancy duration, and mental health disorders. Fetal and newborn health can be affected, leading to results like preterm birth (<37 weeks of gestation), low birth weight (<2500 grams), congenital anomalies (including atrial septum issues), early membrane rupture (EMR), underdeveloped immune systems, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), and neonatal death. Effective interventions aimed at reducing heat-related risks should include health education on heat and heat increase risks for caregivers - other than parents - and clinicians responsible for childcare. Additionally, there is a need for improvements in cooling systems in healthcare facilities, fair enhancements in housing quality, and food systems. Focus should also be placed on nutrition and lifestyle counseling. Despite the growing attention to the influence of climate on human health, the risks associated with heat and other factors associated with climate for women, pregnant individuals, newborns, infants, and children are not sufficiently addressed. This review seeks to investigate the effects of climate change on maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes related to health based on existing literature.

Effect of providing gender equality information on students' motivations to choose STEM.

The social climate for women studying STEM subjects is changing, but the proportion of women taking STEM subjects in Japan is small. Only 27.9% of university students in the department of science is women in 2019. In this study, we used an online survey to investigate whether randomly providing three types of gender equality information increased the motivation of junior high school students to choose STEM subjects and the motivation of their parents to support that choice. Information on STEM, especially about social equality, and information on math stereotypes and STEM occupations, increased students’ motivations for studying STEM. This suggests that providing gender equality information is an effective way to change students’ attitudes toward STEM.

Five years later: How the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the #MeToo movement impacted feminist social studies teachers

ABSTRACT In a previous study conducted before the emergence of the #MeToo Movement and the results of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, the authors examined feminist teachers and found differences based on their liberal feminist or critical feminist perspectives. In this study, the authors examine the same participants five years later to determine if and how their beliefs, teaching practices, and curricula may have changed. Using a multiple case study design, the authors found that all but one feminist teacher had become more critical in their stance. Five out of six teachers reported feeling a need to respond to the current climate for women and create more opportunities for their students to learn about gender equity. Yet, one of the six teachers, who previously had the strongest critical feminist views, described feeling defeated and frustrated with the outward sexism that has become more prevalent since the 2016 election.

A Female Policy Premium? Agency Context and Women’s Leadership in the U.S. Federal Bureaucracy

Abstract Although there are descriptive and substantive benefits associated with women serving in leadership posts in the bureaucracy, we ask whether there is a policy benefit associated with women’s leadership. Simply put, is there a policy premium to having women as bureaucratic leaders? We focus on agency rulemaking, a policymaking activity conducted by nearly all federal agencies. Across three presidential administrations, we find no evidence of an across-the-board premium associated with women’s leadership. However, our results are consistent with a conditional policy premium—wherein women leaders are particularly effective in advancing ambitious rules and in shepherding rules through to finalization—in agencies that have a working environment that is supportive of women and, to some extent, in agencies that focus on women’s issues. One key implication is that, rather than working to tear down “glass walls,” reformers would be better served by improving the workplace climate for women within agencies.

Patriarchy reinforced or challenged? A study of engineering students in an elite Indian institute

Research has shown that gender inequalities are evident in higher education in engineering due to an adverse climate for women. In India, the reproduction of gendered norms among students in elite engineering institutes is seldom expected and is also under-researched. This article studies whether informal relations at the undergraduate level reproduce traditional patriarchal socio-cultural norms evident within Indian society or reflect changes therein. It uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data from men and women undergraduate students in an elite Indian engineering institute. The findings affirm that the power derived from the association of men with technology overlaps with the power derived from the social structure. These aspects, combined with a lack of critical mass of women in such engineering institutes, result in the hegemony of men and men’s practices adversely affecting the position of women. It argues for a greater emphasis on gender equality in such campuses.

Counseling survivors of domestic violence: theoretically integrated approaches

ABSTRACTParticularly in the climate of women’s empowerment movements, clinical social workers are tasked with responding to matters related to domestic violence. To support clinical social workers in these goals, this paper offers insights, accompanied by fictitious case vignettes, for integrating feminist therapy into dominant psychotherapies for counseling survivors of domestic violence. The clinical recommendations presented in this paper are informed by best practices in domestic violence treatment, trauma research, and insights from the authors’ specialized practice in the area of domestic violence.

