Top Research Papers on Gender Equality

Abstract Resistance to efforts to advance gender equality is a common feature of social life, whether in workplaces and other organisations or elsewhere. In this article, we review the typical character, dynamics of and contexts for resistance to gender equality measures. Resistance is an inevitable, although undesirable, response to efforts at progressive social change. Backlash and resistance to gender equality take common forms including: denial of the problem, disavowal of responsibility, inaction, appeasement, co‐option and repression. Resistance may be individual or collective, formal or...

Despite women's increased participation in the labour market significantly contributing to past economic growth, persistent gender gaps across OECD labour markets hinder full realization of the potential gains of women's economic participation. This paper analyses the economic implications of these gaps and evaluates the potential for future growth through greater gender equality in labour market outcomes. Utilising two methodological frameworks, the paper first employs growth accounting to measure the contribution of women's employment to past economic growth. The paper then uses a simplified...

Significance Recent research has found that the strong underrepresentation of women in math-related fields is more pronounced in more egalitarian and more developed countries. This pattern has been called the “gender-equality paradox.” We show that stereotypes relating math primarily to men are actually stronger in more egalitarian and more developed countries and that they mediate the link between development and segregation across fields of study. The mechanisms connecting socioeconomic development to the strengthening of these stereotypes and the gendering of math-related fields are discuss...

The economic downturn caused by the current COVID-19 outbreak has substantial implications for gender equality, both during the downturn and the subsequent recovery.Compared to "regular" recessions, which affect men's employment more severely than women's employment, the employment drop related to social distancing measures has a large impact on sectors with high female employment shares.In addition, closures of schools and daycare centers have massively increased child care needs, which has a particularly large impact on working mothers.The effects of the crisis on working mothers are likely ...

Purpose This paper aims to review the existing literature on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender and work roles to determine whether the pandemic has undermined the status, pay and advancement of women or has provided opportunities for reducing gender inequality. Design/methodology/approach The author reviewed the literature on the effects of COVID-19 and past pandemics on gender equality, focusing on job loss, the effects of being in essential occupations on health and well-being, the increased domestic responsibilities of women and men due to closure of schools and other social se...

Introduction page 1 1 Change among the Gatekeepers: Men, Masculinities and Gender Equality 7 2 Steering towards Equality? How Gender Regimes Change inside the State 25 3 The Neoliberal Parent: Mothers and Fathers in Market Society 41 4 Working-Class Families and the New Secondary Education 58 5 Good Teachers on Dangerous Ground 73 6 Not the Pyramids: Intellectual Workers Today 89 7 Sociology has a World History 103 8 Paulin Hountondji's Postcolonial Sociology of Knowledge 119 9 Antonio Negri's Theory of Empire 136 10 Bread and Waratahs: A Letter to the Next Left 154 Acknowledgements 167 Refere...

This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD.The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities.

Gender has a powerful influence on people's experience of, and resilience to, climate change. Global climate change policy is committed to tackling gender inequalities in mitigation and adaptation. However, progress is hindered by numerous challenges, including an enduring set of gender assumptions: women are caring and connected to the environment, women are a homogenous and vulnerable group, gender equality is a women's issue and gender equality is a numbers game. We provide an overview of how these assumptions essentialize women's and men's characteristics, narrowly diagnose the causes of g...

This study examines the literary corpus on the role and potential of blockchain technology in promoting gender equality through the lens of new technology-oriented corporate governance models. It investigates if and how corporate governance models can include blockchain technology to add value to gender equality and inclusion processes, in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5. A bibliometric analysis of a database—containing 127 articles, 4 United Nations reports, 3 European institutions’ reports, 1 International Labour Office report, 1 World Economic Forum report, and 4 industry rep...

Abstract Gender issues, and gender equality in particular, can be regarded as cross-cutting issues in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), even though it is unclear how they are taken into account. This study addresses this information gap by performing an assessment of the emphasis on gender issues across all the other 16 SDGs, in addition to SDG5, through a literature review and case study analysis, the basis for the newly developed framework, highlighting specific actions associated to each SDG. The 13 countries addressed in the 16 case studies include China, Indi...

Abstract This 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 Europea...

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, shrinking working hours, increased care burdens and heightened violence have exacerbated the challenges that women and girls face. Unless action is taken, by 2021 around 435 million women and girls will be living in extreme poverty, including 47 million pushed into poverty as a result of COVID-19. This publication from UN Women presents the latest evidence on the multiple impacts of the pandemic on women and girls, including how the crisis is affecting extreme poverty, employment, health, unpaid care and violence against women and girls. Policy acti...

Achieving gender equality and women's empowerment in food systems can result in greater food security and better nutrition, and in more just, resilient, and sustainable food systems for all. This paper uses a scoping review to assess the current evidence on pathways between gender equality, women's empowerment, and food systems. The paper uses an adaptation of the food systems framework to organize the evidence and identify where evidence is strong, and where gaps remain. Results show strong evidence on women's differing access to resources, shaped and reinforced by contextual social gender no...

Abstract This study examined the potential for a new area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) washing: gender equality. Companies are increasingly recognized for advertisements promoting gender equality, termed “femvertisements.” However, it is unclear whether companies that win femvertising awards actually support women with an institutionalized approach to gender equality. A quantitative content analysis was performed assessing company leadership team listings, annual reports, CSR reports, and CSR websites of 61 US-based companies (31 award winners and 30 non-winning competitors) to com...

An increasingly polarized European Parliament (EP) has become an important site of radical right populist opposition to gender equality. Through a qualitative analysis of populist interventions in EP plenary debates on gender equality in the 8 th legislature (2014–2019), this article identifies the discursive strategies adopted by right populists to oppose gender equality. It contributes to scholarly debates on populisms and on gender and politics by respectively suggesting to the former the need to dedicate attention to gender equality as a central aspect in populist ideologies, and to the la...

There has been dramatic progress in movement toward gender equality between 1970 and 2018, but, in recent decades, change has slowed and on some indicators stalled entirely.

The role flexible working has for gender equality during the pandemic is examined, focusing on arrangements that give workers control over when and where they work, and what is expected to happen in the postpandemic times is explored.

This paper studies the role of gender equality in female directors’ efficacy and its subsequent effects on firms. Female directors in more gender equal societies should possess greater skills and exert more influence due to better access to educational/professional opportunities and more amicable boardroom dynamics. Therefore, we hypothesize that gender equality serves as an important moderator in the relation between female board representation and firm outcomes. Using a multi-national panel comprising 1986 public firms from 24 countries or areas spanning from 2007 to 2016, we obtain results ...

Abstract Evidence-based policymaking (EBP) contends that policy decisions are successful when informed by evidence. However, where policy problems are “wicked” (systemic, ambiguous, complex, and conflictual), politics trumps evidence and solutions are never first best or permanent. Applying an EBP approach to solving wicked problems (WPs) therefore appears to be a daunting, impossible task. Despite the difficulties, we contend that blending insights from the EBP and WP literatures can provide actionable and practical policy advice to governments and MNEs for dealing with the WPs of the UN Sust...

Hours spent on social media and Internet use among adolescent girls are the most strongly associated with compromised mental health, and practitioners should be aware that some types of screen time are more likely to be linked to mental health issues than others.