Gender Equality Measures Research Articles

Gender equality and the electoral system in the regional council of Sardinia

SUMMARY This article provides an account of the process followed by the legislative assembly of the autonomous region of Sardinia, the regional council, to change its electoral law. More specifically, this article will focus on equal access to the elective office at the regional council that the electoral law should have guaranteed. The introduction of measures of gender equality is part of the broader process of change in the electoral law of Sardinia. It is also part of the wider review process of Sardinian autonomy that finds its roots in the amendment of title V of the Italian Constitution of 2001. Following these reforms, constitutional law 3/2013 states that ‘In order to achieve the balance between men and women in representation’, the new electoral law should ‘promote a new equal opportunity in the access to the office of regional councillor’ (article 16). The introduction of double preference for male and female candidates would have guaranteed equality, instead of reserving a share of seats to the underrepresented sex. It would have involved a new approach to the problem of underrepresentation of women. At the 20 June 2013 meeting, however, double preference was rejected in a secret ballot. Yet only four years later, on 21 November 2017, the electoral law was changed to guarantee equal access for women.

A Critical Approach to the Gender Wage Gap in Tourism Labor

Tourism is a highly gendered industry, with strong horizontal and vertical segregation of occupations and this inevitably contributes to an elevated gender wage gap in comparison to other industries. This article investigates some of the underlying causes of the gender wage gap and the ways in which gendered stereotypes and gender norms continue to influence tourism labor relations. Challenging the idea that women "choose" to accept lower wages than men as a neoliberalist rationale that has little bearing on reality, this article adopts a feminist economics lens and investigates how the gender wage gap is created and perpetuated in Portugal's tourism industry through a thematic analysis of tourism managers' narratives from focus groups conducted in 2013 and 2014. Viewing individual choice as a myth, the politico-economic conditions that inform people's actions according to gender roles they are expected to perform are explored. The most frequent gender equality measure adopted by tourism companies in Portugal is ensuring that remuneration is set according to objective criteria, which demonstrates the perceived importance of eradicating the gender pay gap. Despite this, thematic analysis of focus group narratives reveals a persisting inequality within tourism labor. These reveal that horizontal segregation, gendered geographical mobility, and the prevalence of men in hierarchical positions contribute to the maintenance of the gender wage gap in tourism, illustrating a contradiction between the perceived eradication of the gender wage gap and its continuing existence. This article therefore represents an exploration into the ways in which the gender wage gap within tourism is created and maintained.

Gender and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This paper briefly highlights key challenges faced in advancing women’s rights in the last two decades. It draws attention to ‘gains and gaps’ in the implementation of the UN Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the UN Millennium Development Goals (2000). It marks the evolution of a new compact on women’s human rights and gender equality through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that has been universally endorsed by governments, donors, women’s movements, civil society and other stakeholders. Women’s groups have consistently been raising critical questions of how equality, inclusion and participation would be embedded in a world structured around grave inequalities and exclusions. While the framework of the paper is global, it throws light on two critical areas in India—the economic empowerment of women and ending violence against women—with pointers regarding how these commitments could be better realised in the implementation of the SDGs, especially SDG Goal 5. The paper concludes by sharing information on how some countries are developing mechanisms to advance SDG 5 and draws attention to the lack of data and monitoring measures for gender equality. It emphasises that for transformative changes, governments need to engage with women’s organisations for policy development and implementation.

The generational perspective of gender gap in wages and education in southern Europe

This paper aims at investigating gender differentials in wages and education from an intergenerational perspective across four developed countries of southern Europe, considering the generational transmission of preferences and the gender equality systems and policies. Measures of gender inequality in wages and education permit exploring the different extent to which gender gaps depend on unobserved factors, such as discrimination. A first set of discrimination indexes is computed starting from the estimation of extended Mincerian log-earnings equations, whereas a second set is based on the estimation of ordered logistic regressions on a range of personal characteristics considered to be linked to education, controlling for family background. The main results show that family background affects the degree of gender inequality more than the gender equality policies do. Gender disparities in professional outcomes can be partly due to women’s preferences vs. lower-paid jobs because of the incomplete efficacy of national systems.

