Gender Inequality Research Articles

Increasing access to legal information with unsupervised solutions

AbstractAccess to justice is a significant area of legal research, especially for Socio-Legal studies. The main research topics of this area are economic or class differences, gender inequalities, or national and ethnic differences in access to justice. However, there is a less discussed aspect of access to justice: the differences between access to legal information and the differences in user groups in terms of comprehending and processing legal information. This is an important topic because there are significant differences among people's abilities to process and understand legal texts, depending on whether we are dealing with a lawyer who is an expert in the given field, a non-expert lawyer, or a citizen with a low or zero (legal) educational level. The paper argues that unsupervised machine learning solutions can help even out these differences. It presents different unsupervised solutions, mainly clustering and topic modelling, which can help to increase access to legal information. Then we present a case study in which we examine these unsupervised tools in the processing of resolutions of the Central Bank in Hungary and anonymized court decisions. The paper argues that these tools can reveal the hidden contextual regularities in unstructured legal texts, facilitating the search for legal texts even for non-legal-experts.

Racial and Gender Inequality as a (Non)Crisis: The Discursive Strategies of Academic-Managers in Belgian and Danish universities

This study investigates academic-managers’ understanding of gender and racial inequality in Belgian and Danish universities. Employing Sylvia Walby’s and Janet Roitman’s crisis concept, findings show that academic-managers use three discursive strategies of justification that are inherently tied to a noncrisis narrative. By justifying gender and racial inequality as a) ‘normal’ in academia through a meritocratic-neoliberal approach, b) considering it a matter that needs to be resolved ‘higher up’, and c) using a politics of time to relegate inequality to the past and equality to the future, they exempt themselves from dealing with gender and racial inequality. Crisis talk appears when gender inequality may harm the institution’s reputation. We conclude by advocating for a shift from a language of diversity to a language of crisis. Framing gender and racial inequality as a crisis evokes a sense of urgency to foster inclusion and diversity in research and innovation.

Sexual harassment as a gender inequality and a form of workplace discrimination: A South African perspective

Sexual harassment is not a new phenomenon in South Africa. The continued existence of sexual harassment in the workplace specifically targeted at female employees undermines the constitutional rights to equality, human dignity, privacy, physical and psychological integrity, and fair labour practices. Against this backdrop, this article examines the different contributory factors that exacerbate or provide an enabling environment for sexual harassment to persist namely; gender inequality, sexist attitudes, and inefficient grievance procedures. Using an in-depth analysis of literature scholarly works, government reports, and legislative frameworks aimed at preventing sexual harassment in the workplace, and the selected jurisprudence of the courts, this article scrutinises the phenomenon of sexual harassment as a gendered harm. It evaluates whether there are adequate measures aimed at assisting victims of sexual harassment and gender inequalities in South Africa. Finally, in its conclusion, the article argues that, for labour legislation to efficiently address the prevalence of sexual harassment it should adopt a threefold function namely to address sexual harassment as a form of an unfair labour practice, gender discrimination and psychosocial harm.

Making Climate-Smart Cocoa Inclusive: Towards a Framework for Gender Transformation

ABSTRACT Climate-Smart Cocoa (CSC), a strategic offshoot of the wider Climate-Smart Agriculture, is gaining ground in Ghana, a cocoa export-dependent country. CSC is imperative, given the rapidly declining forests, prolonged periods of drought, pest and disease infestations, and fluctuating cocoa yields attributed to climate variability and change. Although many interventions are instituted to restore sustainable cocoa production, they are largely technicist because they do not pay attention to gender relations of production in the communities. Given the context of the embeddedness of gender inequality in access to resources, we used some CSC interventions in Ghana to reflect on the lingering questions of CSC production practices. We relied on CSC project documents, extant literature, farmer surveys and qualitative data to highlight the need for climate-smart agricultural approaches to be sensitive to structural and systemic issues that exclude female farmers. We argue that transforming norms that perpetuate unequal access to land, labour, input and extension services between men and women should be central to approaches that aim to promote sustainable and ecologically sound agricultural practices in cocoa production systems.

