Gender Matters Research Articles

Gender Role Models and Early Career Decisions

This paper analyzes the link between the subject choices of German students in upper secondary school and teacher gender when these choices are taken. Our results corroborate the hypothesis that teacher gender matters in this regard, and they indicate that girls respond more strongly than boys to same-sex role models. While the probability to choose German as an advanced course in upper secondary school increases to a rather similar (i.e., symmetric) extent for both girls and boys when having a same-sex teacher in this subject in grade 10, teacher gender matters only for girls with respect to choosing math on the advanced level.

Gender matters: family background and upper secondary education in Finland

The intergenerational transmission of education and social position is a widely studied topic, but measurement of the significance of gender in this subject has received less attention. We study gender differences in the effect of parental disadvantage on the probability of a child completing upper secondary education in Finland. We use high-quality register data, collected by Statistics Finland. The data are clustered according to families that includes information on both children and their parents. The data consist of a 25 per cent sample of persons born in Finland between 1980 and 1986 (n=157,135). The data are analysed using sibling methods using random-effects linear probability models. The analyses are run separately for daughters and sons. With the exception of parental unemployment, all the indicators measuring disadvantaged parental background are significantly more strongly connected to the probability of sons than the probability of daughters completing upper secondary education. Father’s unemployment is a stronger predictor of the child’s probability of completing upper secondary education than unemployment of the mother. The mother’s educational level predicts a child’s probability of completing upper secondary education more strongly than the educational level of the father. Both mothers’ and fathers’ educational levels have a significantly stronger correlation with sons’ than daughters’ completion of upper secondary education. Equality of opportunity seems to be achieved better among girls than among boys. It might be the case, that the educational system, as one of the most important paths for achieving superior social status to one’s parents, does not treat girls and boys equally. Were this so, it would be especially important to pay more attention to boys’ school readiness and school wellbeing, especially in socioeconomically disadvantageous areas.

The regulation of midwives in England, c.1500–1902

Throughout the 19th century, midwives were depicted as incompetent slatterns in both popular imagery and medical literature. We examine how, between 1500 and 1800, midwifery was regulated by a combination of formal licensing by the Church and informal oversight within the community. We argue that episcopal licensing demanded that midwives demonstrate knowledge and competence in midwifery, not only that they were spiritually fit to baptise dying infants. Although episcopal licensing lacked statutory authority, the symbiosis of formal and informal systems of regulation ensured good midwifery practice and midwives were regarded as experts in all matters relating to childbirth. The Midwives Act 1902 introduced statutory regulation of midwives, restoring their ‘professional status’ if in a subordinate role. We show that the history of the regulation of midwives across four centuries casts light on the interplay between formal and informal regulation and matters of gender and professional status.

Gender Matters for the Entrepreneurial Activity: Case of European States

Abstract The gender inequality is the hot topic for most countries in the world. However, sometimes the talks about the risks and threats are more dramatic than the reality is. The paper aims to test the gender gap in the selected states and to consider the hypothesis that gender matters in entrepreneurial activity. The methodology of the regression and statistical analyses is proposed to access the main hypothesis and to trace the dynamics of the gender indexes and ranks. The preliminary results show that gender affects the level of entrepreneurial activity; besides government support programs and socio-cultural factors have a significant impact as well. The valid results for all states represented positive correlation and dependence between Entrepreneurial Motivation for TEA and Female/Male ratio for all analysed states. We can conclude that the change in the ratio of women and men engaged in entrepreneurial activity in the state (i.e. Poland) will affect the level of business innovation. For example, when the gender structure of entrepreneurs in Poland changes towards the number of women compared to men, the level of innovation of products and services will increase, or vice versa.

Gender matters when sports engagement and self-efficacy interact with academic achievement

This study examines, through the lens of gender, whether engagement in sports, self-efficacy and grade level affect academic achievements of adolescents. The study comprised 491 10th–12th grade students—218 males and 273 females; 170 participated in competitive sports, 185 participated in non-competitive sports, and 136 were not involved in sports. We found in both genders a significant positive link between the sense of academic self-efficacy and academic achievement, and a negative link between the sense of self-efficacy in sports and academic achievement. However, girls engaged with the competitive sports showed better academic achievements than the boys and girls in the other groups, while boys engaged with competitive sports demonstrated the lowest academic achievements. In addition, we found that the variables examined provide stronger explanation of the academic achievement of boys than those of girls. Insights of this study should be incorporated into sports educators’ programs to further drive gender equality.