How the Women Chemists Committee stays relevant after 90 years

The question of if the American Chemical Society still needs the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) is one that WCC considered in 2017, while we celebrated our 90th anniversary and updated our strategic plan. It was clear to WCC that although many positive changes have occurred in the past 90 years, there are still many more goals to be achieved. Current global events and the climate for women in the U.S. and around the world should reassure even the most skeptical critic that gender equity has not yet been achieved either inside or outside the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. To achieve the WCC vision of “Empowering women throughout the chemical enterprise,” the committee has adopted an updated mission statement and goals. WCC’s updated goals are to increase engagement and retention of women, advocate and educate within the society on issues of importance to women, enhance leadership and career

Climate for women in climate science: Women scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an authoritative and influential source of reports on climate change. The lead authors of IPCC reports include scientists from around the world, but questions have been raised about the dominance of specific disciplines in the report and the disproportionate number of scholars from the Global North. In this paper, we analyze the as-yet-unexamined issue of gender and IPCC authorship, looking at changes in gender balance over time and analyzing women's views about their experience and barriers to full participation, not only as women but also at the intersection of nationality, race, command of English, and discipline. Over time, we show that the proportion of female IPCC authors has seen a modest increase from less than 5% in 1990 to more than 20% in the most recent assessment reports. Based on responses from over 100 women IPCC authors, we find that many women report a positive experience in the way in which they are treated and in their ability to influence the report, although others report that some women were poorly represented and heard. We suggest that an intersectional lens is important: not all women experience the same obstacles: they face multiple and diverse barriers associated with social identifiers such as race, nationality, command of English, and disciplinary affiliation. The scientific community benefits from including all scientists, including women and those from the Global South. This paper documents barriers to participation and identifies opportunities to diversify climate science.

Men ask more questions than women at a scientific conference.

Gender inequity in science and academia, especially in senior positions, is a recognised problem. The reasons are poorly understood, but include the persistence of historical gender ratios, discrimination and other factors, including gender-based behavioural differences. We studied participation in a professional context by observing question-asking behaviour at a large international conference with a clear equality code of conduct that prohibited any form of discrimination. Accounting for audience gender ratio, male attendees asked 1.8 questions for each question asked by a female attendee. Amongst only younger researchers, male attendees also asked 1.8 questions per female question, suggesting the pattern cannot be attributed to the temporary problem of demographic inertia. We link our findings to the ‘chilly’ climate for women in STEM, including wider experiences of discrimination likely encountered by women throughout their education and careers. We call for a broader and coordinated approach to understanding and addressing the barriers to women and other under-represented groups. We encourage the scientific community to recognise the context in which these gender differences occur, and evaluate and develop methods to support full participation from all attendees.

Evaluating a Medical School's Climate for Women's Success: Outcomes for Faculty Recruitment, Retention, and Promotion.

Women are under-represented in academia. Causative factors include challenges of career-family integration. We evaluated factors reflecting institutional culture (promotion, retention, hiring, and biasing language in promotion letters) as part of an intervention to help shift culture and raise awareness of flexibility policies at the University of California, Davis (UCD). Data on faculty use of family-friendly policies were obtained at baseline, and surveys for policy awareness were conducted pre(2010)/post(2013) an NIH-funded study educational intervention. Data on hires, separations, and promotions were obtained pre(2007-2009, 2234 person-year data points)/post(2010-2012, 2384 person-year data points) intervention and compared by logistic regression and for gender differences. Department promotion letters (53) were also analyzed for biasing language. Policy use was overall low, highest for female assistant professors, and for maternity leave. Awareness significantly increased for all policies postintervention. Promotions decreased, likely because of increases in advancement deferrals or tenure clock extensions. Pre/postintervention, female and male hires were near parity for assistant professors, but female hires were substantially lower than males for associate (54% less likely, p = 0.03) and full professors (70% less likely, p = 0.002). Once hired, women were no more likely to separate than men. Fewer associate/full professors separated than assistant professors (p = 0.002, p < 0.001, respectively), regardless of gender. Language in promotion letters was not gender biased. We demonstrate a shift at UCD toward a culture of work-life flexibility, an environment in which letters of recommendation show very few biased descriptions, and in which assistant professor hiring is gender equitable. At the same time, a decrease in number of faculty members applying for promotion and an imbalance of men over women at senior hires independent of policy awareness may challenge the assumption that family-friendly policies, while promoting flexibility, also have a positive impact on professional advancement.

“The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Should Rock the U. of C.”: The Faculty Wife and the Feminist Era

This article analyzes struggles among women at the University of Chicago to rearticulate their role on campus in the 1960s and 1970s. In those years, feminist politics generated a controversy between female students and instructors who sought access to the university on their own terms and the faculty wives who proclaimed the value of their supportive labors. The wives argued that their unpaid work for their families and the university earned them a respected role on campus. Feminists countered that women should instead seek recognition as men’s peers. Administrators chafed against the new climate of women’s liberation. In the end, feminists won new access to academic jobs but were frustrated in their campaigns for more systemic changes. This partial success helped to remake the domestic labor that facilitates academic careers as a private concern, thus marginalizing the reproductive labor that still typically falls to women—even those who teach and study alongside of men.

Yes, There Is a Problem: What Is to Be Done about the Climate for Women in Philosophy?

Yes, There Is a Problem: What Is to Be Done about the Climate for Women in Philosophy?

