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Equal But Separate? A Cross-National Study of Sex Segregation in Higher Education
Abstract
The contours and correlates of sex segregation in higher education are explored using data from twelve advanced industrialized countries. Tertiary sex segregation is examined across two dimensions: field of study (horizontal segregation) and tertiary level (vertical segregation). The authors argue that the different aspects of female status in higher education (e.g., overall enrollments, representation at the post-graduate level, and representation in traditionally male-dominated fields of study) do not covary because each variable is affected in distinct ways by structural and cultural features commonly associated with "modernity." In particular, (1) ideals of universalism do more to undermine vertical segregation than horizontal segregation, and (2) some modern structural features may actually exacerbate specific forms of sex segregation. Consistent with these arguments, results suggest strongly integrative effects of gender-egalitarian cultural attitudes on distributions across tertiary levels, and weaker, less uniform cultural effects on distributions across fields of study (one notable exception being a strong positive effect on women's representation in engineering programs). Two modern structural features-diversified tertiary systems and high rates of female employment-show segregative effects in some fields and institutional sectors. Overall, few across-the-board integrative or segregative effects can be discerned that would lend support to evolutionary conceptualizations of gender stratification. Modern cultural and structural pressures are manifested unevenly and in contextually contingent ways.
... Similar results were subsequently obtained for gender differences in values (6), preferences (7), tastes (8), or choices of occupations (9,10). Possible explanations for the gender equality/development paradox include, among others, the existence of innate gender differences that can be more easily expressed under more favorable social and economic conditions (10,11) or the presence of gender stereotypes that could be more prevalent and readily expressed in individualistic and developed countries (9,(12)(13)(14)(15), these lines of explanations being not mutually exclusive. An analysis of the cross-country variations of gender stereotypes, and in particular of the variations of gender stereotypes with indicators of country economic development, individualism, and gender equality, would help to better identify the possible role of stereotypes in the gender equality/development paradox and more generally to gain a deeper understanding of the paradox. ...
... Gender stereotypes embedded in natural language are also stronger in more gender equal countries, in particular in countries that endorse more gender egalitarian values, but the relation seems weaker than with countries' wealth or individualism. We discuss the possible mechanisms connecting economic development or individualism to gender stereotypes by drawing upon previous research in sociology that emphasizes the multidimensional nature of gender equality (2,13,(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33) and allows us to suggest possible explanations for the fact that in more wealthy and individualistic countries, men and women can be considered as both more equal and more different. Regardless of the origin of these stronger gender stereotypes, their prevalence should be noted since they are likely to impact gender imbalances. ...
... This interpretation is also supported by recent research in sociology on gender norms that emphasizes the role of gender as a fundamental cultural tool for framing social relations and the resistance to any real reduction in gender differentiation (2,4,13,(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33). This research argues that gender differentiation is maintained and rewritten into new socioeconomic arrangements, even under an altered form (4). ...
Gender stereotypes contribute to gender imbalances, and analyzing their variations across countries is important for understanding and mitigating gender inequalities. However, measuring stereotypes is difficult, particularly in a cross-cultural context. Word embeddings are a recent useful tool in natural language processing permitting to measure the collective gender stereotypes embedded in a society. In this work, we used word embedding models pre-trained on large text corpora from more than 70 different countries to examine how gender stereotypes vary across countries. We considered stereotypes associating men with career and women with family as well as those associating men with math or science and women with arts or liberal arts. Relying on two different sources (Wikipedia and Common Crawl), we found that these gender stereotypes are all significantly more pronounced in the text corpora of more economically developed and more individualistic countries. Our analysis suggests that more economically developed countries, while being more gender equal along several dimensions, also have stronger gender stereotypes. Public policy aiming at mitigating gender imbalances in these countries should take this feature into account. Besides, our analysis sheds light on the “gender equality paradox,” i.e. on the fact that gender imbalances in a large number of domains are paradoxically stronger in more developed/gender equal/individualistic countries.
... No decorrer da segunda metade do século XX as mulheres passaram a ser mais numerosas na proporção de matriculados na educação superior em diferentes países industrializados (ARUM et al., 2007;BARONE, 2011;CHARLES;BRADLEY, 2002BRADLEY, , 2009. No Brasil esse fenômeno ocorreu a partir da década de 1970 (BELTRÃO;ALVES, 2009;SCHLEGEL, 2015). ...
... No Brasil esse fenômeno ocorreu a partir da década de 1970 (BELTRÃO;ALVES, 2009;SCHLEGEL, 2015). O fenômeno de crescimento do acesso feminino ao ensino superior traça relações com distintos aspectos sociais, tais como, a expansão do ensino formal em todos os níveis escolares; a crescente participação das mulheres no mercado de trabalho; as mudanças na concepção do papel social da mulher, e a atuação de movimentos feministas em prol da equidade de gênero na educação e em demais esferas sociais (BELTRÃO; ALVES, 2009;BELTRÃO;TEIXEIRA, 2004;CHARLES;BRADLEY, 2002BRADLEY, , 2009SCHLEGEL, 2015). No entanto, o crescimento numérico do conjunto feminino na educação superior não foi acompanhado de transformações no padrão de escolha pelas áreas do conhecimento universitário. ...