Leadership, Identity and Performance: The Nature and Effect of ‘Prototypicality’ in Indonesia

What makes a leader worthy of support? The article uses novel survey and experimental data from Indonesia to test the proposition that identity trumps performance for citizens perceptions of their political leaders. The results confirm theories of ‘prototypicality’—leaders that best reflect and represent the identity of the group tend to be more trusted and have a licence to fail. We argue and show that the dimensions of identity that matter most varies and is context specific. In the Indonesian context religious identity is most important. But the data also suggest that this varies across space, time, and follower identity: We show that gender matters, as women are less easily persuaded by prototypicality. We conclude by reflecting on the implications for leaders, politics and support for leadership development.

Gender Competition for Surviving COVID-19

Corona Virus disease termed as COVID-19, is an emerging highly contagious respiratory disease that is caused by novel corona virus. Its main clinical symptoms are fever, dry cough, fatigue, myalgia and dyspnea. In Pakistan, the literature so far covering the prevalence and incidence is deficient. By24thJuly 2020, reported data from government sources declares 270,400 confirmed cases with 5763 deaths. 219783 cases are recovered and 1316 cases are under treatment in high dependency units countrywide. Sindh is the province with highest number of corona cases crossing 115883. Gender and age matters when there is talk about the prognosis and outcome of the disease. A study reported that corona virus is striking and felling more Italian males as compared to females in extreme of age because of their weak immunity status. They further elaborated that Italian model of mortality is a trend mirror of what they observed in China with more causality in male gender and at extreme age. Using the Kaplan Meir test we analyzed the 32 deceased data from our hospital named Qazi Hussain Ahmed Medical Complex Nowshera and district line list for a number of variables including the impact of gender and comparing the survival capabilities of both genders simultaneously infected with COVID-19. We observed that male gender that have contracted COVID-19 in their extreme ages offering less resistance to the virus with poor survival rate as compared to the female’s gender where the surviving capabilities for unknown reasons are stronger than those in male gender (Figure 1). Many factors can contribute including low viral load because of less exposure as compared to the male gender in our religious society. Similarly, there could be some un-discovered immune predominance in female gender that confers more imm

The Flageolet: A Woodwind Instrument that Transcended Social Class and Gender in Nineteenth-Century England

The flageolet – a woodwind instrument closely akin to the recorder – achieved considerably popularity in nineteenth-century England. It was predominantly an instrument of the amateur musician, and its story becomes a mirror of the musical society in which the instrument flourished.An account of the organology of the flageolet in both its English and French forms, and of its evolution into double, triple and transverse versions, precedes a study of pedagogical material and repertoire. The work of William Bainbridge, who modified the flageolet to simplify its technique and hence enhance its suitability for amateur players, is emphasized, along with his skill as an innovator of complex flageolets. The flageolet attracted a small number of professional exponents who tended to favour the French form of the instrument.The principal focus of the article is an examination of the role of the flageolet within the context of musical praxis in England and its societal implications during the long nineteenth century. After consideration of matters of finance, social class and gender, the article examines the use of the flageolet by amateur and professional musicians, particularly highlighting the importance of the instrument in domestic music-making as well as in amateur public performance. Professional use of the instrument within the context of the concert hall, the theatre, the ballroom and the music hall is explored and examples given of prominent players and ensembles, some of which were composed entirely of female musicians. Final paragraphs note the playing of the flageolet by itinerant and street musicians.

