Structural Inequalities Research Articles

Syrian Youth with Disabilities Accessing Higher Education in Turkey: Routes and Barriers

ABSTRACT This research elaborates the nexus of disability-migration-education through a multidisciplinary investigation of intersectional barriers faced by Syrian youth with disabilities during their access to, and study at higher education (HE) institutions in Turkey. HE inclusivity for Syrian students with disabilities (SSD) is analysed in terms of the main administrative, societal, and structural barriers. The methodological design of this study applies a human rights-based approach to education, migration and disability in company with participatory action research methodology. Findings are based on data collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observations, institutional visits, and multi-stakeholder workshops addressing disability and migration-based experiences of SSD in 2018 and 2019 in Istanbul, Şanlıurfa and Gaziantep. Information and experiences are collected from SSD, NGOs in the field of migration and disability, governmental bodies, and HE institutions. Our findings showed that various legal, administrative and cultural barriers, and structural inequalities make access to HE more difficult for refugees with disabilities. Despite these, SSD have success stories in accessing HE as a result of their hard work and courage. This study provides first-hand bottom-up intersectional research about the situation of SSD in Turkey, host to the largest refugee population in the world.

Structural Inequality and the Social Determinants of Unintended Pregnancy

Structural Inequality and the Social Determinants of Unintended Pregnancy

Compulsory Community Treatment Orders and health outcomes for Ma-ori in New Zealand.

We have previously analysed outcomes for all community treatment orders commenced during a 10-year period in New Zealand. Given Te Tiriti O Waitangi obligations to scrutinise health and consider equity for Māori, we completed this analysis to consider community treatment-order outcomes according to ethnicity. Ministry of Health databases provided demographic, service use and medication dispensing data for community treatment-order recipients between 2009 and 2018. As non-Māori on community treatment orders are older, less deprived and less likely to be diagnosed with a Psychotic Disorder, data were categorised according to age (<35/⩾35 years), level of deprivation (New Zealand Dep levels ⩽3, 4-6 and ⩾7) and diagnosis (Psychotic Disorder/non-Psychotic Disorder). The incidences of key outcome measures (admissions, community care, medication dispensing) were calculated for periods on/off community treatment orders for Māori and non-Māori to consider the differential impact of community treatment orders according to ethnicity. Māori have high rates of community treatment order utilisation and are younger, more likely to be diagnosed with a Psychotic Disorder and spend longer receiving compulsory treatment than non-Māori. Non-Māori are more likely to receive more additional depot antipsychotic medication on-community treatment orders compared with periods off-community treatment order than Māori but other clear patterns of response distinguishing between Māori and non-Māori were not present. The differences between Māori and non-Māori for community treatment-order utilisation suggest the presence of structural inequity in underlying mental illness distribution and treatment provision. Māori cultural expertise at all levels of healthcare including healthcare planning and delivery is required to make advances and reduce disparity.

“It’s Not About Numbers, It’s About Power”: How Latino Young Adults Imagine the Ethnic and Racial Demographic Future of the United States

The ethnoracial composition of the United States has been changing rapidly in recent decades, a trend expected to persist into the foreseeable future. While quantitative studies have investigated individual attitudes about these shifts, we know little about Americans’ more nuanced and complex views about the projected growth of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and others in the United States and the decline of non-Hispanic Whites over the next 25 to 30 years. Drawing from research about ethnoracial demographic sentiments, the sociology of the future, and U.S. generations, we offer the first qualitative exploration of how Americans imagine the country’s ethnoracial demographic future. Our analyses of intensive interview data gathered from 91 U.S.-born Latinos aged 18 to 29 in Arizona in Winter 2021 focus on how Latino Gen Z and Millennials talk about this future. Latino young adults express optimism about a more heterogeneous nation in 2050 and imagine impacts on diversity, politics and political power, and racial discrimination. However, their optimism is tempered by skepticism about whether population growth among people of color will lead to lasting and meaningful changes, given U.S. history and existing structural inequalities. Latino Gen Z and Millennials also express concerns about current and future White responses to these population dynamics. Understanding how young adults in the United States envision the country’s ethnoracial demographic future has important social, political, and economic implications.

