Large Gender Gap Research Articles

Empowering Women through E-Learning: The Role of Waqf in Supporting Digital Education for Girls and Women in Northern Nigeria

This study aims to investigate how women in Northern Nigeria might benefit from digital education through waqf, an Islamic endowment. To increase girls and women's access to education, the study focuses on determining how waqf institutions may aid in creating e-learning infrastructure, materials, and training initiatives. The study aims to eliminate social and economic hurdles that restrict women's access to education in the area, advance gender equality, and provide women with the skills necessary for socioeconomic development by utilizing waqf monies. The ultimate objective is to demonstrate how integrating digital education programs with Islamic charitable frameworks can establish long-term avenues for women's empowerment and promote wider community development in Northern Nigeria. Women's education greatly aids Social and economic progress, especially in areas with large gender gaps. Women's access to formal education has been hampered in Northern Nigeria by long-standing obstacles such as early marriage, poverty, and cultural conventions. However, the emergence of e-learning offers a special chance to close this gap by giving women and girls remote access to educational materials. This study uses a mixed-methods approach, this study investigates how Waqf supports e-learning for women in Northern Nigeria by integrating qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The results indicate that women's educational chances can be greatly improved by combining Waqf with online learning programs, enabling them to better their socioeconomic circumstances and make a positive impact on their communities. The study's conclusion emphasizes the necessity of deliberate actions to optimize Waqf's effectiveness in resolving gender-based educational disparities in Northern Nigeria.

Gender inequality in time allocation across life stages: a comparative study in a Latin American country

ABSTRACT The study analyzes gender differences in time use in the Latin American context, from a comparative perspective (2010–2019) and across life stages. Particularly, the study presents evidence on the likelihood of women and men spending time on three types of activities: Household work, paid work activities, and personal activities. Logistic regression was applied using data from time use surveys conducted in Peru in 2010 and 2019. The results suggests that women were much more likely to spend additional time on household work, while men were more likely to spend additional time on paid work and personal activities. However, these differences became less pronounced in 2019. In terms of age groups, a U-shaped and an inverted U-shaped pattern were found for paid work activities and household chores respectively. In both cases, the largest gender gap was found in the 30–39 age group, possibly related to motherhood. The originality of the research lies in providing a comprehensive analysis of gender inequality in time use in a developing country that has one of the highest rates of female labor force participation in the region, and is also characterized by a patriarchal structure in which machismo and marianismo influence time distribution.

Gender Disparities in Academic Publishing in Argentina. A Review of Political Science Journals (2011–2021)

Given the scarcity of women in hierarchical positions in academic institutions, it is worth asking whether a gender gap in publications precedes this issue. We examine the gender gap in publications in eight of the most important Political Science journals in Argentina. We reviewed 974 peer-reviewed articles from 144 volumes published between 2011 and 2021, focusing on three dimensions: gender gaps in authorship, co-authorship patterns, and subfield affinities. Our findings suggest that while there is a gender gap in authorship in Political Science journals, it is not as significant as the gap documented in similar studies conducted in other countries. Furthermore, we found no evidence that the gender gap is due to co-authorship patterns. Finally, in terms of subfield affinities, our results suggest that male and female political scientists in Argentina have different affinities for topics within the field, and that journals that emphasise topics favoured by men have a larger gender gap.

Gender Gaps in Housework Activities in Europe before and after COVID-19

Abstract We use data from the European working condition survey to describe the frequency of housework activities by men and women before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries. We find that, although women continue to spend more time than men in housework activities, men increase housework activities after the pandemic and the gender gaps narrow. The result is driven by countries initially characterized by larger gender gaps in housework activities.

Gender, Race and Sectoral Inequality in Megacities: Case Study of Banking and Financial Services Industry

This article explores the issue of inequality by using the example of the banking and financial services industry workers’ wages in 2022 in the most famous American metropolitan areas, focusing on 3 of its dimensions: gender inequality, racial inequality, and pay gaps in this sector compared to others. The study is based on data from the American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the Census Bureau. Population-level figures are derived using the replicate weights calculated in the article using STATA 16.1 software (the information in the ACS is contained in raw microdata form, the ACS is a probability sample, so the sampling weights derived by factoring in the non-response bias are essential to arrive at the population-level estimates). The financial services sector plays a significant role in the economies of these metropolitan areas, employing an average of 7.77% of adult workers (the highest in Phoenix (10.41%) and Dallas (9.77%)). The study showed that in these megacities, financial services workers earned 64.77% more in 2022 than workers in other sectors of the local economy, with the highest gap in New York (111.24%) and Boston (80.81%). Women in the financial sector of these cities earn, on average, 65.59% less than men, with the largest gender gap in Chicago (71.84%) and Dallas (71.26%). The earnings gap for black and non-white workers compared to their white counterparts in the cities studied averaged 36.16%, with the largest sectoral gaps in Houston (60.14%) and Riverside (55.06%). The findings can inform the development of policies that promote equitable pay practices, enforce stronger anti-discrimination laws, and support diversity and inclusion initiatives within the industry.

