Gender Implications Research Articles

Regional and network neural activity reflect men\u2019s preference for greater socioeconomic status during impression formation

Evidence from social psychology suggests that men compared to women more readily display and pursue control over human resources or capital. However, studying how status and gender shape deliberate impression formation is difficult due to social desirability concerns. Using univariate and multivariate fMRI analyses (n = 65), we examined how gender and socioeconomic status (SES) may influence brain responses during deliberate but private impression formation. Men more than women showed greater activity in the VMPFC and NAcc when forming impressions of high-SES (vs. low-SES) targets. Seed partial least squares (PLS) analysis showed that this SES-based increase in VMPFC activity was associated with greater co-activation across an evaluative network for the high-SES versus low-SES univariate comparison. A data-driven task PLS analysis also showed greater co-activation in an extended network consisting of regions involved in salience detection, attention, and task engagement as a function of increasing target SES. This co-activating network was most pronounced for men. These findings provide evidence that high-SES targets elicit neural responses indicative of positivity, reward, and salience during impression formation among men. Contributions to a network neuroscience understanding of status perception and implications for gender- and status-based impression formation are discussed.

Gendered Nationalism in Practice: An Intersectional Analysis of Migrant Integration Policy in South Korea

In this article, I investigate how gendered nationalism is articulated through everyday practices in relation to immigrant integration policy and the intersectional production of inequality in South Korea. By using ethnographic data collected at community centers created to implement national “multicultural” policy, I examine the individual perspectives and experiences of Korean staff and targeted recipients (marriage migrants). To defend their own “native” privileges, the Korean staff stressed the gendered caretaking roles of marriage migrants and their contribution to the nation as justification for state support. The migrants, while critical of the familial responsibilities imposed on them in Korea, underscored their gendered value to the nation (as mothers to “Korean” children) to offset their subjugated position. The diverging perspectives of the two groups are informed by “everyday” nationalism, generated through constantly gendered terms and effects. Bringing together the literature on nationalism and migration through a focus on reproductive labor, I expose how national boundaries are drawn through quotidian practices of gendered nationalism, with significant implications for gender and ethnic hierarchies.

Implementing the Law of khulʿ in Egypt

Abstract This article aims to contribute to the growing scholarly literature on the implementation of shariʿa-based family law codes by describing and analyzing the gender implications of religiously inspired judicial activism in relation to judicial divorce through khulʿ. The article highlights two functions played by family court judges and other legal professionals. First, I argue that Egyptian family court judges and other court personnel, such as court experts and court-appointed arbiters from al-Azhar, enjoy considerable discretion in interpreting and implementing the personal status codes. Second, the article argues that legal professionals sometimes use the court and other legal spaces as a platform to articulate alternative visions of family and marriage, as well as to voice anxieties over a perceived increase in female-initiated divorce. The article situates these contradictory practices against the background of the contestation of early twenty-first-century reforms, which challenged male authority in the family, in particular the 2000 law of judicial khulʿ.

Gender equity, labor rights, and women’s empowerment: lessons from Fairtrade certification in Ecuador flower plantations

Certification programs seek to promote decent work in global agriculture, yet little is known about their gender standards and implications for female workers, who are often the most disadvantaged. This study outlines the gender standard domains of major agricultural certifications, showing how some programs (Fair Trade USA, Rainforest) prioritize addressing gender equality in employment and others (Fairtrade International, UTZ) incorporate wider gender rights. To illuminate the implications of gender standards in practice, I analyze Fairtrade certification and worker experience on certified flower plantations in Ecuador, drawing on a qualitative and quantitative field research study. (1) I show how Fairtrade seeks to bolster the wellbeing of female workers, addressing their workplace needs via equal employment, treatment, and remuneration standards and their reproductive needs via maternity leave and childcare services. My research demonstrates that for female workers, addressing family responsibilities is critical, since they shape women’s ability to take paid jobs, their employment needs, and their overall wellbeing. (2) I show how Fairtrade seeks to bolster the rights of women workers through individual and collective capacity building standards. My findings reveal how promoting women’s individual empowerment serves as a precondition for collective empowerment, and how targeting traditional labor rights is insufficient for empowering female workers, since their strategic choices are curtailed largely outside the workplace. While Fairtrade certification bolsters the wellbeing and rights of female workers in and beyond the workplace, much still needs to be done before women can claim their rights as workers and citizens.

