Gender Constraints Research Articles

Women’s Network Resource Acquisition in Informal Rural Entrepreneurship: A Developed View of Opportunity versus Necessity Dichotomy

This study explores the inherent interdependencies between microfinance social enterprises and two groups of women informal farm entrepreneurs and women informal tourism entrepreneurs in four impoverished rural regions in Iran. Using a qualitative constructivist grounded theory methodology, the findings suggest that women tourism entrepreneurs tend to engage in a greater coexistence of weak vertical and horizontal ties. In contrast, women farm entrepreneurs primarily develop strong horizontal ties. Consequently, members of the tourism group have greater opportunities to access a diverse range of resources, placing them in a more advantageous position along the opportunity–necessity entrepreneurship continuum. Guided by a network approach combined with strong structuration theory, this study develops a theoretical model that illustrates how these two groups of women entrepreneurs differently cope with gender constraints to grow their informal businesses. The findings highlight the need for tailored strategies and policies to empower various groups of subsistence women entrepreneurs.

Doing business against gendered stigma: skilled female migrants in Hong Kong’s cross-border insurance business

PurposeThis study aims to examine whether skilled female migrants can overcome gender constraints and social stigma attached to women’s service work in host societies.Design/methodology/approachBased on interviews with 40 women who moved from mainland China and entered Hong Kong’s cross-border insurance business, the study examines how highly educated young women negotiate gender expectations and mobilize social networks in doing business.FindingsThis study finds different strategies women used in mobilizing social networks and constructing gender identities: some relied heavily on the warm market – networks of their family, relatives and friends – in doing business and developed careers by performing dutiful daughters, considerate “nieces” and caring “sisters”; some women also relied on the warm market but their jobs were regarded as nonconventional, and they had to deal with suspicions of inappropriate and instrumental womanhood and tried to prove themselves and gain support in the warm market; some women relied mainly on the cold market – connections with strangers – and performed feminine affinity to expand client networks away from judgments of families and friends; and some other women chose to expand the cold market by cultivating a professional image among strangers.Originality/valueThe findings speak to previous research about women’s subordinate roles in migrant networks and their devalued femininity in service work by illustrating women’s diverse forms of agency in negotiating gender identities in the stratified service sectors.

Feminizing Patriarchy: Christian Churches and Gender Inequality in Rural Africa

Abstract In dialogue with the cross-national scholarship on gender and religion, the study uses a unique combination of rich qualitative and quantitative data from a predominantly Christian rural sub-Saharan setting to examine how churches modify, yet also sustain and even reinforce, patriarchal norms. It shows how churches replace the traditional, extended family-based model of gender inequality with a pseudo-modern model of individualized conjugal dependency. Although men increasingly disengage from the religious space, the growing feminization of that space does not translate into a more gender-egalitarian narrative: the church nurtures women’s agency yet also channels it to rearrange and reassert their subservience. To acquire legitimacy, church women are pressured to act as collective articulators, promoters, and guarantors of neo-patriarchal values and orders, and in particular, as builders and saviors of matrimonial integrity and viability. These dynamics reflect and are an integral part of the broader gendered constraints and precarities of contemporary rural society.

Knowledge of gendered needs among the planners and policy makers for prevention of NCDs in Bangladesh: a qualitative exploration

BackgroundGlobally, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are increasingly the primary cause of mortality and morbidity among women. Like many developing countries, Bangladesh also faces a growing burden of NCDs. The “Multisectoral Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases, 2018–2025” signifies Bangladesh’s commitment to comprehensively combating the rising burden of NCDs. This study investigates the perceptions of those involved in developing the action plan and if/how a gender lens was incorporated into its implementation.MethodsIn-depth interviews were conducted with 25 key individuals involved in a high-level committee to develop and implement Bangladesh’s multisectoral action plan to address the burden of NCDs. Data were collected between July and November 2021, and thematic analysis was conducted.ResultsThe findings revealed that interviewees believed the multisectoral action plan adopted a population-wide approach without considering gender-specific needs. This study presents the explanations for this inattention under five themes: (1) A population-level approach to NCD prevention; (2) Understanding women’s health beyond reproductive health; (3) Absence of gender-specific programs; (4) Lack of consideration of gender constraints on physical activity; and (5) Lack of collaborative efforts to address NCDs beyond the health ministry.ConclusionIn conclusion, governments in countries like Bangladesh can develop more effective strategies to reduce the disease burden of NCDs among women by recognizing and addressing the gendered nature of preventive health. This can be achieved by promoting gender-responsive research, programs, and policy initiatives that consider women’s specific health concerns, ultimately leading to better health outcomes for all.

