Perpetuate Gender Inequality Research Articles

Engendering Legal and Institutional Reforms to Ensure Access to Reproductive Justice for Women in Zimbabwe: A Case Study of the Mapingure Case

In many African communities, gender inequality remains the norm as women continue to live at the periphery of society. Women in Africa have continued to bear the greatest burden of sexual and reproductive ill-health. Women's access to reproductive justice is often restricted by the systems, institutions and legal frameworks that (should) facilitate reproductive justice. Thus reproductive justice should be viewed holistically, taking into account cultural, institutional and political barriers and the social environment in which women live. Using the decision in Mapingure as a case study, this article argues that attempts at legal reforms towards access to reproductive justice for women must put women at the centre and address structural and institutional inadequacies that perpetuate gender inequality. The Mapingure case illustrates that the mere existence of positive laws and institutions to enforce these laws is not a guarantee for women to secure access to justice in general and reproductive justice in particular. The article concludes that realising access to justice for women goes beyond creating an enabling legal environment but also modifying socio-cultural behaviour and attitudes that spread patriarchal and primordial hegemonic tendencies.

Identifying the roots of inequality of opportunity in South Korea by application of algorithmic approaches

This study identifies the roots of inequality of opportunity in South Korea by applying algorithmic approaches to survey data. In contrast to extant studies, we identify the roots of inequality of opportunity by estimating the importance of variables, interpreting the estimated results, and analyzing the importance of individual variables, instead of measuring inequality of opportunity. We apply a decision tree classification algorithm, light gradient boosting machine, and SHapley Additive exPlanations to estimate the importance of the studied variables and interpret the estimated results. According to the estimated results, the region where the individuals grew up, their gender, and their father’s job during their childhood were the main factors contributing to inequality of opportunity. This study proves that the considerable regional disparity and social environment perpetuate gender inequality in South Korean society. It argues that an individual’s socio-economic achievements are strongly influenced by their father’s background, thus, outweighing other family background-related factors. Individuals receive unequal opportunities owing to a combination of region, father’s background, and their own gender, thereby, affecting their socioeconomic achievements. If these factors remain influential from birth to adulthood, removing the conditions that structure them would be one way to achieve equality of opportunity.

High school English textbooks promote gender inequality in Afghanistan

ABSTRACT Instructional materials are one of the areas in which gender inequality is very easily institutionalised. The study investigated gender representation in high school English textbooks in Afghanistan. High school English textbooks were used as the corpus of the study. A mixed content analysis approach was used to analyse the data. The frequency of items for each category was counted and tabulated. The findings showed that women were substantially underrepresented whereas men were significantly overrepresented in text and illustrations. Male characters were placed before female characters in all coordinated phrases, and none of the dialogues was initiated by female characters. Women were portrayed in a limited number of social roles while men occupied a wide range of them. Moreover, masculine generic forms were widely used to refer to both women and men. Thus, it is concluded that high school English textbooks promote and perpetuate gender inequality in Afghanistan.

Tinker, tailor or transform: Gender equality amidst social-ecological change

Global visions of environmental change consider gender equality to be a foundation of sustainable social-ecological systems. Similarly, social-ecological systems frameworks position gender equality as both a precursor to, and a product of, system sustainability. Yet, the degree to which gender equality is being advanced through social-ecological systems change is uncertain. We use the case of small-scale fisheries in the Pacific Islands region to explore the proposition that different social-ecological narratives: (1) ecological, (2) social-ecological, and (3) social, shape the gender equality priorities, intentions and impacts of implementing organizations. We conducted interviews with regional and national fisheries experts (n = 71) and analyzed gender commitments made within policies (n = 29) that influence small-scale fisheries. To explore these data, we developed a ‘Tinker-Tailor-Transform’ gender assessment typology. We find that implementing organizations aligned with the social-ecological and social narratives considered social (i.e., human-centric) goals to be equally or more important than ecological (i.e., eco-centric) goals. Yet in action, gender equality was pursued instrumentally to achieve ecological goals and/or shallow project performance targets. These results highlight that although commitments to gender equality were common, when operationalized commitments become diluted and reoriented. Across all three narratives, organizations mostly ‘Tinkered’ with gender equality in impact, for example, including more women in spaces that otherwise tended to be dominated by men. Impacts predominately focused on the individual (i.e., changing women) rather than driving communal-to-societal level change. We discuss three interrelated opportunities for organizations in applying the ‘Tinker-Tailor-Transform’ assessment typology, including its utility to assist organizations to orient toward intrinsic goals; challenge or reconfigure system attributes that perpetuate gender inequalities; and consciously interrogate discursive positions and beliefs to unsettle habituated policies, initiatives and theories of change.

