Issues Of Gender Inequality Research Articles

Close Call: Race and Gender in Encounters with the Police by Black and Latino/a Youth in New York City

Police stops and other forms of intense policing practices involve a disproportionate number of minority persons, particularly youth. While studies have shown that these encounters are not well received, there is a paucity of research on the specific exchanges and citizen responses that unfold in the context of these stops. We address these issues drawing on interviews with 43 black and Latino/a youth in New York City. More specifically, we collate narratives of police stops and other encounters to document how different forms of microaggressions by law enforcement unfold across incidents, and how race and gender shape exposure to specific markers of hostility and violence, as well as the interpretation of these events and associated responses. Analyses reveal that microaggressions tied to the ascription of criminality were more frequently mentioned in the context of police stops, while others signaling inferiority appeared anchored in a more diverse set of encounters. We note contrasting strategies across race and gender to make sense of these interactions and relate these considerations to broader issues of racial and gender inequality.

Femininity, Sexual Positions and Choice

While women present themselves and their sexuality through dress and their deportment, there are areas of their sexual lives that are not so public and are less easy to research, such as intimate sexual relations. In this study, the authors report findings from interviews with men and women about a topic not often reported on – choice of sexual positions. The focus on sexual positions raises questions about sexual agency – who chooses, what do they choose, and why? It also raises issues of gender power and inequality between consenting (heterosexual) adults. In this study from urban Ghana, the authors show that women exercise sexual agency in the ‘bedroom’ but do so in ways that reflect emotional and relational security and, in turn, reflect men’s power. However, the article’s argument is not just about the power of men to seek and obtain pleasure. Women seek and obtain pleasure too.

Dealing with the issues of gender inequality and aiming for the empowerment of adolescent girls

Dealing with the issues of gender inequality and aiming for the empowerment of adolescent girls

Engaging Fringe Stakeholders in Business and Society Research: Applying Visual Participatory Research Methods

Business and society (B&S) researchers, as well as practitioners, have been critiqued for ignoring those with less voice and power (e.g., women, non-literate, or indigenous peoples) often referred to as “fringe stakeholders.” Existing methods used in B&S research often fail to address issues of meaningful participation, voice and power, especially in developing countries. In this article, we stress the utility of visual participatory research (VPR) methods in B&S research to fill this gap. Through a case study on engaging Ghanaian cocoa farmers on gender inequality issues, we explore how VPR methods may be used by researchers to achieve more inclusive, and thus more credible, stakeholder research that can improve decision making within businesses. Furthermore, we argue that ingrained social and environmental problems tackled by B&S research and the unique context in which they occur may open up new opportunities to develop participatory visual methods for social change.

Child Labour and Schooling in South Sudan and Sudan: Is There a Gender Preference?

AbstractBased on the 2009 household surveys conducted in Sudan and South Sudan, the objective of this article is to analyse gender inequality for the young population aged 10 to 14 who should be at school. Although education is free in both countries, children's enrolment at school is low especially for girls, many of them stay home performing domestic chores or have an economic activity particularly in rural areas. The bivariate probit model highlights the key role of the household head's education, gender and poverty status in determining children's schooling. Drawing on Pal () who extended the Oaxaca‐Blinder decomposition, we confirm that children's activity in Sudan and South Sudan is strongly determined by the fact of being a girl or a boy. The article also provides some policy recommendations to address the issues of low school attendance and high gender inequality.

How to Save the World and Other Lessons from Children’s Environmental Literature

This article argues that most contemporary children’s environmental picture books and easy readers published in the United States focus overwhelmingly on individual environmentalist acts and lifestyle changes, overlook the connections between environmental degradation and systemic social problems such as class disparities, and ultimately over-simplify environmental crisis. They typically encourage children to adopt environmentalist behaviors such as recycling that can be performed by individuals or families in the home, school, and local community, but do little to encourage civic engagement that would call into attention the intertwined ideological, economic, and political factors preventing profound environmental change. The analysis then examines several books that notably do inform readers about the larger political and economic issues and place a strong emphasis on environmental justice, a type of environmentalism deeply concerned with issues of race, class, gender, and economic inequality. Such texts are more likely to encourage an environmentalism that combines lifestyle and consumer choices with political activism. We need more books like this, as children’s texts that resign environmental action almost completely to individual choices and behaviors and disassociate environmental crises from their larger constitutive contexts do little to prepare young people for the socio-environmental challenges we face now and in the future.