Differential and resonant solidarities: A materialist approach to the early career experience

Navigating academia as early career academics (ECAs) is increasingly challenging, with many facing structural inequities, the rise of precarious work, and the increased marketisation of higher education in the United Kingdom and beyond. The purpose of this article is to provide a platform for learnings and insights gleaned from our experiences as five ECAs who worked together to lead the ‘early career network’ for a learned association between 2021 and 2023. In the article, we explore some of the challenges, opportunities, and call for actions that come out of our own encounters with the neoliberal higher education landscape as both students and workers in the social sciences. We propose a dual conceptualisation of solidarity as both resonant and differential, and mobilise this theoretical contribution to reflect on themes of community, materiality, care, knowledge, and labour as key strands which shape the interface between ECAs and complex higher education ecologies. Theoretically and practically, we aim to facilitate solidarity in early career communities, mobilising ‘ECA’ as more than a purely temporal category. Finally, we make recommendations to colleagues across the discipline for forging and nourishing collaborative, healthy, and inclusive environments in which ECAs can thrive.

Can a ‘structural competency’ approach improve the safeguarding of diverse marginalised communities from exploitation?

This article examines if a ‘structural competency’ approach can help with understanding and addressing deficiencies in identifying potential exploitation victims among marginalised communities. Through a case study of multi-agency work within a unitary English local authority area, it explores how safeguarding and anti-modern slavery systems recognise exploitation cases among Roma communities. The concept of ‘structural competency’ illustrates how culture and structure can jointly create stigmatisation and inequities in safeguarding. We argue that ‘structural competency’ highlights structural inequities and institutional discrimination in anti-exploitation and safeguarding practices, in contrast to the commonly adopted approach of ‘cultural competence,’ which can exacerbate the othering and risk of exploitation for marginalised communities.

Stigma, Discrimination and Other Social-Structural Factors Associated with Barriers to Counselling or Therapy among Women Living with HIV Who have Experienced Violence in Metro Vancouver, Canada.

Women living with HIV face high social and structural inequities that place them at heightened risk for gender-based violence and mental health conditions, alongside health services access inequities, with almost no research done to better understand access to mental health services. This study therefore examined social and structural factors associated with barriers to counselling or therapy amongst women living with HIV who experienced lifetime physical and/or sexual violence in Metro Vancouver, Canada. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression using generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95% Confidence Intervals ([95%CIs] are reported). From Sept/15-Aug/21, 1695 observations were collected among 279 participants. In multivariable analysis, with all variables measured in the last six months, experiencing any barriers to counselling or therapy was significantly associated with having thoughts or attempts of suicide (AOR:1.64 [1.02-2.66]), lacking coverage for health care (AOR:1.60 [1.17-2.18]), and everyday discrimination (AOR:1.02 [1.00-1.04]) and anticipated (AOR:1.57 [1.04-2.36]), enacted (AOR:1.48 [1.02-2.16]) or internalized (AOR:1.53 [1.07-2.20]) HIV stigma. Access to interdisciplinary mental health care services should be improved. Social and structural interventions to reduce HIV stigma and discrimination are urgently needed.

Omission in Adoption: Whole of Systems Approach Applied to Case Study Analysis of Genetically Modifi ed (GM) Maize Adoption in Eastern Cape Province South Africa

This article critically explores the political economy of genetically modifi ed (GM) maize adoption in South Africa, focusing on its impact on smallholder farmers using the whole-of-systems approach. While South Africa has become a leader in GM maize production, the benefi ts have been unevenly distributed, particularly disadvantaging smallholders. Government eff orts to integrate smallholders into the GM maize value chain have faced signifi cant challenges, including structural inequalities, high input costs, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to education and resources. The article analyzes the broader political, economic, and environmental contexts, revealing how global trade policies, foreign investments, and domestic regulatory frameworks infl uence smallholder integration into the global maize value chain. A case study of the Eastern Cape province underscores the additional challenges smallholders face, such as climate change, labor shortages, and barriers to market access. Despite GM maize’s potential to improve food security and smallholder incomes, the article argues that current policies and institutional frameworks need substantial reforms to ensure equitable benefi ts. The research highlights the need for a multidimensional approach that addresses the socioeconomic, political, and environmental factors constraining smallholder participation in the GM maize sector, calling for targeted interventions to bridge the gap between large-scale commercial farms and smallholders.

The relationship between ethnicity and multiple sclerosis characteristics in the United Kingdom: A UK MS Register study.