... Diferentes estudos apontam haver relações entre a expansão da educação superior e o crescente acesso da categoria feminina à tais credenciais educacionais, no entanto, uma forte distribuição desigual entre homens e mulheres permaneceu pelas hierarquias internas desse sistema (BARONE, 2011;BARROSO;MELLO, 1975;BELTRÃO;TEIXEIRA, 2004;CHARLES;BRADLEY, 2002BRADLEY, ,2009SCHLEGEL, 2015). A desigual distribuição de homens e mulheres pelas oportunidades de ensino superior caracteriza o fenômeno conceituado por segregação sexual (CHARLES; BRADLEY, 2002). ...
Esta dissertação de mestrado investiga as dimensões da estratificação horizontal de gênero no ensino superior brasileiro. Entendendo as desigualdades entre homens e mulheres enquanto desigualdades categóricas, observam-se o acesso desigual de gênero em determinadas hierarquias estabelecidas no interior do sistema de ensino superior do Brasil. Foram analisadas em particular como as desigualdades associadas às hierarquias do ensino superior variam conforme as combinações e as interações entre gênero e origem social dos indivíduos. Utilizaram-se os microdados do censo do Exame Nacional de Desempenho dos Estudantes (Enade) referente ao ciclo dos anos de 2015, 2016 e 2017. As desigualdades de gênero no ensino superior acontecem para todos os grupos de origem social concluindo esta etapa educacional, porém as interações entre origem social e gênero fazem com que as discrepâncias se intensifiquem entre aqueles com desvantagem de origem e se reduzam entre os que possuem vantagens de origem. Nas regiões brasileiras Sul e Sudeste as diferenças de gênero tendem a serem maiores.
Palavras-chave: Ensino superior. Estratificação horizontal. Desigualdade de gênero
... D ifferences in the distribution of demographic groups (e.g., male and female) across the units of establishments, such as industrial or occupational groups, are defined as occupational segregation (Reskin, 1993;James and Taeuber, 1985;Blackburn et al., 1995;Charles and Bradley, 2002). ...
... However, the segregation of different demographic groups in a few occupations affects their labour market expectations and reinforces gender-role norms in society; it may also undermine the returns from labour market participation (Sinclair and Carlsson, 2013). Over the years, occupational segregation by gender has received considerable importance from both economists and sociologists (Reskin, 1993;Anker, 1998;Blau et al., 1998;Chang, 2004;Charles and Bradley, 2002;Del Río and Alonso-Villar, 2010;England, 2010;Rapoport and Thibout, 2018). ...
... Most of the existing segregation indexes used to measure the degree of labour market segregation range between 0 and 1 in explaining the extent of labour market segregation among different groups or for specific proportions of an individual group (e.g., segregation among women with different levels of education). 1 represents total segregation, and 0 represents absolutely no segregation; a value closer to 1 indicates a high level of segregation in the labour market and vice versa. Several studies have discussed the gender disparities in employment regarding gender segregation (Hakim, 1992;Charles and Bradley, 2002). Bettio and Verashchagina (2009) used the IP index to measure the level of segregation and found 25.3% occupational segregation and 18.3% sectoral segregation, which shows that high segregation is prevalent. ...
This study measures the occupational segregation of male and female workers in Pakistan using the microdata obtained from the labour force survey of Pakistan for the period 2013–18. The local segregation method is used to study occupational segregation by gender and for several subgroups based on individual and labour market characteristics. Results show that female segregation explains a substantially large proportion of the overall gender segregation, even though the demographic weight of the female labour force is low compared to the male labour force. The analysis of different age groups shows that occupational segregation is significantly higher among elderly males than males in other age groups. Similarly, for females, occupational segregation is significantly higher among elderly females compared to females in other age groups and males in any age group. Furthermore, it is also found that human capital characteristics such as higher education do not contribute to reducing occupational segregation in the labour market, as both males and females with higher levels of education are more segregated than those with low education. Finally, the study concludes that the devaluation and compensating differentials theories partially explain gender segregation in Pakistan.
... For this reason, the under-representation of women in certain fields can have differential consequences for women's and men's labour market opportunities, depending on whether fields are considered 'nurturing'. Beliefs in the 'natural' abilities of each gender result from widely shared stereotypical beliefs that are reflected in early socialisation processes and the organisation of everyday life (Charles and Bradley, 2002). Thus, these beliefs highlight the typical male and female features that are thought to be the basis for the distinction between more masculine and more feminine jobs. ...