The Gender Application Gap: Do Men and Women Apply for the Same Jobs?

Men and women tend to hold different jobs. Are these differences present already in the types of jobs men and women apply for? Using administrative data on job applications made by the universe of Danish unemployment insurance recipients, we provide evidence on gender differences in applied-for jobs for the broader labor market. Across a range of job characteristics, we find large gender gaps in the share of applications going to different job types even among observationally similar men and women. In a standard decomposition, gender differences in applications can explain more than 70 percent of the residual gender wage gap. (JEL J16, J31, J64, J65, J71)

Comparative analysis of gender disparity in academic positions based on U.S. region and STEM discipline.

Despite a move toward gender parity in the United States (U.S.) workforce, a large gender gap persists in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); this is particularly true for academic (i.e., instructor and tenure track) STEM positions. This gap increases as women advance through the traditional steps of academia, with the highest degree of gender disparity in tenured positions. As policies, politics, and culture, which all contribute to gender equity across the world, vary across regions in the United States, we expect that the gender gap in STEM might also vary across geographic regions. Here, we evaluated over 20,000 instructor and tenure track positions in university STEM departments across the U.S. to evaluate whether and how the geographic region of a university might determine its proportion of women in STEM academic positions. Similar to previous research, regardless of geographic region, more men were employed in both tenure track and instructor positions across STEM fields. However, variation existed regionally within the U.S., with the Mountain region employing the lowest proportion of women in tenure track positions and the East North Central and Pacific regions employing the greatest proportion. We expect this regional variation could be caused by differences in state and local policies, regional representation, and mentorship, resulting in inconsistent support for women, leading to differences in work environments, hiring, and job retention rates across the country. A better understanding of which geographic areas within the U.S. have more equal distributions of women in the STEM field will help us to identify the specific mechanisms that facilitate more equal and inclusive opportunities for women and other underrepresented groups across all levels of STEM academia.

Trends and the Gender Gap in the Reporting of Sexual Initiation Among 15-Year-Olds: A Comparison of 33 European Countries

ABSTRACT Early sexual intercourse initiation has been associated with immediate and long-term risks, which makes the study of trends in sexual initiation an important topic for policy makers. This study investigated trends over time in reported sexual initiation among 15-year-olds across 33 countries between 2010–2018. In addition, we examined if there were cross-country differences in the gender gap in reported sexual initiation in 2018, and whether these could be attributed to gender inequality and gender role attitudes. To answer these questions, we combined individual-level data from the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study collected in 2010 (N = 57,656), 2014 (N = 56,745) and 2018 (N = 55,127) with country-level data on gender inequality and gender role attitudes. We found a decrease over time in early sexual initiation in most countries, but also cross-country differences in these trends. More boys than girls reported sexual initiation in 2018. This gender gap also varied across countries and slightly decreased over time. In countries with less progressive gender role attitudes and more gender inequality, fewer girls reported early sexual initiation, resulting in a larger gender gap in these countries. To conclude, policy makers, healthcare providers and educators should focus on changing stereotypical gender norms.

A life course perspective on the NEET phenomenon: long-term exclusion across cohorts, gender, and social origin among young adults in Norway

ABSTRACT This study addresses the limitations of the NEET indicator (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) as a measure of the risk of social exclusion. Applying a life course analytical framework and sequence analysis to administrative data from Norway, we investigate the link between NEET status and longer-term exclusion across cohorts, gender, and social origin. Young adults with at least one year of NEET status at ages 22–25 (N = 125 804) are followed for ten years (age 22–31), spanning the years 1993–2017. Results show a mixed picture for individuals with early-career NEET status: 38 percent fare well over the long term, while over one-third face persistent challenges of long-term exclusion or reliance on permanent disability benefits. A deterioration of longer-term prospects, stronger among men than women, is observed across cohorts. An initial large gender gap in long-term exclusion probability in men´s favor disappears in the youngest cohorts. Social inequalities remain stable over time. Findings support recent research emphasizing NEET category heterogeneity. Static measures may both exaggerate and underestimate the challenges faced by different sub-populations. The risk of long-term exclusion changes markedly over time, showcasing how the NEET indicator's sensitivity as a measure of at-risk youth depends on the historical-institutional context.