Landscape multifunctionality in (and around) the Kafa Biosphere Reserve: a sociocultural and gender perspective

ABSTRACT In 2010, UNESCO listed the Kafa Biosphere Reserve (KBR) in southwest Ethiopia based on the concept of landscape multifunctionality and the need to reconcile local community values and needs with conservation pressures. Understanding the role of the local community in traditional resource management has received little attention by researchers however, as most studies focus on the biophysical characteristics of the KBR. In this qualitative study we present two case studies from fieldwork and secondary sources: the Shattos as guardians of the Kafa forest customs, values and wisdom through musical performance; and, deejjoo, a thanksgiving ritual ceremony associated with forest resource management. These cultural and spiritual beliefs and practices corresponded closely with local understandings of biology and ecology. Land use changes over the past 50 years have resulted in deforestation, land degradation and erosion of sociocultural values that traditionally sustained human-environment interactions. Based on these descriptions we also found a gap in the research of the effects of gender on both biosphere and traditional land management approaches: Who has access to resources? What is the division of labour? How are values are defined, and Who makes the rules and decisions? Gender matters because taken for granted assumptions about women’s roles and responsibilities as care givers can reinforce gender stereotypes. Our results provide insights into how increasing broader local community involvement in decision making could enhance environmental sustainability and improve gender equality.

What Do Pennsylvania Voters Think about Gender and Women’s Representation?

Despite ongoing interest in the role of gender in American elections, highlighted most recently by Hillary Clinton’s historic bid for the presidency in 2016 and the 2018 “Year of the Woman” elections, recent studies have shown that gender alone is not enough to explain voter behavior. This is especially true in an increasingly ideologically polarized landscape in which party and ideology retain significant explanatory power regarding electoral outcomes. The saliency of gender identity and gender issues may also vary across time and context. Moreover, voters may not have full information about the underrepresentation of women or of the consequences of gender imbalances in elective institutions, raising uncertainty about whether women’s representation in politics matters to voters. In this article, using data from a unique exit poll, we examine the extent to which knowledge about women’s representation and perceptions about gender and women’s issues mattered to Pennsylvanians’ vote choice in the 2016 and 2018 elections. We find that neither gender nor party alone can explain men’s and women’s political behavior, but rather that gender and party interact in complex ways. Although party continues to be the best predictor of vote choice, gender matters to how voters understand and explain women’s underrepresentation in politics—a finding that has important implications for furthering gender equality in politics in the future.

The impact of entrepreneurs’s financial literacy on innovation within small and medium-sized enterprises

This article analyses the impact of an entrepreneur’s financial literacy upon innovation within small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and, in so doing, extends human capital theory to consider the effect of financial literacy on risky investment decisions. Using a large survey dataset of Chinese SMEs in 2015 and 2017, our findings suggest that financial literacy is positively associated with innovation; positive relationships are robust to different innovation metrics. In addition, we find that gender matters, as male owners appear to promote more innovations, while firm size is positively associated with innovation. Additional analysis suggests that risk tolerance is a transmission mechanism for the impact of financial literacy on innovation. Our results corroborate previous studies showing that individuals with greater financial literacy make sound personal financial decisions and so have important public policy implications.

Gender, Peacekeeping, and Child Soldiers: Training and Research in Implementation of the Vancouver Principles

Since the passage of UN Security Council resolution 1325, there has been a growing focus on the involvement of women in peacekeeping operations. Ambitious UN targets, the Vancouver Principles, and the Canadian government’s Elsie Initiative all aim to support the increased inclusion of uniformed women in peacekeeping missions. This article discusses three areas in which the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative (Dallaire Initiative) is working to support Vancouver Principle (VP) 11 through the training of women security sector actors, training on gendered dimensions of the recruitment and use of child soldiers and SGBV against child soldiers, and through research on how gender matters in peacekeeping operations. Based on these experiences and an engagement with the academic literature, it makes a number of policy recommendations in support of VP 11.Keywords: gender, peacekeeping, training, child soldiers, SGBV

Introduction to the Special Issue ‘New Perspectives on Tax Administration Research’1

Tax administration reforms have been central on the policy agenda of many countries (both developing and developed) around the world, and they have become much more prominent recently as countries struggle to reduce public deficits. The six papers in this special issue look at a wide range of important and topical aspects related to tax administration. Issues that are discussed and analysed concern the identification and measurement of ‘ghosts’, the role of digital payments penetration in Value Added Tax (VAT) compliance and collection, whether audits deter future tax compliance, the extent to which gender matters in tax compliance and the role of social value orientation in the interplay between the two, and the role of amnesties. In the following, a brief summary of these papers is provided which we hope will encourage the reader to have a careful read of this excellent selection of contributions.

