Persistent Gender Differences Research Articles

Dependence on Family Ties and Household Division of Labor in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan

In this study, I analyze how household labor is divided between wives and husbands in three East Asian countries, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. In explaining the persistent gender differences in the time spent on housework, two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the relationship between women's relative earnings and the time they spend on housework: the resource bargaining hypothesis and the gender display hypothesis. These two hypotheses are usually considered to be competing, but recent comparative studies have revealed that the extent to which women's relative earnings affect the sharing of housework with their husbands is moderated by societal factors, particularly social policies and the level of gender inequality in the labor market. This paper adds another contextual factor: the dependence on family ties. The result shows that gender display, that is, the curvilinear relationship between women's ‘relative earnings’ and the time they devote to housework, is strong in all three countries. However, the interaction between the dependence on family ties and women's relative resources was significant in Taiwan, where the gender display pattern was observed only among couples co-residing with parents; among couples not co-residing with parents, the relationship between women's relative resources and housework was close to the pattern predicted by the resource bargaining hypothesis.

Women and the Choice to Study Economics

Underrepresentation of women in economics is documented in many studies. Investigation of its sources at the undergraduate level is examined through students’ decisions to persist in economics, either beyond an introductory course or in their major choices. The authors add to the literature by analyzing students’ decisions to take their first introductory economics course, an intermediate theory course, and ultimately major in economics, using the Multiple-Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development. Results indicate that a smaller percentage of women take economics at all levels—introductory courses, theory courses, and majoring in economics. Even after controlling for aptitude, demographic characteristics, prior interest, course performance, environment, and course timing, persistent gender differences in the likelihood of partaking in economic education beyond the introductory course decision endure.

The Persistence of Gender Differences in Political Interest

Gender differences in political engagement have been notably reduced in recent decades across advanced industrial democracies thanks to the increasing participation of women in the labor market, the progressive convergence of men’s and women’s educational attainment, and the corresponding generational replacement. However, despite encompassing changes, the gender gap still persists and only narrows at a very slow pace (Inglehart and Norris, 2003).

Gender differences concerning Wikipedia: A follow‐up study

AbstractThis follow‐up study of Lim and Kwon (2010) examined whether gender differences persist in certain aspects concerning Wikipedia. Additionally, this study examined other new variables, such as satisficing (satisfying and sufficing) and peer approval in relation to gender. Data were collected using a web survey in fall 2011. A total of 123 surveys were usable for this study. The key findings show that two data sets collected three years apart were consistent with each other, demonstrating that the persistence of gender differences in college students with respect to Wikipedia use, their perceived credibility of Wikipedia, and self‐evaluation of their ability discerning the credibility of Wikipedia information. In addition, this study found that male students showed a higher level of satisficing with Wikipedia and tended to report a higher level of their peer's approval for Wikipedia than their female counterparts did. The findings call for attention to educational interventions to narrow the gender gap concerning Wikipedia or user‐generated content (UGC).

Nurture affects gender differences in spatial abilities

Women remain significantly underrepresented in the science, engineering, and technology workforce. Some have argued that spatial ability differences, which represent the most persistent gender differences in the cognitive literature, are partly responsible for this gap(.) The underlying forces at work shaping the observed spatial ability differences revolve naturally around the relative roles of nature and nurture. Although these forces remain among the most hotly debated in all of the sciences, the evidence for nurture is tenuous, because it is difficult to compare gender differences among biologically similar groups with distinct nurture. In this study, we use a large-scale incentivized experiment with nearly 1,300 participants to show that the gender gap in spatial abilities, measured by time to solve a puzzle, disappears when we move from a patrilineal society to an adjoining matrilineal society. We also show that about one-third of the effect can be explained by differences in education. Given that none of our participants have experience with puzzle solving and that villagers from both societies have the same means of subsistence and shared genetic background, we argue that these results show the role of nurture in the gender gap in cognitive abilities.

Race, Gender, and Attitudes Toward War in Chicago: An Intersectional Analysis1

Although prior research has documented persistent racial and gender differences in public opinion on war across U.S. military conflicts, there is little understanding as to how race and gender simultaneously shape war opinion. Using data from the 2008 Chicago Area Study, this analysis locates gender within an intersectional examination of black‐white differences in support for the U.S. war in Iraq. “Structural” and “racialized” explanations for blacks’ lower level of support relative to whites are tested, first using all respondents, and then for men and women. Exploratory analyses show the race gap in war support to exist solely among Chicago women. Racial differences in partisanship and education are most strongly associated with black‐white differences in Iraq War support among Chicago women. In addition, while affiliation with the Republican Party increases the odds of support among both men and women, education and political alienation decrease the odds of support only among women and the odds of support increase with age only among men. Results highlight the utility of an intersectional lens to the study of public opinion on foreign policy.

