Gender Equality Strategy Research Articles

Perspectives on Poverty by Gender within the Republic of Serbia

Gender poverty is a serious factor needing further examination and monitoring as related to economics since it is a limiting factor to an economy’s potential. Inequality is not only a sign of an unhealthy economy but of current and potential social discord. Serbia has tried to actively better the economic position of women by implementing its National Gender Equality Strategy 2009-2015. The paper deals with how gender affects poverty in Serbia. Using statistical data on indicators of gender poverty from 2016 to 2018, sourced from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, this paper presents an analysis of the economic position of women in the Republic of Serbia (RS). Recommendations for the advancement of women in RS in terms of their economic status are also provided.

The Trouble with “Gender” in Latvia: Europeanisation Through the Prism of the Istanbul Convention

Abstract The article analyses the dynamics of Europeanisation revolving around the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) in Latvia. Whereas the document has not yet been made a part of EU acquis communautaire, the EU has committed to applying the norms enshrined in the Convention by any means, not least through the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025. The discussion on the repercussions of the implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Latvia’s legislation has occupied a noteworthy place in the discussions of the national parliament of Latvia (Saeima) since 2016. The article first uses critical frame analysis and defines the most important issue frames, document frames and metaframes that are employed by different political parties/politicians and Ministries/Ministers when talking about the Istanbul Convention to promote or refuse the ratification of the document. The article shows how the camps for and against the ratification draw on different and often opposing issues, documents, and meta-frames to substantiate their arguments. Next the article applies two models of Europeanisation: the external incentives model and the social learning model. The article concludes that the social learning model is better positioned to explain the non-ratification of the Convention, mostly due to exclusive national identity and the lack of resonance of the Convention in Latvia. Whereas some liberal-centre political parties are framing the ratification of the Istanbul Convention as aligned with Latvia’s commitment to European values, the framing by national-conservative players which argues that the Istanbul Convention is not in line with Christian values, has borne more fruit.

Gender Mainstreaming Strategies and Human Resource Development Practices at University Level

Organizations have adopted numerous mechanisms to increase the participation of women in top management. For the purpose, organizations are adopting gender mainstreaming strategies (GEMS) for gender equality as an important aspect of human resource development (HRD) practices. The present quantitative survey was to explore the perception of employees about gender mainstreaming strategies reflected through human resource practices at the university level. The population of the study was all regular teachers of the University of Sargodha. In the wake of limited resources of time and finance, a convenient sampling technique was used to select a sample of 200 teachers (35% of the population). The study adopted a standardized research instrument of an international labor organization (ILO) of the United Nations (UN) to assess GEMS and HRD practices at university. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied using SPSS version 23. No gender difference was found in (1) Gender Balance and Equal Pay, (2) job description and terms of reference, (3) Recruitment Procedures, and (4) staff appraisals. Specificity in taking one university was the strength of this study which was the main limitation (besides convenient sampling) to generalize its findings. It implied greater awareness among the stakeholder in order to enhance the quality of the learning organization i. e. university. It was the first-ever study at the university level in the local context. This study recommended that the university administration should have better awareness and understanding of GEMS for recruitment and their ensuing work assignments.

„The beginning of a new chapter“? Eine Einordnung der neuen EU-Gleichstellungsstrategie 2020-2025

Gender equality is an essential component of the ambitious agenda of the new President of the European Commission. After years of stagnation, this policy field shall see a revival; the vision is a “Union of Equality”. As part of the working programme for the first 100 days in office, the Commission published its “Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025” in March 2020. This contribution elucidates the significance of gender equality for the Commission and relates these new ambitions to the general development of the policy field. The Gender Equality Strategy and its six main goals are then introduced and the likelihood of actual implementation is discussed against the background of increasing fragmentation and polarisation in the Council and in the European Parliament. The German Council Presidency will play an important role for its realisation.

