Gender Equality Attitudes Research Articles

How are gender inequality and violence against women related? Findings from a population‐level community attitudes survey

AbstractLow support for gender equality (GE) predicts attitudes supporting violence against women (VAW). However, little is known about the influence of attitudes toward different manifestations of GE. This study extends knowledge by assessing the relative strength of attitudes to GE across seven theoretically derived dimensions, and their association with attitudes toward VAW. 17,542 Australians participated in the 2017 National Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women Survey. Population means were calculated for the following scales formed from survey questions: the Community Attitudes Supportive of Violence Against Women Scale (CASVAWS), the Gender Equality Attitudes Scale (GEAS) and measures within the GEAS representing the theoretical dimensions. There was variation in support for GE between the measures. The lower the support for GE, the higher the support for VAW. Although all GEAS measures included in regression modelling contributed to variance in the CASVAWS, two accounted for more than half. The study suggests benefits in using a multidimensional model of GE to mitigate cultural support for VAW, with emphasis on the private sphere and countering hostility toward women and rigid gender roles and identities.

Are liberal men not abusive toward their wives? Evidence from rural Bangladesh.

Gender ideology has widely been discussed in the explanation of wife abuse. However, how men's gender ideology influences wife abuse is quite overlooked in Bangladeshi context. Thisstudy examined how various types of gender ideology among men are associated with wife abuse in Bangladesh. It included 342 married men randomly selected from 5 villages. Negative binomial regression was employed to predict the incidence-rate ratio of wife abuse. Of the sample, 55.0% maintained traditional, 31.3% transitional, and 13.7% liberal gender ideologies. On average, the men perpetrated 6.10 abusive acts in a year. Data showed that the rates of overall wife abuse among liberal men were 41% and 48% lower than the traditional and transitional men, respectively. Liberal men also perpetrated less emotional, physical, and sexual abuses than both traditional and transitional men. The study shows that the promotion of liberal gender ideology among men is important for preventing wife abuse. Men should be targeted by diverse violence prevention interventions for enhancing gender equality attitudes. Though the study has provided novel findings in a Bangladeshi context, it was entirely based on male data. Future studies should examine both men's and women's views on the issues.

Public Attitudes towards Intimate Partner Violence against Women and Influential Factors in China and Spain

Intimate partner violence against women is a social problem affecting the rights of women in different countries. The present study aimed to compare the public attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women and their influencing factors in China and Spain. A sample of 506 participants completed questionnaires related to attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women. Chinese participants demonstrated less awareness of the existence and seriousness of the issue, but more proactive attitudes than Spanish participants did. We also found that culture, gender, and age affected these attitudes directly and indirectly through gender equality attitudes. Our findings suggest that promotion of legal reforms can improve social awareness and gender equality attitudes, which in turn changes public attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women, while traditional gender roles and patriarchal society lead to cultural legitimization of the violence, resulting in remained conservative attitudes.

Demographic, nutritional, social and environmental predictors of learning skills and depression in 20,000 Indian adolescents: Findings from the UDAYA survey.

ObjectivesAdolescent wellbeing is critical to breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty and one in five of the world’s adolescents live in India. We explored predictors of learning skills and depression in Indian adolescents.MethodsData on adolescents aged 10–19y (three groups: 5,840 unmarried males, 8,953 unmarried females, 4,933 married females) were available from the state-representative Understanding the Lives of Adolescents and Young Adults survey in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for cluster sampling design and state fixed effects were used to examine factors (demographic, health/nutrition, social, and environmental) associated with three outcomes: reading proficiency, math proficiency, and depressive symptoms.FindingsLearning skills were poor (28–61% lacked basic reading and math skills depending on adolescent group and outcome) and depression was common (8–26%). Better learning skills were predicted by greater household wealth (AOR 1.72–2.55 depending on group) and household head education (AOR 1.03–1.07 per year), being in school (AOR 4.19–18.65), parental support (AOR 1.11–1.39), having gender equal attitudes (AOR 1.56–2.67), number of food groups consumed at least weekly (unmarried females: AOR 1.11), and having an improved latrine (AOR 1.33–1.51). Poorer learning skills were predicted by family substance use (AOR 0.68–0.74), underweight (males: AOR 0.74), witnessing parental violence (AOR 0.66–0.78). Depressive symptoms were predicted by witnessing parental violence (AOR 1.51–1.92) and experiencing sexual abuse (AOR 2.30–6.16).ConclusionFactors across multiple life dimensions are associated with learning skills and depression in Indian adolescents. Adolescent-focused policies and programs should consider health/nutrition, social, and environmental aspects of life in vulnerable individuals.