Religion, patriarchy and the prospect for gender equality in South Africa

ABSTRACT Religion is both valuable and influential to the organization of society. It affects, not only how people relate to God, but also how they relate to each other. In this paper, I examine the relationship between religion and society in relation to gender inequality. I argue that the patriarchal nature and organization of religion influences and perpetuates gender inequality in the broader social context, especially in a country as religious as South Africa. Since, for religion, a meaningful life is believed to be a life that fulfills God’s will, adherents of religion subscribe to these patriarchal notions because they are believed to be coming from God. The implication for South Africa is that, while it is considered to be a liberal state, its state of religiousness makes it difficult for equality to be realized from a purely liberal position. Therefore, to begin addressing this issue, I maintain that the application of a feminist standpoint approach to religion can be helpful in: 1) realizing the extent to which gender inequality exists in religion and its patriarchal contribution in society and 2) providing a method in which women’s experiences and relations to religion are taken into consideration.

Being a female academic under neoliberal evaluation: A systematic review

AbstractThe current academic assessment system is drawing a scenario based on neoliberal values. It has contributed to the perpetuation of gender inequalities. This systematic literature review aims to synthesize the most relevant research on the impact of neoliberalism on the professional identity of female academics. For this purpose, a systematized bibliographic search was carried out in four different databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Education Resources Information Center, and Google Scholar), which yielded a total of 26 articles published in international journals. The results illustrate a research field dominated by the USA and the UK and a trajectory of growth in the literature in recent years. The emerging themes reveal some of the challenges faced by women academics in a neoliberal context. These obstacles may be external and even unconsciously imposed by women academics themselves. Motherhood emerges as one of the most influential aspects of their professional development. Furthermore, our findings explore various ways in which women academics reconstruct their identity in the face of systemic challenges. This manuscript culminates with a discussion of the impact that neoliberal values and their general consequences in the performance evaluation processes of academics have on women. Therefore, we provide a number of implications for professional practice and future lines of research.

Gender and edgework paradoxes in tree-planting in Canada

Edgework refers to the experience of adventure and transcendence achieved through perseverance in risky situations. We draw from interviews with 26 tree-planters in Canada to show how tree-planting, a type of edgework, reveals elements of the edgework paradox. The paradox is that edgework provides escape from the late-modern urban world through control of the body under conditions of risk, but also involves laborious monotony that preserves structural conditions of alienation from which escape is sought. We argue that the edgework paradox is doubled for women in tree-planting: the performance of gruelling female masculinities in planting camps challenges gender norms (as tree-planting provides a context and space for the embodiment of masculinities for both women and men). The analysis of women in our study of tree-planting addresses the tendency in edgework literature to disproportionately focus on the experiences of men. We also reveal that the camp’s persistent culture of hegemonic masculinity maintains a hierarchy of appropriate gender performances, which consequently perpetuates gender inequality.

Gender-Biased Implementation Support for Novel Ideas: A Theoretical Lens of Judgments of Morality

Although gender inequality research has long recognized social and economic barriers as primary factors causing gender disparity in creative achievement, less well understood is why such barriers emerge and how they accumulate to disadvantage creative women. Drawing upon research on the ethicality of creation and social role theory, we posit that resource holders may unconsciously adopt stricter moral standards for, then impose harsher moral judgments on, novel ideas proposed by women regardless of idea usefulness. This asymmetry leads resource holders to disproportionately withhold support for implementing ideas from women. Our hypotheses were supported by results from four methodologically complementary studies situated in managerial and entrepreneurial settings including two experiments with manager participants, one archival field study of Shark Tank (2009-2019), and one survey study of organizational managers. By studying how resource holders’ gender-based double standards for moral evaluations of creative ideas affect their implementation support, our research casts light on a cumulative disadvantage process that precipitates gender stratification in creative achievements and thus, generates new insights for reducing sequential barriers that produce and perpetuate gender inequality.