Children and the Remaining Gender Gaps in the Labor Market

The past five decades have seen a remarkable convergence in the economic roles of men and women in society. Yet, persistently large gender gaps in terms of labor supply, earnings, and representation in top jobs remain. Moreover, in countries like the United States, convergence in labor market outcomes appears to have slowed in recent decades. In this article, we focus on the role of children and show that many potential explanations for the remaining gender disparities in labor market outcomes are related to the fact that children impose significantly larger penalties on the career trajectories of women relative to men. We document that, in the United States, more than two-thirds of the overall gender earnings gap can be accounted for by the differential impacts of children on women and men. We propose a simple model of household decision-making to motivate the link between children and gender gaps in the labor market, and to help rationalize how various factors potentially interact with parenthood to produce differential outcomes by gender. We discuss several forces that might make the road to gender equity even more challenging for modern cohorts of parents, and offer a critical discussion of public policies that seek to address the remaining gaps. (JEL D13, J12, J13, J16, J22, J31, J71)

Gender and Collaboration

Abstract We connect gender disparities in research output and collaboration patterns in economics. We first document large gender gaps in research output. These gaps persist across fifty years despite a significant increase in the fraction of women in economics during that time. We further show that output differences are closely related to differences in the coauthorship networks of men and women: women have fewer collaborators, collaborate more often with the same coauthors, and a higher fraction of their coauthors collaborate with each other. Taking into account coauthorship networks reduces the gender output gap by 18%.

Deconstructing the masculinized assumption of the medical profession: narratives of Japanese physician fathers

BackgroundGender studies in the medical profession have revealed gender biases associated with being a doctor, a profession often regarded as more suitable for men. The path to gender equality inevitably involves deconstructing this masculinized assumption. Despite the decades-long expectation that ikumen–men who actively participate in childcare in Japan–would contribute to a change toward gender equality, Japanese society is still male dominated, and women suffer from a large gender gap. With the aim of exploring implicit gendered assumptions concerning being a caregiver and a doctor, the authors focused on the experience of individuals juggling the binary roles of a professional and a caregiver.MethodsThe authors conducted subjectivist inductive research, recruited ten Japanese physician fathers through purposive sampling, and collected data through one-to-one semi-structured interviews between October 2017 and December 2018. The authors recorded and transcribed the narrative data, and extracted themes and representative narratives.ResultsThe study identified three themes about the reproduction and potential change of the gender gap: maintaining gendered assumptions of the medical profession without experiencing conflict, maintaining gendered assumptions of the medical profession while experiencing conflict, and deconstructing gendered assumptions of the medical profession through conflict. The authors found that these negotiations interplayed with the gendered division of labor between male doctors and their wives as well as the patriarchal family structure.ConclusionsThe study revealed how gendered assumptions of the medical profession, as well as gender stereotypes and gendered division of household labor, were reproduced in the course of male doctors’ negotiations when they became fathers. For male doctors to question their unconscious gender bias, the authors emphasize the importance of men gaining knowledge about gender stereotypes, and propose that educators create such opportunities. Moreover, the authors assert that increasing doctors’ awareness of how masculinized assumptions implicitly interact with ideas of being a doctor—an aspect rarely discussed among medical professionals—is crucial for deconstructing the gendered normativity in the medical field.

The Invincible Gender Gap in Political Ambition

ABSTRACTWhen we uncovered a large gender gap in political ambition in the early 2000s, our research highlighted how far the United States was from gender parity in politics. Given marked increases in women’s numeric representation throughout the past two decades, many might expect the gender gap in political ambition to have begun to close. Results from our new study of potential candidates, however, reveal that the magnitude of the gender gap is just as large 20 years later, and two primary explanations persist as well. We posit that even though candidate recruitment has propelled more women into electoral politics, patterns of traditional gender socialization persist. These dynamics, coupled with negative perceptions of how female candidates are treated, continue to depress women’s interest in elective office. As long as running for office is a more remote endeavor for women than men, women’s full political inclusion will remain a distant goal.

