Social sustainability is largely challenged by unequal exchange within global supply chains (GSCs). Unequal exchange, commonly understood as the net appropriation of value from the Global South to the Global North, arises from power asymmetries in the world economy. As a consequence of the power asymmetries, the distributions of social costs and benefits across countries along GSCs are largely imbalanced. This intensifies regional disparities and obstructs global progress toward social sustainability. However, a comprehensive understanding of the unequal social consequences across multiple dimensions for countries along GSCs is still lacking. This study examines the degrees and patterns of unequal distribution between social benefits and costs along GSCs at the country and sector levels in 2019. To this end, we propose a scale-free GSC Theil index based on the multi-regional input–output framework to measure how far a GSC deviates from an egalitarian state where workers’ benefits align with their social costs. Our results reveal pronounced degrees of unequal distribution between labor compensation and job-quality-related social costs along GSCs. Across sectors, we find labor compensation is more misaligned with social costs associated with vulnerable employment , low-skilled jobs , and gender inequality in high-value GSC sectors. In contrast, in labor-intensive sectors, the unequal distribution is more pronounced for social costs associated with occupational health damage and working hours . Across regions, developing countries, despite suffering from a large global share of social costs, are confined to positions with limited labor compensation, whereas developed regions externalize these costs and capture more social benefits. • Distributions of social benefits and costs are highly unequal across regions in GSCs. • Greater unequal distribution occurs between social benefits and job-quality costs. • Key GSCs contributing to unequal distribution differ across social dimensions. • Developed regions secure more social benefits in GSCs while offshoring social costs. • Developing regions in low-value GSC positions bear greater shares of social costs.

Infertility affects an estimated 15% of couples worldwide, with male factors contributing to nearly half of the cases. Yet infertility continues to be culturally framed as a woman's problem, positioning women as primary targets of medical investigation and social blame. This study employs a Critical Interpretive Synthesis across sociology, nursing, psychology, anthropology and bioethics to theorise male infertility stigma as a relational inequity rather than an individual burden. To strengthen the empirical grounding of this conceptual analysis, we incorporated a structured secondary analysis of published qualitative quotations from men experiencing infertility. These first‑order accounts illuminate how men narrate stigma, masculinity and relational strain, providing empirical illustrations of four relational mechanisms-concealment, blame transfer, emotional labour and role reconfiguration-through which men's spoiled masculinity invisibly restructures women's roles in reproductive care. By foregrounding women's invisible burdens, the analysis advances a relational sociology of health with direct implications for nursing practice. The findings demonstrate how nurses encounter and mediate stigma spillover in clinical encounters, family systems and community contexts. Applied implications include dyadic, stigma‑sensitive interventions, couple‑centred care pathways and structural reforms that challenge cultural scripts linking masculinity to fertility. Conceptualising infertility stigma as a relational inequity not only extends stigma theory but also strengthens nursing inquiry into gender, caregiving and reproductive justice.

Emergency policies designed to protect populations can inadvertently cause diagnostic harm when essential services are suspended. How such policies reshape gender gaps in cancer detection, and whether either sex faces disproportionate harm, remains underexplored. We leveraged Taiwan's 2021 level 3 alert-a precautionary directive implemented during minimal COVID-19 transmission (0.07%) that mandated hospital capacity reductions and school closures-as a natural experiment to test whether the alert produced gendered diagnostic disruptions. Using Taiwan Cancer Registry and National Health Insurance claims (N=312 522; 2015-2021), we employed interrupted time series and difference-in-differences models to estimate changes in cancer detection rates and tumour size at diagnosis; robustness was confirmed through sensitivity and falsification tests. The alert disproportionately reduced detection of early-stage cancers, consistent with a collapse of preventive and opportunistic detection pathways. Women experienced larger declines in detection than men (-43.9% vs -32.0%; p=0.001) and greater increases in tumour size (17.3% vs 11.5%; p=0.026). These gaps were most pronounced among women under 50 (-50.7% vs -25.5%; p=0.001) and disadvantaged women, whose tumour size increase was nearly double that of disadvantaged men (16.6% vs 8.8%; p=0.049). The gap was particularly large for opportunistically detected cancers (lung: -47.1% women vs -22.6% men; p=0.011). These findings reveal a system-level patient safety failure. Women's higher engagement with routine care, ordinarily a health advantage, became a structural vulnerability when these pathways were suspended, possibly amplified by intensified caregiving, employment shocks and infection-risk avoidance. As health systems prepare for recurring shocks, resilience planning must incorporate gender-sensitive safeguards that prevent diagnostic harm. Protecting early detection pathways is both a clinical imperative and a patient safety requirement for equitable emergency response.