... Even though there is no clear definition of what exact subjects constitute 'nurturing' fields of study, they can be described as those that involve a high level of care work and the provision of help to others (Charles, 2005;Charles and Bradley, 2002;Ochsenfeld, 2016;Reskin, 1993). Within this definition, fields of study such as nursing, education and social work are not only female-dominated but are also considered 'nurturing' (Mastekaasa and Smeby, 2008). ...
... This article provides a definition by combining different scientific evidence. More precisely, nurturing subfields are defined as those that involve a high degree of physical or mental care for others (Lueptow et al., 2001: 26), also known as 'caregiving' (Barone, 2011;Campero and Fernandez, 2019;Charles, 2005;Charles and Bradley, 2002;Ochsenfeld, 2016;Reskin, 1993). A unique classification system was created for nurturing fields based on a literature review that identified fields of study as 'caring' while using the following keywords: 'nurturing', 'caring' or involving 'caretaking' tasks. ...
Unequal gender outcomes in occupational success unravel through different channels in higher education. Using the AlmaLaurea dataset comprised of 80% of Italian graduates and 98 fields of study, this article investigates whether men and women receive similar returns on employment and earnings when choosing the same field of study. Two complementary perspectives are applied – Kanter’s theory of relative numbers and the status theory of gender – to examine the quantitative and qualitative differences between fields. The results show that the most gender ‘balanced’ fields of study are the most gender unequal in terms of earnings and employment. Separate analyses demonstrate that the status of a field interacts with its gender composition, and gender gaps in female-intensive nurturing fields shrink faster with an increasing proportion of women, albeit at higher absolute levels compared with non-nurturing fields. Therefore, nurturing fields of study should not necessarily be considered as levelling gender inequality in the labour market.
... Explanations of occupational sex segregation can be theorized from a cultural-socialization perspective on the one hand and a rational-choice/ economic perspective on the other (Polavieja, 2008). The socio-cultural theories highlight that our culture is permeated by gender essentialism, a belief that men and women are naturally and fundamentally different and thus suitable for different work tasks, which leads to persistent occupational sex segregation (Charles & Bradley, 2002, 2009Charles & Grusky, 2004;Ridgeway, 2009). According to gender-essentialist beliefs, women are more suitable for nurturing and caring work and men are more suitable for working in physically demanding jobs (Charles & Grusky, 2004). ...
... Consistent with the fact that there has been occupational upskilling over time, this group grew substantially over the years 2000-2020. As women nowadays outperform men in attaining higher education (Charles & Bradley, 2002, 2009Oesch, 2015), European women were on average overrepresented in this group already in 2000, and even more so in 2020. The group has a segregation rate that is close to the average in comparison to the other major occupational groups, which does not support the idea that a relative growth of high-skilled occupations is an integrative force. ...
... Differences in the distribution of demographic groups (e.g., male and female) across the units of establishments such as industrial or occupational groups are referred to as occupational segregation (James and Taeuber, 1985;Blackburn et al., 1995;Reskin, 1993;Charles and Bradley, 2002). Over the years, both economists and sociologists have shown great interest in examining labor market segregation. ...
... Considering occupational segregation as a general indicator of labor market inequality, researchers and policymakers have given considerable attention to this issue. Studies on labor market segregation by gender, race, immigration status, and union status are common (Reskin, 1993;Ashenfelter 1997;Anker, 1998;Blau et al., 1998;Altonji and Blank 1999;Charles and Bradley, 2002;Chang, 2004;England, 1992;and Borjas 1999;Del Río and Alonso-Villar, 2010;Rapoport and Thibout, 2018). Such interest is due partly to the fact that labor market segregation induces efficiency loss and partly to the fact that it yields income inequality (e.g., Bayard et al. 2003;Amuedo-Dorantes and de la Rica 2006;Brynin andPerales 2016, Anspal 2015;Blau and Kahn, 2017;Ismail et al. 2017;Strawiński et al. 2018;Agrawal, 2020). ...
... As duas mais comuns são: i) pela seletividade/atratividade nos ingressantes mais preparados academicamente(Black; Smith, 2006; Gerbert;Cheung, 2008;Dale;Krueger, 2014); ou ii) pelos retornos salariais ou ocupacionais dos egressos(Carvalhaes;Ribeiro, 2019;Maciente, 2019). mesmo nível de ensino, por oposição à "estratificação vertical", que ocorreria entre os níveis de ensino e que comumente é medida pelos anos de estudo(Charles;Bradley, 2002;Gerber;Cheung, 2008).Três aspectos dessa discussão nos interessam. O primeiro é que a estratificação horizontal é provocada pela "livre competição" pelas posições de maior prestígio entre indivíduos com recursos sociais desiguais. ...
