Gender Lens Research Articles

Leadership through a gender lens: Disparities in Dental Research.

This study aimed to analyze the 100 most-cited papers in Dentistry, with a focus on female leadership in dental research. Papers were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS- CC) in the category 'Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine'. Gender was assessed through WoS-CC, Scopus, ResearchGate, social media, institutional websites, and software that assigns gender according to first names (https://genderapi.io). Characteristics of authors in leadership roles were retrieved, such as affiliation, publication history, citations, H factor, and i500. The 100 most-cited papers in Dentistry were authored by 394 researchers, 326 (82.7%) men, and 68 (17.3%) women - there were 4.8 male authors for each female. Among the lead authors, there were 11.3 males for each female. Among female senior authors, there were 7 males for each female. Among lead/senior authors of the 100 most-cited papers (first and last authors, respectively), 18 were women. There was an increase in the participation of women in the top cited papers regardless of authorship role across the six decades, with a peak of two female authors in the first decade of the 21st century. For female authors in leadership roles, their publication history shows the time between their first and last papers in WoS-CC ranged from 4 to 42 years for lead authors and 1 to 39 years for senior authors. Women were found to be largely underrepresented as leaders of the 100 most-cited papers, highlighting pervasive gender inequalities in dental research publications.

Od prisluškivanja činovnika do istraživanja međunarodnog društva

The paper analyses historical developments in the discipline of the history of international relations, from its origins in the nineteenth century until present day. It provides an overview of numerous approaches and topics that have driven its development over the previous two centuries. The article focuses on the evolution of the history of international relations in its American and Western European variations. In the first part, the origin and the activity of diplomatic history are examined in the context of the emergence of professional historiography. At that time, diplomatic history narrowly focused on studying the political and diplomatic relations between states and was the most prominent topic in political and intellectual discourse. Its significance further intensified following the First World War, when the topic of war guilt emerged as one of the major interwar political issues. In the second part, the study discusses the evolution of diplomatic history into a broader international history, emphasizing social, economic and ideological aspects. The shift happened as a result of the rising interest in social and economic history following World War II and manifested itself throughout specific discussions in various countries. It was also marked by increased uneasiness and self-criticism that historians of international affairs have become prone to. Following that, the paper explores the impact of new theoretical approaches and thematic concerns, that emerged as a result of the cultural turn, on the practice and the shape of international history. It now includes not only interstate relations, but also a diverse set of actors such as international organizations, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations and networks of researchers, scientists and experts, all of which have been studied through the lenses of ideas, ideology, gender, beliefs, language, memory, value and perceptions.

Exploring the Intersection of Caste and Gender Politics in Kusumabale

This research delves into the intricate interplay of caste and gender politics within the narrative of Kusumabale By closely examining the novel's portrayal of characters, events, and societal dynamics, the study aims to unravel the complex web of relationships shaped by both caste and gender influences. Through a nuanced analysis, the research explores how caste identities intersect with gender roles, impacting the lives and struggles of characters in the narrative. Additionally, the study investigates the ways in which the author, Devanoor Mahadeva, navigates and challenges traditional norms through the lens of caste and gender, contributing to a deeper understanding of societal structures within the context of the novel. This exploration not only sheds light on the intricacies of caste and gender politics in Kusumabale but also provides broader insights into the complex dynamics of identity and power within contemporary literature.

Queer Constellations in the Big Easy: Making Space in New Orleans

This article explores LGBTQ+ space-making practices and spaces in New Orleans, Louisiana. It analyzes spaces to understand why, how, and for whom they were made. I conducted interviews with LGBTQ+ New Orleanians and utilized queer geographical theory, to present LGBTQ+ spaces across New Orleans as "queer constellations" of time and space on the map of the city marking places of importance to individuals and/or the broader LGBTQ+ community. To differentiate between the various types of spaces found, I divided them into four categories: lost space, transient space, explicitly queer space, and non-explicitly queer space. Through an intersectional lens of gender, race, sexuality, and socioeconomic status, this article attempts to examine whether the diversity and globality of the city were reflected in its queer spaces.