Charter-ing a Different Course: A Critical Policy Framework to Support Black Women in Marketized Cities and Schools

ABSTRACT This article features interview excerpts from 10 Black women who worked as educators in marketized cities and schools, including urban charter schools operated by charter management organizations, and independent schools, known as standalone charter schools. Using a critical race policy framework, the article considers the pedagogical implications of race, gender, and power embedded in market policies and which shaped the women’s experiences in their schools. Key dilemmas for the women included: limited resources in district schools, lack of autonomy in privately managed charter schools, and difficulties enacting critical and culturally inclusive pedagogy in market settings premised on individual competition and test score production. As several of the women left their charter schools, or the profession altogether, their experiences map onto larger concerns with Black teacher turnover and decline in urban districts embracing marketization of public schools. The article ends with three broad strategies to support Black women in market settings.

New frontiers in alcohol and gender: The role of health promotion policy and practice in Australia.

Scholarship indicates that gender norms influence drinking behaviours, yet the consequences of this for health professionals and health promotion remains neglected. To address this gap, we discuss the implications of gender and alcohol consumption for Australian health promotion and practice. We convey how a more integrated public health approach, aimed at promoting healthy gender expectations and enhancing gender relations, is warranted. We also discuss how changing gender norms pose new challenges for health professionals. By confronting these contentious issues, this commentary helps the health sector consider innovative measures to combat alcohol-related harms.

Perceptions and experiences of world karate referees: Implications for gender (in)equity

Perceptions and experiences of world karate referees: Implications for gender (in)equity

Compassion in the Garden: Radical Homemakers or Just More Women’s Work?

Abstract Compassion is key to Australian women’s garden stories and return-to-the-home environmentalism. These stories highlight the gendered power implications of women’s work. Questions about who is suffering and who is caring are paramount. Women’s garden narratives are hopeful: they capture the interconnection between the local and global and the ethics of care promoted by ecofeminists. Yet when women gardeners embrace a care ethic which sees their own domestic workload skyrocket in order to alleviate environmental suffering, their compassion stories risk becoming what Lauren Berlant terms ‘collective norms of obligation’. Through aural storytelling in Pip permaculture magazine podcasts, women gardeners consider how the responsibility of ordinary, caring garden work fits within their already numerous, significant, and everyday caring responsibilities. Their collaboration reveals innovative solutions to this conundrum. Their compassionate garden work becomes a domestic practice of time, effort, and joy.

Women at the Frontline of COVID-19: Can Gender Mainstreaming in Free Trade Agreements Help?

Health pandemics affect women and men differently, and they can make the existing gender inequalities much worse. COVID-19 is one such pandemic, which can have substantial gendered implications both during and in the post-pandemic world. Its economic and social consequences could deepen the existing gender inequalities and roll back the limited gains made in respect of women empowerment in the past few decades. The impending global recession, multiple trade restrictions, economic lockdown, and social distancing measures can expose vulnerabilities in social, political, and economic systems, which, in turn, could have a profound impact on women’s participation in trade and commerce. The article outlines five main reasons that explain why this health pandemic has put women employees, entrepreneurs, and consumers at the frontline of the struggle. It then explores how free trade agreements can contribute in repairing the harm in the post-pandemic world. In doing so, the author sheds light on various ways in which the existing trade agreements embrace gender equality considerations and how they can be better prepared to help minimize the pandemic-inflicted economic loss to women.

Amidst backward-walking somnambulists

This Currents section provides accounts of Britain’s exit (Brexit) or departure from the European Union (EU)—a decision based on a closely won referendum in June 2016, and declared in January 2020 by the Conservative political party. With few exceptions, the views and experiences of those excluded from dominant narratives of “the people” have not been substantially considered in mainstream nor indeed anthropological debates. Contributors to the section offer (auto)ethnographic perspectives on the legacies and implications of empire, nationalism, racism, cultural diversity, gender, and generational divides made explicit in Brexit phenomena. They range from the trolling of women of color, the repercussions of race and racism in academia, culturally diverse perspectives on resilience, the experiences of those from the European mainland who work in England, and views on the English from a former colony and now EU country, the Republic of Ireland.

Sex and Gender as Non-binary: What Does this Mean for Physics Teachers?