Políticas públicas e desigualdade de gênero na sociedade brasileira: Considerações sobre os campos do trabalho, da política e da ciência

O presente texto enfoca a problemática da desigualdade de gênero e políticas públicas na sociedade brasileira, tendo como principais objetivos os que se seguem: Analisar a desigualdade de gênero na sociedade brasileira, traçando um esboço do que ocorre em três áreas centrais para essa discussão, quais sejam: campo do trabalho, campo da representação política e campo científico; 2) Examinar conquistas e desafios no que tange ao enfrentamento dessa desigualdade através de políticas públicas de gênero. Para tanto, recorre-se a dados secundários das seguintes fontes: IBGE, TSE e CNPq. Por fim, observam-se conquistas importantes, contudo não a ponto de reverter significativamente o quadro de desigualdade profunda, sobretudo no campo da representação política.

Pink accounting in Italy: cultural perspectives over discrimination and/or lack of interest

PurposeThe issue of gender inequality in the Italian universities and academic context does not seem to be particularly debated and is really rare. Starting from this “lack of interest”, the paper aims to inquire into the “state-of-the-art” of existing inequality in the scientific and academic path of Italian female scholars and academia, answering the following research question: Is discrimination between women and men linked to the number of scientific contributions in periodicals and their presence within academic boards of scientific accounting associations and journals in Italy?Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is primarily developed through a deductive analysis of the literature strands concerning gender accounting, accounting in academia and the role of women in universities and academia. Second, within the inductive perspective, the authors have chosen to inquire into the scientific publications of women on the oldest Italian journal in the accounting field – the Rivista Italiana di Ragioneria e di Economia Aziendale (RIREA). Subsequently, the position and career of women were analysed in academia investigating their presence and role within the boards of a sample of Italian journals and the main Italian accounting scientific associationsFindingsAccordingly, this paper concentrates on gender inequalities in university and academia in Italy and on eventual obstacles that get in the way of the existence of scientific contributions in journals and of career progress of those women who carry on scholarly work in accounting.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis confirms the need to open more space for women at the summits of political, economic and cultural institutions, including accounting academia and scientific journals. The paper has some limitations concerning the consideration of only Italian journals and academic associations. Then, we will develop the analysis in comparative terms, as attention will be addressed on the participation in scientific committees and boards of some of the major international scientific associations of accounting. Moreover, we will consider the narrative approach describing the stories of Italian women and accounting scholars to carefully investigate the reasons for this persistent discrimination.Originality/valueThe innovative contribution of the paper is due to the fact that the authors are unaware of previous studies aimed at investigating if female accounting scholars are under-represented compared to their male colleagues within the top positions of the most prestigious Italian accounting associations and scientific journals. Previous research also did not investigate the existence of correlation between Italian women’s scientific productivity, their under-representation within academia and scientific career.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY LEADERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON CHILD HEALTH AND MORTALITY AND INEQUITY ISSUES IN RURAL EASTERN INDONESIA

Since 2001 a decentralization policy has increased the responsibility placed on local government for improving child health in Indonesia. This paper explores local government and community leaders' perspectives on child health in a rural district in Indonesia, using a qualitative approach. Focus group discussions were held in May 2013. The issues probed relate to health personnel skills and motivation, service availability, the influence of traditional beliefs, and health care and gender inequity. The participants identify weak leadership, inefficient health management and inadequate child health budgets as important issues. The lack of health staff in rural areas is seen as the reason for promoting the use of traditional birth attendants. Midwifery graduates and village midwives are perceived as lacking motivation to work in rural areas. Some local traditions are seen as detrimental to child health. Husbands provide little support to their wives. These results highlight the need for a harmonization and alignment of the efforts of local government agencies and local community leaders to address child health care and gender inequity issues.

Julia Gillard and the Gender Wars

The Australian news media used the metaphor of the gender war(s) to describe Julia Gillard's political strategies and speech acts in the final nine months of her term as that nation's first woman prime minister. In particular, the metaphor was mobilized in response to Gillard's October 9, 2012, parliamentary speech on sexism and misogyny. Based on a critical discourse analysis of the gender wars allegory as it was applied to Gillard by three Australian newspapers, my article analyzes the meanings revealed by metaphoric constructions of the former prime minister's speeches as unusual and unjust forms of political warfare. I argue that the trope of the gender wars cast Gillard's political tactics as a violation of deeply held cultural norms about appropriate behavior on the so-called political battlefield, and it worked both to discipline Gillard for raising issues of sexism and gender inequality in politics and to bracket gendered power relations out of everyday understandings of political competition.