Perceptions of retirement savings: Through the lens of Black amaXhosa women in South Africa

Much research has been performed on the quantitative amount of formal savings held by various racial and gender groups and concluded that Black women are the least prepared for retirement. Therefore, a narrative of scarcity has been perpetuated without fully understanding the underlying reason. This research applies a gender lens to critical accounting and reconceptualises previous definitions and research using the narratives of Black amaXhosa women in South Africa. Various informal ways of saving and references to communal preparedness challenge the individualistic view of success as theorised in previous Anglo-Saxon research. The culture of providing financial support is learned behaviour and impacted by the theory of socialisation which plays an important role in how individuals interact with one another and create and maintain their social norms. Such feminine accounting reconceptualises the notion of retirement savings in a different cultural and social context, by focusing on the real life of ordinary people. It has removed some of the ambiguity on the negative impression of the savings culture of Black amaXhosa women in South Africa. The gendering of retirement savings, unconventional ways of planning for retirement and cultural dynamics influence retirement savings. This opens a dialogue on whether considering retirement preparedness purely via the quantitative amount of formalised savings and western ideologies is sufficient.

How did conservation agriculture go to scale?

Background
 The Foodgrains Bank has an established record working in agriculture and food security with resource constrained, marginalized farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. The three outcome areas of the Scaling-Up Conservation Agriculture in East Africa (SUCA) Program were: the adoption of conservation agriculture systems, an enabling institutional environment, and the promotion of enabling policies. These program areas were expected to yield intermediate outcomes that, together, would lead to the ultimate outcome of improved food security and sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farming households in East Africa. This case study reports on the end-line evaluation of the five-year program.
 Purpose
 To illustrate the overlap between utilization-focused evaluation (UFE) and collaborative approaches to evaluation (CAE). The case study profiles an agricultural intervention, and explores how the evaluation design accommodated the systemic nature of the program.
 Setting
 Scaling-Up Conservation Agriculture in East Africa (SUCA) was a five-year program of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank implemented from 2015-2020 to expand the size and scope of Foodgrains Bank’s work in conservation agriculture in East Africa. The program supported local partners with a target of 50,000 male and female farmers practicing a minimum of 2 of 3 conservation agriculture principles, and to improve food security and sustainable livelihoods for 18,000 of these farmers’ households across three countries. 
 Research design
 The Foodgrains Bank was directly involved in the evaluation design through the definition of evaluation uses and key evaluation questions. Eleven implementing partners in East Africa were involved in primary data collection and some initial analysis.
 Data collection and analysis
 A mixed method approach was used combining quantitative, qualitative, and participatory / visual data collection tools. A robust, intersectional gender lens was applied to the data collection instruments in the form of gender disaggregated data collection and gender-focused questions across most data collection instruments. 
 Findings
 The collaborative process confirmed a sense of ownership by the primary evaluation users over the evaluation design. The evaluation design combined outcome and learning uses that took advantages of the implementing organizations’ commitment to learning. The findings demonstrated the value of the program and produced a framework illustrating the multi-disciplinary approach underlying its success.

Brazilian research productivity fellows in physics and nursing under a gender lens: 17 years of data

This article explores the gender scenario regarding proposal and concessions of a research productivity grant from a Brazilian funding agency (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq) in the fields of physics and nursing. Data for this investigation was provided by the funding agency and refers to the total number of grant proposals and concessions from 2005 to 2021. In the descriptive data analyses, the percentage of grant distribution in relation to the sex of the researchers was evaluated. The results revealed that, in physics, women are the minority in proposals and concessions with no significant evolution over time. On the other hand, in nursing, the percentage of proposals from men (the underrepresented group) increased, but the concessions did not follow the same trend. Based on the findings, it is concluded that underrepresented groups, whether women or men, remained in this position over the years, without significant changes.