Previous studies have suggested differences in multiple sclerosis (MS) severity according to ethnicity. Data were obtained from the UK MS Register, a prospective longitudinal cohort study of persons with MS. We examined the association between self-reported ethnic background and age at onset, symptom of onset and a variety of participant-reported severity measures. We used adjusted multivariable linear regression models to explore the association between ethnicity and impact of MS, and Cox proportional hazards models to assess disability progression. We analysed data from 17,314 people with MS, including participants from self-reported Black (n = 157) or South Asian (n = 230) ethnic backgrounds. Age at MS onset and diagnosis was lower in those of South Asian (median 30.0) and Black (median 33.0) ethnicity compared with White ethnicity (median 35.0). In participants with online MS severity measures available, we found no statistically significant evidence for an association between ethnic background and physical disability in MS in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. We found no association between ethnic background and MS severity in a large, diverse UK cohort. These findings suggest that other factors, such as socioeconomic status and structural inequalities, may explain previous findings.

Race, Inequality, and Political Trust in Latin America

Abstract During the last decades, political distrust has seemingly become a common trend across Latin American democracies, however, differences in the levels of confidence among groups have also been identified. This article considers the potential effects of ethno-racial structures and their interactions with other forms of socioeconomic inequalities on political trust. Building on data from four waves of the Latinobarometer project and contextual measures from different sources, we analyze these relations and find that both socioeconomic and ethno-racial inequalities affect political trust and impact on the formation of different relations with the political system across Latin America. Furthermore, in particular it is found that at the individual-level interactions between inequalities shape political trust differently depending on the particular ethno-racial identification. These findings contribute to the understanding of ethnicity and race and its associations with other structural inequalities in shaping mass political culture.

Compliance with COVID-19 government guidance and rules by disabled people and people from minoritised ethnic groups: Qualitative findings from the CICADA study.

Within the 2020/21 CICADA (Coronavirus Intersectionalities: Chronic Conditions or Disabilities and Migrants and other Ethnic minorities) study, we explored full, partial or noncompliance with government COVID-19 infection-containment measures by people from minoritised ethnic groups with a disabling health condition or impairment. We used an assets-based intersectional approach and purposive sampling, included non-disabled and White British comparators, and trained community co-researchers to help us reach undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. We undertook 271 semi-structured qualitative interviews, followed by participatory workshops with interviewees to explore data and changes in experiences five and 10 months after the interviews. Perceiving their vulnerability to COVID-19, most participants quickly and often zealously adopted infection-containment behaviours, and continued this after restrictions were lifted. This could reduce mental wellbeing, especially in community-facing cultures, and could create family conflict. Various structural inequities impeded compliance. Many, especially undocumented migrants, felt imprisoned. The intersection of gender, citizenship, socioeconomic status and culture impacted disclosures of COVID-19 infection, support seeking and use. Many were unclear what was safe as well as unsafe. People complained that disability and cultural considerations were omitted from policymaking. Participants mostly had taken the COVID-19 vaccine by October 2022, but ethnic minority participants needed time to deliberate and trusted, community-embedded information whereas White British participants were mostly influenced by mass media. The intersection of health condition or impairment, poverty, and living alone led to more non-compliance with general rules, and more vaccine hesitancy than did misinformation spread through ethnic community channels. Many participants were reluctant to reintegrate in May 2022 because of continued perceived vulnerability to COVID-19 but by September 2022 = seemed more concerned about the economic crisis. We add two new 'types' to existing compliance typologies: deliberators (who eventually decide to follow the rules), and 'necessity-driven non-compliers' who are totally unable to comply because of their disabilities.

Paradigm Shift: Outcomes from a Physician-Scientist Undergraduate Pipeline Program.

Diverse medical and research teams are essential to culturally-responsive care and robust progress of biomedical research. However, structural inequities stymie the entry of trainees from underrepresented in medicine (URiM) backgrounds into the physician-scientist pipeline. The Preparation for Graduate and Medical Education (PARAdiGM) program was designed to provide students from underrepresented backgrounds early exposure to physician-scientist training in the context of ample mentorship and programmatic support. By emphasizing research experience, career exposure, presentation skills, mentorship, and application assistance, PARAdiGM is an incipient experience priming this student group to pursue careers in academic medicine. Since its establishment in 2014, PARAdiGM is already increasing entry of URiM students into the physician-scientist pipeline. Encouragingly, the majority of PARAdiGM alumni have matriculated into US medical schools, of which 16% are currently enrolled in MD-PhD programs. Early outcomes from PARAdiGM suggest that an immersive framework, longitudinal mentoring, and opportunity for self-growth should be incorporated into URiM pipeline programs on a larger scale. In these ways, helping students to envision themselves as members of the physician-scientist community is a step toward breaking down the barriers currently limiting URiM entry into academic medicine.