The Plight of Intersex Individuals: Examination of Marginalization in Pakistan through Faiqa Mansab's This House of Clay and Water

This article aims to shed light on the discrimination, stigmatization, and marginalization experienced by intersex individuals in heteronormative Pakistani society. Intersex individuals face social ostracization in Pakistan. The primary goal of this study is to examine how Bhanggi, the protagonist of Faiqa Mansab's novel This House of Clay and Water (2017), suffers psychologically, physically, and mentally due to the unacceptance of his gender and the strict gender constraints of South Asia, specifically Pakistan. The in-depth analysis of Bhanggi's character helps in understanding the day-to-day struggles and significant obstacles encountered by intersex individuals, especially due to their gender identity. Using the conceptual framework of Sigmund Freud's personality theory, the study also contends that Bhanggi is victimized and condemned throughout his life because of his gender identification and societal prejudice.

Femininity penalties and rewards: obstacles and opportunities for Chinese female entrepreneurs in gender-segregated industries

PurposeThis study aims to answer two questions: (a) what obstacles and opportunities do Chinese female entrepreneurs face when doing business? And (b) how do they negotiate their entrepreneurial careers and gender identities in different gender-segregated markets?Design/methodology/approachThis study uses qualitative research methods of participant observation and in-depth interviews with 41 female entrepreneurs in China and the theoretical lenses of gender role theory and doing gender in entrepreneurship.FindingsThe study findings reveal that Chinese female entrepreneurs face different obstacles and opportunities in gender-segregated industries. Their experiences vary in industries that are mainly occupied by males and females. On the one hand, women in female-dominated industries may be supported by a feminine working environment that is coherent with their domestic roles. However, they may also be questioned on the cultural impurity implied in some industries, which harms their class-based feminine virtue. On the other hand, women in male-dominated industries may be challenged and marginalized due to their gender. However, some find ways to turn the disadvantaged feminine characters into favourable conditions and break out of the stereotypical gender constraints in doing business.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on gender and entrepreneurship in general. More specifically, it contributes to the study of doing gender in gender-segregated markets, and it also illustrates women’s gendered opportunities and constraints in Chinese society that are affected by the long-lasting traditional gender norms.

A contracepção como um valor: histórias de jovens sobre desafios no uso e manejo dos métodos

Abstract This study presents the findings of the social anthropological research project “Jovens da era digital: Sexualidade, reprodução, redes sociais e prevenção às IST/HIV/AIDS” [Young people in the digital age: Sexuality, reproduction, social media, and prevention of STI/HIV/AIDS], which was conducted with interlocutors between the ages of 16 and 24 years old from six Brazilian cities. This study focuses on contraceptive management among heterosexual adolescents and young adults, with particular emphasis on women, given their prominent role in family planning within hierarchical gender contexts. We describe the typical script for youth contraception, which involves the use of condoms at the onset of sexual activity, followed by the incorporation of hormonal methods or the withdrawal method. We also find that adolescents frequently resort to the use of emergency contraception. Women frequently report experiencing side effects from hormonal contraceptives, which results in high rates of discontinuation and an increased interest in copper IUDs, which are scarce resources within the Brazilian National Health System. It can be concluded that, despite gender constraints and social, ethnic, and racial inequalities, the interviewees value contraception, offering insights for the review and improvement of public policies concerning young people.