Gender bias and inequity are pervasive in physics, but teachers can help. A recent Resource Letter digs into the history, current status, and classroom implications of gender and physics. However, one finding from that work was the tendency for “gender in physics” research to treat sex and gender as the same thing and to neglect the perspective of LGBTQIA+ scientists. In this special issue of The Physics Teacher we want to further discuss the non-binary nature of sex and gender, and why physics teachers should care. Our main goal is to collect information and resources for teachers who wish to know more about these issues. For readers who are members or close allies of the LGBTQIA+ community, much of the introductory material will not be news, but we hope the resource list at the end will be useful.

Drivers of Subjective Well-being in Spain: Are There Gender Differences?

This paper explores the main drivers of subjective well-being(SWB) in Spain. Following current descriptions of SWB, the influence of a set of sociodemographic, material conditions and quality of life variables is empirically tested. The data come from a survey covering around 13,000 households and 35,000 individuals. The results show a very strong influence of material conditions on perceived SWB. Namely, the variable “income and wealth” is found to be the single major driver of satisfaction with life in the sample. Social connections, housing, and health status also emerge as very relevant drivers. Regarding the gender implications of SWB, our results show a paradoxical reality. On average, women score significantly lower than men in material conditions and quality of life variables, but they obtain significantly higher levels of SWB. Knowing the relevance of the different drivers of SWB may be helpful for the construction of composite indicators. We find that a SWB construct that includes only the most relevant drivers identified is a better predictor of actual SWB than the one that includes all the information available.

Sustainable and conventional intensification: how gendered livelihoods influence farming practice adoption in the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta

The Vietnamese Mekong River Delta emerged as a rice production giant in the 1990s. Currently, the Vietnamese government is attempting to reduce environmental impacts resulting from the triple annual rice crop regime. This article explores how gender influences farming practice adoption using household livelihood survey data from Tien Giang Province. Each farm is disaggregated into male-managed, female-managed, and jointly managed plots. The study uses correlation to explore how sustainable intensification (SI) and conventional intensification (CI) practices are applied in complementary packages, and then a binary logistic regression to determine if livelihood approaches within households influence adoption of farming practices. The study finds that CI practices are more than twice as popular as SI practices, and that CI and SI practices are adopted in pairs that complement each other. The research also shows that gendered plot management is directly associated with SI and CI practice adoption, including decreased fertilizer use (p < .0005) and increased pesticide use (p = .047) on male-managed plots; and decreased likelihood of using organic fertilizers or compost (p = .013) or adopting integrated pest management (p = .004) on female-managed plots. Across all SI and CI practices, there is a significant indirect gendered impact due to unequal access between the sexes to natural and human capitals that are associated with increased SI adoption, such as education and extension trainings. This research contributes empirical evidence toward understanding the tension between CI and SI practice adoption and uniquely explores the gendered implications of the recent SI push in Vietnamese agriculture.

‘Women take care and men take charge’: The case of leadership and gender in the Public and Commercial Services Union

This article presents the findings of a case study that aimed to understand the specific leadership styles that are valued by women and men lay representatives in the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and to determine the gendered implications for increasing women’s leadership and representation in trade unions. Survey responses from PCS lay representatives (reps) show the majority of women and men agreed that the leadership style they value, and that makes a good union leader, is post-heroic (communal) leadership. This approach is associated with leadership characteristics such as being helpful, sensitive and kind and are generally practised by women. This contrasts with male union leaders who are associated with a traditional, heroic (agentic) leadership style characterised by confidence, self-reliance and decisiveness. Although some differences exist that highlight gender issues, both women and men lay reps have positive attitudes towards increasing women’s representation and participation in union leadership.

A longitudinal study of the impact of school delinquency on self-worth development among Black American adolescents.

Previous research found adolescents with low self-worth often utilize delinquency as a method of "self-enhancing" as proposed by Kaplan, which suggests the effects of delinquency can be both enhancing and damaging to adolescents' later reports of self-worth. We tested Kaplan's self-enhancing thesis to determine the extent to which different levels of self-worth in early adolescents foretell long-term levels of self-worth associated with delinquency among adolescents placed at-risk. Data from a sample of 982 primarily Black American (95%) adolescents living in high-poverty neighborhoods were analyzed using global and behavioral self-worth measures collected annually between the ages of 12-17, with school delinquency as the self-enhancing mechanism. Gender (45% female, 55% male) and baseline self-worth measures were included in the model. We found empirical support for the positive effects of school delinquency consistent with self-enhancing theories, although with younger female participants only. Specifically, engaging in delinquent behaviors at age 12 had a positive effect on a females' behavioral self-worth. There were, however, differential effects for males. Although delinquency increased self-worth among females in the short-term, long-term effects were negative, as greater school delinquency resulted in lower self-worth at age 17. Additional gender results and implications for findings are discussed.