Education for sustainability through academic freedom

Most challenging developments in Nigeria in recent times are the issues of poverty, human right, gender inequality, cultural diversity and education for all. These issues have eaten deep into the society that policy makers and stake-holders in education are worried and are in search for possible solutions. Past researches are of the opinion that education for sustainable development and academic freedom could assist in solving these ethical menaces. Education for sustainable development allows every human being to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future to make judgments and choices in favor of sustainable lifestyle. In the same vein, academic freedom leads to the expansion and discovery of new ideas of knowledge, transmits and preserves culture developed in the learner’s independent judgment of an environment free from external control and domination. Educational opportunities that Nigerian children would have enjoyed through Education For All to achieve sustainability and self reliance is lacking due to factors enumerated above. In this contribution, we reviewed issues that pertain to how Education For All can be sustained and their goals achieved so that every child in Nigeria could be given equal rights to read and write irrespective of his or her tribe, age, background and gender. KEYWORDS Sustainability, Academic Freedom, Education, Gender, Opportunity.

FRAMING THE ORGANISATION OF INTIMACY AS A POLICY PROBLEM ACROSS EUROPE

This article analyzes how the issue of gender inequality has been framed in connection to families and family policy, especially in the European Union, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece. The period studied is 1995-2004. The analysis shows that the focus is primarily on the division of paid labour as the diagnosis of the policy problem that should be addressed by family policies. Accents on presenting the division of unpaid labour or care as a problem are scarce, and seem to be found mainly in the 1990s (in the Netherlands, Austria and at the EU level). Moreover, the absence of attention for gender inequality within families is a problem in itself. The analysis also shows attempts to legitimise gender equality by linking measures originating in gender equality policies, such as child care services, part time work and parental leave with other goals such as flexible labour, more employment, more children or better functioning families. In these linkages, it is striking that in all of the analysed countries, and even at the EU level, a traditionalisation of thinking about families and the role of women in families can be detected. With the exception of Greece, this seems to be a retraditionalisation. These (re)traditionalised frames redirect measures such as reconciliation towards goals that could very well be contradictory to gender equality.

Gender Inequality Issues in India

The Problem India struggles with gender inequality issues beyond just equal economic growth and access to educational resource opportunities. Gender inequality exists in the form of socially constructed, predefined gender roles firmly anchored in India’s sociocultural fabric that has deep cultural and historical roots. Sociocultural influences have spillover effects across all domains, including the organizational workforce, and social and political contexts. This unquestionable influence is still accepted as the norm within the societal and familial periphery. The Solution The purpose of this article is to provide an analysis of the causes of gender inequality in India. A secondary purpose is to outline the possible policies and practices, within a human resource development (HRD) framework, that could be implemented as productive steps toward reducing gender inequality in the Indian workplace. The Stakeholders This article will be of interest to individuals who conduct research, teach, and practice HRD. It will assist researchers in their understanding of how social, cultural, and historical contexts must be considered when studying gender inequality in India. Information gained from this article will help curriculum developers understand the importance of social and cultural influences in developing HRD courses for use not only in higher education institutions but also in workplace settings.

The Issue of Gender Inequality in Nigeria

The Issue of Gender Inequality in Nigeria

2000 to 2015: How Far Have We Progressed in Achieving the Health Related Millennium Development Goals?

DEAR EDITOR, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the eight goals formulated by the United Nations (UN) in 2000, to be achieved by 2015 by the UN member states.[1] The member states have committed to effectively tackle the issues of poverty, hunger, illiteracy, gender inequality, mother and child mortality, infectious diseases, environmental degradation, and to encourage partnership between different stakeholders.[1] The MDGs has given policy makers and stakeholders a target to work together and achieve the same within the stipulated time.[1,2] In fact, a set of targets has been proposed to monitor the progress toward all the eight goals by the end of 2015.[1] As 2015 was the last year for countries to accomplish the global targets, the World Health Organization (WHO) has done the analysis of various MDGs, including health-related MDGs.[2] Even though most of the developed nations have revealed a significant progress, the scenario has been quite worrisome for the developing nations [Table 1].[3,4,5,6,7] After a careful analysis, it has been shown that the results have been mixed with some of the targets being achieved (viz., halting and reversing the trends of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, and increasing accessibility to safe water) and some requiring additional inputs to continuously move in the right direction. In an attempt to move continuously forward, the WHO and UN have together chalked down newer goals under the overview of sustainable development goals, set to be achieved by the year 2030.[2,8] Table 1 Status of MDGs To conclude, the MDGs has enabled the world to successfully progress on the health front, but at the same time it has even highlighted the various gaps present within the health care delivery system. Thus, it is high time that stakeholders should put in sustainable efforts to improve the quality of life of vulnerable sections of society.