Online public shaming of professional athletes: Gender matters

Public shaming – a common practice with historical roots – is defined as an individual’s public communication of disapproval or contempt for the behaviour of another individual. Previous research has explored fans’ engagement in public shaming of professional athletes in response to athletes’ transgressions and found fans withdraw support and provide extensive descriptions of their desired psychosocial, physical, and career-related consequences for the athletes. The existing literature also questions the extent to which public shaming of professional athletes online may be influenced by athletes’ social identities. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to explore the ways in which fans’ public shaming practices may be influenced by the gender of professional athletes. A social constructionist perspective guided our qualitative thematic content analysis, which examined 7700 comments by sport fans on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter directed at professional athletes in response to their legal, social, and sport-specific norm transgressions. We implemented methodological pluralism to analyze the dataset through a gendered lens. The findings suggest fans’ public shaming practices illustrate contentious views on gender through explicit objectification of females, promotion of hyper-masculinity, and victim blaming on social media. The findings are interpreted in light of the extant literature related to rape culture in sport and the broader societal implications of fans’ online behaviours are discussed. Ethical issues embedded within research of this nature are also explored and recommendations for future research are proposed.

Gender gaps in political participation in Asia

Recent scholarship shows that the gender gap in political activity has diminished, particularly in Western societies. Still unknown is how gender matters for political participation in Asia. Using the 2010 Asian Barometer Survey, this article analyzes the gender gap in multiple forms of political participation in 13 countries. It also investigates how individual-level characteristics mediate the differences in men’s and women’s political participation. The article shows that Asian men and women overwhelmingly vote at an equal rate in elections, but gender gaps persist in other types of political action. This study shows that gender remains the strongest predictor of political participation and suggests that Asian women remain marginalized in the political arena. The results have important implications for how to progress gender equality in the region.

The Abolition of Sex/Gender Registration in the Age of Gender Self-Determination: An Interdisciplinary, Queer, Feminist and Human Rights Analysis

<p><br />It is commonly accepted that gender matters (whether cisgender, transgender/trans*, gender non-binary, genderfluid, gender queer, agender, or other) and many are raising awareness about the fact that gender always seems to matter. That gender matters, and always matters, does not necessarily mean, however, that gender needs to be authenticated or endorsed by the state.</p><p>In fact, based on a feminist and queer reading of human rights, this interdisciplinary article asserts that state-sponsored sex/gender assignment through the practice of sex/gender registration must halt. It argues that mandatory (binary) sex/gender registration disproportionately infringes the emerging right to gender identity autonomy and the right to the legal recognition thereof. Most often, our Western heterosexual cultural system of gender, which posits the existence of two oppositional and complementary gender identities, anchored in so-called natural and binary sex, goes hand in hand with material and discursive forms of violence and entails various forms of unequal power dynamics. Hegemonic in nature, the heterosexual cultural system of gender pervasively regulates many (if not every) aspects of all bodies’ lives and being, including by legal means. The law upholds and certifies that specific gender regime, inter alia, by assigning a sex to individuals at birth (through the registration of a claimed evident, objective, natural element to be found on or in the body by inspection). Policies of mandatory (binary) sex/gender registration therefore constitute the cornerstone of the legalisation of the heterosexual cultural system of gender, which produces not only the conventional feminine and masculine gender identity (i.e. women and men) but also sex (i.e. females and males).</p><p>This article suggests that, as long as the law refuses to go beyond the compulsory male/female (or even male/female/other) framework, it will be complicit in upholding the undesired consequences of the heterosexual cultural system of gender, which affect all persons of whatever gender or physical features. Therefore, undoing remaining forms of global gender injustice, as well as respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights relating to gender identity, requires the abolishment of sex/gender registration instead of expanding the available gender markers. Indeed, this article finds that current state practices do not pursue a legitimate aim, and even if they do, mandatory sex/gender registration does not pass the proportionality test that is required in the assessment of restrictions of fundamental rights. A human rights analysis of official sex/gender in the age of gender self-determination finds mandatory sex/gender registration to be a disproportionate measure and recommends that states change their current practices. Doing so would be beneficial to cisgender and trans* individuals alike.</p>

Women in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine in France: Are we making any progress?

