Role Of Gender Relations Research Articles

Adolescent Reproductive Health Practices in Nigeria

Adolescents have become a focal point of discussions of sexuality and reproductive health matters because they belong to a most active segment of the population and because of practical concerns in resolving problems such as unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS Employing in-depth interviews and focus group discussion techniques, this study of 2,510 respondents from four tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria examined various forms of reproductive health practices, their origins, reproductive health services available in the institutions, and the role of gender relations in reproductive health concerns. The findings show that respondents engage in a wide range of folk practices and do-it-yourself procedures to maintain personal hygiene, prevent and treat STDs, as well as prevent and terminate unwanted pregnancies. These practices, which involve the use of every day commodities such as lime, antacid and other drugs in particular ways, are learnt from and passed on through peers. The practices are considered more confidential and are preferred to the reproductive health services in the institutions' clinics. There are obvious implications for avoidable complications, morbidity and mortality, all of which need to be redressed through intervention.

Gender and Cultural Adaptation in Immigrant Families

The study of immigration and immigrants’ experiences benefits from examining the contribution of gender. In this article, we focus on the importance of gender for understanding different aspects of family functioning. Conditions associated with immigration and settlement in the receiving society may challenge expectations about gender‐related roles, resulting in the renegotiation of these roles in immigrant families. Also, there is evidence of different socialization demands on daughters compared to sons in immigrant families, a difference that has potential implications not only for parent‐child relationships, but also for the development of ethnocultural identity among adolescents and young adults.

Women and Economic Security in Retirement:Implications for Social Security Reform

Gender-related parenting roles lower incomes of women during the working-age years and in retirement years. National retirement income programs contribute to this gender-related difference in retirement income to the degree that they consider lifetime earnings in calculating benefits. This article examines two national pension systems: those of Australia and Sweden. The pension systems of these two countries often are considered as the extremes of pension generosity, and they are based upon different philosophies about the role of government in insuring against economic risk. Due to fiscal issues and the changing roles of women in the labor market, both have reformed their systems. How system reforms can balance the role of the government in insuring against income risk and the growing financial independence of women in the work force are discussed.

Gender related role patterns in preschool settings. Can ‘experiential education’ make a difference?

SUMMARY To be born as a girl bears in itself a higher chance to get less educated and have less attractive jobs. This research focuses on the role of early childhood education in that process, comparing two approaches: traditional and experiential education. Three questions are explored: is there a gender related pattern in choices of activities, do boys behave in other ways than girls and are they approached differently by teachers. For each of these dimensions an observation instrument has been developed. The data were collected in 16 pre-primary settings with 3 to 6 years olds. The results confirm the gender related patterns mentioned in the literature. In several respects however, settings implementing the Experiential Education model are more supportive to the ideal of emancipation: boys engage more in play with dolls and they express more their feelings of distress while girls get more opportunities to take initiative and receive more personal attention than in the traditional settings.

The market as an instituted realm of social action

The economy of modern societies is a market economy and will remain a market economy in the future. We have to live with the market and hence we have to construct a market we can live with. Such a market should be guided by rules of fairness and caring for people and for nature. This transformation of the market, however, will only be possible if we look at the economy as a part of society and at the market as a realm of social action. In such a concept, economic rationality includes communicative rationality; economic action includes action oriented to reaching understanding. These actions are coordinated not only by money but also by discourse. This paper presents the concept of the market as a realm of social action. It discusses topics such as communicative rationality, a manifold action model, the principle of discourse and the role of gender-relations. Some examples will also be given to make clear that the above mentioned transformation of the market is already in progress. Finally, elements of an economic policy are discussed which will help to institute and reinforce such new market principles.

The role of gender relations in HIV prevention research for women.

The role of gender relations in HIV prevention research for women.