Involuntary celibacy, as expressed in the contemporary online incel community, has evolved from a marginal sexual condition first studied in the late 1990s to a male-dominated digital subculture that intersects with mental health, gender-based violence, and democratic security agendas. This critical narrative review synthesizes peer-reviewed empirical and conceptual literature published primarily between 2020 and 2026 on the demographics, psychological profile, ideological architecture, online radicalization pathways, violence risk, and public health implications of the incel phenomenon. Self-identified incels show severe mental health burdens, including elevated depression, anxiety, loneliness, suicidal ideation, autism spectrum traits, and disengagement from education and employment. The "black pill" worldview that organizes much of incel discourse is based on biological determinism, lookism, and hypergamy claims, producing hopelessness and displaced rage. Pathway analyses indicate that mental health distress and ideological adherence each predict harmful attitudes more strongly than online networking, with both factors operating bidirectionally. The empirical relationship between incel ideology and outward-directed violence is contested, while the connection to self-directed violence is well supported. An adequate response to the incel phenomenon refuses both pure securitization and pure pathologization, integrating clinical engagement, education policy, platform governance, gender justice frameworks, and suicide prevention. Cross-cultural research, particularly in Southeast Asian and other Global South contexts, remains a research priority of the highest order.

ABSTRACT Gender inequality persists in entrepreneurship, yet the role of language in shaping entrepreneurial evaluations remains poorly understood. Drawing on social role theory and social dominance theory, we examine whether gendered verbiage appears in entrepreneurship texts and how such language influences new venture assessments. Using mixed-method design, we analyse popular press articles, academic research publications, and teaching cases, and conduct an experiment assessing new venture evaluations. Across all text genres, we find that masculine wording significantly outweighs feminine wording, regardless of industry gender-typing. Experimental results show that ventures described using masculine language are evaluated more favourably, perceived to have greater long-term growth potential, and granted higher cognitive legitimacy than those described with feminine language. These effects hold irrespective of the entrepreneur’s gender. Together, our findings reveal a linguistic mechanism through which gender inequality is reproduced in entrepreneurship and highlight how seemingly neutral texts can systematically advantage ventures aligned with masculine norms.

To observe the effects of concurrent transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and robotic lower-limb (RT-LL) training on motor recovery after stroke, thereby offering a novel approach for motor rehabilitation of these patients. The total sample size was sixty (n = 60). We enrolled 60 patients with stroke hemiplegia who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Using the random envelope method, these patients were allocated into an experimental group (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30). The experimental group underwent concurrent tDCS and RT-LL training, while the control group received concurrent sham tDCS and RT-LL training. Both groups took part in training sessions lasting for 20min each, five times a week, for a continuous two weeks. Gait Watch three-dimensional gait analysis system was used for both groups before and after treatment. Additionally, in both groups, the Fugl-Meyer assessment for lower extremities (FMA-LE) was used to assess the motor function of lower extremities, the functional ambulation category (FAC) was used to assess walking function, and the modified Barthel index (MBI) was used to assess activities of daily living (ADL). The functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to observe the changes in the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin in the subject's brain before and after treatment. There was not any statistically significant difference in baseline data such as gender, age, and stroke stratification between the two groups before treatment (p > 0.05). After treatment, the gait parameters, FAC, and MBI were significantly improved compared to those of the control group (p < 0.05), there was no difference in the improvement of FMA-LL between the two groups (p > 0.05). The brain network connections of the experimental group, including the affected M1- supplementary motor area (SMA), left M1- right M1, and the affected M1- healthy SMA, were significantly enhanced opposed to the control group (p < 0.001). Transcranial direct current stimulation can promote brain functional connectivity in motor related brain regions. Concurrent transcranial direct current stimulation and robotic lower-limb training can promote motor recover after stroke. Hower, this study gets its limitations, including the relatively short intervention duration and the absence of medium or long-term follow-up, the durability and clinical persistence of benefit remain uncertain.