Gender dynamics during COVID-19 and its impact on South Asian women migrants in GCC countries

ABSTRACT The feminisation of migration was already an established phenomenon much before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world and disrupted the migration pattern. It not only disturbed existing equilibrium but also rewrote a new order of gendered migration. It imposed severe constraints on mobility by closing the borders of sovereign nation-states, imposing lockdowns and putting populations under quarantine. Migrant workers, especially women were adversely affected by these restrictions and became easy victims of economic, social and structural inequalities. Under these observations, the research paper analyses the magnitude and patterns of gender dynamics among South Asian women in the Gulf. It also examines how a global health crisis reinforces existing gendered socialisation and creates new gender biases which impact women migrant workers disproportionately. The research article also discusses roles and responsibilities, patterns of expenditure, remittances etc of migrating women from South Asia to the Gulf and the changes which have occurred.

Structural violence and the perpetuation of women's poverty: exploring the issue of child maintenance in South Africa

ABSTRACT Child maintenance is not just a fundamental right but a crucial human need, essential for meeting the basic requirements of children. It also plays a vital role in preventing single mothers from carrying the sole burden of parenthood, which can exacerbate poverty and marginalisation. Against this backdrop, this study examines how social systems and institutions perpetuate structural violence, disproportionately impacting women. Specifically focusing on child maintenance in East London, South Africa, this research sheds light on how existing structures may compound the difficulties encountered by single mothers in securing financial support for their children. The research objective is to understand how structural violence contributes to women's poverty in child maintenance cases. Employing an exploratory qualitative design with a purposive sample of 54 participants, the study reveals that women already facing structural inequalities are most affected by a lack of child support. This forces them to rely on their limited income to raise their children, pushing them further into poverty.

Journalistic Careers and Gender in Brazil: Impasses and Inequalities between Men and Women in the Profession

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the trajectory of Brazilian women journalists. It compares the position of women and men journalists in the workplace and in the configuration of journalistic careers. It also analyzes how bot groups make their choices within this organizational system. This study also discusses how work-family balance mechanisms affect both genders differently. To meet these objectives, two sets of data were explored: a survey conducted with 496 Brazilian journalists and in-depth interviews conducted with 21 professionals. Results coincide with findings from literature in the area regarding structural inequalities in the profession: women earn less; they are under-represented in leadership and directorial positions in media companies while simultaneously being in the majority in less legitimate and more precarious segments of the profession. Women appear to limit their career choices to less ambitious positions in the workplace. In addition, female journalists are more likely to be constrained by the effects of balancing work and family when building their careers. The study argues that the literature on journalism careers should take gender studies into account when proposing different typologies of journalists’ careers.

Intermittent food deserts. Exploring the spatiotemporal dimension of the urban fresh food access in Chilean cities

Food deserts in Chile present a singularity in the context of the Global South. Unlike other countries where food security is mainly achieved through informal trade, in Chile, weekly streets markets is the structural system providing fresh food. Supermarkets complement spatially and functionally street markets. Both systems and their temporal operation makes that the Chilean food deserts main characteristic is their intermittency. The purpose of this research is to analyze the Chilean food deserts to contrast them with the predominant North and Global South discourses and position the Chilean case internationally. Specifically, this article looks to analyze the importance of the spatiotemporal dimension in food access studies where a healthy diet depends on systems other than supermarkets characterized by intermittent operation over week. For this purpose, this article takes the Metropolitan Area of Concepcion as case. First, the research identifies the location and the socioeconomic groups associated with the different degrees of access from a static perspective based on the spatial distribution of supermarkets and street markets. Then, the dynamic analysis introduces the time dimension to reveal the variability of access patterns and the impact on vulnerable groups.The intermittency of the food deserts positions Chile as halfway between the Global South and North models. The particularity of this model is that intermittently and regularly provides a healthy food environment within food deserts. Additionaly, it has the potential to be planned for overcoming structural inequalities in spatial fresh food access.

The Effects of the 2020 BLM Protests on Racial Bias in the United States.