Legal Challenges to Countering Gender-Based Violence in Posthumanism Society: International Experience and Ukrainian Realities

The article deals with the legal issues of countering gender-based violence in a posthumanism society in Ukraine and the European Union. The structure of the article consists of four chapters. The first chapter “General principles for countering gender-based violence in a posthumanism society” emphasizes that gender-based violence is a complex social problem. The second chapter, “Issues of formulating a definition of the term gender”, analyses the historical aspects of the formation of the term gender, as well as the history of Christian NGOs' struggles with gender strategies in the United Nations and the European Union. The third chapter, “Development of gender equality strategy in a posthumanism society” explores the content of the concept of “Gender equality”. The fourth chapter examines in detail the main provisions of the Convention concerning the struggle against gender-based violence as well as determines the issues of the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in Ukraine as European country. It is concluded that the introduction of modern forms and methods of combating gender-based violence, based on best international practices, requires the development not only of monitoring the effectiveness of legislation but also of monitoring the effectiveness of the activities of entities implementing measures of preventing and combating gender-based violence.

Gender mainstreaming in action? The Scottish Structural and Investment Funding Program 2014-2020

Since its inception, the European Union (EU) has been at the forefront of the promotion of gender equality. A key feature of the EUs approach to gender equality was the development and promotion of Gender Mainstreaming (GM) as an innovative approach to achieving gender equality. GM has been used as an approach to integrate gender into programme formulation, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation across the EU policy programmes, including the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), which plays a key role for both the inclusion and promotion of the contributions of women in economic development. GM is a well-researched gender equality strategy, however there is little consensus on its effectiveness and its ability to transform the policy paradigm and attempts to operationalise GM have been limited. Despite a large body of academic literature, there is limited recent research which links GM and the ESIF, specifically at a local level. Therefore, this article aims to do that by considering whether GM as part of regional development policy can be utilised as a tool for delivering transformative changes. Scotland’s approach to GM within the ESIF is analysed utilising process tracing and semi-structured interviews with ESIF stakeholders in Scotland. Key findings are outlined for the 2014-2020 funding period at the national and project level.

Public Libraries as Integration and Enhancement Spaces for Migrant Women

The Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2023, without neglecting the important issue of voluntary and forced migration in the European area and the particular “vulnerability” of migrant women and girls, addresses the protection of the rights of migrant, refugees and asylum-seeking women and girls in the ffth strategic objective by stressing out that “measures need to be taken to ensure that migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women have access to their human and social rights in relation to individual freedom, employment, housing, health, education, social protection and welfare where applicable; and access to information about their rights and the services available.” In this regard, European experiences after the great migration wave from 2015 have already shown that the full and successful integration of migrant women and girls into European society requires the collaborative work of numerous national and international bodies, governmental and non-governmental sectors, and other relevant institutions and organizations, including libraries that should address special attention “to groups which are often marginalized in culturally diverse societies: minorities, asylum seekers and refugees, residents with a temporary residence permit, migrant workers, and indigenous communities.” (IFLA / UNESCO Multicultural Library Manifesto 2008). In this context, this paper will provide an overview of selected programs and services targeted at migrant women in public libraries in the European area. In conclusion, paper highlights the important role of public libraries in the processes of linguistic and social integration of migrant women, and points out the need for continuous improvement of programs and services designed for migrant women, which should be an integral part of diversifed public library services.

Sustainable Development through Gender Equality – A Case of Higher Education of Data Scientists

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Serbia is fast growing and in constant high demand for qualified workforce. In order to continuously fulfil the demand, the National strategy for gender equality defined as one of the actions, requalification of the unemployed women for different ICT profiles. Investing in education is the policy of creating human capital that influences the overall development of the society. Women empowerment through education is recognized as one of the prerequisite for sustainable ICT workforce generation. Data science represents particularly important field of ICT which is still in its development phase in Serbia. All industries with transaction-based processes and industries that use connected or mobile devices or similar, which generate high volumes of data on a daily bases can benefit from application of data science in terms of increased profits and ROI. While developing data science in Serbia and during the peak of productivity in the overall ICT sector, it is important to acknowledge the lack of women in technology, why that is detrimental to progression, and to take intentional actions to overcome this issue. This paper addresses these issues and points to the large gender gap in ICT higher education which consequently shapes the ICT labor market and the workplace. In the paper we give an overview of the state of the art and perspective actions in the domain of higher education of female data scientists in Serbia, and highlight the opportunities for further improvements.

The Bureaucratisation of the National Gender Machinery, Circumventing the ‘Red Tape’

The bureaucratisation of the National Gender Machinery (NGM) in South Africa is discussed with a specific focus on documenting the historical formation thereof. This article addresses the barriers to implementation and explains the evolution of gender mainstreaming as a strategy for gender equality. Key recommendations for the effective use of the structures of the NGM are provided with an emphasis on an integrated strategy for the furtherance of gender equality within the South African public service.