This study examined prevailing discourses shaping images of postsecondary leaders during a turbulent year including a pandemic and racial reckoning. Using qualitative methods, we employed feminist, critical, and poststructural perspectives to analyze articles and opinion pieces published in The Chronicle of Higher Education during a 12-month period beginning July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. Dominant discourses of gender, marketplace, morality, and social justice were identified as shaping predominant images of vulnerable, failing, relational, and socially just leaders. Awareness of dominant discourses shaping perceptions is important for leader success.

ABSTRACT While representation of women in policing is improving, research shows that women do leave policing settings more often than their male colleagues. This disproportionate attrition of women in policing not only slows improvement of gender equality, but can also affect legitimacy and service outcomes. Using monthly employment register data of all new employees of the Dutch policing sector between 2014 and 2023 (N = 33,210), this study investigated both whether and when women were more likely to leave than their male counterparts. To put the gender inequality in perspective, attrition rates among police staff were also compared to those of their peers in other public subsectors. Typically, attrition of women in policing is studied in isolation, while sources (and thus, solutions) of inequalities may lie in societal or broader organisational dynamics. Findings indicated that, while women were more likely to leave the Dutch policing sector than men, several other subsectors showed similar gender differences. Results suggest that approaches to improve gendered attrition, both in policing and in other male or female typed subsectors, should not be limited to increasing representation and improving work-family balance. Rather, efforts should also involve reviewing implicit assumptions about employees, including those in procedures for professional appraisal.

Under-five mortality (U5M) remains a key indicator of child health outcomes and health system performance. In Ghana, while national trends in U5M are well documented, limited evidence exists on how socioeconomic and sex-disaggregated inequalities have evolved and how future trajectories may unfold. This study, therefore, assessed three-decade trends, identified inequalities in U5M, and projected future patterns in Ghana. A descriptive analytical design was employed using the WHO Health Equity Assessment Toolkit. Absolute and relative measures of inequality, including Difference (D), Ratio (R), Population Attributable Risk (PAR), and Population Attributable Fraction (PAF), were computed using the WHO HEAT online built-in software. Moreover, temporal trends were examined using the Joinpoint Regression programme to estimate the Annual Percentage Change (APC) and Average Annual Percentage Change (AAPC) at p < 0.05. In addition, time-series forecasting was conducted using an Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model to project U5M trends in Ghana from 2023 to 2035. Between 1992 and 2022, Ghana's U5M declined substantially from 120.20 to 42.34 deaths per 1,000 live births. Six distinct periods of statistically significant decline were identified, with the steepest annual decrease occurring between 2008 and 2016 (APC = -4.50%, 95% CI: -4.60, -4.04). The overall AAPC was - 3.42% (95% CI: -3.44, -3.40). U5M remained consistently higher among males than females, although the absolute difference narrowed from - 16.15 deaths per 1,000 in 1992 to -8.90 in 2022. Socioeconomic inequalities also persisted, with children from the poorest quintile consistently experiencing higher mortality than those from the richest, despite reductions in both absolute (D: 62.36 to 20.81 deaths per 1,000) and relative (R: 1.73 to 1.65) measures. Forecasts from 2023 to 2035 indicate a continued decline in U5M, although the rate of reduction is projected to be gradual. U5M, along with persistent sex and socioeconomic inequalities, has declined over the past 3 decades. The rate of U5M is also projected to decline further from 2023 to 2035. This echoes the need to expand access to quality maternal care, improve nutrition, and address social determinants of health. These interventions are essential for accelerating progress and ensuring equitable survival outcomes.

Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among refugee women at Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi.

ABSTRACT The concept of the ‘norm’ is considered in several strands of critical pedagogy but is rarely given a pivotal role in understanding and/or counteracting gender and sexual inequality. At least one tradition deviates from this tendency: norm-critical pedagogy. In this strand of critical pedagogy, initiated in Sweden in the late 2000s and further developed and disseminated during the 2010s and 2020s to the Nordic region, the concept of the norm is considered the most crucial conceptualisation of power relations in education. The main argument of this paper is that an overly narrow emphasis on this concept hampers the ability to understand and counteract gender and sexual inequalities in education. I develop this argument from a feminist critical realist perspective, analysing key Swedish texts on norm-critique. This argument is structured around the following three characteristics of the concept of the norm within norm-critical pedagogy: (1) it is a taken-for-granted concept, (2) it is a one-size-fits-all concept and (3) the paradox of norms as simultaneously too simple and too complex. Finally, I suggest that norm-critical pedagogy could be developed by drawing upon historical and contextual versions of the concept of the norm and conducting suitable empirical research on its use.

Gender disparities across nearly all surgical specialties have become an issue of increasing attention, reflecting persistent inequities in representation, leadership, and career advancement. Despite growing numbers of female medical graduates worldwide, women continue to remain underrepresented in surgery, particularly in subspecialties such as transplantation surgery. To explore gender inequalities among transplant surgeons from the perspective of transplant unit directors and female surgeons worldwide. This study consists of two arms: (1) An 8-item anonymous questionnaire was sent to transplant centers to assess the gender distribution of consultant surgeons' positions and academic roles among female and male surgeons; and (2) A 23-item anonymous questionnaire with closed and open questions was distributed to female transplant surgeons worldwide, addressing demographic profile, working experiences, and suggestions towards professional equality. The questionnaires were promoted through email, social media and professional platforms. Of 46 transplant units participated. Among the 381 board-certified surgeons reported to work in these transplant centers, 102 were women (27%). In the second arm, 75 female transplant surgeons responded. The respondents had a mean age of 43.7 ± 8.8 years (24-70), with most of them working in European transplant centers (65.3%) and self-identifying as White/Caucasian (76%).72% reported gender discrimination, 56% faced verbal sexual harassment from colleagues, and 26.6% from patients, 41.3% were dissatisfied with their work-life balance, with commonly reported challenges including balancing career and family, lack of institutional support and inclusion and sexual harassment. The majority of recommendations involved mentorship, equal opportunities for leadership positions, and flexible working hours. This is the first cross-sectional study addressing gender equity within the field of transplantation surgery worldwide, documenting gender disparities, professional conflicts, and concerning experiences of sexual harassment. This study provides preliminary evidence that underscores the need for further research and structural reforms to promote gender equity in transplantation surgery.

ABSTRACT Gender equality has become a central concern in entrepreneurship policy and practice, yet inequalities in participation and access to resources persist. While scholarship shows that these inequalities stem from structural dynamics in entrepreneurial ecosystems, less is known about how women’s entrepreneurship interventions are orchestrated across ecosystems and what implications this has for gender equality. Drawing on a multiple-case study of two regional entrepreneurial ecosystems in Germany and the UK, based on 41 interviews and field observations, we identify four intervention types: (1) skill-building and funding, (2) representation and visibility, (3) women’s grassroots collectives, and (4) collaborative ecosystem-building. We further reveal four mechanisms through which interventions challenge or reproduce gender inequality: normalization, legitimation, coalition-building, and collective reconfiguration. The study develops a classification framework for women’s entrepreneurship interventions and advances theorization of inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems by highlighting hybrid orchestration as a pathway to systemic transformation.