Queering the humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality: Implications for humanitarian action, IHL effectiveness and gender justice

Abstract Institutions are often reluctant to openly engage on controversies around the patriarchal underpinnings of the humanitarian sector, or the hard questions around implementing rights-based approaches in spaces where the dominant social norms run counter to an enabling environment for principled humanitarian and development assistance. A reluctance to engage on these issues can lead to unintended suppression of gender justice efforts under the urgency and scale of needs-based humanitarian response. Pre-crisis unequal power relations can be visible or invisible, difficult to measure and even more difficult to address through humanitarian action. Engaging on root causes and drivers of human suffering is often viewed as “political” in contexts of closing civic space and restricted humanitarian access. This article will explore tensions and synergies between the humanitarian principles and the gender justice agenda with a view to helping humanitarian actors contribute to long-term goals of transforming social norms. The article applies a critical feminist lens to the humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality, with a focus on the wider development agenda, the nature of the State in a State-centric global order, and the continuum of violence. Drawing on critical feminist theory and decolonization discourses, and building on gender analyses of international humanitarian law, this article looks to queer the humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality within the context of the shifting aid system in which they are applied. The objective is help address some of the gaps in literature, identify ways in which aid actors can reduce unintended harm to the gender justice agenda, and help contribute to the more transformative agendas of gender justice.

Against abstraction: Reclaiming and reorienting to embodied collective knowledges of solidarity

This article asks what kinds of places are we making within academic institutions concerned with racial and gender justice, decolonization and reconciliation when the terms of justice are fostered through the violence of abstraction? As queer scholar-activists, we share firsthand accounts of our movement from sites of community activism to the halls of academe, revealing the techniques and consequences of abstracting racist and gendered violence and dispossession. We insist on a reorientation, meaning a return to and towards, our embodied collective knowledges as sources of authority on and against the violences of settler colonialism and racial capitalism. We first recount the roots of our activism when we met in spaces of solidarity in unceded Coast Salish territories. We then describe the ways we have experienced this collective knowledge being represented back to us as we moved into academic spaces, emphasizing the epistemic violence of abstracting knowledge from its messy, hard-wrought foundations. Finally, we share strategies and experiences of reorienting ourselves toward collective and embodied knowledges in which solidarity is once again at the centre. In dialogue, we reject the violence of abstraction while asserting knowledge sovereignty in which communities maintain agency within the terms in which their lives are represented.

Gender quotas for corporate boards: do they lead to more women in senior executive management?

Purpose The European Union (EU) has recently adopted gender quotas for corporate boards (CBQ), anticipating ripple effects on women’s careers in the companies concerned, as well as throughout the economy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether CBQ has spurred ripple effects and discuss mechanisms hindering or facilitating women’s occupancy of top executive positions. Design/methodology/approach Norway was the first country in the world to introduce CBQ in 2003, with full effect from 2008. The policy requires company boards to be composed of 40% of each gender. Drawing on original data mapping boards and executive committees in Norway’s 200 largest companies, the authors analyze the association between CBQ and the gender composition of executive management almost 15 years after the full implementation. The data include both companies covered by the CBQ and large companies not covered. Findings The investigation does not find a positive association between CBQ and more women in executive positions. Thus, the ripple effect hypothesis of CBQ is not supported. CBQ may have contributed to an increased awareness of gender imbalances, yet these findings indicate that to achieve more gender balance in executive positions, scholars and practitioners may need to focus more on gendered conditions and processes in organizations and society throughout executive careers than on the gender composition of boards. Originality/value This paper provides empirical analyses of original data 15 years after the implementation of CBQ. The authors further contribute to scholarly debate by identifying and discussing possible mechanisms that explain how requiring more women on corporate boards may – or may not – have ripple effects on executive management.