Diversifying diversity: Inclusive engagement, intersectionality, and gender identity in a European Social Sciences and Humanities Energy research project

This paper argues for inclusive engagement within Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) interdisciplinary research, particularly, energy and climate research, by reflecting on the attempts to implement an inclusive engagement approach in SHAPE ENERGY, a Horizon 2020 project aimed at creating a European energy-SSH platform where a broad range of viewpoints from researchers, businesses, policymakers, NGOs, and citizens could be brought to bear on energy policy discussions. The European Horizon 2020 funding program has sought to explicitly integrate gender considerations into their funded projects, including SHAPE ENERGY. Our study shows that, in spite of such ambitions, there was huge variety with regard to how gender was understood as well as how notions of gender were engaged with during the project. Dealing with gender was often reduced to counting men and women, while wider concerns, such as representations of age, geography, field of expertise, etc., were comparatively neglected. In this paper, we argue that gender equality strategies should embrace these wider perspectives to sufficiently address how various forms of intersectionality may inform and strengthen inclusive engagement.

The Review of the APS: Is gender really on anyone's agenda?

AbstractAs recently as 2016, the Australian Government stated its commitment to increasing gender equality in the Australian Public Service (APS) workforce. In May 2018, the Prime Minister announced a broad‐ranging Review of the APS, but gender equality was not mentioned in the Review Terms of Reference. An interim Review report was released in March 2019, which was also largely silent on gender issues. We examine the submissions to the Review to assess whether, and how, organisations have considered gender equality. We found an almost universal gender blindness in submissions and conclude that this may have contributed to the Review panel ignoring gender equality issues in their interim report. We further conclude that without a focus on gender equality within the Review and ensuing reforms, the APS gender equality strategy is rendered merely symbolic. We recommend the Review implement gender mainstreaming to ensure gender equality can progress in the APS.

Letter: Congress of Neurological Surgeons Female International Think Tank Report: Much Progress, Still Work to Be Done.

Letter: Congress of Neurological Surgeons Female International Think Tank Report: Much Progress, Still Work to Be Done.

Mainstreaming gender equality in smart cities: Theoretical, methodological and empirical challenges

The debate on local governance and urban innovation has recently gained impetus due to the diffusion of the smart city approach. A city can be defined ‘smart’ if it adopts an innovative collaborative governance style to design urban policies aimed at improving citizens’ quality of life and at promoting environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Notwithstanding the fact that civic participation and inclusion should be distinctive characteristics of smart cities, gender inequalities are often disregarded both by academic literature and in the implementation of smart strategies. The paper is aimed at filling this gap by addressing three issues. Starting from a systematic analysis of literature the paper investigates whether, where, how and why gender discriminations could emerge in a smart city. Second, it proposes a set of tools to mainstream gender in smart city governance and possible areas of intervention to reduce gender inequalities in smart cities. Third it tries to identify main theoretical, methodological, and empirical challenges for local administrators that hamper the implementation of gender equality strategies in smart cities.

Women in control and tax compliance

PurposeThe study aims to empirically analyze the effects of the presence of female top managers and owners on corporate tax compliance.Design/methodology/approachData for analysis were sourced from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys that involved 23,178 private firms in 98 countries. The surveys used a stratified random sampling method by using three criteria, namely, firm size, business sector and geographic region, within each country. Further, data are analyzed using the ordinal logistic regression and supported by the marginal effect analysis.FindingsThe results show that the presence of female top managers and owners is a significant factor that underlies the firm-level tax compliance difference when firms exhibit relatively lower compliance.Practical implicationsAlthough this study shows that the determinants of corporate tax compliance are very complex, there are also crucial roles of top managers and owners' gender. This study advises firms to use the gender equality strategy to generate the best human capital, especially in their top management levels. Besides, this study can be helpful in designing policies that facilitate women to reach top managerial levels or to own businesses as an alternative method to enhance tax compliance for developing countries that fail to generate optimal corporate income tax revenues.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies examine the effects of the presence of female top managers and business owners on firms’ tax compliance policies. This study contributes to extend the understanding of the important role of women in corporate strategic decision-making, especially in taxation policies in various developing countries.