The 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in response to the murder of George Floyd highlighted the lingering structural inequalities faced by Black people in the United States. In the present research, we investigated whether these protests led to reduced implicit and explicit racial bias among White U.S. Americans. Combining data from Project Implicit, Armed Conflict Location Event Data Project (ACLED), Google Trends, and the American Community survey, we observed rapid drops in implicit and explicit measures of racial bias after the onset of the protests. However, both types of racial bias slowly increased again over time as (attention to) BLM faded. We use directed acyclic graphs to show under which assumptions causal inferences are warranted. We discuss our results in light of situational models of bias, their implications for protest movements, and raise questions about when and how social norms play a role in large-scale attitude change.

Piloting a Virtual Yoga and Mindfulness Program for Juvenile Court Involved Youth.

Juvenile court-involved youth (JCIY) face unique psychosocial challenges, with a higher prevalence of mental health concerns and substance use disorders. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified these challenges, prompting a need for interventions that address trauma and discrimination experienced by this vulnerable population that could be delivered virtually during the pandemic. This study describes implementation and evaluation of a Raja yoga and mindfulness program among JCIY, with particular attention to barriers and facilitators to participation to inform next steps in this work. The nine-session program aimed to promote mindfulness practices, build coping skills, and address elements of JCIY's emotional health and well-being. Despite challenges in participant retention, participants expressed intent to use skills they learned in the future. Challenges related to implementation included technological barriers, staff turnover, and competing responsibilities; abrupt closure of the county juvenile detention center further strained resources. Successes included providing real-time resources during the early pandemic stages and building relationships between program facilitators and juvenile court staff. Involving youth and court personnel in program design and evaluation, adopting implementation science approaches to refine program delivery, and developing tailored support systems for JCIY are among the key lessons learned. Given the many structural inequities that make JCIY more vulnerable to poor health outcomes, insights may inform broader efforts to improve receipt of relevant services and programs to enhance their well-being, including use of virtual modalities.

Using administrative early-years education data to identify children at risk of persistent absenteeism

In a post-pandemic world, school absence is an ever-increasing concern for governments, school leaders, and local authorities worldwide. School absence is associated with poor academic outcomes and long-term illness (physical and mental). Absenteeism increases the risk of financial difficulties in adulthood and involvement in the criminal justice system. As a result, the upstream costs to already overstretched public services are crippling. In England, all children are judged by teachers on their “school readiness” over their first year of formal education. We hypothesised that early childhood problems (i.e., not school ready) might be an antecedent of absenteeism. We tested this by investigating the pre-pandemic association between school readiness and persistent absenteeism using a population-linked dataset. Analyses included 62,598 children aged 5-13 years from the Connected Bradford database (spanning academic years 2012/13-2019/20). Special educational needs (SEN) status, English as an Additional Language status, socioeconomic status, sex, and ethnicity were covariates significantly associated with persistent absenteeism. Children who were not “school ready” had increased odds of being persistently absent later in their education journey after controlling for these covariates. School readiness was associated with even greater odds of being persistently absent over two or more years. These findings show: (i) the potential of using existing administrative data to identify children at risk of disengagement from the education system; (ii) absenteeism reflects stark structural inequities. As the rates of absence is still rising, schools can use these data to flag the children who may benefit from early intervention to keep them engaged in school.

Unmasking gender disparities in cocoa farming: the case of female land ownership in the Ashanti and Western North regions of Ghana

AbstractGhana's economy relies heavily on agriculture, with subsistence farming being the primary source of income for rural households. Over 50% of the food grown worldwide is produced by women. Land ownership is paramount to be recognized as a cocoa farmer in Ghana, as most land is owned by men following traditional inheritance. This gives men access to, and control over, land for agriculture, thus creating structural gender inequalities. Thereby, women's contribution to agriculture is minimized and roles undermined. This study analyses the challenges faced by women cocoa farmers in the context of land ownership and how they are influenced by social and demographic factors. We focus on ownership including sole ownership. The study, conducted in seven communities across the Ashanti and Western North regions of Ghana, comprises 160 females and 40 males. Results indicate that ownership of cocoa plots, in general, is mostly male dominated, but when female farmers make farmland decisions, they are likely to be sole owners. Marital status and the mode of acquiring lands are very important factors that dictate ownership and sole ownership of land. While the results show the importance of land as a resource that can enhance women's agricultural productivity, it also highlights that policies to reduce gender inequality in agriculture by advancing land rights are needed.