Financial freedom, final fantasy, ‘formative ageing’: A study of ageing single women and retirement in contemporary China

This article aims to continue a conversation sustained in this journal during the last three decades; a conversation that seeks to promote critical thinking on age and ageing through the lens of gender and sexuality. I do so by considering a specific group of Chinese women: single women living in Beijing or Shanghai. I invited 24 of them, born between 1962 and 1990, to share their imaginations about retirement, in the Chinese context, where the mandatory retirement age for women is 55 or 50 (60 for men). My aims are three-fold: to insert this group of single women into retirement and ageing studies; to recuperate and document their retirement imaginations; and ultimately, to draw insights from their subjective accounts, to revisit dominant paradigms of ageing, notably so-called successful ageing. Empirical data show how these single women treasure financial freedom, but usually without taking concrete steps towards its accomplishment. They also embrace a diversity of imaginations about where and with whom they want to spend their retirement life, and what they want to do – both long-held dreams and new careers. Inspired by yanglao, a term they use instead of retirement, I argue the term ‘formative ageing’ is a more inclusive and less normative way of looking at ageing.

Postconflict Sexual and Reproductive Health and Justice, Gendered Well-being, and Long-term Development

Sexual and reproductive health and justice (SRHJ) is key to gender equality and an important component of any long-term development strategy for countries emerging from conflict and civil war. Girls and women are vulnerable to various sexual and reproductive risks, which are exacerbated in conflict contexts and can have both short- and long-term economic implications for them, their families, and their communities. Yet neoliberalism and patriarchal power structures prevent women’s economic well-being from being a priority when postconflict policies are designed. Applying a gender lens to postconflict policies, we illustrate why addressing reproductive justice in postconflict contexts is both a gender justice issue and a macroeconomic imperative, as well as providing concrete policy recommendations, including the imposition of a global arms tax, to fund postconflict SRHJ priorities. JEL Classification: O2, I1, B54

Online panel work through a gender lens: implications of digital peer review meetings

Abstract Previous studies have highlighted how the academic peer review system has been marked by gender bias and nepotism. Panel meetings arranged by research funding organisations (RFOs), where reviewers must explain and account for their assessment and scoring of grant applications, can potentially mitigate and disrupt patterns of inequality. They can however also constitute arenas where biases are reproduced. This article explores, through a gender lens, the shift from face-to-face to digital peer review meetings in a Swedish RFO, focusing on the implications for an unbiased and fair grant allocation process. Drawing on twenty-two interviews with panellists and staff in the RFO, the analysis identifies both benefits and challenges of this shift, regarding use of resources, meeting dynamics, micropolitics, social glue, and possibilities for group reflections. RFOs deliberating digitalisation of their peer review processes need to consider these implications to develop policies promoting unbiased and fair grant allocation processes and procedures.

Women and key positions in scientific collaboration networks: analyzing central scientists’ profiles in the artificial intelligence ecosystem through a gender lens

Scientific collaboration in almost every discipline is mainly driven by the need of sharing knowledge, expertise, and pooled resources. Science is becoming more complex which has encouraged scientists to involve more in collaborative research projects in order to better address the challenges. As a highly interdisciplinary field with a rapidly evolving scientific landscape, artificial intelligence calls for researchers with special profiles covering a diverse set of skills and expertise. Understanding gender aspects of scientific collaboration is of paramount importance, especially in a field such as artificial intelligence that has been attracting large investments. Using social network analysis, natural language processing, and machine learning and focusing on artificial intelligence publications for the period from 2000 to 2019, in this work, we comprehensively investigated the effects of several driving factors on acquiring key positions in scientific collaboration networks through a gender lens. It was found that, regardless of gender, scientific performance in terms of quantity and impact plays a crucial part in possessing the “social researcher” role in the network. However, subtle differences were observed between female and male researchers in acquiring the “local influencer” role.