... As duas mais comuns são: i) pela seletividade/atratividade nos ingressantes mais preparados academicamente(Black; Smith, 2006; Gerbert;Cheung, 2008;Dale;Krueger, 2014); ou ii) pelos retornos salariais ou ocupacionais dos egressos(Carvalhaes;Ribeiro, 2019;Maciente, 2019). mesmo nível de ensino, por oposição à "estratificação vertical", que ocorreria entre os níveis de ensino e que comumente é medida pelos anos de estudo(Charles;Bradley, 2002;Gerber;Cheung, 2008).Três aspectos dessa discussão nos interessam. O primeiro é que a estratificação horizontal é provocada pela "livre competição" pelas posições de maior prestígio entre indivíduos com recursos sociais desiguais. ...
A modalidade de ensino a distância (EaD) pode ser considerada uma alternativa para a democratização do acesso e para a redução do desequilíbrio entre as ofertas públicas e privadas de cursos de educação superior? Tal pergunta norteia este trabalho. Para respondê-la, conjugamos três análises complementares. Primeiro, mostramos a evolução da oferta da modalidade EaD e descrevemos suas principais características organizacionais. Segundo, investigamos o perfil socioeconômico dos estudantes da modalidade EaD, de modo a conhecer suas especificidades, em comparação com os estudantes da modalidade presencial. Por fim, examinamos de maneira mais aprofundada as experiências mais consolidadas de três estados: Piauí, Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo, na oferta pública de cursos de graduação EaD. Esse exame permite identificar estratégias alternativas de expansão, que podem servir de modelo para outras unidades da Federação. Concluiu-se que há uma demanda crescente pela modalidade a distância por parte de discentes com um perfil distinto dos estudantes da modalidade presencial.O segmento público, apesar de ter liderado a expansão da EaD em um primeiro momento, encontrou dificuldades em institucionalizar essa modalidade de ensino em todo o País. Não obstante, a análise de experiências estaduais consolidadas mostra que é possível para o segmento público expandir a modalidade EaD com qualidade, sem se converter em apenas uma via mais barata, ou em substituição ao ensino presencial, no atendimento da população historicamente excluída da educação superior.
... Th is is partially why boys and girls choose education paths which suit their respective gender identities. Th e sociological approach to this question places emphasis on the effect of traditional gender roles and stereotypes, as well as on social norms and values on career choice (Jacobs 1995;Charles & Bradley 2002;Barone 2011). Th e economic approach of Becker's (1991) rational choice theory holds that girls prefer choosing courses and professions which enable them to achieve a good work-family balance in the future. ...
... Th e choice of academic field is also influenced by contextual factors. Charles and Bradley (2002) have found that horizontal segregation is more typical in countries where gender equality is a generally approved norm (e.g. in Scandinavian countries), whereas in less developed countries (e.g. in Turkey) more women choose a STEM field. Stoet and Geary (2018) We also found, in line with the literature, that female higher education students were more likely to accept modern views than male students, and parents' higher educational attainment and a better financial situation also had a positive effect. ...
There are various international encyclopedias and handbooks on the sociology of education available to education researchers worldwide, encompassing an immense and irreproducible body of knowledge. However, education is as much embedded in a certain region’s society as it is within global phenomena. This volume has been compiled by a group of education researchers, and aims to identify the most important factors affecting the processes of education, based on research on the social reality of the Central and Eastern European region. The chapters of this book are arranged into three thematic units. i)Theories in the sociology of education, ii)Communities involved in education. iii) The contexts of education. This volume gives a comprehensive picture not only in terms of its subject matter but also with respect to the wide range of international literature referred to. Its use as a textbook at various levels of higher education is facilitated by definitions of the key concepts at the beginning of each chapter, as well as by a set of questions and tasks, in addition to recommended further reading at the end of each chapter. As is the case with all books, the full meaning of the words and sentences unfolds through readers’ interpretations; therefore, all readers are kindly invited to join the interpretive community of the sociologists of education.
... Across the 2002-2016 period, overall gender segregation in higher education has remained stable (Mendes et al. 2021). Segregation patterns by field of study in Brazil are similar to those observed in other countries (Barone 2011;Charles and Bradley 2002): men are overrepresented in sciences and math-intensive fields, and women in health and care (excluding medicine) or the humanities (mainly educational sciences). Racial inequality also contributes to horizontal stratification. ...
Brazil, as the most unequal and populous country in Latin America, demands a closer examination of its patterns and trends of social stratification. With an emphasis on recent contributions, the paper reviews the literature on four major areas of stratification research: race relations and inequality, educational stratification, intergenerational mobility, and income inequality. The literature on racial stratification focuses on the following subjects: racial classification, discrimination, marital selectivity, educational stratification, and intergenerational mobility. In addition, educational stratification literature concerning trends and patterns is reviewed with special attention to studies advanced by sociologists of social stratification. Intergenerational mobility studies are also presented and discussed. Finally, studies on income and wealth inequality are reviewed. In all these areas the contribution of sociologists is highlighted, and trends and patterns of stratification are presented.