The Effect of Gender Role on Attitudes Towards Inequitable Gender Norms Among Malaysian Men

The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) measure is the most frequently tested gender role instrument and one of the most investigated psychometric constructs in general. However, its application to the Malaysian setting as well as its relation to gender equality attitudes is rarely explored. Therefore, this research guided by the social constructionist perspective aims to examine the relationship between gender role (masculinity and femininity) and attitudes towards inequitable gender norms. A sample of 168 Malaysian men completed the two measures of Gender Equitable Men scale and the BSRI. Results showed that there was a significant relationship between gender role and attitudes towards inequitable gender norms. In contrast to the femininity gender role, masculinity gender role in men contributes to gender inequality attitudes. The findings in this study are largely supporting the theory that masculinity may be a key construct in the men’s negative attitudes about gender equality, which has been shown to be an important predictor of achieving women’s right and empowerment. In this article, we highlight the importance of socialization processes in context and consider how the social construction of gender affects attitudes about sexuality, reproductive health, gender roles and violence against women.

Acculturation, decoupling, or both? Migration’s impact on the linkage between religiosity and gender equality attitudes

ABSTRACT Turkish migrants are one of the largest minority groups within Europe, the majority of which is Muslim. Radical right politicians stress the threat of Islam for what they consider European culture. Yet we know that migrant communities can adapt to the destination society culturally, albeit not always and in complex ways. This study aims advance our understand of this complex matter, as it analyses how such attitudinal developments take place and in what way religion plays a role. Through acculturation processes, where Muslim migrants become more secular and consequently more open to gender equal norms, and/or through decoupling, where migration leads to weaker connections between religious identity and patriarchal gender norms. With the use of the 2000Families data on Turkish Muslim European-migrants and Turkish-Muslim stayers, we find that the connection between religiosity and gender equality attitudes is gender-dependent. Across the board findings indicate limited support for both mechanisms. However, we do cautiously conclude that we find both acculturation and decoupling processes among migrant men with regard to individual religiosity, while we find decoupling between communal religiosity and gender-equality attitudes in migrant women. This suggests migrants undergo a range of acculturation processes simultaneously, but that the linkages for men and women differ between these dimensions.

Gender accommodative versus transformative approaches: a comparative assessment within a post-harvest fish loss reduction intervention

Technical and social constraints limit value chain actors from equitably engaging in and benefiting from capture fisheries in low-income settings. Extension and development programs often focus on the former, which reflects a technocratic orientation of the fisheries sector and uncertainty about effective ways for development programs to engage with gender and other social constraints. This study presents empirical insights that address these challenges to fisheries development. The study took place in fishing camps in the Barotse Floodplain, Zambia to compare two approaches addressing gender constraints within a broader post-harvest fish loss reduction intervention: an accommodative and a transformative approach. The former embodied a more common ‘practical needs’ set of strategies to ensure female participation, while the latter comprised a communication tool embedded in an action research process to build critical consciousness. Results indicate that the use of a transformative approach led to significant changes in gender equal attitudes and women’s empowerment outcomes compared to only using an accommodative approach. Development programs working in fisheries can apply the findings to engage effectively with gender constraints, especially using transformative approaches to help enable women and men to overcome the social and technical barriers that constrain their lives and livelihoods.

Evaluation of gender equality attitudes of Turkish and Foreign Nursing Students at a Private University.

Objective:To determine the gender equality attitudes of nursing students studying at a private university, the sociodemographic factors affecting gender equality, and the difference in gender attitudes between Turkish and foreign students.Methods:This cross-sectional study was carried out in the Faculty of Nursing at Near East University in March and April 2019. Three hundred six students studying in Turkish and English nursing programs in the thirdyear of study were included in the research. A sociodemographic questionnaire and the GEM scale were used as the data collection tools.Results:The mean age of the participants was 21.11 ± 3.88. 76.1% of the students were female and 33.3 students were foreign. The Gender Equality Men scores of the Turkish and foreign students were significantly different (p=0.001). Gender, the educational level of the father, a history of violence in the family, and talking about family and sexual issues affected the gender attitudes of all students.Conclusion:The results of the present study indicate that culture, gender, family education, and a history of violence in the family affected the gender equality scores of the nursing students.

Does individualism promote gender equality?