Choosing invisibility? Exploring service (dis)engagement of women experiencing multiple disadvantage

PurposeThe shift in policy discourse towards individualism is affecting service provision and access, which has become increasingly conditioned on individual agency and the “deservingness” of the recipient. Gendered and intersectional experiences of homelessness and excluded populations less likely to be living on the streets remain overlooked and unaddressed. This study thus aims to uncover what drives “invisibility” in services for women experiencing multiple disadvantage and the gendered constraints the women are facing when exiting and navigating multiple disadvantage.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on in-depth interviews with women who face severe and multiple disadvantage and their support staff. Data is also gathered through survey data and observations with a wide range of frontline service providers, as well as support notes and numerical progress data recorded by one of the service providers.FindingsContradicting the common assumption that people act as rational actors in their interaction with services, the author found that women’s decisions to (dis)engage may be blinded by forces of multiple disadvantage and mistrust. These are often developed as a result of systemic and gendered constraints that limit women’s capabilities and exercise of choice. Barriers in service access often amplified the personal barriers they were facing and reinforced women’s decisions to not engage with services.Research limitations/implicationsThe author hopes that this paper sheds light on the particular set of barriers women with multiple disadvantage face, which will be vital to reach women who face severe disadvantage and provide more effective policies, care and support.Originality/valueThis study gives voice to a particular hidden population: women with multiple disadvantage. It contributes to existing frameworks on agency and choice by understanding gendered barriers behind service engagement and how services themselves may be contributing to women’s invisibility.

Trapped in cisnormative and binarist gendered constraints at work? How HR managers react to and manage gender transitions over time

This article examines the ways transitioning employees perceive employing organizations’ readiness and willingness to deal with gender transitions and identifies barriers to those employees being able to express their gender in the workplace in their preferred manner. We draw on interviews with 25 transitioning trans persons who, over a period of two years, were interviewed on four occasions and asked about the ways in which their gender transition was handled at work. It appears that societal cisnormative and binarist gender regimes are pervasive in HR practices, restricting the support for, and acceptance of, trans and non-binary employees’ gender transitions in the workplace in several ways. Besides confirming the perceived lack of organizational knowledge about transgender issues in general, and gender transitions more specifically, the interviews reveal that in order to become intelligible for HR managers and colleagues, employee transgender status has to be both visible, and unambiguously attributable to either a male or female gender expression. Everything in-between, gender-non-conforming, non-binary, non-gendered, or mutable seems to be met with confusion and receives less acceptance and support. Furthermore, the results show the temporal and declining nature of support and understanding during a gender transition. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

I just saved you – does it matter what I look like? Reading and discussing feminist fairy tales with a group of 12-year-old girls

ABSTRACT Using a post-structural lens which situates gender as discursively produced, this study investigates how four 12-year-old girls read feminist fairy tales and what feminist issues and concerns they discern and relate to in these texts. The study used a dialogic approach in Action Research informed reading groups to stimulate their thinking and explore their experience of gender constraints. The article explores how the girls drew on discourses and discursive practices to position themselves in relation to the texts, often breaking the frame of the text and creating ‘counter-fictionals’ and using performativity to construct their versions of femininity. The author argues that the book group acted as a liminal space that allowed the girls a safe space for exploring and subverting gender constructs and constraints.

Navigating the patriarchal bargain: Compliance with and negotiation of menstrual customs in Kathmandu, Nepal

Previous research on menstruation in Nepal has focused on severe forms of menstrual customs, emphasizing hygiene and sanitation. Little research attends to women's compliance and negotiation of menstrual practices. We employ qualitative analysis to examine how compliance with and negotiation of menstrual customs changes over a woman's lifetime. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 71 women living in urban Kathmandu, Nepal, we argue that women engage in the ‘patriarchal bargain’ when making strategic choices regarding which menstrual practices to follow. Menstrual customs are stringent during menarche, with flexibility granted to married women with children. Women's ability to negotiate practices increases with age, education, income, and when they maintain control over their residence. Women also follow menstrual practices to preserve their image as virtuous women and access resources. The current study highlights how women gain agency within concrete gendered constraints.

Assessment of women's contribution in small‐scale fisheries in Indian Sundarbans: Issues, strategies, and way forward for sustainability

AbstractIn five islands of Indian Sundarbans, issues were identified related to women fishers associated with small‐scale fisheries (SSF) and strategies were formulated to address them in the context of “Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small‐Scale Fisheries” formulated by FAO being followed by signatory nations. Women were actively involved in different fisheries‐related sectors for earning their livelihoods. Despite the significant contribution of women in livelihood and nutritional security, their roles are often unrecognized leading to unfair distribution of benefits between men and women. The strategic and practical gender constraints were identified; “lack of awareness and low social participation” was the major factor as perceived by women fishers with the highest score (86.06). It was identified that gender‐sensitive extension approaches, training methodologies, and region‐specific appropriate technologies are to be applied to uplift the women members of the fishers' community associated with SSF. The aforesaid findings may be considered as precursors for formulating location‐specific strategies to address the gender gap and to create gender equality in SSF that will lead to increased productivity and sustainability of SSF across the world.