From Ferraro to Palin: Sexism in Media Coverage of Vice Presidential Candidates

Print media coverage of vice presidential candidates is examined from 1984 through 2008 to determine whether gender differences exist in the amount, type, tone, and content of coverage. We find persistent gender differences in mention of dress/appearance, mention of candidate family, gendered policy coverage, and negative tone that disadvantage female candidates. Additionally, female candidates are four times more likely to receive sexist media coverage, and the intensity and volume of sexist coverage increased dramatically from Ferraro’s run in 1984 to Palin’s run in 2008. We also compared Palin’s coverage in Old Media (print) and New Media (blogs) and found that sexist coverage and negative coverage are more pronounced in this new medium. This does not bode well for female candidates considering that New Media is eclipsing Old Media in readership.

Gender difference in walleye PCB concentrations persists following remedial dredging

Eleven male walleyes ( Sander vitreus) and 10 female walleyes from the Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron) population were caught during the spawning run at Dow Dam (Midland, Michigan) in the Tittabawassee River during April 1996, and individual whole-fish polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) determinations were made. Total PCB concentrations averaged 7.95 and 3.17 mg/kg for males and females, respectively. As part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment remediation process, contaminated sediments from the Saginaw River, the main tributary to Saginaw Bay, were removed during 2000 and 2001. Total PCB concentrations of 10 male and 10 female walleyes caught at Dow Dam during April 2007 averaged 1.58 and 0.55 mg/kg, respectively. Thus, dredging of the Saginaw River appeared to be effective in reducing PCB concentrations of Saginaw Bay adult walleyes, as both males and females decreased in PCB concentration by more than 80% between 1996 and 2007. However, the ratio of male PCB concentration to female PCB concentration did not decline between 1996 and 2007. This persistent gender difference in PCB concentrations was apparently due to a gender difference in habitat utilization coupled with a persistent spatial gradient in prey fish PCB concentrations from the Saginaw River to Lake Huron.

Men, women, and competition: An experimental test of behavior

This study reports a series of experiments that examine outcomes when agents are able to choose between a payment scheme that rewards based on absolute performance (i.e., piece rate) and a scheme that rewards based on relative performance (i.e., a tournament). We test for the presence and persistence of gender differences in performance and the rate of entry into the tournament option and whether these differences are sensitive to the structure of the tournament rewards. In the winner-take-all (WTA) condition, only the best performer in the tournament for each round received a payment ($4.50). In the graduated tournament condition, the same payment ($4.50) was divided among the first, second, and third finishers in the tournament. In the WTA condition, men showed significantly lower forecast errors than women. In addition, a clear sorting effect occurs in the WTA condition. In early rounds of the WTA condition, male entrants into the tournament show significantly lower forecast errors than female tournament entrants. However, the difference disappears over time. After controlling for forecasting skill, gender did not predict entry into the tournament for the WTA condition. However, lower forecasting skill reduced the probability of entry. In the graduated tournament, the situation was reversed. Men entered the tournament at significantly higher rates, even after controlling for skill. Forecasting skill had no impact on the decision to enter the tournament. While the average male entrant to the tournament had lower forecast errors than the average female entrant, the men entered at much higher rates. As a consequence, men were much more likely than women to enter the tournament too frequently.

Dad and Baby in the First Year: Gendered Responsibilities and Embodiment

This article addresses the question of why there are persistent gender differences in the responsibility for children. It argues that understanding continuing gender divisions of domestic responsibility, particularly in the first year of parenting, requires attending to issues of identity; commitment; embodiment; deeply rooted socialization or habitus; and normative community assumptions around gender, breadwinning, and caring. Rooted in three qualitative research studies conducted over the past eight years with more than two hundred Canadian fathers and forty mothers, the author argues for renewed thinking around issues of gender equality and gender differences and how these play out in domestic and community spaces in that first year of parenting. Bridging together time, space, and embodiment, the author also maintains that short-term potential differences in domestic responsibilities in parenting should not necessarily lead to long-term chronic inequities between women and men.

Assisting Parents and In‐Laws: Gender, Type of Assistance, and Couples’ Employment

We use 1995 MIDUS data (n = 2,085) to assess whether the gender gap in help persists across different types of help (unpaid task assistance, emotional support, financial assistance) to parents and in‐laws. We also examine whether joint employment patterns influence levels of help. Persistent gender differences are identified in levels of emotional support to parents and in‐laws: Women spend more time than men giving this help. There are no gender differences in levels of unpaid task assistance or financial assistance to parents or in‐laws. Individuals in single‐earner couples, however, provide greater levels of unpaid task assistance to in‐laws and financial assistance to parents than individuals in dual‐earner couples. Furthermore, financial assistance to parents is positively linked to work hours.