Sustaining culture in modern times: spiritual beliefs and practices among working women of Malaysia

Spiritual beliefs bring comfort, order, and meaning to life in every culture, particularly in challenging times. To gain access to the spiritual beliefs and practices of Malaysia, a uniquely multicultural nation in the throes of rapid development and political change, we interviewed a diversity of Malaysian women about their spiritual beliefs. Using the lens of gender to frame the study, we focused on working women as it was theorized that women’s ways of knowing might provide insight to the challenge of sustaining traditional spiritual values while maintaining careers in the modern world, which often holds more restrictive views on spiritualism. In-depth interviews revealed a common knowledge of the rules of the invisible world, including how to gain access to it, and respect for ancient practices regardless of religion, career, ethnicity, age, or educational level. Most importantly, sharing spiritual beliefs and practices provided a means of sustaining traditional culture in the everchanging flows of Malaysia’s rapid development.

Making energy justice work for women in rural sub-Saharan Africa: A qualitative diagnostic from Benin, Senegal, and Togo

A carbon neutral world by 2050. Few would oppose the idea of embedding justice in the energy systems painted in the emerging net zero scenario. However, how does the lofty ideal of justice translate for communities distant from elite centers of knowledge and power? Focusing on women from rural communities in Benin, Senegal, and Togo, this paper applies the double lens of gender and capability to energy justice principles and addresses the following questions: 1) How do these rural women currently experience energy justice principles? And 2) What energy interventions could enhance these women's capabilities in the future? The findings from our field interviews offer a diagnostic of energy justice for rural women, connecting the limited availability and affordability of energy sources to sustainability concerns in a vicious cycle of resource scarcity and impaired capabilities. We then propose interventions to apply justice principles in the local context and argue that operationalizing energy justice requires making gender equity a cross-cutting dimension in the energy justice framework. We contend that building just energy systems by 2050 would be best achieved by focusing on human capabilities, i.e., promoting people's opportunities to live the life they value over allegedly universal energy metrics.

Books Briefly

Books Briefly

Academic self- concept, self-esteem and school attitudes in pre and mid adolescents: gender, SES and parenting

ABSTRACT Children undergo significant changes as they enter secondary school, a time during which their social and academic self-concept is fluid and the pressures to adjust and show positive attitudes and behaviours are intense. Utilising data from the Millennium Cohort Study (Waves 4 and 5) the purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine longitudinal changes in academic self-concept, self-esteem and school attitudes in pre and mid adolescents through the lenses of gender and SES; and to trace the unique and cumulative effects of SES, gender and parenting on academic self-concept, self-esteem and school attitudes in 14- year-olds. The findings showed that academic self-concept, self-esteem and positive school attitudes decreased considerably between the ages of 11 and 14, and that girls rated themselves lower in self-esteem and school attitudes than did boys. The observed drop in academic self-concept was sharper in 14-year-olds from economically less well-off families. Parent behaviour and practices and the home learning environment contributed significantly to 14-year-olds’ school attitudes, self-esteem and self-concept. These findings have implications for developing school policies that support self-esteem especially during the first years of secondary education.

The Generative Force of the Domain and the Field: Contributions of Highly Creative Women

Abstract This study aims to explore the two less frequently researched pillars of the systems theory of creativity: domain and field, through a gender lens. Twenty-five award-winning women from different domains were interviewed. Their responses were examined using grounded theory. Results show four categories associated to domain: (1) access, including family incentive, interest in childhood, and late start; (2) relationship, reflected in high level of engagement, positive feelings, priority in life, and crisis; (3) gender barriers, encompassing family impact, financial limitations, discrimination, and being part of a minority; and (4) extra-domain, described in background and interests in other areas. Four additional categories were identified in relation to the field: (a) 10 years to gain recognition, (b) unclear criteria, (c) men hold the power, and (d) denial of gender barriers. The importance of fostering appealing domains that motivate women is discussed, along with the need for openness to interdisciplinarity and nonlinear careers. Masculinisation of the fields is problematised as an obstacle for the development and recognition of women. The personal discrimination denial paradox, in spite of accounts of the gender barriers experienced, is questioned.