Rules, Rule Behaviors, and Biological Maturation in Families with Seventh-Grade Boys and Girls

Mothers' and fathers' reports of rules and rule behaviors were examined in 200 intact families with seventh-grade boys and girls across three rule domains, both in terms of gender and parental differences and the manner in which rules varied across level of pubertal status. More rules were reported for family obligations and personal habits than for peer relations. Many parents reported that their children had some say in rule formation but relatively few parents had any recent occasion to remind or punish their children about the rules. Although no gender differences were found between boys and girls across the rule behaviors examined, parental differences suggest that mothers and fathers play different roles in rule making and in managing rule infractions and that these roles are in line with gender-related role expectations. Biological maturation was associated with rule frequency, but the findings differed for boys and girls.

Development and validation of the masculine behavior scale: A measure of behaviors stereotypically attributed to males vs. females

The purpose of the present investigation was to develop and validate the Masculine Behavior Scale (MBS), an objective self-report instrument designed to measure four behavioral tendencies stereotypically imputed more to males vs. females: restrictive emotionality, inhibited affection, success dedication, and exaggerated self-reliance. Psychometric analyses confirmed the factorial structure and reliabilities of the subscales on the MBS, and other results provided evidence for the validity of the four MBS subscales. Specifically, it was found that the behavioral measures of success dedication and exaggerated self-reliance were positively correlated with instrumental personality attributes, while restrictive emotionality and inhibited affection behavioral tendencies were negatively correlated with expressive personality attributes. Additional findings indicated that both male and female subjects attributed restrictive emotionality, inhibited affection, success dedication, and exaggerated self-reliance more to males vs. females. However, when males and females were asked to describe themselves, no gender differences emerged for behaviors associated with success dedication and exaggerated self-reliance; females did, however, report engaging in fewer emotionally restricted and affectively inhibited behaviors than did males. The discussion focuses on the distinction between gender-related behavioral tendencies and both gender-related role tendencies and gender-related personality tendencies.

Gender and Urban Activity Patterns in Uppsala, Sweden

G EOGRAPHERS, sociologists, planners, and other persons concerned with the quality of urban life have studied daily travel behavior and activity patterns of urban residents for more than a decade. The different ways in which persons use an urban environment have been studied as an indication of the level of the richness enjoyed, or deprivation endured, by members of various social groups.1 Contemporary urban space with activities allocated to different, discrete locations puts a premium on mobility. An approach toward understanding travel behavior is to identify a factor believed to be important in shaping observed spatial behavior and then to use this factor as the basis for comparison of group-travel patterns. Geographers have examined various aspects of group-travel behavior.2 Relatively little, however, has been done to assess the impact of social roles on travel behavior observed in an urban setting. The purpose of this article is to examine the ways in which gender-related roles affect daily travel-activity patterns of individuals. Here we compare the travel-activity patterns of men and women who are employed full-time. We focus on employed persons for a number of reasons. First, comparable employment status is necessary because work outside the home is a major constraint on the way in which individuals allocate time to various activities at different locations. Second, the number of women in the labor force has increased. The behavior patterns of employed women should be examined because the working woman is becoming more typical than the nonworking woman.3 Third, in the context of the current debate over whether or not traditional sex roles are eroded when women gain economic independence through employment, the influence of traditional sex roles on spatial behavior when both men and women share the same constraints from full-time employment outside the home needs to be analyzed.4

“Las mujeres despiertas”: el papel del género en el control de un terreno comunal en los Andes peruanos

El presente texto tiene como objetivo explorar el papel de las relaciones de género en el control y uso de un terreno comunal en una comunidad campesina de los Andes peruanos. El contexto general es el turismo y el más reciente proceso de privatización de tierras que, si bien empezó años atrás, se vio acelerado recientemente por el proyecto de construcción de un aeropuerto internacional en las cercanías de la comunidad. Veremos cómo el surgimiento de un atractivo turístico (El Mirador) y la consecuente formación de una asociación artesanal han afectado las relaciones de género locales y la participación política de las mujeres.