Singing truth to power: Transformative (gender) justice, musical spatialities and creative performance in periods of transition from violence

Feminist security studies have demonstrated that transitional justice processes worldwide have largely fallen short in providing actual transformative justice for women and that many gendered war experiences remain largely unaccounted for. Through an activist-academic collaboration and mobilizing feminist scholarship on war, embodiment and emotions together with literature on transitional justice and the arts, this article argues that women’s collective artistic resistance can foster deeper cultural and structural changes in transitional justice settings. By delving into the case of the women’s music collective Enkelé in Colombia, the article examines the creative possibilities afforded by music and choreography to document and testify to an enduring culture of violence and their role in probing the effectiveness of post–peace agreement transitional justice. We contend that paying attention to musical performances is key because these can express new visions of justice that are not constrained by the limits of what is possible and feasible in formal transitional justice mechanisms and can offer corporeal connectivity able to bring together communities fractured by war and armed conflict and to give visibility to knowledges and practices of memory and healing of marginalized communities.

Challenges of empowering gender equality in the small and medium enterprises of the Republic of Kazakhstan

This article explores the multifaceted challenges of fostering gender equality within Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Kazakhstan, with a detailed examination across the insurance, IT, marketing, and automotive sectors. Employing regression analysis, the study meticulously investigates the influence of gender on several professional dimensions: leadership roles, salary disparities, and marital status. The findings reveal distinct patterns of gender inequality across the industries. In the insurance sector, female leaders are notably compensated less than their male counterparts, highlighting a direct salary gap influenced by gender. The IT industry is characterized by a pronounced shortage of female professionals, attributed to prevailing stereotypes regarding gender suitability for technical roles. Although the marketing industry exhibits a comparatively smaller wage gap, it still struggles with underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. The most stark inequality is observed in the automotive industry, where women not only receive lower salaries but are also subjected to diminished professional privileges, underpinned by perceptions questioning their capabilities. The study underscores the critical need for targeted interventions by both the government and corporate sectors to mitigate these disparities. It advocates for the implementation of comprehensive measures, including specialized training programs for female leaders, alongside policies that ensure equitable pay and opportunities. This research contributes to the broader discourse on gender equality, urging for a strategic and collaborative approach to dismantle the systemic barriers that women face in Kazakhstan's SME landscape.

The Many Shades of Sexism: Female Journalists in Leadership Positions Reflect on Barriers to Career Advancement in Journalism

Female journalists worldwide still struggle for adequate representation in leadership positions. This study contributes to the (mainly Western) scholarship on gender barriers in journalism by exploring the mechanism of vertical gender segregation in the journalistic profession in the Czech Republic, a non-Western country with the legacy of a women’s emancipation project sponsored by the former communist regime. Semi-structured interviews ( N = 17) with female journalists in leadership positions revealed five main barriers: overall gender inequality in the Czech society; family and household responsibilities; lower self-esteem and ambition in women; sexism and sexual harassment; and masculine newsroom culture and “old boys’ clubs.”

Do female family managers affect corporate social responsibility in Chinese family firms?

ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationship between female family directorship and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the specific context of Chinese family firms. It explores the moderating influences of gender inequality, family ownership and economic policy uncertainty. Based on social role theory, we find that female family directorship is associated with a stronger commitment to external CSR engagement than to internal CSR. Moreover, gender inequality and family ownership attenuate the relationship between female family directorship and external CSR, while economic policy uncertainty enhances their impact on external CSR. Overall, we contribute to the literature at the intersection of family firms, female leadership, and corporate social responsibility.

Religiosity and gender bias structure social networks

Abstract Studies examining gender differences in the social relationship rewards associated with costly religious practice have been surprisingly few. Here, we use data from 289 residents of an agricultural Tibetan village to assess whether individuals are more inclined to establish supportive relationships with religious individuals in general and to investigate the gender disparities in the relationship between religiosity and personal network characteristics. Our results reveal that participation in religious rituals contributes to the overall development of social support networks. The benefits to personal networks, however, seem to be contingent upon gender. For resource-intensive, infrequent religious rituals such as distant pilgrimages, males seem to benefit slightly more in terms of elevated in-degree values in their personal networks, despite similar levels of investment as females. In contrast, for daily, low-cost religious practices requiring ongoing participation, both genders obtain similar increase in in-degree values through regular engagement. It becomes more challenging for women to increase their status in communities when the effort invested in religious rituals yields smaller rewards compared to the same effort by men, contributing to ongoing gender inequality. These findings highlight the importance of examining the particular characteristics of religious rituals and the gender disparities in the associated rewards.