Rethinking the ‘problem’ of gender and IT schooling: discourses in literature

A review of the international research literature pertaining to gender and information technology (IT) schooling reveals changing ideas about what constitutes a gender problem. Much of the literature is concerned with gender differences in computer uses and interests and perceived disadvantages accruing to females as a result of these differences. This reflects and contributes to a dominant liberal equity discourse. Growing awareness of the limitations of earlier research, the changing nature of IT schooling, contradictions in students’ computer interests and dissatisfaction with simplistic explanations has led, however, to post‐structural rethinking and the emergence of a critical discourse. Assumptions of essential differences and deficit ways of thinking are challenged. Persistent gender differences in IT use are explored in their social complexity and the very notion that there is a gender problem is problematised. This presents a different and ultimately more satisfying way of thinking about the problem of gender and IT schooling.

Assessment of pressure wave reflection: getting the timing right!

Assessment of timing and magnitude of wave reflection is ideally based on wave separation analysis (WSA). In clinical practice, however, waveform analysis (WFA) is often used to study wave reflection, with different coexisting approaches to assess ‘landmarks’ on the waveform which are indicative for return of the reflected wave. The aim of this work was to compare WSA and WFA. Data were obtained from 2132 subjects (1093 women) aged between 35 and 56 and free from overt cardiovascular disease. Carotid pressure and aortic flow waveforms, and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity were measured non-invasively. WSA yielded the timing of return of reflected wave (Tf-b), the ratio of forward and backward pressure wave (Pb/Pf), and the effective length of the arterial tree (Leff). WFA resulted in identification of the shoulder (Tsho) or inflection point (Tinf) as landmark points, with subsequently derived augmentation index and Leff (AIxsho and Leff,sho, AIxinf and Leff,inf, respectively). (i) Neither Tinf nor Tsho corresponded with the timing obtained from WSA. (ii) Measurements of Leff were found to decrease with age (conforming with current physiological insights) whilst Leff,inf was found to increase with age in women, and mixed results were obtained for Leff,sho. (iii) Both AIxinf and AIxsho showed a persistent gender difference which was not present in Pb/Pf. Using the pressure at Tf-b to calculate AIx, the systematic gender difference in AIxf-b was greatly reduced. Analysis of pressure wave reflection is optimally based on measurement of pressure and flow, rather than on waveform analysis alone.

Gender Differences across Race/Ethnicity in Use of Health Care among Medicare-Aged Americans

Despite Medicare, medical services are not equally used by elderly women and men in the United States. Our purpose is to examine gender differences in healthcare utilization among older Americans, the persistence of gender differences across race/ethnicity, and the roles of sociodemographic, health, and economic factors to explain differences. Data from the 1998-2000 Health and Retirement Study are used to investigate gender differences in use of hospital, outpatient surgery, home health, and physician services. Analyses are controlled for sociodemographic, health (medical conditions, functional health), and economic (income, wealth, education, health insurance) factors. Women are significantly less likely to use hospital service (odds ratio [OR]=0.83) and outpatient surgery (OR=0.85) but are more likely to use home health care (OR=1.27) and physician services (OR=1.45), controlling for sociodemographics. Differences in health needs and economic resources partially mediate the gender differences in physician and home healthcare utilization but do not explain the gender differences in hospital service and outpatient surgery. Notably, African American, Hispanic, and white women compared with men show significantly less use of hospital services. Gender differences in medical use vary according to the type of services used and are largely consistent across racial/ethnic groups. As the size of the Medicare population increases, promoting equitable use of healthcare resources by both women and men is an important issue in developing healthcare policy and designing public health strategies.

Gender Differences in Persistence and Attributions in Stereotype Relevant Contexts

The present research was designed to examine the effects of gender math stereotypes on performance attributions and persistence. Two experiments tested whether stereotypes guided men’s and women’s reactions to negative or positive feedback on an alleged test of verbal or math ability. In Study 1, attributions to ability were influenced by gender stereotypes: women were more sensitive to feedback on a test that was described as a test of their math ability than when the same test was described as a test of their verbal ability, whereas men showed the opposite pattern. Study 2 replicated these findings for negative feedback and further showed that gender differences in attributions to ability mediated the gender difference in persistence in the math domain following an alleged failure on a math test. The implications of stereotype-consistent attributions for women’s persistence in quantitative fields are discussed.

Strategies used to increase speech clarity by normal-hearing children

It is common among clinicians to ask children to produce their best speech during intervention. However, it is unclear whether children know how to make their speech clearer. The strategies used by children with and without hearing loss have implications for maximizing intelligibility and for understanding the development of communication competency. As a first step toward this understanding, children (7 to 12 years of age) with normal hearing were asked to read ten simple sentences. They were told that they were testing a new computer program designed to recognize speech. There was, in fact, no recognition program and each child received the same output feedback. After providing normal speech to allow the program to get used to their voices, they subsequently produced their best and then very best, very clearest speech in order to see how accurate the recognition program could be. Acoustic analyses (intensity, fundamental and first two formant frequencies for all vowels, as well as sentence, vowel, and VOT durations) were performed on recorded waveforms from each repetition in order to determine what the children were varying to comply with best speech instructions. The results demonstrate large individual differences in strategies and persistent gender differences. [Work supported by NIH.]