Supportive When Not Supported? Male Responses to Negative Climates for Women

This study examined the relationship between perceived climate for women and job satisfaction in a male-dominated context, focusing on moderating variables which may augment or decrease this relationship for men. Specifically, it was predicted that job satisfaction will be lower for women and men in a male-dominated context when they perceive a negative climate for women, but that this relationship will be moderated for men based on the levels of support and exclusion they experience. Using a sample of 239 (75.7% male) professors, staff, graduate assistants, and undergraduate assistants in a male-dominated science department of a large Midwestern university, we found that perceptions of a negative climate for women were significantly related to lower reports of job satisfaction for both women and men. However, perceived organizational support moderated this relationship, such that the job satisfaction of men who felt highly supported by the organization were unaffected by the perceived climate for women. Discussion and implications of results are included.

Exposed Yet Unrevealed: Reflections on the Poetry of Women Prisoners

Women comprise a small but rapidly growing proportion of prisoners incarcerated in countries around the world. Research shows that women experience prison differently than men, primarily due to the extent that personal relationships (both inside and outside prison) shape the culture and climate of women’s prisons. However, the literature does not adequately address women’s perspectives on their unique prison experiences. Prisoners’ poetry is a rich and largely untapped source of information that offers nuanced views of crime, punishment, and prison life. This research employs poetry written by female prisoners as a medium from which to learn about their lives in prison. The poems selected in this sample reflect a number of themes involving the common feelings of pain and loneliness, the routine of prison life, traumatic pre-incarceration experiences, and family issues. These themes are then compared with themes found in poetry written by male prisoners.

The antecedents of a ‘chilly climate’ for women faculty in higher education

The literature on women’s under-representation in academia asserts that faculty women face a ‘chilly climate’, but there are few theoretically based studies examining this proposition. Relational demography, organizational justice, and social network theories all identify possible antecedents of ‘chilly climate’. Using survey data of faculty at a private Midwestern US university, we test whether the perception of exclusion (chilly climate) is influenced by demographic dissimilarity, and perceptions of fairness and gender equity. We find that faculty women perceive more exclusion from academic departments with a low representation of women, consistent with relational demography. Perceptions of procedural fairness and gender equity are powerful factors that foster inclusion and warm the climate for both men and women. The ‘chilly climate’ for women faculty is a complex phenomenon with multiple causes. Policies that fail to address these multiple causes are unlikely to be effective.

Women Reflect on the SSAO Job Search Process

Women Reflect on the SSAO Job Search Process

Open Doors and Closed Ceilings: Gender-Based Patterns and Attitudes in the International Studies Association

In 1995, the Gender Research Committee of the International Studies Association conducted a survey of the membership concerning the impact of gender on members’ lives. In 2006, the Women's Caucus for International Studies sponsored a follow-up survey utilizing similar questions. A comparison of the findings of the two studies shows increased representation of women within international studies, persistent frustration with the slow pace of progress in women's access to senior positions and in accommodating family issues, some evidence of a chilly climate for women and a leaky pipeline, and significant differences between men's and women's perceptions of the status of women in the profession. The 2006 survey reveals a marked increase in concerns regarding the tension between women's family responsibilities and the academic environment, identification of structural discrimination, and concerns that men have been disadvantaged by affirmative action for women.

Community College Organizational Climate for Minorities and Women

This paper explores the issues of what would constitute a positive organizational climate for women and minorities within the community college setting and ways in which such a climate might be achieved. It first describes some traditional or standard measures of a positive organizational climate for women and minorities and then evaluates how well the community college is doing when examined against these measures. Next, it describes some structural manifestations of a negative climate, including negative discourse about minorities and women. In doing so, it traces the development of some discourse patterns about these groups and provides some illustrative cultural assumptions that reflect these discourse patterns. The paper concludes with implications for the community college, including some steps to be taken to improve the organizational climate for minorities and women.

Community College Organizational Climate for Minorities and Women

This paper explores the issues of what would constitute a positive organizational climate for women and minorities within the community college setting and ways in which such a climate might be achieved. It first describes some traditional or standard measures of a positive organizational climate for women and minorities and then evaluates how well the community college is doing when examined against these measures. Next, it describes some structural manifestations of a negative climate, including negative discourse about minorities and women. In doing so, it traces the development of some discourse patterns about these groups and provides some illustrative cultural assumptions that reflect these discourse patterns. The paper concludes with implications for the community college, including some steps to be taken to improve the organizational climate for minorities and women.

“Reflections on the Challenge for Women in International Studies”

As the Women's Caucus for International Studies celebrates its tenth year as a section of the International Studies Association in 2006, it is time to reflect on the progress women have made in international studies. Despite a changing climate for women in the field, inequities in the ratio of women faculty to men in many academic departments continues. Women are underrepresented in institutional participation and publications. Some shortcomings are self-selected as women have special commitments that color their ability to compete. Nevertheless, there are ways in which more equitable relationships can emerge. As women seek to identify these ways to serve both their personal chances for advancement …