Unleveled playing fields: Gendered institutional entrepreneurship and deviance neutralization

Although existing studies highlight that new institutional logics are grounded in pre-existing norms and beliefs in society, few studies have examined how a society’s gendered expectations can shape and constrain the development of a new logic. To address this gap, I focus on the first American movement for bird conservation from 1889 to 1920 and the movement participants’ responses to women’s institutional entrepreneurship. Specifically, I investigate a mechanism that is responsible for the slow expansion of the new logic and that perpetuates gender inequality throughout the bird conservation movement: deviance neutralization. This is an individual strategy to counteract perceived deviance from gender norms by living up to society’s gendered expectations. When female participants introduce a new technology-based practice and hold leadership positions that enable them to further the movement, movement participants see the women’s entrepreneurial action as deviance from generally expected feminine qualities. To neutralize such deviance, movement participants are less likely to promote what these women campaign for, environmentalism. I test this mechanism using an event count analysis of individual contributions, by article count, to the movement’s bimonthly magazine that shared the movement’s vision with the public. I find that the more women implemented a new practice and the more women occupied official positions, the fewer contributions participants were likely to make to the magazine. The findings of this study extend current understanding of institutional entrepreneurship using the lens of gender, and the mechanism of gender inequality in even progressive movements. They also have practical implications for addressing deviance neutralization today.

Using Gender Responsive Pedagogy by Social Studies Teachers to Promote Gender Parity in Basic Schools

Ghana i s among Sub-Saharan African countries battling with gender disparity. There have been many attempts by government agencies and non-governmental organizations to address the issue of gender disparity. Despite these efforts there is still wide spread gender disparity in most facets of the life in Ghana. Parental socialization, the influence of the media and schools have been key factors perpetuating gender inequality in our various communities. The consequences of gender disparity call for the promotion and adoption of gender responsiveness pedagogies in our learning institutions. Social Studies is one of the subjects in the basic school curriculum designed to address social problems such as gender disparity. This research therefore seeks to see how the adoption of gender responsive pedagogy by Social Studies teachers could promote gender parity in schools. The research adopted the descriptive survey which blended both quantitative and qualitative methods. The purposive sampling technique was used to select 80 Social Studies teachers from schools in Jasikan, Kadjebi and Biakoye districts. It was realized that even though the Social Studies teachers treated both girls and boys equally in the classrooms, most of the activities and practices in the schools were not gender responsive. The paper recommends that basic schools should establish gender committees and clubs to promote gender equality in schools.

Psychological and Forensic Challenges Regarding Youth Consumption of Pornography: A Narrative Review

Nowadays, technology has become part of the daily activities of a large part of the population. Many of the activities and development and socialization processes of minors and young people have been transferred to the online world, generating attention and concern from the educational, scientific, and forensic communities. One of the most worrying issues derived from this new online world is the consumption of pornography by teens. The objective of this literature review is to draw attention to the consequences and emotional disturbances derived from the consumption of pornography in young people, as well as the forensic implications of this phenomenon, among which are paraphilias, perpetration, and victimization of sexual assaults, and the development of new forms of online sexual victimization. The main findings suggest that the first contact with pornography starts at the age of 8 years old, with important behavioral and psychological consequences, such as hypersexualization, emotional disturbances, and the perpetuation of gender inequality. Furthermore, pornography consumption by youth has been linked to the exacerbation of paraphilias, an increase in sexual aggression perpetration and victimization, and, finally, it has been linked to an increase in online sexual victimization. Implications and future lines of research are discussed.

Delivering gender justice in academia through gender equality plans? Normative and practical challenges

AbstractThis paper employs the concept of epistemic justice to examine the potential for gender equality plans (GEPs) to bring about sustainable transformative change towards gender equality in higher education. Mindful of both the limitations and opportunities of gender policy interventions, the paper highlights the importance of approaching gender inequality as a problem of justice and power rather than as an issue of “loss of talent.” The paper draws on Fricker's account of epistemic justice as well as on Bourdieu's analysis of power in the academic field, to evaluate seven GEPs in European universities for their potential to transform gender–power relations in academia. The analysis reveals that insufficient attention is paid to the role of academic power in creating gender injustice at all institutional levels and to the role of organizational culture in the perpetuation of gender inequalities in those settings. The study suggests that the incorporation of an epistemic justice lens in the creation of GEPs would address gendered power relationships and lead to sustainable equitable outcomes.