Gender Equality in Academia: Intentions and Consequences

Gender inequality persists in academia. This review article examines how universities around the world act on gender inequalities through gender equality measures. The analytical hypothesis is that gender equality measures are a response to how problems of inequality are understood and, as such, they also reveal why inequalities are sustained in academia. A wide variety of approaches are in use, but this article focuses on three of the most common: gender mainstreaming, affirmative action, and mentoring programs. The review recognized a global pattern of gender discrimination in academia as well as differences between countries and disciplines. The article departs from a critical gender-equality approach provided by current feminist research. It concludes that gender equality measures focus mainly on women and men, ignoring intersecting categories of discrimination, and that weaknesses in implementing meritocratic practices play a key role in upholding inequalities. The article suggests that critical feminist knowledge can help lead the way toward more challenging perspectives on gender equality in academia, in which relations of power, local and national contextualizations, as well as intersecting categories of discrimination can be made visible.

Education and knowledge production on the semi- periphery: A feminist/gender perspective

Education and research in the field of feminism and gender theory and practice remain marginal in academia in the countries on the semi-periphery, another indicator of the measure of gender inequality across the different segments of society. This implies that university professors and researchers, male and female alike, are confronted with a patriarchal power structure before they are given the right to act and select freely themes for their research projects. These are only the first obstacles in their path that need to be overcome, while the difficulty with which academic courses are organised and administered and research is done, if one is to fully adhere to the feminist/gender perspective, is indicative of how deeply rooted such obstructive behaviour is. The first part of the paper examines the situation in regard to gender education at universities by focusing on two issues: determining the purpose and source of learning in courses, and the relationship between the traditional discipline classification framework and interdisciplinarity. The second part of the paper addresses the problems researchers are faced with when their application of classical feminist theories crosses paths with a peculiar experience of how gender and gender relations are understood/constructed locally. Adhering to standpoint epistemology, the paper briefly attempts to point out the specificity of the approach to gender in the academic context in the countries on the semi-periphery, equally distant from both the Western and the postcolonial understading of gender.

Explaining the Gender Test Score Gap in Mathematics: The Role of Gender Inequality

Using data from the 2012 PISA across 56 countries, this study examines the link between societal gender inequalities and the gender test score gap in mathematics. We employ a novel two-stage empirical strategy in which the first stage involves decomposing the gender mathematics gap into a part that is explained by gender differences in observable characteristics and a part that remains unexplained. We use a semiparametric Oaxaca-Blinder (OB) decomposition to analyze the gap in each country individually. In the second stage, we investigate whether the decomposition components of the gap are systematically related to country-level gender inequality measures. The results indicate that the gap is not statistically significantly associated with the indicators of gender inequality, but the unexplained part of the gap is. In more gender-equal countries, the unexplained part of the gap favoring boys appears smaller. Moreover, we find that the relationship between the unexplained part of the gap and the societal gender inequality varies within the test score distribution, and tends to become less pronounced at the upper end of the distribution.

Revisiting equity and efficiency arguments for gender equality: a principled but pragmatic approach

ABSTRACT This article reviews the efficiency arguments made (or not made) with respect to gender educational equality, gender wage equality and unpaid care work. It problematises the concept and measures of gender equality in win-win arguments, and calls for stronger aspirations for gender equality. The article argues that even if a case for gender equality cannot be made on instrumental (growth) grounds – for example, alleviating gender wage gaps and women’s disproportionate burden of unpaid care work – feminists should base their arguments for gender equality on its intrinsic value.

...hvað segið þið strákar? Upplifun kvenmillistjórnenda af stöðu sinni, möguleikum og hindrunum í starfi

Hægt gengur að jafna stöðu kynjanna í efstu stjórnunarþrepum fyrirtækja á Íslandi. Í rannsókninni er sjónum beint að konum sem gegna stöðum millistjórnenda í stórum eða meðalstórum fyrirtækjum og eru því í hópi mögulegra yfirstjórnenda framtíðarinnar. Markmið rannsóknarinnar er að öðlast skilning á upplifun og reynslu kvennanna af stöðu sinni, hindrunum og möguleikum til starfsþróunar. Viðtöl við þær voru greind og túlkuð eftir aðferðum fyrirbærafræðinnar. Helstu niðurstöður benda til þess að flókinn vefur óáþreifanlegra hindrana sé til staðar í formi karllægrar menningar, viðhorfa, formgerða fyrirtækja sem og langlífra staðalímynda. Konurnar upplifa efsta stjórnunarlagið sem lokaða karlaklíku; yfirstjórnendastörfin sem sniðin að þörfum og aðstæðum karlmanna og að þær geti ekki bætt á sig frekari ábyrgð; vinnusemi og vandvirkni þeirra finnst þeim ekki metin að verðleikum og loks máta þær sig í hlutverk yfirstjórnandans og áfellast sjálfar sig fyrir að falla ekki að staðalímyndinni. Í sameiningu draga þessir þættir úr sjálfstrausti kvennanna og þrótti til að sækjast eftir hærri stöðum ásamt því að valda þeim álagi og um leið viðhalda raunverulegum vanda ójafnréttis kynjanna í æðstu stjórnendastöðum fyrirtækjanna.