... Despite decades of efforts aimed at increasing gender integration within the educational system, people's educational choices continue to be significantly influenced by gender (Charles and Bradley 2002;Barone 2011). Women, in particular, remain underrepresented in fields such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, commonly referred to as STEM fields (Charles and Bradley 2009;Mann and DiPrete 2013). ...
This study examines the influence of pupils' ordinal positions in the distribution of grades in their 9th grade school cohort on subsequent tertiary-level STEM degrees, at age 30. Population-wide data from Sweden between the years 1990-1997 is used. The identification strategy uses differences between pupils' ranks in their school and their ranks in the country-wide ability distribution after conditioning on school-cohort fixed effects and school-level grade distributions. The findings reveal a relative gratification of being at the top of the school ability distribution. Both boys and girls who occupy a higher rank in 9th grade are more likely to acquire a STEM degree, although the results are more pronounced for boys than girls. While a slight relative deprivation of being at the bottom of the ability distribution is seen for boy, girls are not impacted at all. This result is also robust when measuring the ranks within each gender in-group, meaning comparing boys with boys, and girls with girls. Implying that, in connection to STEM degrees, women are less receptive to ordinal rank in school compared to men. 2
... He details how ideologies embedded in language are shaped by the structure of the text and the unfolding events within the discourse. This shaping of ideology by structures and events sets expectations for the reader (Charles & Bradley, 2002). Likewise, linguistic structures 40 instill expectations in the discourse analyst regarding the meaning-making potential of a text, as these structures delve into linguistic elements like semantics and syntax. ...
Recent research on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has focused on the identity construction of agents within discourse. This study delves into intercultural communication through the lens of multiculturality and interraciality. Employing the CDA framework, the research investigates how online Filipino Chinese writers construct their identities and those of their readers, examining the dynamics of dominance and subordination in selected intercultural discourse. The study is guided by three central questions: how online intercultural writers position themselves in terms of their social identities, how the relationship between the writer and readers is linguistically realized, and how the representations and relationships of the writer and reader manifest in terms of discursive strategies. By concentrating on identity construction through the analysis of linguistic items, the study offers critical discourse analysts an alternative method for unveiling power and dominance in written texts. Furthermore, the examination of discursive strategies allows this CDA study to perceive texts as dual in nature, serving not only as a means for writers to influence their readers but also as instruments to endorse ostensibly positive values. In conclusion, the study presents an approach for analyzing intercultural discourse, enriching the field of CDA with a nuanced understanding of the complex interplay between writer, reader, and text within the rich tapestry of intercultural communication.
... The global expansion of higher education has gone hand in hand with the worldwide increase in women in higher education (Charles and Bradley, 2002;Ramirez and Kwak, 2015;Schofer and Meyer, 2005). Neither of these impressive transformations was anticipated in earlier eras when higher education was a limited and elite enterprise and when the appropriateness of women therein was questioned. ...
The comparative literature on gender and higher education has increasingly focused on differences in access to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). We contribute to this literature through a cross-national analysis of STEM graduates by gender between 1998 and 2018 across 90 countries. Many earlier studies emphasize the positive influence of a global liberal culture on women. More recent scholarship contends that women may be steered away from attaining a STEM degree in more liberal and individualistic societies. Our study shows a lower percentage of women graduates in STEM in countries that are more liberal. However, we find that the opposite is the case for men. Our findings are consistent with the idea that individuals in more liberal cultural contexts are more likely to make degree decisions based on individual preferences that are influenced by gendered societal norms. Both women and men are more likely to “indulge in their gendered selves” in these cultural contexts. Our findings are inconsistent with the idea that liberal modernity influences men and women in STEM in a gender-neutral mode.
... We conceptualize the installment of the first women higher education president as a milestone in the pursuit of gender equality based on prior literature on women's advancement in academia, as well as theories of gender and sex-role typing in leadership. Existing literature detailing the contours and persistence of women's advancement in higher education compared to that of men finds women's advantage up to a point (Bradley, 2000;Buchmann & Thomas, 2006;Charles & Bradley, 2002;DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013). Women's participation in higher education has dramatically increased over the past half-century, with women gaining ground on men in enrollment and graduation rates in the 1980s (Berg, 2019;Bradley & Ramirez, 1996). ...
While women’s higher education enrollments and graduation rates have outpaced those of men in the United States and most countries around the world, women are less frequently included in academic leadership roles, including the higher education presidency. This paper asks what predicts whether and when a higher education institution has its first woman president, conceptualizing this event as a milestone of gender equality. We use a national probability sample of 234 four‐year U.S. universities and colleges, constructing a novel longitudinal dataset from 1980 to 2018. Employing event history analysis, we examine the potential mechanisms associated with when an institution has its first woman president over time. Our findings suggest that the demographic diversity of faculty and students, gender‐ and diversity‐supportive structures, and the broader environment in which institutions are embedded predict the likelihood that a woman will advance to the level of the presidency. In particular, the presence of gender studies programs and a higher proportion of women in state legislatures increase the likelihood that an institution will have its first woman president. At a time of growing challenges facing U.S. higher education, coupled with greater opportunities from having more diverse students and faculty, universities and colleges increasingly recognize the benefit of women leaders.