An Avenue for Challenging Sexism: Examining the High School Sociology Classroom

In this interpretative qualitative study, the researchers investigated the beliefs and practices of six high school sociology teachers in relation to the teaching of gender. Using a feminist lens, this study employed mixed methods, analyzing teacher interviews, observations, and classroom artifacts. The results showed that the teachers viewed sociology as different from other social studies courses, because it serves as a more intentional way to reduce sexism and gender stratification. As such, the teachers saw the sociology classroom as a place for students to grapple with issues of gender stratification and inequity. Teachers’ beliefs related to gender and sexism strongly influenced what they saw as the purpose of sociology class, and it influenced the instructional practices that they used. Recommendations are made related to professional development around issues of gender equity.

Representation of Women's Inequality in the Book Entitled “Cerita Pendek Tentang Cerita Cinta Pendek” by Djenar Maesa Ayu

The injustice issues which happen to women in Indonesia is a common problem. It includes rape, sexual harassment, and gender inequality. Ayu brings out the issues of feminism and the injustice of women's rights in her books. The result shows that there are a lot of the representations of injustice women's right because the patriarchy system dominated the relationship between men and women, it can be said that the feminist movement or resistance is relatively passive and fails in the stories. There is a gap between superior and inferior, it also pointed out most men might stand still holding the honor instead of women in gender inequality issues.

The Political Marginalisation of Women in Post Conflict Societies

In recent decades issues of gender inequality and the disempowerment of women in post conflict societies have been increasingly recognised as part of a central concern about the devastating impact of war and conflict on women socially, politically and economically. This paper sets out to examine the nature of gendered power relations in two post conflict societies: Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The study considers the experiences of women in political structures, in public agencies and NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) in countries emerging from conflict, and explores the barriers to women’s political engagement. A key function of the research is to investigate the extent to which post conflict political structures, which are often promoted as models of success, continue to sustain gender inequalities and women’s marginalisation in political and public life. Drawing on the international policy instruments such as UNSCR (United Nations Security Council Resolution) 1325 as well as national peace agreements such as Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement (1998) and the Dayton Agreement in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1995), this paper asserts that the political participation of women is a prerequisite to the successful transition from a conflict to a post conflict society. It argues that the endorsement and implementation of peace agreements such as the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland as a successful model of good practice is a false premise given the low levels of participation of women in political structures and women’s marginalisation in building sustainable peace.

The politics of knowledge: the responses to feminist research from academic leaders

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge on the slow gender change in academia by examining university leaders’ defensive patterns of responses to feminist knowledge. Identifying the most common responses will enable scholars and practitioners engaged in equality work in academia to anticipate them and implement specialized interventions to target these arguments. Design/methodology/approach – The author developed a reflexive, composite methodology, combining participatory action research, documentary analysis and auto-ethnography. It is an explorative study, based on author’s own interpretations and experiences while talking about gender inequality issues in the academic setting. Data are drawn from discussions stemming from public lectures and encounters in the academic setting where academic leaders were present between 2009 and 2015. Findings – Three patterns of responses are identified: two defensive patterns and one which provides opportunities for change. The two defensive responses resisted the feminist knowledge on the basis of methodology/epistemology or the study’s findings. The pattern of commitment shows promising opportunities for change. Research limitations/implications – For future research, it could be interesting to further explore the role of leaders in gender equality work. The author examines leaders who are gender aware and analyze how they champion gender equality in their organizations and what actions they take to increase equality. The actual leadership work that has to be done to create gender equal or inclusive work places is an under researched premise. Originality/value – Hitherto, little is known about the way the feminist knowledge is received within in the academic community. This paper zooms in on this knowledge transfer and investigates a moment where feminist knowledge and academic leaders meet and learning opportunities occur. In addition, this paper shares the hard task we have as feminist scholars, and the feelings this brings to ones one identity as a scholar.

Interrogating gender inequality to address gender violence: Using literary texts as catalysts in an English Education lecture-room

abstract In this briefing I argue for the necessity to confront sexist values articulated by student teachers. I contend that acceptance of gender inequalities enables gender violence, and student teachers are well placed to serve as advocates for gender equality and activists against gender violence in schools. I present findings from a two-year participatory action research (PAR) study that used literary texts as catalysts to interrogate issues of gender inequality and violence. The study was underpinned by critical pedagogy and asserted an empowerment and transformation agenda. Using qualitatively analysed data from observations, interviews, focus-groups and written tasks, I found that when the student teachers, the majority of whom were female, discussed representations of gender inequality in the literary texts, they articulated an acceptance of patriarchy. While they understood that patriarchy and gender violence needed to be denounced, they perpetuated those values. The study thus had to engage them to confront such values. However, as the cycles of the study proceeded, they were able to interrogate issues of gender from an informed position and thus engender their journeys towards empowerment and transformation.