Exploring the effects of a participatory climate services approach on smallholder decision-making in Rwanda using a gender lens

Effective climate services are crucial in supporting farmers to adapt to climate variability and change. Different factors may hinder certain types of farmers in accessing, using and benefiting from climate services. Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) is a climate services and agricultural extension approach that has been used in more than 20 countries. PICSA has empowered women and men farmers in their planning and decision making and led them to make beneficial changes. Over 112,000 farmers were trained in Rwanda. Results from a large-scale quantitative survey and qualitative case studies with selected farmers are analyzed by gender, headship and wealth to enable understanding of how different farmers access, use and benefit from the information and tools that make up PICSA. Almost all respondents made changes in their farming and/or other livelihood enterprises as a result of the training. The majority of farmers reported that the changes they had made were beneficial, however, a key finding is that in some cases women heads from the least wealthy categories are less able to benefit. This paper provides insights on how gender, headship and wealth status influence responses to climate information and decision-making tools and in so doing highlights important implications for the design of climate services and similar interventions.

Gender saving groups: Formalizing village saving groups with a gender lens

This concept paper introduces a research collection on gender saving groups/ village savings loan association and financial inclusion that sets out to provide insights and evidence that enable the formal financial sector or practitioners to link with the informal financial sector to better reach women with digital financial services. The research brings together some articles and our innovative thoughts on financial inclusion that discuss specific range of interventions and experiences. It also explores and presents the opportunity for and challenges to meaningful financial inclusion for women non-literate and non-numerate populations. This article interrogate the methods used to reach last mile communities (rural and urban) and highlight the need for holistic, multi-layered programming that supports social norm change and addresses the actual constraints faced by members of these VSLA and communities.

When women win, we all win-Call for a gendered global NCD agenda.

Gender is a social determinant of health, interacting with other factors such as income, education, and housing and affects health care access and health care outcomes. This paper reviews key literature and policies on health disparities and gender disparities within health. It examines noncommunicable disease (NCD) health outcomes through a gender lens and challenges existing prevailing measures of success for NCD outcomes that focus primarily on mortality. Chronic respiratory disease, one of the four leading contributors to NCD mortality, is highlighted as a case study to demonstrate the gender gap. Women have different risk factors and higher morbidity for chronic respiratory disease compared to men but morbidity is shadowed by a penultimate research focus on mortality, which results in less attention to the gap in women's NCD outcomes. This, in turn, affects how resources, programs, and interventions are implemented. It will likely slow progress in reducing overall NCD burden if we do not address risk factors in an equitable fashion. The article closes with recommendations to address these gender gaps in NCD outcomes. At the policy level, increasing representation and inclusion in global public health leadership, prioritizing NCDs among marginalized populations by global health societies and political organizations, aligning the gendered global NCD agenda with other well-established movements will each catalyze change for gender-based disparities in global NCDs specifically. Lastly, incorporating gender-based indicators and targets in major NCD-related goals and advancing gender-based NCD research will strengthen the evidence base for women's unique NCD risks and health outcomes.

Is maritime security gender-blind?

Contemporary maritime security challenges such as maritime piracy, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and fisheries crimes, significantly affect communities and individuals. Utilising a gender lens and a more holistic approach that highlights the land-sea nexus in contemporary maritime insecurities, this article transcends existing stereotypes and prevailing assumptions surrounding the masculine character of the maritime domain, to examine how both women and men are affected in this context. The article conducts a gender analysis and mapping of women’s and men’s roles as (maritime) security providers, as well as victims and crime perpetrators through two developed case studies, namely of maritime piracy in Somalia and IUU fishing and fisheries crimes in Indonesia. Key findings of the analysis indicate that a clear relationship and established links exist between gender and maritime security studies. Both women and men have a role to play as security providers, victims and crime perpetrators in the context of contemporary maritime security challenges, but geographical spaces and maritime zone delimitations largely define the ways in which they are currently affected. It finally identifies the need to better integrate the land-sea nexus in contemporary maritime security to improve our understanding of existing challenges and inform / change prevailing cultures and stereotypes surrounding the role of gender within this context.