... Among their efforts, GEOs provide work-life balance support to female researchers and organize campus events to promote gender equality (Yokoyama et al., 2016). These institutional efforts to promote gender equality have increased globally in the last fifty years and are particularly evident in Japan (Charles and Bradley, 2002), where the proportion of female undergraduate students increased significantly from 2 percent in 1954 to 45 percent in 2018 (Ministry of Education, 2019), and the number of female faculty increased from 15 percent in 2006 to 21 percent in 2016 (Ministry of Education, 2017). Despite this success, a gender gap in Japanese higher education persists, such that far fewer women major in science and technology fields (Kodate and Kodate, 2015). ...
... American engineering has long been known for its narrow identity parameters that make it difficult for many to find compatibility. This is complicated by the tendency of individuals in Western nations like the U.S. to choose a profession based on congruency with self-image [32]. The engineering identity in North America can be described as a white male identity that is asocial, inflexible, detail-oriented, and focused exclusively on math and science [33], [34], [35]. ...
... The higher prevalence of EDs in Western countries [42], where gender equality is higher [59], can then be interpreted in light of the influence exerted by gender stereotypes on social roles [59]. In fact, occupational segregation between genders may be more readily appraised in more egalitarian and developed countries [60][61][62]. This cultural and social representation of gender stereotypes, in the occupational or educational sector, can partly explain the equality paradox 5 [59]. ...
Background
Phenomenological research has enriched the scientific and clinical understanding of Eating Disorders (ED), describing the significant role played by disorders of embodiment in shaping the lived experience of patients with ED. According to the phenomenological perspective, disorders of embodiment in ED are associated with feelings of alienation from one’s own body, determining an excessive concern for external appearance as a form of dysfunctional coping. The purpose of the present narrative review is to address the role of gender identity as a risk factor for EDs in the light of phenomenological approaches.
Methods
Narrative review.
Results
The current study discusses the interplay between perception, gender identity, and embodiment, all posited to influence eating psychopathology. Internalized concerns for body appearance are described as potentially associated with self-objectification. Furthermore, concerns on body appearance are discussed in relation to gendered social expectations. The current review also explores how societal norms and gender stereotypes can contribute to dysfunctional self-identification with external appearances, particularly through an excessive focus on the optical dimension. The socio-cultural perspective on gender identity was considered as a further explanation of the lived experience of individuals with ED.
Conclusions
By acknowledging the interplay between these factors, clinicians and researchers can gain a deeper understanding of these disorders and develop more effective interventions for affected individuals.
Level of evidence
Level V narrative review.
... Vishkin (2022) argued that previous explanations of the GEP are inconsistent with the GEP in chess participation, and therefore, findings must be due to a novel mechanism. Accounts that the GEP results from social construction (e.g., preserving gender distinctiveness by using gender stereotypes more; Breda et al., 2020;Charles & Bradley, 2002Vishkin et al., 2022) or that the GEP results from the greater expression of innate gender preferences in more gender-equal countries (e.g., Schwartz & Rubel-Lifschitz, 2009) both predict that as countries become more gender equal over time, 1 the proportion of women in male-dominated fields should decrease (see Vishkin, 2022, p. 278). Contrary to this expectation, the proportion of female chess players in younger age cohorts was higher in 89 of 91 countries, which I interpreted as indicative of increased female participation in chess over time. ...
Napp and Breda (2023) raised three arguments against the generational-shift account of the gender-equality paradox (GEP) in chess participation. First, using finer operationalizations of the age structure of players, they showed that it partially but not fully accounts for the GEP in chess participation. I find merit in these analyses and conclusion. Second, they argued that the country-level age structure is unrelated to the GEP in chess participation, which undermines the generational-shift account of the GEP. In contrast, I provide new analyses to show that the two are related after adjusting for the U-shaped relation between gender equality and female chess participation. Finally, they argued that previous explanations of the GEP are viable for explaining the GEP in chess participation. In contrast, I argue that the global increase in the proportion of female players is incompatible with previous explanations of the GEP, and I provide new analyses to support this.
... The type of education (or what school to attend) is equally important and explanatory (Gerber & Cheung, 2008;Marginson, 2016). Here, I borrow the terminology from Charles and Bradley (Charles & Bradley, 2002). Vertical stratification in education refers to the years of education, whereas horizontal stratification refers to the type or quality of education. ...
How horizontal stratification in education influences marriage expectations is less known. Using data from the 2009 Beijing College Students Panel Survey and a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, this study examines whether university quality impacts students’ intended age at marriage. Results show that attending a tier 1 university, relative to a tier 2 university, delays a students’ intended age at marriage by around 12 months in China. This delaying effect is estimated to take place through different romantic cultural resources and career resources universities provide. The findings demonstrate the causal effect of horizontal stratification in higher education on college students’ marriage plans. What postpones their marriage plans is not only university attendance but also which university to attend.