Zika virus public health crisis and the perpetuation of gender inequality in Brazil

BackgroundIn 2015–2017, the Americas experienced a highly consequential epidemics for pregnancy and childbearing. Mainly transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti, but also through sexual intercourse, the Zika virus poses the risk of congenital Zika syndrome to fetus, which includes microcephaly and other child development complications. When a public health crisis taps directly into reproductive health, typically a feminine realm, responses to the emergency may exacerbate deeply-rooted gender norms. This paper investigates the role of gender in two relational contexts: (a) the government-led response to the pandemic in terms of communication campaigns aimed at preventing Zika infections; and (b) an individual level of response to the emergency, concerning women’s negotiation with their sexual partners with regard to the prevention of Zika as well as pregnancies.MethodsWe conducted content analysis of 94 unique pieces from public health communication campaigns produced by governmental agencies with the goal of promoting Zika awareness. Print and online materials were collected from May 2016 to August 2017, and included TV ads, Internet Pop-ups, and pamphlets. We also analyzed transcripts from 16 focus groups conducted with reproductive-aged women (18–40) in Belo Horizonte and Recife, two large cities differently affected by the Zika outbreak. Women answered open-ended questions connected to the epidemic, in areas such as personal knowledge and experiences with the Zika virus, experiences of their friends and acquaintances, their primary information sources, their perceptions of public health efforts toward containing the outbreak, as well as women’s contraceptive use.ResultsCampaign pieces handling pregnancy and microcephaly were largely gendered. Pieces targeted women, placing on their shoulders the responsibility for protecting a potential fetus from the disease. Importantly, campaigns neglected addressing male’s participation on Zika prevention and contraceptive management, while failing to take into account Brazil’s large proportion of unplanned pregnancies. Women were placed in a double bind by being expected to prevent both pregnancy and Zika, in a context where gendered power imbalances often translate in women having little power/means for condom negotiation/avoiding unprotected sexual intercourse.ConclusionGovernment and individual responses to the epidemics reinforced gender roles, situating pregnant women as responsible for averting mosquito bites and microcephaly. Further, prevention campaigns largely excluded men. Since low-socioeconomic status women possessed fewer resources to preclude infection, we also found that beyond the gender divide, this subgroup faced more pronounced Zika prevention challenges as they found it harder to negotiate condom use with their sexual partners and often could not access other types of contraceptives resulting in unplanned pregnancies.

To be a Man is Not a Day’s Job: The Discursive Construction of Hegemonic Masculinity by Rural Youth in Nigeria

This article explores the discursive construction of hegemonic masculine ideologies which are recreated and reinforced in the daily lives and social contexts of rural youth in southern Cross River State, South-eastern Nigeria. In this study, I demonstrate how these youth reinscribe stereotyped patriarchal ideologies through the performance of hegemonic masculinity in their social engagements particularly involving nicknaming practices, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, risky sexual/social behaviour and the perpetration of a culture of violence in their community of practice. To address this concern, I adopt an ethnographic qualitative design that gains insights from participant observations, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with twenty-two participants. The article highlights the discursive representation of hegemonic masculinity through participants’ socially situated practices and the broader network of meaning that is ascribed in depicting this facet of masculinity which subjugates other forms of masculinities. Other young men who do not subscribe to hegemonic masculine ideals are often labelled, socially excluded and marginalised in their traditional patriarchal environment. The study concludes that rural youth utilize their social contexts as resources for mobilization in the (re)construction of different modes of belonging and reproduction of dominant masculine scripts which perpetuate gender inequality and intolerance.

The Perpetuation of Gender Inequality Through Costly Gender Congruent Choices

Classic theories of gender inequality focus on women’s experiences to understand processes in play (e.g. backlash, glass ceiling). We considered how men’s reluctance to act in ways that may be perceived as feminine could be an unexplored mechanism through which gender inequality is perpetuated. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated the existence of an asymmetry in how men and women approach gender incongruence in self-expressive contexts. Results indicated that though both men and women prefer gender congruency, there exists an asymmetry whereby men care more to avoid gender incongruence. Men's willingness to bear disproportionally greater costs to avoid incongruence was so much that they forwent higher quality choices (e.g. better fitting clothes), whereas women did not disregard quality. In Study 3, we extend the implications of this asymmetry to career decisions. We examined an asymmetry in the magnitude of costs (e.g. higher salary/stability) that men and women are willing to incur to remain gender consistent in the labor market, and again found that men are more reluctant to make gender incongruent choices than women. We further discuss how the function of this asymmetry in perpetuating gender segregation differs from, and can add to, literature on gender inequality.

FEMINISMO E DISCURSO DE GÊNERO EM REDES SOCIAIS: EMPODERAMENTO FEMININO?