Gleichstellungspolitik in der Schweiz: Einführung in ein umstrittenes PolitikfeldFuchs, GesineOpladen, Verlag Barbara Budrich (2019), 263 p., ISBN 978‐3‐8474‐0

Gleichstellungspolitik in der Schweiz: Einführung in ein umstrittenes PolitikfeldFuchs, GesineOpladen, Verlag Barbara Budrich (2019), 263 p., ISBN 978‐3‐8474‐0

Gender in the Australian Public Service: Doing, Undoing, Redoing or Done?

AbstractAttention to gender equity has waxed and waned in public services but, by the 1980s, a series of policy changes placed public services among the leaders in working conditions for women. Conversely, New Public Management reforms since the 1980s focused on leaner, more efficient government and resulted in the gradual downgrading or stagnation of employment conditions for female public sector employees. In the Australian Public Service (APS), occupational segregation remains, as does under‐representation of women in senior management. In 2016, the Australian government announced its commitment to progressing gender equality with the release of an APS gender equality strategy. Drawing on frameworks for ‘doing’ and ‘undoing’ gender at work, this research uses data from interviews and focus groups to first, identify staff experiences in one large APS agency to examine how gender is done, and second, consider the transformative potential of this strategy to lead to workplaces where gender has been redone or undone, and third, consider the implications for women's equity.

Questioning Market Aversion in Gender Equality Strategies: Designing Legal Mechanisms for the Promotion of Gender Equality in the Family and the Market

Post-industrial economies are at a crossroad. On the one hand countries are dealing with the crisis of unemployment and underemployment, developing strategies to increase labor market participation of all adults, and increase productivity. On the other hand, the same countries are responding to demographic concerns regarding an aging population and decreased birth ratios. These concerns, coupled with a growing demand for gender equality in the labor market, and better work/family balance, lead to the development of new tax and welfare policies around child care, as well as restructuring the workplace to fit the needs of workers with familial care obligations. A storm of new legislation, regulation and voluntary initiatives attempting to address child care, parental leaves, and the structure of the work day, are sweeping through developed economies, with significant innovation, variation, and experimentation. The feminist policy and scholarly debate around these policies seem to presume that market based mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality are inferior to state based mechanisms, and that generally, those who care about gender equality should be suspicious of turning to the market for solutions, because it is an institution that tends to replicate rather than ameliorate gender inequality. In this paper we seek to question market aversion within these debates. In particular, we ask whether the theoretical premise of the discussion - the harsh dichotomy between market and state - is plausible at all, and particularly at the current moment in the development of the regulatory state. Using examples from the fields of welfare, tax and employment law from a variety of post-industrial “developed” economies, we seek to destabilize the dichotomy and explore the wide array of policy tools on the spectrum between pure market-based policies and strictly state provided benefits. We offer a systemic analysis that exposes the myriad possible legal and institutional configuration available to policy makers. Our analysis is grounded in an explicit and multifaceted discussion of the normative considerations that underlie policies aimed as regulating both the labor market and care work: namely, Distributive Justice (including gender equality); Efficiency; and Autonomy (including personhood and community). Part I of the article offers a rich account of each of these normative considerations and explains the complex (both positive and negative) effects of both market and state-governed mechanisms on promoting them. Good policy, we argue, should not sweepingly reject market mechanisms nor should it abandon state governed instruments but rather mix and match the advantages of both state and market mechanisms focusing on their potential real-life consequences. We use some examples from our comparative study in order to illustrate the potential for such hybrid mechanisms. We model the complex implications, seemingly technical legal mechanisms entail, and explain the unique mix of normative goals supported by each mechanism. In part II, building on the previous part, we offer a framework to analyze and develop policy that promotes gender equality in the family and the market, in the fields of tax, welfare and employment. In order to methodically decipher the different mechanisms available, and to be able to match them with the normative goals, as well as creatively think about possible institutional options, we build on existing literature to offer a typology of policy solutions along four mechanism-design criteria: (1) universal v. Selective (2) fixed sum v. income dependent (3) cash transfers v. in kind services (4) which institution provides the service (family, state, market, civil society). Each of these criteria reflect tensions between the underlying normative goals, and each represents a distinction between ideal type mechanisms that can, and we argue that should be, broken up and understood as a spectrum of modular tools to be mixed and matched in order to support varying combinations of normative ends.