The Bill Clinton Rationale for Welfare Reform: Examining Implications of Race, Class, and Gender Using Documents

This article explores implications of such social divisions as race, class, as well as gender in politics in the United States during the 1990s and sheds new light on Bill Clinton’s rationale for welfare reform. The present study is an attempt to figure out to what extent racism, classism, and sexism influenced Bill Clinton’s decision to sign Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996. In our analysis, we draw upon primary sources, written documents, or records such as President Bill Clinton’s autobiographical memoir My Life, his book with Al Gore Putting People First, and other texts from his political speeches. Our paper endeavors to fill gaps in the existing literature on welfare reform concerning implications of race, gender, and class issues in welfare reform legislation in 1996.

Implications for gender and education research arising out of changing ideas about gender

ABSTRACT Ideas about gender are changing. The UK and other countries are moving towards altering laws about gender recognition. Intersex people can be recognised as such in some countries. In the global North, nonbinary identities are becoming more common, and this is reflected in changes to recording systems. Referrals to child gender identity clinics are rising, and increasingly we have children in our schools who are socially transitioning, delaying puberty with hormone blockers, or starting hormonal gender transition. In this paper I consider how gender and education researchers should respond to these changes. I focus in particular on: the relationship between bodies and identity; artificially delayed puberty and how this affects ideas about childhood innocence; and the greater prevalence of nonbinary identifications. I argue that gender and education researchers will need to make significant changes to our underpinning theoretical frameworks and research practices in order to take these changes into account.

Sustainable agricultural intensification and gender-biased land tenure systems: an exploration and conceptualization of interactions

ABSTRACT How does sustainable agricultural intensification’s (SAI) tenet of increased productivity on the same area of land relate to prevailing gender-biased land tenure systems? How can one conceptualize the interactions between intensified land use and control over land, labour, crops and benefits – and how can equitable outcomes be facilitated? These questions (which have not yet received sufficient attention in SAI research) are explored in this study using a qualitative methodology and a gender-transformative approach. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with a total of 248 respondents were conducted in matrilineal and patrilineal intensification contexts in Ghana and Malawi. We develop a conceptual framework that extends Kabeer’s institutional analysis to include gender implications of SAI. Selected cases reveal how farmers and key actors link land use intensification to existing land-related institutions with diverse outcomes. We conclude that SAI interventions should adopt gender-transformative approaches. These facilitate equitable outcomes by supporting consensus-based institutional changes and creating positive synergies between multiple scales.

Covid-19 and feminism in the Global South: Challenges, initiatives and dilemmas

The article addresses the gendered implications of Covid-19 in the Global South by paying attention to the intersectional pre-existing inequalities that have given rise to specific risks and vulnerabilities. It explores various aspects of the pandemic-induced ‘crisis of social reproduction’ that affects women as the main caregivers as well as addressing the drastic increase of various forms of gender-based violence. Both, in addition to growing poverty and severely limited access to resources and health services, are particularly devastating in marginalized and vulnerable communities in the Global South. The article looks at specific regions and countries to illustrate wider challenges faced by LGBTQ populations, ethnic minorities, domestic workers, migrants and sex workers. Against the background of these gendered intersectional challenges, the article then moves to discuss feminist initiatives and mobilizations to deal with the crisis in specific local contexts as well as nationally, regionally and transnationally. It concludes by highlighting a number of visions, tensions and dilemmas faced by feminists in the Global South that will need to be taken into consideration in terms of transnational feminist solidarities.

Neoliberalism and the punitive turn in Southeast Asia and beyond: implications for gender, sexuality, and graduated pluralism

AbstractAnthropologists and other scholars have explored the elective affinities between neoliberal globalization and punitive turns in both legal and more expansive cultural‐political domains, particularly in Western settings such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. This article expands the discussion by engaging these affinities in late modern Southeast Asia, especially the Muslim‐majority nations of Malaysia and Indonesia. One goal of the article is to describe and analyse the constriction of pluralism with respect to gender and sexuality, a key feature of the surge in punitiveness in many societies in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Others include elucidating similarities and differences between trends in Southeast Asia and the new punitiveness we have seen in the United States in recent decades, and highlighting some of the comparative and theoretical implications of my arguments.