Neste estudo analisamos parte da discussão nos sites de redes sociais sobre as questões de gênero em torno do lançamento do filme Mulher-Maravilha, em quatro publicações na página de Facebook oficial da obra. Investigamos, nos comentários sobre o lançamento do filme, a presença de debate sobre as questões feministas, a fim de identificar os temas discutidos e sua perspectiva. A hipótese do trabalho original, a dissertação de mestrado de Maria Cecilia Baini, foi de que o filme iria mobilizar discursos sobre empoderamento feminino. Partindo das discussões sobre questões de gênero a partir dos anos 1930, apresentamos estudos de gênero tal como entendidos hoje e discorremos sobre a presença do feminismo na Internet. Questões sobre poder e discurso são trazidas à tona ancoradas nos preceitos de Bourdieu (1996) e Foucault (2013), a fim de pensar a produção do discurso como resultado de relações de poder na sociedade. A linguagem é entendida, recorrendo-se ao conceito de habitus (BOURDIEU 1989), como passível de naturalizar o poder e como um instrumento que pode estar a serviço da perpetuação da desigualdade dos gêneros. Recorremos a Recuero (2012, 2014) para descrever a comunicação mediada por computador, em seus aspectos relevantes para nossa análise, compreendendo-a como um produto social capaz de simular elementos da conversação oral. Seguindo Herring, (2001, 2004), vemos a comunicação textual como parte dos discursos que vêm a construir comportamentos, recorrendo aos aportes teóricos e metodológicos da Análise do Discurso Mediada por Computador, desenvolvidos por Hering, a fim de tentar identificar padrões recorrentes do discurso examinado, com ênfase nos vinculados à discussão sobre o empoderamento feminino.

Why is it so difficult to reduce gender inequality in male-dominated higher educational organizations? A feminist institutional perspective

ABSTRACT Using a Feminist Institutional perspective, and drawing on a wide range of evidence in different institutions and countries, this article identifies the specific aspects of the structure and culture of male-dominated higher educational organizations that perpetuate gender inequality. Gender inequality refers to the differential evaluation of women and men, and of areas of predominantly female and predominantly male employment. It is reflected at a structural level in the under-representation of women in senior positions and at a cultural level in the legitimacy of a wide range of practices to value men and to facilitate their access to such positions and to undervalue women and to inhibit their access. It shows that even potentially transformative institutional interventions such as Athena SWAN have had little success in reducing gender inequality. It highlights the need to recognize the part played by the ‘normal’ structures and culture in perpetuating gender inequality.

Increasing parental leave uptake: A systems social marketing approach

Ineffective paid paternity leave policies perpetuate gender inequality and have significant, long-lasting outcomes for families, organisations, and the economy. They maintain unequal divisions in child-rearing and household chores that restrict families’ decisions about workforce participation and caring responsibilities. Low levels of uptake of paternity leave are caused by workplace practices, social norms, and economic factors that influence the choices fathers make when their children are born, and which become entrenched over time. Fathers’ early involvement in children's lives is profoundly beneficial for families, therefore, we recommend to policy makers and organisations how they can change internal workplace cultures to allow for a more inclusive image of parenting and a more nuanced image of the ideal male worker. We outline a systems social marketing approach that addresses change at the macro, meso and micro levels through the three E's model (establish, explore, and enable), to help policy makers, organisations, and families consider the implications of meaningful parental leave and the importance of increasing fathers’ uptake. Future research questions for increasing parental leave uptake are presented.

Sharing the burden: Shifts in family time use, agency and gender dynamics after introduction of new cookstoves in rural Kenya

It is estimated that women in Sub-Saharan Africa spend three times longer than men on unpaid work, such as household chores and caregiving. ‘Time poverty’ restricts women's involvement in paid work, as well as educational, political, and social activities, thereby perpetuating gender inequality, economic poverty, and a persistent drudgery trap. A significant time burden for women living in communities dependent on biomass fuel and traditional cookstoves arises from the procurement and preparation of fuel, as well as from long hours cooking on inefficient, polluting stoves. We used a mixed methods study in 55 households in rural Kenya to explore the impact of introducing a more efficient biomass cooking technology on time use and quality. Quantitative survey, stove use monitors (SUMs), and qualitative research methods were used before and after households were given new wood burning stoves.

“The Job Is Yours!” Deconstructing the Gender Gap in Higher Education

The underrepresentation of female Administrators in higher education is not decreasing even though education continues to be a field dominated by women. The overall percentage of women leading colleges and universities in the United States remains disproportionately low at 26%. This ambiguous case study examines whether or not the Higher Education Administration continues to perpetuate gender inequalities through simplistic and, often times, unconscious hiring and mentoring practices scaffolding upon good intentions.