Fashioning Flannel: Wales, Female Masculinity, and Same-Sex Desire in the Novels of Amy Dillwyn

Abstract: This article explores how in her novels of the 1880s, Amy Dillwyn uses Welsh flannel to convey a queer female masculinity that is rough, “savage,” working class, and Welsh. Feminine fashions are divested or destroyed: ballgowns go up in flames, corsets are resisted, girls undress to avoid maternally imposed gender constraints. But fine clothes and jewellery are also eroticized proxies for desired women, who are watched voyeuristically from a distance. Dillwyn often pairs her female protagonists with male doubles, and the final section of the essay traces the comic juxtaposition of a masculine woman with an elaborately dressed dandy. Informed by Jack Halberstam’s theories of female masculinity and shadow feminism, this article also draws on Dillwyn’s life writing and her interest in the social and political dimensions of vestimentary codes.

COVID-19 and the gendered impacts on adolescent wellbeing: Evidence from a cross-sectional study of locally adapted measures in Ethiopia, Jordan, and Palestine.

SummaryBackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic and associated policy responses have interrupted services, increased financial stress, and driven social isolation, with acute impacts for adolescents. This study explores relationships between gender, COVID-19 vulnerability, social protection, and adolescent wellbeing in three diverse contexts: Ethiopia, Jordan, and Palestine.MethodsThis study presents findings from a quantitative phone survey with adolescents in Ethiopia, Jordan, and Palestine (n = 5752) on household-level vulnerability to COVID-19-related shocks, household-level social protection (cash transfers or food aid), and locally adapted outcome measures designed to capture the gendered impacts of COVID-19 (collected between November 22, 2020 and February 25, 2021). We examine the relationship between each outcome and household-level COVID-19 vulnerability and social protection (and their interaction) using multivariate regressions, adjusting for adolescent and household characteristics.FindingsFor all adolescents, increased vulnerability to COVID-19-related shocks is associated with worse outcomes for resilient coping and time spent on domestic tasks and care work. Across samples, girls spent over two additional hours on domestic and care work compared to boys. Girls in more vulnerable households experienced greater gendered constraints on behaviour. We find no association between receipt of social protection and adolescent wellbeing, and find that it only moderates the effect of COVID-19 vulnerability for less vulnerable households. Disability status, being out of school, and experiencing child marriage are also associated with adverse outcomes.InterpretationOur study highlights that the pandemic has exacerbated underlying gender inequalities across adolescents in three very different settings, and that existing social safety nets are not adequate to fully address these impacts, particularly for the most vulnerable.FundingThis work was supported by UK aid through a grant from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) longitudinal research study; the EMERGE project (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grants: OPP1163682 and INV018007; PI Anita Raj) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Managers’ Responses to Gender Equality Policies: Gendered Constraints in Role Performances

This paper develops grounded theory on how managers’ gender shapes their implementation of practices and policies aimed at improving gender equality. I draw on ethnographic data of a policy aimed at improving gender equality—specifically, a flexible work policy—at a STEM professional organization. I identify how gendered constraints in role performances shape managers’ policy implementation. Specifically, women managers encountered barriers to developing technical expertise and client relations, and their formal authority was often disrespected. Facing these constraints, they responded by focusing their day-to-day activities on subordinates, which allowed them to internally broker information (as an alternative to technical and client-facing tasks) and cultivate cooperation (as an alternative to formal authority). The flexible work policy threatened to undermine these interdependent activities, and women managers generally opposed it. In contrast, men managers generally did not experience these same constraints, and instead focused on technical and client-related work that was largely independent of subordinates. The policy maintained these activities, and they implemented it. By identifying gendered constraints in role performances, this study forwards theory on managers’ implementation of gender equality-related practices and policies. It also furthers theory on gender, management, and leadership by demonstrating how gendered constraints in role performances shape managerial actions.