The intersection of HIV/AIDS and family planning presents a multifaceted public health challenge, particularly among pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries. This review examines the complex relationship between HIV status and family planning decisions, exploring key factors such as stigma, socio-cultural beliefs, gender dynamics, access to healthcare, and counseling services. HIV-positive women often face a difficult balance between the desire for fewer children and societal pressures to conform to fertility norms, compounded by fears of transmitting the virus and concerns about their health. Findings suggest that while family planning can reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) and protect maternal health, challenges such as limited access to integrated services and gender inequalities persist. The review advocates for the integration of HIV and reproductive health services, improved counseling, and strategies to address stigma and promote male involvement. These approaches are essential to empower women in making informed reproductive choices and improving maternal and child health outcomes. Keywords: HIV/AIDS, family planning, pregnant women, reproductive health, gender dynamics.

This study investigates the portrayal and age-related stereotypes of older adult characters in popular Chinese films. Content analysis of 100 films (2000-2024) yielded 305 older adult characters. Findings show older adults remain underrepresented, with a pronounced gender imbalance favoring older males. Contrary to prior research, positive portrayals predominate; over 90% of characters showed positive stereotypes like Tidy, Experienced, Face-conscious, and Polite. Tidy was the most frequent positive stereotype, while Despondent was the most common negative one, differing from Western stereotypes of The Perfect Grandparents and Shrew/Curmudgeon. Gender differences occurred in positive stereotypes: older men were more often Experienced and Hard-working, whereas older women were more likely Noncompetitive and The Perfect Grandparent. Negative stereotypes showed no gender differences. These findings contribute to understanding the evolving media construction of ageing in contemporary popular Chinese films and hold important implications for future research on age stereotypes and the cultural politics of media representation.

While associations between greenness and mental health have been studied, resilience, understood as the ability to adapt positively to stress and adversity, has received less attention. This study examined the relationship between the distance to the nearest park and resilience, considering potential gender differences. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 3,852 Spanish adults assigned to Primary Healthcare centers of nine autonomous communities. Resilience was assessed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Unadjusted and adjusted differences in resilience and distance to the nearest park were assessed using Analysis of Variance, Analysis of Covariance, and multiple linear regression models in the total sample and stratified by sex. The covariates considered in this study were age, education, monthly income, marital status, perceived social support, and mental health. Sex was included as a covariate in analyses of the total sample. This study finally comprised 2,922 individuals, 52.0% women. The mean age of the participants was 53.6years ± 10.9 SD. Participants living farther from parks (> 700m) showed significantly lower resilience than those in the close (< 300m; mean difference = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.06, 1.11, p = 0.028) and medium (300m-700m; mean difference = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.28, 1.35, p = 0.003) subgroups. Greater distance to the nearest park was inversely associated with resilience in the total sample (β = -0.040, 95% CI: -0.075, -0.003, p = 0.030). Stratified analyses revealed this association was significant among men (β = -0.060, 95% CI: -0.110, -0.009, p = 0.020), but not among women (β = -0.018, 95% CI: -0.068, 0.030, p = 0.463). Greater residential distance to the nearest park was associated with lower resilience in adults, especially in men. These findings highlight the potential importance of urban green space accessibility for promoting mental well-being, underscoring the need to consider gender in public health research and interventions.