Abstract We argue that individualism promotes gender equality. Individualist values of autonomy and self-determination transcend gender identities and serve to legitimize women’s goals and choices. In contrast, collectivist values may subordinate women’s personal goals to their social obligations, generating greater acceptance of gender inequality. Using individual level data from World Values Surveys, we find that individualism is significantly associated with support for gender equal attitudes regarding employment, income, education, and political leadership. Individualism is also associated with greater levels of female employment and educational attainment, and lower levels of fertility. These results are robust to controlling for income, education, religion, historical plough use, gendered language, and country-time fixed effects. Our within country analysis allows us to isolate the impact of individualism from other confounding effects. Using historical rainfall variation as an instrument for individualism, we find that the exogenous portion of individualism reduces support for patriarchal attitudes and fertility, and it increases female employment and educational attainment. These effects are economically large. We address concerns over instrumental validity by controlling for a variety of factors, including historical plough use, religious affiliation, religiosity, social trust, average rainfall levels, distance from the equator, cool-water conditions, agricultural suitability, historical political and economic development, and the presence of large animals. This paper contributes to a mounting body of evidence suggesting a key role for highly persistent cultural norms and values in determining gender inequality, the gender division of labor, and economic and social outcomes for women.

Fractured modernization: cultural and structural predictors of attitudes on gender equality

ABSTRACTAs modernization has become globally valued, the topic of gender equality as a human right has been taken up across the world. In a simultaneously individual and national-level analysis, we sought links between citizens’ views on gender equality and their social and economic conditions, as well as relationships with factors concerning religion. With data generated from the World Values Survey-Wave 6, and from the UIS database maintained by the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, we analyzed a sample of 68,633 respondents from 53 countries. Results supported our hypothesis that positive views of gender equality are associated with modernized, non-Islamic civilizations whose upper social classes endorse gender equality, and which feature strong income, higher levels of employment, and less religiosity at the individual level. Our study also showed moderating roles being played by modernization and Islamic civilization in the relationship between religiosity and gender-equality attitudes. Our results call into question modernization theory's claim for a linear path between modernization and widespread gender equality over time. The results further indicate a need to analyze how nonuniformly modernized countries, divergent with regard to their citizens’ religiosity, might achieve gender equality.

Outcomes of a brief mental health and resilience pilot intervention for young women in an urban slum in Dehradun, North India: a quasi-experimental study

BackgroundMental illness is a leading cause of the disease burden among young people. Poor mental health is linked to childhood adversity such as gender inequality, poverty and low educational attainment. Psycho-social assets in adolescents can moderate these impacts and be strengthened. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a brief mental health and resilience intervention among disadvantaged young women in urban North India.MethodsWe used an uncontrolled repeated measures design to evaluate the effectiveness of the 15-module mental health and resilience curriculum among young women residing in a slum in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Standardised psychometric assessments were done to assess outcomes of the intervention at three time-points: pre-intervention (T1), post-intervention (T2), and 8-months post-intervention (T3), covering domains of self-efficacy, resilience, anxiety, depression and gender attitudes.ResultsYoung women completing the intervention (n = 106) had all left school before 10th class. A statistically significant improvement in all psychometric measures was found at T2. These improvements were sustained at T3 in the areas of anxiety, depression and gender equality attitudes, while the measures of resilience and self-efficacy had declined to baseline.ConclusionsThis intervention delivered by community-based peers among highly disadvantaged young women can lead to sustained improvements in anxiety and depression and attitudes to gender equality. While other studies in LMIC have shown increased adolescent resilience through peer-led curriculums, this study demonstrates improvements in mental health and gender attitudes can endure 8-months post-intervention. This low-cost, brief intervention can improve mental health resiliency and self-efficacy among disadvantaged young people. Further research should explore how to bring sustained improvements in resilience.

Teachers as role models in the political socialization process: How a good student–teacher relationship can compensate for gender differences in students’ gender equality attitudes

Abstract The social justice teaching theory describes how teachers can transfer equality attitudes to their students. According to this theory, teachers are important role models in the political socialization process. Starting from an unequal disposition of equality attitudes between boys and girls, this article analyses how teachers can bring equality to the classroom by compensating for different attitudes on the topic of gender equality. We first discuss how teachers can influence equality attitudes, comparable to the influence by parents’ socialization. Second, we assess whether teachers can compensate for differences in equality attitudes. Parallel to the evidence from studies on parental socialization, we expect teachers with better student–teacher relationships in particular to be able to transfer equality attitudes better. For the analyses, we use the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), an important study of 14-year-olds’ civic knowledge, attitudes and engagement. We use data from seven European countries and the Greek part of Cyprus (1160 schools and 24,087 students). To take the multilevel structure of this data into account, the analysis included a multilevel analysis (MLwiN). As expected we found a positive association between student–teacher relationships and equality attitudes. We also find that a good student–teacher relationship can compensate for attitudinal differences. By assessing adolescents’ equality attitudes, we conclude that teachers can close an attitudinal gender gap.

