Gender Equity In Access Research Articles

Haemochromatosis patients' research priorities: Towards an improved quality of life.

Chronic diseases are associated with a range of functional and psychosocial consequences that can adversely affect patients' quality of life (QoL). Haemochromatosis (HC) is a genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by chronic iron overload that can ultimately lead to multiple organ dysfunction. Clinical diagnosis remains challenging due to the nonspecificity of symptoms and a lack of confirmatory genotyping in a substantial proportion of patients. Illness perception among HC patients has not been extensively investigated, lacking relevant information on how to improve their QoL. We present the results of the first worldwide survey conducted in nearly 1500 HC respondents, in which we collected essential demographic information and identified the aspects that concern HC patients the most. Out of all the participants, 45.3% (n = 676) voiced their concern about physical and psychological consequences such as HC-related arthropathies, which can ultimately affect their social functioning. A similar proportion of patients (n = 635, 42.5%) also consider that better-informed doctors are key for improved HC disease management. Taking a patient-centred approach, we expose differences in patients' disease perspective by social and economic influences. We identify potential targets to improve patients' health-related QoL and reflect on strategic measures to foster gender equity in access to health resources. Finally, we make a call for a highly coordinated effort across a range of public policy areas to empower participants in the HC research process and design. Nearly 1500 patients with hereditary HC responded to an anonymized online survey in which research and clinical priorities were addressed regarding this chronic and rare disease.

Gender and access to complex and gender-biased agricultural technology information and knowledge: Evidence from smart-valleys in West Africa

This paper identifies some ways to effectively transfer complex and gender-biased technology information and knowledge (TIK) to both men and women by analyzing the diffusion of Smart-valleys technology in West-Africa. ANOVA and Fisher's exact tests were applied to data collected from 1120 lowland rice farmers in West Africa. Results confirm the general gender inequality in TIK communication with male farmers having more access to Smart-valleys TIK than female lowland farmers. Only few female communicators were used in Smart-valleys TIK transfer even if they were found to be as efficient as men at communicating and teaching. However, opposite results obtained in Togo in particular reveal that it is possible to ensure gender equality in agricultural TIK communication, even in case of complex and gender-bias technologies, if specific gender mainstreaming and gender equity actions are undertaken during technology diffusion. Women-to-women communication improved female farmers access to Smart-valleys TIK confirming that involving female communicators will reduce gender inequality in TIK diffusion. On-farm demonstration was identified as the most effective approach, not only in Smart-valleys TIK communication, but also in ensuring gender equity in access of both male and female farmers to the TIK. Therefore, on-farm demonstration combined with oral explanations should be adopted as the main approach in complex and gender-biased technologies diffusion in general, and in Smart-valleys diffusion in particular.

Enhancing climate services design and implementation through gender-responsive evaluation

Assessing and responding to gender inequalities, and promoting women's empowerment, can be critical to achieving the goals of climate services, such as improved climate resilience, productivity, food security and livelihoods. To this end, our paper seeks to provide guidance to rural climate service researchers, implementing organizations, and funders on gender-responsive evaluation of climate services, including key questions to be asked and appropriate methodology. We draw on case studies of rural climate services in Mali, Rwanda and Southeast Asia to illustrate how gender-responsive evaluations have framed and attempted to answer questions about climate information needs, access to information and support through group processes, and contribution of climate services to empowerment. Evaluation of how group participatory processes can enable women's and men's demand for weather and climate information can help close knowledge gaps on gender equity in access to climate services. Quantitative methods can rigorously identify changes in demand associated with varying interventions, but qualitative approaches may be necessary to help assess the nuances of participatory communication processes. Furthermore, evaluation of how women's and men's information needs differ according to their roles and responsibilities in distinct climate-sensitive decisions can help assess gender inequities in climate services use. Evaluation that critically considers the local normative and institutional environment influencing empowerment can help identify pathways for climate services to contribute to women's empowerment. Qualitative and mixed method methodologies can be helpful for assessing the normative and institutional changes upon which empowerment depends. Although evaluations are often conducted too late to inform the design of time-bound projects, they can contribute to improvements to climate services if results are shared widely, if implementers and funders consistently factor evidence and insights from prior evaluations into the design of new initiatives, and if ongoing climate service initiatives conduct preliminary evaluations regularly to support mid-course adjustments.