Sheilas and the Beeb: How the BBC provided liberating pathways for ABC women in the early years of television

This article discusses the important role the BBC played in advancing the careers of ABC women in the post-war era. Adopting an integrated, transnational approach, it revisualises the British broadcasting empire from a dominion perspective, a gendered perspective. This research follows ABC television producers as they undertook transformative, transnational excursions and recognises the necessary mobility, flexibility and ingenuity women activated in order to succeed. It identifies how they exploited the imbalanced dominion dynamic and strategically used their BBC experiences to counteract the compromising gender constraints of their local production environments.

Women in the gig economy: feminising ‘digital labour’

This article explores the gendered dynamics of labouring on digital labour platforms and gives voice to women gig workers. Millions of women worldwide find work through digital labour platforms, yet remain largely invisible within the expansive digital labour research agenda. The analysis is built from original interviews with 49 women in the UK using a range of popular remote crowdwork platforms (including PeoplePerHour, Upwork, TaskRabbit, Freelancer) to access desk-based, white-collar gig work from home. The article makes three original contributions. First, it widens the analytical focus of the digital labour research agenda to recognise the role of workers’ gender identities and uneven household gender divisions of care in shaping the operation and outcomes of digital labour platforms, in ways that remain ‘hidden in the cloud’. Second, in contrast to widespread celebratory claims that platforms disrupt stubborn gender labour market inequalities, the analysis identifies significant gendered constraints on women’s algorithmic visibilities and abilities to compete for gig work online, alongside multiple health and safety issues among women gig workers undocumented in previous research. Third, in response to these new insights, and based on calls from women gig workers themselves, it sets out a series of new directions for extending this urgent multidisciplinary research agenda.

Experiencing liminality: At the crossroads of neoliberal and gendered experiences

AbstractWomen entrepreneurship literature has unveiled the gendered assumptions of entrepreneurship. More recently, critical woman entrepreneurship literature is increasingly focusing on the neoliberal discourses in women entrepreneurship. What remains relatively under‐explored is how women entrepreneurs experience the tensions amidst neoliberal and gendered experiences especially in the context of the Global South. Based on the narratives of middle to upper‐middle‐class women entrepreneurs in India, I find that being middle to upper‐middle‐class, women entrepreneurs shared a sense of attaining a neoliberal agency through entrepreneurship, so much so that they ignored, denied, or naturalized the gendered constraints in entrepreneurship. However, soon their accounts reflected an underlying tension as they admitted facing gendered constraints while previously denying them. I contribute to the literature of women entrepreneurship by theorizing the conflicting narratives of women entrepreneurs using the concept of liminality. In doing so, I extend the concept of liminality as an in‐between position of neoliberal and gendered experiences.

Gender Equity in the Marketing Academy: From Performative to Institutional Allyship

The fair treatment of women in the workplace, where they experience both opportunities and constraints, has been on and off higher education agendas for decades. Yet, institutionalised gendered constraints still shape the careers of female academics, including those in the marketing academy, resulting in disrupted or obstacle-heavy career journeys and the underrepresentation of women in senior positions. Furthermore, progress towards gender equity is hampered by institutional resistance to change, favouring performative rather than genuine and transformational institutional allyship. We draw upon personal experiences, recollections and anecdotes garnered over the years – synthesised with literature – to examine systemic gendered constraints within our collective career span. We propose institutional allyship as the intentional efforts needed by the marketing academy to address systemic and structural gender inequities and achieve second-order change by integrating gender equity outcomes throughout organisational decision-making. Specifically, we suggest nominated actions within a Gender Equity and Inclusion Charter for the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) and its member universities as a first step.

A Critical Textual Analysis of Gender Disparities in Reneilwe Malatji’s Selected Short Stories

This article demonstrates the abstractness of the gender theory of motherism posited by Nigerian scholar Catherine Acholonu, showing its weakness as a theory by which to gauge rural women’s experiences in Africa. Using the short stories of South African writer Reneilwe Malatji as literary data, the article argues that gender works in conspiracy with culture, age, marital status and ethnicity to constrain rural women from exiting abusive marriages, speaking up against their husbands’ infidelities, ending dissatisfactory marriages, and fighting poverty. At the same time, Malatji’s short stories highlight the agency of rural women in resisting gender constraints to attain self-empowerment. The article proposes ultimately that a re-theorization of motherism must reflect the harsh realities in rural women’s lives and simultaneously show that alongside the debilitating experiences of patriarchal oppression women are also acting as agents of their own transformation.