... The concept aligns with motivational power (Zimmerman 1995), which proposes that an intrinsic human need for selfdetermination drives empowerment (Deci 1975;Zhang and Bartol 2010). Unfortunately, despite the numerous initiatives to promote gender equality (e.g., in education or employment), gender stereotypes persist (Charles and Bradley 2002). These stereotypes are often shaped, or reinforced, by parents, the social environment, and the media. ...
While prior research has gleaned important insight into consumers' social media engagement, an important literature-based tension exists that warrants further attention. On the one hand, females are increasingly empowered (e.g., through their rising spending power). On the other hand, advertising-based gender stereotypes persist, thus limiting female consumers' empowerment and decelerating advertising-based inclusion, equity, and diversity. Deploying regulatory mode theory, we propose that the adoption of a locomotion (vs. assessment) orientation, which emphasizes the initiation, and continuation, of the consumer's goal pursuit (vs. focuses on the individual's arrival at "the right" decision), respectively, can be leveraged to empower female consumers and boost their engagement with social media-based advertising. These predictions are tested across field studies 1a-1b and experiments 2-3. These findings can benefit marketers in developing effective communication strategies that resonate positively with female consumers, thus boosting their advertising-based inclusion, equity, and diversity.
... The low female participation in STEM has been widely discussed in the worldwide academic literature over the last decades (Charles and Bradley 2002;Macarie and Moldovan 2015). Although the number of female STEM graduates increased in the EU after the expansion of higher education in the mid-2000s, horizontal segregation in STEM seems unsolvable (Caprile et al. 2015). ...
This paper examines gender disparities in university student
pathways in Italy, from initial enrolment to completion of a
bachelor’s degree and enrolment in a subsequent master’s
programme. While it is established that females generally
outperform males in completion rates and final grades, little has
been done to analyse retention up to the master’s level due to a
lack of longitudinal data covering the entire student university
careers. We use discrete-time multi-state Markov models to
investigate the key factors that influence students’ decisions
throughout their university careers. Our analysis reveals that factors related to previous high school performance and early academic choices affect the university pathways of male and female students differently. Data regards first-year students enrolled in 3-year programmes at Italian universities between 2008 and 2020.
... Although this empowerment of women theoretically widened the range of career options for women in several ways, most subsequent research has shown that especially horizontal gender segregation in occupational aspirations or expectations has remained or even increased in the last decades (Charles and Bradley, 2002). Moreover, it is remarkable that gender segregation in the labor market is most pronounced in most advanced industrialized countries (Jarman et al., 2012) or countries with progressive welfare states (Mandel and Semyonov, 2006). ...
Despite the increases in women's educational attainment in recent decades, female labor market participation and labor market returns are still lower than those of their male counterparts. Among the main factors explaining this persistence of economic inequality is the persistently gendered nature of occupational expectations, which results in gender segregation of labor. In this paper, we describe how gender-specific adolescents' occupational expectations change over time (2006-2018) and how women's empowerment and cultural norms might influence gender-specific occupational expectations. Against the backdrop of the research on the gender-equality paradox and from a comparative perspective, we focus on national and institutional characteristics to investigate how individual and national factors explain gendered occupational expectations. We answer our research questions by applying a two-step multilevel model with fixed effects. For this, we used PISA data and merged them with state-level information from 26 European countries. We add to existing research by making three contributions. First, we describe the changes in occupational expectations over time within European countries by looking at the gender composition of the desired occupation and distinguishing three categories (gender-typical, gender-balanced, and gender-atypical). Second, we investigate the relationship between national characteristics and the evolution of gendered occupational expectations separately by gender to reveal gender-specific mechanisms. Third, by using data from two-time points, we explore which national-level changes lead to changes in students' occupational expectations. Our first descriptive results show that the patterns of how students' occupational expectations change over time differ remarkably between countries. In 2018 in some countries, students' occupational expectations became more segregated while in others the number of students with gender-balanced or gender-atypical expectations increased. Our fixed effects models show that women's empowerment and self-expression value explained variance over time. For example, women's empowerment measured via an increase in women's employment and participation in parliament led to less gender-typical occupational expectations among girls and boys. Similarly, a rise in self-expression values led to less gender-typical occupational expectations, again for both boys and girls. Remarkably, our results do not verify the gender-equality paradox for occupational expectations, as is the case in previous cross-sectional analyses.
... Women, instead, are disproportionally represented in education, the humanities, and social sciences. These patterns are found in Italy (Triventi, 2010) and elsewhere (Barone, 2011;Charles & Bradley, 2002). It is also well known that technical and scientific fields offer occupations with higher remuneration than humanistic degrees and social sciences in many countries (Ballarino & Bratti, 2009;Reimer et al., 2008). ...