PERAN UN WOMEN DALAM ISU KETIDAKSETARAAN GENDER DI PAKISTAN

In 1994, UNDP released a report on human security, which included a point on personal security. The issue of gender inequality is a threat to personal security. Pakistan is a country that continues to advocate for and work towards gender equality. Inequalities in socio-economic development and the influence of a social structure based on a feudal system led to differences in the level of gender inequality in Pakistan. The high level of gender inequality in Pakistan affects women's ability to fully enjoy their rights. Using the concepts of international organizations, human security theory, and gender equality, this research aims to examine the role of the international organization UN Women in increasing gender equality in Pakistan. Employing a qualitative method with a descriptive approach as the framework, this research found that UN Women serves as a facilitator, communicator, and motivator in advancing gender equality, promoting Sustainable Development Goal 5, and protecting women from violence and discrimination. UN Women actively plays a role in achieving gender equality in Pakistan.

Premarital cohabitation and the gendered division of household labor in China

Premarital cohabitation has been understudied in China, and its impact on marriages in the region remains largely unexplored. This study examines the implications of premarital cohabitation for gender inequalities in Chinese marriages. The author analyzes how married couples with and without the experience of premarital cohabitation compare in the amounts of time they spend doing housework, whether the differences can be attributed to social and economic factors, and to what extent the experience of cohabitation equalizes the gendered division of housework. Drawing on four waves of data (2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018) from the China Family Panel Studies, this study is one of the first to provide nationally representative evidence on the relationship between premarital cohabitation and housework in China. Propensity score weighting and linear mixed effect models were employed. In contrast to findings from Western contexts, this study finds that in China, premarital cohabitation is not associated with a smaller gender gap in housework time after accounting for factors that affect selection into cohabitation. However, premarital cohabitation was associated with a significant decrease in women's housework time among urban residents and couples married after 1995, while its effect on men's housework time was not significant. Findings from this study highlight a gendered cohabitation effect on housework hours in China and underscore the importance of contextualizing the meanings of cohabitation and housework in non-Western contexts.

The Challenger’s Triumph: Battling a Tech Titan

The primary purpose of this case is to promote discussion related to effective human resource management practices in undergraduate business courses. This business case revolves around the issues of employment discrimination, retaliation, and gender inequality. In 2020, 38-year-old employee Chelsey Glasson sued Google, alleging that she and others encountered discrimination while pregnant. After facing retaliation from the company, Glasson decided to bring the issue to light. She claimed that managers would give lower performance scores to employees who notified the company they were pregnant, stating that this step in the employee’s life would hinder their performance towards the company.

A Tale of Two Realities: Gendered Workspace during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Taipei

This study examines how heterosexual couples in Taipei used space when both were working from home. I interviewed 29 heterosexual couples on how they arranged working space at home and how these spatial arrangements influenced their working experiences and career development. I found that space was gendered: men tended to work in a preferable space at home compared to their partners. However, a preferable space was not always defined by its physical setting, such as a room. Interviews revealed that women tended to move around to accommodate their family members’ needs when they worked from home, having unstable and interrupted working environments. Their experiences revealed that women’s family roles, such as mother, daughter, and wife, are prioritized at home, resulting in constant interruptions. On the contrary, men’s roles as workers were prioritized and protected when they worked from home. Gender superseded and transformed the physical space and reproduced gender inequality at work for people who work from home. This study suggests the need to consider the impact of gender norms before treating remote work as a pro-work–family policy.