Gender diversity in neurosurgical training: an analysis of trends and resident program characteristics

OBJECTIVE Recent trends have shown more women entering neurosurgery, but large gender gaps in the number of female trainees continue to persist. A previous study on the gender diversity of residents and faculty in neurosurgery training programs found that only 18.2% of residents and 8.7% of faculty at neurosurgical training programs were female. The goal of this study was to better understand program characteristics that may affect the recruitment of female residents and the gender composition of neurosurgery residency programs. METHODS The authors assessed publicly available information on websites and social media from 116 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)–accredited neurosurgery residency programs from the 2022–2023 academic year. Data collected on residents included gender and postgraduate year (PGY), geographic region, accreditation year, and complement size for programs. The authors analyzed the distribution of female residents at each program and compared accreditation year, program size, program geographics, PGY, and acceptance rates. RESULTS There were 1602 residents across the 116 programs included in this study: 1223 (76.3%) male and 379 (23.7%) female residents. The gender distribution of female residents showed 29 programs had 30% or more female residents, 50 programs had between 16% and 30%, and 37 had fewer than 16%, including 8 with none. There were significantly more PGY-1 than PGY-7 female residents (28.9% vs 16.4%, p < 0.01). Programs with ACGME accreditation before 1970 had significantly higher percentages of female residents (26.0%) compared with those accredited after 1970 (18.2%, p < 0.01). Program size was associated with a higher percentage of female residents (large = 25.2%, medium = 24.9%, and small = 19.6%), although the results were not significant. The distribution of female trainees across five geographic regions of the United States was fairly even: Northeast (24.5%), West (25.2%), South Atlantic (23.1%), South Central (21.8%), and North Central (21.2%). Residency acceptance rates were similar between genders. CONCLUSIONS The underrepresentation of women in neurosurgery residency programs remains a significant issue. While some programs have achieved higher female representation than the overall average proportion of female neurosurgery residents, many still fall short. There are twice as many female PGY-1 compared with PGY-7 residents, suggesting increased recruitment over the past few years. Programs with longer accreditation histories have significantly higher proportions of female residents. Larger program size can also play a role in attracting more female residents, but geographic location did not impact gender composition of resident cohorts in this study.

Gender gap in life expectancy in Europe and the United Kingdom in 2019

Abstract Background Life expectancy (LE) is an important metric for overall population health and well-being. The gender gap in LE can be used as a population health metric to capture progress and monitor health inequality in a specific setting. Health inequality is an expression of universal health care coverage and unequal access to health care and the quality of health care - otherwise known as ‘amenable’ mortality. Methods The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study- a comprehensive global epidemiologic database has developed and validated two population health metrics across 200+ countries- the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Index (0-100) and the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) Index (0-100) to monitor progress in these two specific domains for each country. We set out to examine the association of gender gap in LE with UHC and HAQ indices across 27 EU countries and the UK combined for year 2019 employing correlation and linear regression analyses. Results Overall, LE ranged from 73.3 years in Bulgaria to 83.1 years in Italy; UHC index was worst in Bulgaria (62.6), while Luxembourg (91.5) was the best performing nation; HAQ index had the highest score in the Netherlands (91.1), while Bulgaria had the lowest score (64.9). Lithuania had the largest gender gap in LE (9.2 years; M:71.5; F: 80.7), while the Netherlands had the narrowest gender gap (3.4 years; M:80.0; F: 83.4). On multivariable linear regression, gender gaps in LE were significantly associated with both HAQ (beta: -0.17; R2=0.66), and UHC (beta: -0.14; R2=0.52) across 27 EU countries and the UK combined. Conclusions Gender gap in LE can be a proxy measure to monitor progress in health inequality in terms of universal health care coverage, as well as health care access and quality of health care for a specific population setting. The findings suggest that gender gap in LE can be significantly reduced through expansion of universal health care and improving both access and quality of health care in the EU. Key messages • Gender gap in life expectancy can be a good proxy to monitor progress in health inequality for EU countries and the UK combined, which has 5.5 years of gender gap in life expectancy on average in 2019. • A 10% increase in both universal health care coverage and health care access and quality, can reduce gender gap in life expectancy by 1.4 and 1.7 years, respectively, across EU and the UK combined.