Despite increased awareness of diversity and inclusion in neurointerventional surgery, the representation of women in neurointerventional academic publishing has not been systematically quantified. We aimed to evaluate global and temporal gender trends among authors publishing in leading neurointerventional journals using natural language processing (NLP) tools. We used the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Entrez and Medline APIs (application programming interfaces) to extract metadata from all articles published between 2014 and 2024 in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery and Interventional Neuroradiology, the only two journals dedicated exclusively to the field of neurointerventional surgery. For each publication, we identified the first and last authors, as well as their institutional affiliations. We applied the OpenAI GPT-4 API to infer the country of origin based on last author affiliations and to predict gender using first and last names. Across 4875 articles published between 2014 and 2024 in two leading neurointerventional surgery journals, female authorship increased modestly over time. In 2014, 10.2% of first authors and 6.1% of last authors were women, compared with 14.2% and 7.6%, respectively, in 2024. A significant upward trend in female first authorship was observed over time using the Cochran-Armitage test for trend (P=0.0002), with the strongest increases in the Americas and Asia. In contrast, no overall increase was seen in female last authorship (P=0.14), with a modest but significant trend observed only in Asia. Geographic disparities were also evident: Austria and Norway had the highest female last authorship rates (62.5% and 40.0%, respectively), whereas the US, despite contributing the most publications, had only 13.8%. The Gender Parity Index (GPI) further highlighted under-representation, with most countries falling well below parity, especially for last authorship. Analysis using artificial intelligence driven NLP methods suggests persistent gender inequalities in neurointerventional surgery authorship with variation across countries. Although female representation has improved over the past decade, progress is uneven. These findings underscore the need for targeted efforts to promote equity in academic vascular neurosurgery globally.

Climate change threatens agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods, particularly among smallholder farmers in East Africa. In Ethiopia, rural women play critical roles in natural resource management; however, structural social, economic, and institutional barriers limit their adaptive capacity and reinforce gender inequalities. Despite growing attention to climate change adaptation strategies (CCAS), empirical evidence on its role in promoting gender empowerment remains limited. Therefore, this research aims at generating location-specific data on the contribution of CCAS to gender empowerment in the East Shewa Zone of Ethiopia. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 446 sample households. Data were collected through household survey, focus group discussion and key informant interviews across four districts and eight kebeles. Gender empowerment outcomes were assessed using a Gender Empowerment Index for Climate Change Adaptation Strategies (GEI-CCAS), covering social, economic, political, and agricultural dimensions, alongside a Gender Parity Index (GPI). Both descriptive and econometric model (binary logit model) were used for data analysis. The findings revealed that farmers implemented 22 climate adaptation strategies, with mixed cropping (91%) and crop calendar adjustment (89%) being the most common. Households adopting climate change adaptation strategies achieved higher empowerment outcomes than non-adopters, with greater involvement in decision-making, livelihoods, and leadership. Binary logistic analysis results indicated that, among male-headed households, gender empowerment increased with education level, livestock ownership, extension contact, annual income, training participation, and involvement in local institutions, while it decreased with greater market distance. For women-headed households, empowerment was positively influenced by education, extension access, income, training, cooperative membership, institutional participation, and irrigation access, whereas crop failure had a negative effect. Strengthening gender-responsive adaptation policies can contribute to achieving SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). The study recommends gender-responsive climate adaptation policies that enhance women's access to resources, climate-smart technologies, institutional services, and leadership opportunities, thereby promoting gender equality and strengthening resilience to climate change.

Neuroimaging studies of non-suicidal self-injury in young adults with major depressive disorder.

Universal secondary education policies particularly free secondary schooling and the removal of school fees together with efforts to strengthen vocational secondary education, have become central to education reform in many developing countries. However, wider access does not necessarily lead to better quality or greater equity. This systematic literature review brings together research on policy design, governance, implementation capacity, and secondary education outcomes, with special attention to plural systems that include public, private, and faith-based providers, including Islamic education ecosystems. The review groups the evidence into four main areas: (1) policy design and governance; (2) equity, inclusion, and participation; (3) implementation capacity, including financing, teachers, and accountability; and (4) outcomes and transitions, such as learning achievement, employment opportunities, empowerment, and social cohesion. Overall, the findings suggest that these reforms usually raise enrolment, but gender, socio-economic, and regional inequalities often remain. Lower household costs can help substantially, but they do not always improve retention when social norms, indirect costs, and structural barriers continue to limit participation. Rising enrolment can also place pressure on school capacity and learning quality. In vocational education, outcomes tend to improve when curricula reflect labour market needs and are supported by industry partnerships, good teaching, and regular curriculum updates.