Gender mainstreaming and evaluation in the EU: comparative perspectives from feminist institutionalism

ABSTRACTThis article presents a focused comparative analysis of the institutionalization of two governance practices in the European Commission that levy distinct challenges to the gender status quo: gender mainstreaming (which overtly challenges gender bias) and evaluation (which does not have explicit feminist aspirations). With reference to five dimensions, we identify evaluation as relatively strongly institutionalized, and gender mainstreaming as relatively weakly institutionalized. We draw on the explanatory power of feminist institutionalism to unpack these findings, arguing that a feminist institutional perspective can shed light on this variation, as it provides greater insight into the formal and informal institutions that constrain, enable and shape the implementation of evaluation and gender mainstreaming. We assert that the notion of path dependency, the logic of appropriateness, and the concept of layering serve as useful tools to understand the gendered nature of the European Commission. This research provides insights into the institutional factors that impact the implementation of gender equality strategies (such as gender mainstreaming). In turn, this contributes to the development of more effective strategies to promote institutional change toward greater equality.

Gender/Sex as a Social Determinant of Cardiovascular Risk.

The social gradient for cardiovascular disease (CVD) onset and outcomes is well established. The American Heart Association's Social Determinants of Risk and Outcomes of Cardiovascular Disease Scientific Statement advocates looking beyond breakthroughs in biological science toward a social determinants approach that focuses on socioeconomic position, race and ethnicity, social support, culture and access to medical care, and residential environments to curb the burden of CVD going forward. Indeed, the benefits of this approach are likely to be far reaching, enhancing the positive effects of advances in CVD related to prevention and treatment while reducing health inequities that contribute to CVD onset and outcomes. It is disappointing that the role of gender has been largely neglected despite being a critical determinant of cardiovascular health. It is clear that trajectories and outcomes of CVD differ by biological sex, yet the tendency for sex and gender to be conflated has contributed to the idea that both are constant or fixed with little room for intervention. Rather, as distinct from biological sex, gender is socially produced. Overlaid on biological sex, gender is a broad term that shapes and interacts with one's cognition to guide norms, roles, behaviors, and social relations. It is a fluid construct that varies across time, place, and life stage. Gender can interact with biological sex and, indeed, other social determinants, such as ethnicity and socioeconomic position, to shape cardiovascular health from conception, through early life when health behaviors and risk factors are shaped, into adolescence and adulthood. This article will illustrate how gender shapes the early adoption of health behaviors in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood by focusing on physical activity, drinking, and smoking behaviors (including the influence of role modeling). We will also discuss the role of gender in psychosocial stress with a focus on trauma from life events (childhood assault and intimate partner violence) and work, home, and financial stresses. We conclude by exploring potential biological pathways, with a focus on autonomic functioning, which may underpin gender as a social determinant of cardiovascular health. Finally, we discuss implications for cardiovascular treatment and awareness campaigns and consider whether gender equality strategies could reduce the burden of CVD for men and women at the population level.

Gender equality in the context of social relations

Despite the fact that in most countries of the world a change of the gender order has been observed, modern intellectual discourse cannot be proud of significant developments in this area, at least because of the lack of a single conceptual interpretation of the concept of «gender equality», which in its turn significantly complicates the development of state and international strategies for gender equality, relevant to time and circumstances. In view of this, the purpose of our study is to highlight the main approaches to the interpretation of gender equality and outline the prospects for their practical implementation as a peculiar civilization model. The scientific novelty includes substantiating the proposition that we have all grounds to consider the marginalization of socially deterministic roles in the representatives of the two genders as one of the forms of gender discrimination, since within this approach there is a masculinization of a woman that is combined with the genocide of femininity. Given this fact, there is every reason to believe that the only model of gender equality is that built on the principle of «equal but different». Ensuring gender equality depends on the level of economic development of the state, namely: in the countries whose economic life is the «second wave of civilizational changes» (Elvin Toffler), low gender equality indicators are observed, even despite its legislative consolidation, however, as the US experience shows, this equality is not determined by it. Provision of appropriate time and socio-cultural, economic and political circumstances of the gender perspective requires a clear approach to the interpretation of the content of gender equality, which will be set against the background of the conceptual vision of gender, which will take into account the biological and social deterministic roles of representatives of each sex.