How are primary school computer science curricular reforms contributing to equity? Impact on student learning, perception of the discipline, and gender gaps

BackgroundEarly exposure to Computer Science (CS) and Computational Thinking (CT) for all is critical to broaden participation and promote equity in the field. But how does the introduction of CS and CT into primary school curricula impact learning, perception, and gaps between groups of students?MethodologyWe investigate a CS-curricular reform and teacher Professional Development (PD) programme from an equity standpoint by applying hierarchical regression and structural equation modelling on student learning and perception data from three studies with, respectively, 1384, 2433 and 1644 grade 3–6 students (ages 7–11) and their 83, 142 and 95 teachers.ResultsRegarding learning, exposure to CS instruction appears to contribute to closing the performance gap between low-achieving and high-achieving students, as well as pre-existing gender gaps. Despite a lack of direct influence of what was taught on student learning, there is no impact of teachers’ demographics or motivation on student learning, with teachers’ perception of the CS-PD positively influencing learning. Regarding perception, students perceive CS and its teaching tools (robotics, tablets) positively, and even more so when they perceive a role model close to them as doing CS. Nonetheless, gender differences exist all around with boys perceiving CS more positively than girls despite access to CS education. However, access to CS-education affects boys and girls differently: larger gender gaps are closing (namely those related to robotics), while smaller gaps are increasing (namely those related to CS and tablets).ConclusionThis article highlights how a CS curricular reform impacts learning, perception, and equity and supports the importance of (i) early introductions to CS for all; (ii) preparing teachers to teach CS all the while removing the influence of teacher demographics and motivation on student outcomes; and (iii) having developmentally appropriate activities that signal to all groups of students.

The Attitude and Behavior of Japanese Managers Toward Male Employees Taking Long‐Term Parental Leave1,2

AbstractPromoting male parental leave has become a concern for the Japanese government because of the large gender gap that exists in terms of availing parental leave. This study identified management attitudes and behaviors regarding long‐term male parental leave. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 14 private‐enterprise managers and supervisors whose male staff had taken at least 1 month of parental leave. The collected data were analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach, from which six groups, 19 categories, and 49 concepts were generated. It was found that (a) overcoming difficulties associated with long‐term male parental leave resulted in diverse management behaviors; (b) managers often felt that male employees were being unreasonable by taking parental leave; and (c) managers realize the need for male parental leave systems once they observe changes in employees after returning to work.

Reformen bei Elterngeld und Ehegattensplitting könnten gleichstellungspolitische Impulse setzen

Abstract Germany is characterised by large gender gaps in the labour market. Both the gender pay gap as well as the gender gap in working hours are among the highest in Europe. Family policy reforms such as increasing the parental leave period that is ear-marked for fathers as well as reducing the high marginal tax rates for secondary earners resulting from the joint taxation of married couples with full income splitting (“Ehegattensplitting”) could help to mitigate the existing gender gaps in the labour market. These reforms are also paramount due to the increasing labour scarcity stemming from the demographic change.

The Gender Gap in Animal Experimentation Support: The Mediating Roles of Empathy and Speciesism

ABSTRACT There is a large gender gap in support for animal experimentation, with men endorsing this practice more than women. However, little is known about the psychological factors associated with these differences. Drawing on a large and gender-balanced sample (nwomen = 551, nmen = 454), we conducted a cross-sectional survey to examine whether gender differences in empathy, social dominance orientation (SDO), and speciesism mediate gender differences in attitudes toward animal experimentation. Our results indicate that gender differences in empathy and speciesism mediate the link between gender and support for animal experimentation, but SDO does not. An integrative model also confirmed the role of gender differences in dispositional empathy related directly to speciesist attitudes, which as a result were related to attitudes toward animal testing. This research brings new insights into gender differences in the acceptance of animal experimentation and may explain why women are more likely than men to be opposed to this practice.

The Gender Gap in Pensions: How Policies Continue to Fail Women

A large gender gap in UK pensions has been persistent, yet generally ignored by governments. The neoliberal preference since 1980 to reduce state spending on welfare has limited the redistributive potential of state pensions, to the detriment of the low paid and those whose lifecourse is characterised by discontinuous and part-time employment, mainly women. Claims of intergenerational conflict have repeatedly hit headlines over the last 50 years, providing an excuse for cutting state pensions, most recently suspending the Triple Lock. This article examines the gap between older women’s and men’s personal income, distinguishing state and private pensions and assessing change over time. It is concluded that suitably generous state pensions can reduce the gender gap, while an emphasis on expanding private pensions exacerbates it.