Just ask! Why surveyed women did not pursue IT courses or careers

Persistent gender differences in the choice of college majors in technical fields account for a substantial share of the gender wage gap among college graduates. While there are many theories about what college students are thinking when they make their college major and career choices, most are based on speculation or indirect evidence. This survey turned up several points on which students were surprisingly unconcerned. Very few students (and equal proportions of men and women) feared that choosing IT majors would lead to social ostracism. Very few students were concerned that IT college majors would not prepare them to do socially useful work. And very few of the women in this survey ruled out IT careers because they felt it would be difficult to combine these careers with raising a family.

The gender gap in political culture and participation in China

Using survey data collected from a larger comparative survey project employing a multi-stage, stratified, random sampling design administered in 1994, this article analyzes the gender gap in political culture and participation in China. We found a persistent gender difference, with male respondents scoring significantly higher on media attention, political knowledge, interest, internal, and external efficacy, and non-electoral participation. In accounting for the gender gap, the article also attempts to validate the prevailing socialization, situational, and structural theories. In terms of socialization theory, we found that women respondents were more passive towards achievement, more accommodating in conflict situations, and had a higher preference for conflict mediation by traditional authority. These traits were also found to be negatively correlated with political culture and participation measures. There is also empirical support for structural explanations, where we found that (1) higher socio-economic groups were more politically engaged than those in the lower strata; (2) higher socio-economic status women are more politically engaged than those of lower socio-economic status women and men. For both socialization and structural theories, the gender gap persisted even when passivity and socio-economic status were controlled. Our tests of situation theory did not find that the level of domestic burden had a significant dampening effect on women political culture and participation, nor did we find that women in the child-bearing and rearing cohort had the widest gender gap in political culture and participation.

School Subject Preferences: Age and gender differences revisited

As a follow-up to data collected in the early 1990s, rankings of school subject preferences were obtained from 144 girls and 218 boys aged 11-12 years, and 269 girls and 300 boys aged 15-16 years. The overall rankings showed evidence of the persistence of gender differences in preferences for a number of curricular areas. However, changes were also apparent. Practical subjects appeared further up the rankings than previously, particularly for the younger students. This finding may reflect a change in the status of such subjects relative to the more academic subjects. More inter-school variability between the subject preference orders was evident among the older than the younger students, suggesting a greater sensitivity to school-related factors among this age group.

PRECOLLEGIATE CURRICULA, UNIVERSITY CHARACTERISTICS, AND FIELD PERSISTENCE AMONG SCIENCE MAJORS

ABSTRACTFew studies have attempted to examine simultaneously how student and university characteristics are associated with the persistence of women and men in the sciences. The present study took advantage of a unique data set containing the records of individual students on the SAT (1979‐1982) and their corresponding records on the GRE (1985‐1990), including the questionnaires that accompany each test. Information on the students' undergraduate institutions from the College Board Annual Survey of Colleges was then added to these records. The data set included 48,492 non‐Latino White students with English as their best language who indicated an interest in computer, engineering, mathematical or physical (CEMP) science fields in one or more responses to four questions about their intended major field of study. Two transition points were studied: from intended college major as high school seniors to actual undergraduate major (Stage I), and from actual undergraduate major to intended graduate school major (Stage II). Persistence was defined as staying within the broad category of CEMP sciences.The descriptive findings showed net losses from the CEMP pool of students at both transition points and greater field switching for women — both into CEMP sciences and out of CEMP sciences. For men at Stage I, 35% of those with a CEMP field as a first choice for major switched to a non‐CEMP field, but new recruits into CEMP undergraduate majors reduced the net loss to only 12%. For women at Stage I, 50% of those with a CEMP field as a first choice for major switched to a non‐CEMP field, but new recruits into CEMP undergraduate majors reduced the net loss to only 8%. For men at Stage II, 19% of CEMP undergraduate majors switched to a non‐CEMP field for graduate study, but recruits into CEMP for intended graduate work reduced the net loss to 15%. For women at Stage II, 31 % of CEMP undergraduate majors switched to a non‐CEMP field for graduate study, but recruits into CEMP fields for intended graduate work reduced the net loss to 24%.The predictive findings for both transitions, using logistic regression with random coefficients, showed that student and university characteristics (entered jointly) were associated with field persistence for the majority of fields. Significant gender differences in field persistence remained for most, but not all, fields after controlling for student and university characteristics. The higher the percentage of women enrolled in the institution as a whole, the lower the field persistence for both men and women in the majority of fields at Stage I after controlling for other variables.