Poverty, Consent, and Choice in Early Marriage: Ethnographic Perspectives from Urban Tanzania

ABSTRACTThe assumed inability of adolescents to voluntarily consent to marriage is a key definition of child marriage. Using ethnography, this study approaches consent, self-determination, and fulfillment as dependent on the ability to make choices, not only between actual alternatives but also between perceived alternatives. In contexts of severe poverty, more attention is needed to the lack of viable alternatives open to families, and their motives in this context. In this study, 171 persons were interviewed in two majority-Muslim neighborhoods in Dar es Salaam. Some girls reported wanting to marry early, since poverty forces them to become adults capable of supporting themselves at roughly age 15–16, regardless of the personal wishes of their parents or guardians. Prior research tends to assume that early marriage prevents girls from continuing their education. This study suggests that educational opportunities are often closed off to girls before marriage. Policy recommendations given here are that organizations can more effectively address early marriage by (1) shifting the focus from legislation to urban poverty alleviation, (2) creating more employment opportunities for the poorest women in the city, (3) campaigning for more gender-equal attitudes in the informal employment sector, and (4) reducing financial costs of secondary schooling for adolescents.

Empowering Women Under Social Constraints: Evidence from a Field Intervention in Rural Egypt

Women in the MENA region are economically and socially disempowered. High youth unemployment rates together with discriminatory social norms drive them to limit their investment in human capital. We evaluate a large-scale intervention attempting to relax human capital constraints for women by offering vocational, business and life skills training in 30 villages in rural Egypt. Relative to women in the control villages, the intervention increased the likelihood of treated women engaging in income-generating activities, driven by an increase in self-employment. Treated women also became more likely to have future business aspirations. However, their intra-household decision-making and gender equality attitudes were not affected by the intervention. We show that these results mask heterogeneous effects in terms of background characteristics and initial levels of social empowerment. We find no evidence of positive spillover effects for the program within treated villages and, more importantly, no evidence of different pre-trends in employment between the treated and control groups prior to the intervention.

“Boys Should Have the Courage to Ask a Girl Out”: Gender Norms in Early Adolescent Romantic Relationships

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to explore how gender norms emerge in romantic relationships among early adolescents (EAs) living in five poor urban areas. MethodsData were collected as part of the Global Early Adolescent Study. The current research analyzed data from interviews with 30 EAs (aged 11–13 years) living in five poor urban sites: Baltimore, Cuenca, Edinburgh, Ghent, and Nairobi. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed in English using Atlas.ti, focusing on how EAs experience and perceive gender norms in romantic relationships. ResultsAcross the five sites, only a few respondents described having been in love, the majority of whom were boys. Findings indicate that stereotypical gender norms about romantic relationships prevail across these cultural settings, depicting boys as romantically/sexually active and dominant, and girls as innocent with less (romantic) agency. In spite of the similarities, Nairobi was unique in that respondents referred to how sexual behavior and violence can occur within EA relationships. In all countries, heterosexuality was perceived to be the norm. Nevertheless, there were examples of EAs accepting homosexuality and expressing supportive attitudes toward equality between the sexes. ConclusionsWhile EAs across five different cultural settings seem to endorse stereotypical gender norms in romantic relationships, a few stories also illustrate more gender-equal attitudes. As stereotypical gender norms have a demonstrated negative effect on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and well-being, additional research is needed to understand which factors—at the interpersonal and structural level—contribute to the construction of these norms among EAs.

Pacific men: how the feminist gap explains hostility

ABSTRACTThe gender gap in attitudes to foreign policy is well established in public opinion literature. Studies have repeatedly reported that women tend to be more peaceful and less militaristic than men. This article reexamines attitudes of individuals in relation to foreign policy and pits the gender gap against the largely forgotten feminist gap. We argue that the individual-level relationship between gender equality attitudes on the one hand, and tolerance and benevolence on the other, is under-researched, but also that key contributions about the effects of feminism have been mostly ignored in research on the gender gap in public opinion. We return to the notion of a causal relationship between gender equality attitudes, and peaceful attitudes, and of a feminist gap that also exists among men. In a series of novel empirical tests, we demonstrate that attitudes to gender equality, not biological sex, explain attitudes towards other nationalities and religious groups. Using individual-level survey data from five countries around the Pacific: China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States of America, we show that both men and women who reject gender equality are much more hostile both to other nations and to minorities in their own country.