How to set up a smart and tailor-made evaluation framework for gender equality measures across Europe

How to set up a smart and tailor-made evaluation framework for gender equality measures across Europe

Female undergraduate's perceptions of intrusive behavior in 12 countries.

The present study examines young women's (N = 1,734) perceptions of the unacceptability of 47 intrusive activities enacted by men. Female undergraduate psychology students from 12 countries (Armenia, Australia, England, Egypt, Finland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Scotland, Trinidad) indicated which of 47 intrusive activities they considered to be unacceptable. Responses were compared with parasite-stress values, a measure of global gender equality and Hofstede's dimensions of national cultures. There was no unanimous agreement on any of the items, even for those relating to forced sexual violence. Cluster analysis yielded four clusters: "Aggression and surveillance" (most agreement that the constituent items were unacceptable), "Unwanted attention," "Persistent courtship and impositions," and "Courtship and information seeking" (least agreement that the constituent items were unacceptable). There were no significant relationships between the "Aggression and surveillance" or "Courtship and information seeking" clusters and the measure of gender equality, Hofstede's dimensions of national cultures or the measure of parasite stress. For the "Unwanted attention" and "Persistent courtship and impositions" clusters, women residing in countries with higher gender inequality and higher parasite-stress were less accepting of behavior associated with uncommitted sexual relations, and women in more individualistic societies with higher levels of gender equality were less accepting of monitoring activities. Culture may take precedence over personal interpretations of the unacceptability of intrusive behavior that is not obviously harmful or benign in nature.

Economic Benefits of Gender Equality in the EU

To analyse how gender equality measures can contribute to economic growth in the EU, the European Institute for Gender Equality studied the impacts of reducing gender inequalities in areas relevant from a macroeconomic perspective: STEM education, labour market activity and pay. It also considered the demographic changes that would take place if these gender gaps are reduced and a more equal distribution of unpaid care work between women and men is achieved. The study is the first of its kind to use a robust econometric model to estimate a broad range of macroeconomic benefits of gender equality at the EU level. The results of the modelling show that improved gender equality would have a largely positive effect on GDP per capita and on employment of women. The positive impacts are due to an increase in productivity and an improvement to the potential productive capacity of the economy.

The Math Gender Gap and Women's Career Outcomes

We show the math gender gap is correlated with women’s career outcomes using international geographic data on the investment profession, a math-intensive and 80% male profession. The math gender gap predicts the proportion of investment professionals who are women across countries and across states. Our results do not establish a causal relationship between the math gender gap and women’s career outcomes. However, the math gender gap as a correlate of women’s career outcomes is not mitigated by the inclusion of control variables related to female labor force participation, gender inequality measures, competition attitudes, and gender preferences. These results suggest there are societal factors that vary geographically, (e.g., a widespread belief that women have weaker math ability) and affect both the math performance of middle school girls and women’s career choices. Addressing these societal factors can decrease the math gender gap and increase the representation of women in highly quantitative fields like finance, which might help to reduce the gender pay gap since quantitative fields like finance tend to be highly paid.

Countries with Greater Gender Equality Have More Positive Attitudes and Laws Concerning Lesbians and Gay Men

Social scientists have long discussed and empirically demonstrated how attitudes toward lesbians and gay men are determined in part by sexism and endorsement of gender roles, but only at the psychological level of analysis. We present data that considers these relationships at the cross-national level of analysis, using country-level measures of gender equality (the Gender Global Gap Index), aggregate measures of attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in a country, and a newly constructed measure of the progressiveness of sexual orientation laws. We show for the first time to our knowledge that countries that have the greatest gender equality also have (a) the most positive aggregate attitudes toward lesbians and gay men and (b) the strongest legislative protections for lesbians and gay men. These results hold even when controlling for plausible third variables such as a country’s level of religiosity and its economic and political development, each with their own separate effects. We discuss the results within the context of the various forces that contribute to, and work against, ensuring more accepting attitudes of, and equal rights for, lesbians and gay men. In conclusion, to fully understand support for lesbians and gay men and the laws that protect them, one should also consider how women are treated in a country.