Formal credit usage and gender income gap: the case of farmers in Cambodia

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to analyze the factors that drive gender income differences among farmers in Cambodia with a focus on the role of formal credit.Design/methodology/approachTo decompose the gender income gap, this article employs the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition technique, while a two-stage least square (2SLS) regression is also employed to check the causal effect of formal credit usage on earnings.FindingsResults show a positive effect of formal credit on farmers' earnings and the gender gap in formal credit usage is not found. Despite that, formal credit still contributes to the gender earnings gap with a higher return to credit usage for male farmers. This can be due to the difference in the level of education, financial literacy and other dimensions in favor of men, allowing them to use credit more effectively than women.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings underline the importance of boosting general and financial education among female farmers in Cambodia. Meanwhile, the expansion of access to financial services for women must be accompanied by policies addressing gender gaps in other economic and social dimensions, so that women are able to reap the potential benefit of using those financial services.Originality/valueLack of research focuses on the link between the gender gap in the use of financial services and the gender income gap. The significant gender gap in returns to formal credit usage found in this study demonstrates that the benefits of gender equity in access to and usage of financial services also depend on the effects of other indicators that policymakers must be aware of.

Improving Gender Participation in Agricultural Technology Adoption in Asia: From Rhetoric to Practical Action

AbstractNew and improved agricultural technologies can transform lives, particularly the lives of smallholder farm households in Asia who are highly dependent on agriculture. However, there are large gender disparities in the adoption of such technologies. Many barriers exist in achieving gender equity in access to and adoption of agricultural technologies, from sociocultural norms and deeply rooted beliefs about gender roles to lack of agency and lack of resources to implement policies. Notwithstanding these barriers, the case for promoting gender‐inclusive adoption of technology is strong. In this paper, we outline the rationale for improving women's adoption of agricultural technology and discuss the pitfalls of failing to include women in the technology‐adoption agenda. We then explore the policy implications and suggest various strategies that promote gender‐equitable outcomes and that can be used to mainstream gender in agricultural technology adoption efforts to convert policy statements to practical and effective actions.

Objectives of Sustainable Development and Youth Employment in Colombia

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to raise quality employment, gender equity in access to employment and increase coverage in education. However, in Colombia, high unemployment rates and the informality of young people are risks of achieving these goals. The purpose of this research is to estimate the determinants of youth unemployment and its relationship with SDGs Objective 8, and linking it to the objectives of quality education and gender equity. Using the microdata of the Colombian household survey, DANE, this relationship is estimated with a methodology of age, period, and cohort, through a Probit/Logit Multinomial model. As a novel result for the Colombian case, it is shown that, although new generations of young people are more educated, education per se is not enough to guarantee them a quality insertion into the labor market, penalizing, above all, young women. Lack of work experience and segmentation of the labor market would help explain this outcome. Employment policies, therefore, to achieve the SDGs must not only invest in education, but also expand dual education programs, considering gender.

Does Microfinance Enhance Gender Equity in Access to Finance? Evidence from Pakistan

ABSTRACTThis paper descriptively analyzes longitudinal microfinance outreach numbers and interview data from 140 practitioners and borrowers in Pakistan to examine whether the claim that microfinance enhances gender equity in access to finance can be substantiated. This assertion has recently replaced the more ambitious contention that microfinance has an empowering impact on women. The paper argues that this shift has occurred because of increased commercialization at the global level and authoritative assessments against the empowerment claim. The study further considers whether the frame of competing logics from institutional theory can explain the case of the Pakistani microfinance sector, in which, as shown here, commercialized microfinance has actually led to a rise in gender inequalities in access to finance. The paper attributes this rise to the inability of the Pakistani microfinance sector to reconcile the competing logics of development and banking.