A psychosocial resilience curriculum provides the “missing piece” to boost adolescent physical health: A randomized controlled trial of Girls First in India

Rationale and objectivesDespite a recent proliferation of interventions to improve health, education, and livelihoods for girls in low and middle income countries, psychosocial wellbeing has been neglected. This oversight is particularly problematic as attending to psychosocial development may be important not only for psychosocial but also physical wellbeing. This study examines the physical health effects of Girls First, a combined psychosocial (Girls First Resilience Curriculum [RC]) and adolescent physical health (Girls First Health Curriculum [HC]) intervention (RC + HC) versus its individual components (i.e., RC, HC) and a control group. We expected Girls First to improve physical health versus HC and controls. MethodsOver 3000 girls in 76 government middle schools in rural Bihar, India participated. Interventions were delivered through in-school peer-support groups, facilitated by pairs of local women. Girls were assessed before and after program participation on two primary outcomes (health knowledge and gender equality attitudes) and nine secondary outcomes (clean water behaviors, hand washing, menstrual hygiene, health communication, ability to get to a doctor when needed, substance use, nutrition, safety, vitality and functioning). Analyses included Difference-in-Difference Ordinary Least-Squares Regressions and F-tests for equality among conditions. ResultsGirls First significantly improved both primary and eight secondary outcomes (all except nutrition) versus controls. Additionally, Girls First demonstrated significantly greater effects, improving both primary and six secondary outcomes (clean water behaviors, hand washing, health communication, ability to get to a doctor, nutrition, safety) versus HC. ConclusionsThis study is among the first to assess the impact of a combined psychosocial and adolescent health program on physical health. We found that combining these curricula amplified effects achieved by either curriculum alone. These findings suggest that psychosocial wellbeing should receive much broader attention, not only from those interested in improving psychosocial outcomes but also from those interested in improving physical health outcomes.

Implicit and explicit evaluations of feminist prototypes predict feminist identity and behavior

Many people who endorse gender equality do not personally identify as feminists. The present research offers a novel explanation for this disconnect by examining people’s attitudes toward feminist prototypes—the central, representative feminist that comes to mind when they think of feminists as a group. Results from two samples support the hypothesis that both implicit and explicit attitudes toward feminist prototypes predict unique variance in feminist identity beyond gender-equality attitudes. Results from a second study show feminist identity to mediate between implicit prototypes and self-reported willingness to engage in feminist behaviors. Lastly, a third study shows feminist identity to mediate between implicit prototypes and actual feminist behavior. This is the first study to specifically examine the role of implicit attitudes and prototype favorability in understanding feminist identity and behavior, and the results suggest that promoting positive prototypes of feminists may be an effective route to encouraging feminist identity.

From Enlightenment to Equality: Spirituality May Lead the Way to a Gender Just Society in India and Beyond

India is a country of spiritual traditions and paradoxes. Its spiritual verve offers sustenance through personal transformation, truth, harmony, and connection, yet today large numbers of people in India struggle against poverty, abuses, injustice, and inequalities. India is a land of daughters, known for their valour, hope, knowledge, and wealth of spirit, yet today the status of women is one of the country’s greatest challenges and gender equality is fighting an often-silent battle. This study was conceived from the notion that Indian spirituality, in its truest essence, is the antithesis to this gender paradigm, and accordingly, it examined if spirituality can work to achieve a more gender equal and just society. Organized with the support of Dev Sanskriti University, this pilot study sought to uncover a correlation between participants’ spirituality and their beliefs about gender roles, their gender equal attitudes, and gender equal behavior in the home. Though findings revealed no exceptional correlation, results identified a relationship between spirituality and gender equality within which gender discourse should focus and further research should follow. Gender inequality is pervasive in all countries, and such a global crisis deems further exploration into spirituality and gender equality not only compelling but also necessary.

Attitudes towards gender equality and perception of democracy in the Arab world

This article analyses the relationship between support of democracy and attitudes to human rights, in particular, support for gender equality, in the countries covered by the first wave of the Arab Barometer project. We use cluster analysis and negative binomial regression modelling to show that, unlike in most countries of the world, correlation between support of democracy and gender equality is very low in the Arab countries. There is a group of people in the region who support both democracy and gender equality, but they are a small group (about 17% of the population) of elderly and middle-aged people characterized by higher education and social status. A substantial number of poorly educated males express support for democracy but not for gender equality. Many people, especially young males aged 25–35 in 2007, are against both gender equality and democracy. Younger people tend to be both better educated and more conservative, those belonging to the 25–34 age group being the most patriarchal in their gender attitudes. Yet, controlling for age, education does have a positive effect on gender equality attitudes. Nevertheless, this phenomenon may reflect two simultaneous processes going on in the Middle East. On the one hand, people are getting more educated, urbanized, etc., which means the continuation of modernization. On the other hand, the fact that older people are the most liberal age group may point to a certain retrogression of social values in the younger generations.