IntroductionGender imbalance in medicine is a topic of increasing interest. Gender matters, as there is increasing evidence that a gender diverse medical workforce translates into improved patient outcomes. The gender distribution in France among the Anaesthetists-Intensive Care (AIC) physicians has never been considered. MethodsGender distribution is described during the last two decades in France among the whole population of AIC physicians according to their age, professional activity, leading and academic position. ResultsThe proportion of female AIC physicians remained stable from 1999 to 2018, between 35 and 38%. Only 40% of residents choosing this specialty in 2018 were female. Female AIC physicians were under-represented in key medico-political and academic positions: in 2018, 0.7% of the 605 presidents of medical commissions from public hospitals and none of the medical university deans were female AIC physicians; 9% of AIC full Professors were female. In the French Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care (SFAR), 42% of the members of the Scientific Committee of our Society are women. ConclusionsA gender imbalance is apparent in French AIC Medicine and worsens as physicians progress through their academic or leadership pathways. The French Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care campaigns for proportional representation at all levels of leadership, which translates into more gender equality in the committees of the society, including the Scientific Committee. A major policy shift is urgently required to support women, to tend toward gender parity to increase the performance of the French AIC workforce.

Queer Diagnoses Parallels and Contrasts in the History of Homosexuality, Gender Variance, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) Review and Recommendations Prepared for the DSM-V Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Work Group.

(Copyright © 2009, American Psychiatric Association. Published with permission).

How Do Citizens Assess Street‐Level Bureaucrats’ Warmth and Competence? A Typology and Test

AbstractCitizens encounter many street‐level bureaucrats in their lifetime. How do they assess the traits of the bureaucrats they meet? Understanding citizens’ assessments of bureaucrats is important, because citizens are not passive receivers of policies. This article explores citizens’ classifications of street‐level bureaucrats based on their core task. Using a factorial survey (n = 580), three clusters of bureaucrats are identified: those who are regulation oriented, those who are service oriented, and those who are both regulation and service oriented. Then, the article tests how these three types of bureaucrats are assessed on warmth and competence and whether their gender matters. A between‐subjects experiment (n = 1,602) reveals that regulation‐oriented bureaucrats are assessed as least competent and warm. Moreover, regardless of core task, female bureaucrats are assessed as warmer than males. Female and male bureaucrats are assessed as equally competent. This article shows that bureaucrats are stereotyped by citizens and discusses the implications for the public management literature.Evidence for Practice While researchers and practitioners tend to focus on commonalities between street‐level bureaucrats, focusing on differences—for instance, in terms of core task and gender—may be helpful to understand how citizens see and react to their encounters with bureaucrats. Much like street‐level bureaucrats’ stereotypical notions of citizens, citizens stereotype the bureaucrats they encounter. These stereotypes are based on cues related to the bureaucrats’ core task and gender. Especially for regulation‐oriented organizations and street‐level bureaucrats, such as inspectorates, being aware of stereotypes may be useful when engaging with citizens because they are rated as the least competent and warm.

“Yo lo que Quiero es Trabajar”. Hombres que Trabajan en el Sector del Cuidado Social

En este artículo exploramos las experiencias y percepciones de los hombres en trabajos de cuidado en España para comprender las razones por las que se introdujeron en este sector laboral, porqué continúan, cómo se perciben y en qué medida el género importa en sus experiencias laborales. Utilizamos datos de la investigación cualitativa que estamos realizando en Cataluña (España) sobre hombres cuidadores. Este texto se basa en 31 entrevistas semiestructuradas a trabajadores del sector del cuidado social. Nuestros resultados muestran que la crisis económica ha conducido a que hombres autóctonos entren a trabajar en un sector poco cualificado como es el de los cuidados, modificando así el proceso de estratificación basado en género, clase y migración. Descubrimos que la "escalera de cristal" tiene un efecto muy limitado en el trabajo de cuidado ya que las ventajas que disfrutan los hombres solo se relacionan con la facilidad con la que acceden a dichos trabajos. Finalmente, encontramos que los hombres cuidadores negocian su masculinidad a través de la tensión entre las normas culturales y de clase que les obligan a tener un trabajo y las características subvaloradas o feminizadas de su trabajo.