Structural Gender Equality and Federal Sentencing Outcomes: A Test of the Ameliorative and Backlash Hypotheses

While previous research has examined gender disparities in sentencing, most explanations focus on individual-level differences. We argue that structural gender equality has an important influence on gender disparities as well. Drawing from previous research on victimization, we provide a test of the ameliorative and backlash hypotheses. Using federal sentencing data from 1999-2003, we demonstrate how measures of structural gender equality contextualize the relationship between gender and sentencing. Our analyses suggest that structural gender equality is important for understanding the relationship between gender and sentencing, but different measures of gender equality lead to distinct patterns.

Do Parliamentary Gender Quotas Decrease Gender Inequality? The Case of African Countries

Many countries in Africa score very low on gender equality measures; yet, they have some of the highest percentages of women in parliament. They have managed to achieve significant representation of women in government through fast track measures such as the implementation of gender quotas. In the context of fast track reform, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of such parliamentary gender quotas in general, and in particular of different types of quotas, for improving gender equality in African countries. Our empirical results suggest that although all mandated quota systems lead to an increase in the number of women in policy-making, the type of quota affects the de facto ability of women in parliament to influence legislative agendas and ultimately to improve the lives of women. Our findings have implications for the design of affirmative action measures targeting women’s participation in the political process.

The quality of gender equality: gender quotas and Swedish film governance

Since 2000, the Swedish Film Institute has been tasked with increasing gender equality by distributing commissioner support more equally between women and men. While this has resulted in an increase in the number of women behind the camera, this study shows that the implementation has been hampered due to a representation of gender equality as being in conflict with the core values of the film governance regime. This representation reveals a lingering gender order and opens avenues for stakeholders to consider behaviour that ignores the gender equality goals as legitimate. It is further argued that the design of gender equality measures creates a conflict between the economic conditions of women’s film making and the possibility to tell stories based on gendered experiences.

Money Matters: Dissecting the Relationship Between Gender Equality and Female Homicide Victimization Rates in the European Union

This study utilized a fairly new measure of gender equality from the European Union to dissect the relationship between gender-specific homicide victimization rates and different forms of gender equality across a sample of European countries. Results showed support for a curvilinear relationship between financial equality and female and male homicide victimization, providing support for amelioration and backlash theories, but no support for absolute economic marginalization. While there were some similarities between the female and male models, there were enough differences to warrant further investigations of gendered theories of violent victimization.

Resilience and demographic stress in twenty-first century Catalonia

If resilience is defined as the ability of an individual or a complex system to return to a previous state of balance or find a new one after a critical situation, twenty-first-century Catalan demography can certainly be characterised as a resilient system. In the new millennium, the population of Catalonia has jumped from 6.2 to 7.5 million, mainly due to a migration boom that saw the arrival of 1.7 million people between 2000 and 2014. As a result of this inflow of migrants, 17% of the registered population in 2015 was foreign-born. From 2008, as a consequence of the bursting of a real estate and financial bubble and the structural adjustment programme that followed, international flows fell by half. At the same time, emigration increased, with nearly 800,000 people leaving the region, only 14% of whom were nativeborn. In spite of everything, population losses have been minimal. Family formation and fertility have been affected by recent immigration and the economic downturn, but they also reflect a failure to fully implement effective genderequality measures, which has led to a decrease in the number of unions and births, as well as accelerating a process of deinstitutionalization launched several decades ago. At the same time, life expectancy at birth has continued to rise, increasing by three years since 2000, and there has been a narrowing of the gap between the sexes, which have become more equal in their good and ill fortune

The spatial distribution of gender differences in obesity prevalence differs from overall obesity prevalence among US adults

PurposeAlthough obesity disparities between racial and socioeconomic groups have been well characterized, those based on gender and geography have not been as thoroughly documented. This study describes obesity prevalence by state, gender, and race and/or ethnicity to (1) characterize obesity gender inequality, (2) determine if the geographic distribution of inequality is spatially clustered, and (3) contrast the spatial clustering patterns of obesity gender inequality with overall obesity prevalence. MethodsData from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to calculate state-specific obesity prevalence and gender inequality measures. Global and local Moran's indices were calculated to determine spatial autocorrelation. ResultsAge-adjusted, state-specific obesity prevalence difference and ratio measures show spatial autocorrelation (z-score = 4.89, P-value < .001). Local Moran's indices indicate the spatial distributions of obesity prevalence and obesity gender inequalities are not the same. High and low values of obesity prevalence and gender inequalities cluster in different areas of the United States. ConclusionsClustering of gender inequality suggests that spatial processes operating at the state level, such as occupational or physical activity policies or social norms, are involved in the etiology of the inequality and necessitate further attention to the determinates of obesity gender inequality.