Implications on equity in agricultural carbon market projects: a gendered analysis of access, decision making, and outcomes

Carbon market projects have focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, often at the expense of achieving sustainable development goals. A central pillar in sustainable development is equity, yet most projects pay little attention to equity implications for underrepresented farmers, especially women. Agricultural carbon market projects that explicitly seek to promote sustainable agricultural land management practices are quickly gaining attention worldwide for their promise to deliver the ‘triple-win’: adaptation, food security, and mitigation. Previous experience with other payment for ecosystem services projects indicate that women often are marginalized and their needs ignored. To address this gap, this case study examined the Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project with a focus on gender equity in access, decision making, and outcomes. Results show that women had less access to joining the project than men, because they did not have the same level of influence in decision making at a household level. At the project level, both men and women had little influence in establishing project requirements and potential benefits, as these were decided upon prior to farmer recruitment. Regarding outcomes, women tended to participate in more project activities, and would in return reap more nonmonetary benefits than men. However, the costs involved in achieving these benefits was nontrivial: women's farm labor time increased significantly due to the substantial time and effort required to implement sustainable agricultural land management practices. If agricultural soil carbon market projects are to achieve better outcomes by addressing equity issues, they need to pay special attention to gender and the differing needs of farmers—male, female, young, old, poor, and less poor—by involving them at the project design stage. Our findings show the importance of additional project benefits unrelated to carbon income for addressing the requirements of equity perceived by both the implementing agency and women themselves.

The Impacts of Oil and Gas Pollution on Female Gender in Ilaje, Niger Delta Region of Ondo State Nigeria

Sustainable development in this millennium entails among other things ,gender equity in access to socio- economic and environmental resources. This paper continues the gender debate by evaluating the impacts of oil and gas mining on women in Ilaje region of Ondo state Nigeria. Taking a sample of five oil producing villages of Obierewoye, Ikorigbo, Obenla Awoye and Tsekelewu, 150 questionnaires were administered proportionately based on the populations of the villages on female household heads or senior wives to household heads in the settlements, on basis of systematic random sampling. Data collected were subjected to appropriate statistical analyses and the study confirmed extensive oil and gas pollution in this region particularly in Tsekelewu and Opoekaba in spite of governments' rhetoric on eliminating pollution by the year 2007. This phenomenon has had considerably high negative impacts on women, who have had to combine their traditional roles as domestic workers and mothers along with their new roles as fishermen, farmers and breadwinners thereby bridging the gap created following noticeable occupational migration of men to the oil companies to work as welders, fitters and machinists. To alleviate these problems and lessen the strains, the paper recommends increased monetisation rather than flaring of hydrocarbons and that government's policy intervention in mitigating such impacts should be targeted at women as the most vulnerable group in areas of major environmental problems.

The Public and Private Domain of the Everyday Politics of Water: The Constructions of Gender and Water Power in the Andes of Peru´

This essay presents a detailed ethnographic account of the struggles of two Peruvian women to gain access and control over water and land after having separated from their husbands. From these accounts, it becomes clear that strategies for feminist action cannot and should not solely be aimed at formal laws and policies. Important water powers also reside in day-to-day water management and control practices that are embedded in culture and partly manifested in customary norms and laws, and that occur in social domains that are not normally associated with water management such as the household. The authors argue that identifying and understanding such non-formal water powers provides an important additional entry-point for devising feminist water strategies. It helps to see day-to-day ‘bottle-necks’ that hinder more gender equity in access to and control of water and land, and that stand in the way of a more equitable and democratic water management. At the same time, a focus on everyday water politics can also reveal important sources of agency for women, resources that they can mobilize in support of their attempts to access and control land and water.

Educational and Economic Reforms, Gender Equity, and Access to Schooling in Africa

This paper investigates the relationship between economic reforms, particularly the World Bank’s Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPS) and educational policies with regard to gender equity in access to schooling in Africa. Using qualitative, historical, and quantitative methods and based on data from UNESCO and African Development Bank, it analyzes the impact of economic factors, specifically gross domestic investment, public expenditure on education as a percentage of gross national product, public expenditure on education as a percentage of government expenditure, and government deficit/surplus as a percentage of GDP at current prices, on women’s access to higher education. 1. Introduction: Issues and Objectives THIS PAPER IS divided into five major sections including the introduction that presents the issues and objectives. The second part deals with specifications regarding the concepts and methodology. The third section recalls the unequal original distribution of education and the quest for gender equality as articulated in some of the educational reform documents and experiences. The fourth section analyzes the economic crisis, reforms, and especially the structural adjustment programs (SAPs) and the impact of their conditionalities on social services, with focus on the education sector as a whole. The fifth section examines more specifically the structural relation between the economic crisis, the SAPs, and women’s access to higher education. The conclusion addresses some of the issues for future educational development and research direction in the next century. Following the political independence of African countries that started in the 1950s, the next two decades were characterized by high optimism in the possi