Regional Analysis of Gender Inequality in the Kazakh Labor Market in the Context of Sustainable Development

Kazakhstan demonstrates its commitment to promoting gender equality and works closely with the global community. Over the past decade, the gender gap in the structure of the labor force of the Republic of Kazakhstan has narrowed slightly. However, gender gaps persist. Women in Kazakhstan make up slightly more than half of the country’s total population. Still, their contribution to the republic’s economic performance, growth, and well-being is significantly below its potential. Access to the Republic’s gender statistics is essential and critical for studying and tracking changes in gender inequality. This article examines the gender dynamics of the labor market of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the macro and micro levels using a geographic information system (GIS). GIS tools provide display and analysis capabilities that are underutilized in workforce development, monitoring, and management. In this study, the authors tried to model spatial indicators of gender inequality in the labor market of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The study results show that the employment rate and the level of women’s wages are primarily related to the gender segregation of vocational education, which lays the foundation for sectoral differentiation of employment with different geographical distributions. The greater competitiveness of women in the labor market of Kazakhstan is also hampered by the so-called “glass ceiling” or low accessibility to leadership positions. The wage gap between men and women in the republic has remained unchanged for a long time and shows no signs of reduction. In addition, such an important element of the labor market as unpaid domestic work, which is carried out mainly by women, remains unrecognized.

Analysis of the Current Personnel Situation in the Field of Science in Kazakhstan: Gender Aspect

One of the main factors in the development of the state’s economy is science and innovation, namely human resources that realize these resources, with the help of high-quality scientists. In this regard, the purpose of the research article is to analyze the current state of personnel status in the field of science, identify gender characteristics, and give recommendations for improving personnel status. In the course of the study, an integrated approach was used, which included methods of analysis, synthesis, and comparative analysis. In addition, general scientific methods such as abstraction and deduction were used. As an information base, statistical data from the National Bureau of Statistics for the period 2018-2022 were used. In addition, the UN reports on science were used. In the course of the study, the results were obtained that there is a shortage of personnel in the field of science, a decrease in the number of scientists in technical specialties, low wages in this field, a small number of scientists with academic degrees, and gender inequality. To ensure economic development, it was proposed to rethink the education system and the field of science and the directions in which the problem of personnel in the field of science could be developed. The theoretical results of the study can be used in the continuation of research related to the personnel situation in the field of science. The results of the study can find practical application in reports, strategies and programs of government agencies.

Adapting to climate change-induced flooding: insights from women traders in the riverine areas of Nigeria—a qualitative study

IntroductionIn the riverine areas of Bayelsa State, Nigeria, the intersection of climate change and flooding poses an escalating threat to the livelihoods and well-being of women traders. This qualitative study investigates the experiences and adaptive strategies employed by women traders in response to climate change-induced flooding.MethodsEmploying an exploratory research design with purposive sampling, 46 women traders participated in the study, involving 23 in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was applied to scrutinize the collected data.ResultsThe study unravels the impacts of climate change-induced flooding on economic, social, and gender dynamics, revealing economic disparities, gender inequality, livelihood disruptions, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to information among women traders. Vulnerabilities emanated from disruptions in supply chains, damage to goods, and constrained market access, with agricultural traders being notably affected. Flood events exacerbated gender inequalities, amplifying caregiving responsibilities and limiting decision-making power for women traders. Resilience surfaced through diversified income sources, community solidarity, collective narratives, and local adaptive strategies, including indigenous knowledge and innovations.DiscussionPolicymakers and stakeholders should prioritize resilient infrastructure investments, such as flood-resistant marketplaces and storage facilities, to safeguard women traders’ businesses during flooding events and enhance the overall economic resilience of the community.

Gender imbalance in the labor market: causes and features

The article examines current research on labor mobility and gender  inequality in the labor market: occupational segregation, unequal pay and  the «maternity penalty». The study of the impact of gender stereotypes,  social foundations, choice of educational path and professional environment  on wage disparities between women and men was conducted. Wage imbalances  are widespread around the world and affect the majority of economic sectors  and  employment types. In Russia data on the gender pay gap varies widely by region, economic sector and occupational group, and where male employment  prevails, the rate of  disparity is often higher. The  recommendations from  international organizations on equalizing women and men in labor rights are  given.