... Previous sociological research has often explained gendered educational choices in higher education using two dominant theoretical frameworks. The first theoretical framework is socialisation theory, which proposes that girls and boys develop gender-specific vocational interests and career aspirations based on gender stereotypes (e.g., Marini et al., 1996;Charles and Bradley, 2002;Correll, 2004). Parents, peers and further significant others affect girls' and boys' behaviour and preferences, and peers of the same gender are especially influential role models in cultivating these gender stereotypes (Eccles and Hoffman, 1984;Marini and Brinton, 1984). ...
Gender segregation in higher education is considered one of the main drivers of persistent economic gender inequality. Yet, though there has been considerable research identifying and describing the underlying mechanisms that cause gendered educational choices in higher education, little is known about how gender segregation in higher education could be changed. Accordingly, this article aims to determine the potential of educational interventions during high school to foster gender desegregation in higher education. We focused on two different processes that contribute to gender segregation in majors among higher education graduates: first, the selection into specific majors and, second, the selection out of specific majors. We investigated whether an intensive counselling programme leads to more gender-atypical choices among high-school graduates and examined whether intensive counselling supports several indicators of students' persistence in gender-atypical majors. Based on data from an experimental study of a counselling programme for German high-school students ( N = 625), we estimated the programme's effect with linear probability models and intention-to-treat analysis. Our results show that high-school graduates are more likely to choose a gender-atypical major if they have received intensive counselling. This applies more to men than to women. In addition, the programme improved some persistence indicators for students in gender-atypical majors. Although we found a significant programme effect only for perceived person–major fit and student satisfaction, the coefficients of all aspects of students' persistence show a trend indicating that the programme was beneficial for students in gender-atypical majors. As experimental studies can also be affected by various types of bias, we performed several robustness checks. All analyses indicated stable results. In conclusion, we suggest that intensive counselling programmes have the potential to reduce gender segregation in higher education. More students were motivated to choose a gender-atypical major, and different aspects of student persistence were supported by the programme for students in gender-atypical majors.
... The low female participation in STEM has been widely discussed in the worldwide academic literature over the last decades (Charles and Bradley, 2002;Macarie and Moldovan, 2015). Although the number of female STEM graduates increased in the EU after the expansion of higher education in the mid-2000s, horizontal segregation in STEM seems to be an unsolvable issue (Caprile et al., 2015). ...
The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the inequalities in the academic outcomes of Italian students. This dissertation is divided into four chapters in an attempt to adhere to a chronological order. Each chapter will deal with a different step in university careers and with a different type of inequality (socioeconomic, geographical, and gender inequalities), and different approaches will be used to answer various questions.
... Men and women choose different fields of study -and these differences in study field lead to differences in labor market outcomes and pay (Charles and Bradley 2002;Gerber and Cheung 2008). These choices contribute to inequalities in the positions men and women occupy, the types of work they do, and the compensation they receive (Smyth and Steinmetz 2015;Barone 2011;van de Werfhorst 2017). ...
... A prominent part of the literature linking gender stereotypes to educational and occupational choices point to gender essentialism as a significant mechanism perpetuating gendered educational choices in post-industrial societies (Charles & Bradley, 2002, 2009Charles & Grusky, 2004;Moskos, 2019). This term denotes the commonly held belief that men and women are fundamentally different, and that the gendered division of labour is natural. ...
This study aims to unpack one element of the logics of gendered educational choices, namely how cultural beliefs about gender can shape young people’s judgements about gendered educational tracks. Through a survey experiment conducted among secondary school students in Oslo, Norway, we assess respondents’ judgements about fictitious students’ “appropriate” educational choices presented through short vignettes. The study investigates how judgements vary according to the gender of the fictitious students, as well as respondents’ gender and their gender essentialist beliefs. The results indicate that devaluation of female-typed work play a role in young people’s judgements about educational tracks. Boys and girls alike seem to award male-typed vocational education and general college preparatory education higher status than female-typed vocational education. Nonetheless, vignette boys are more strongly advised against choosing female-typed vocational programmes than vignette girls with the same characteristics. This pattern is evident regardless of respondents’ essentialist beliefs. Thus, both devaluation and gender stereotypical expectations pull in the same direction for boys, against entering female-typed education in upper secondary school. Furthermore, the findings indicate that gender essentialism works asymmetrically. Respondents with gender essentialist beliefs are more likely to advise girls not to choose male-typed vocational programmes. However, we did not find evidence that respondents, including those who otherwise express gender essentialist beliefs, believe that female-typed vocational educational choices are appropriate for women simply because they are women.
... However, Within the arts, sciences, and engineering fields, differences between men and women in choosing a college major have not lessened in the past two decades [1]. Furthermore, women's concentration in academic majors that prepare students for caregiving occupations is notable [3,4]. The difference in choice of college majors between males and females is quite dramatic; While males tend to choose majors related to science and engineering, females are more likely to choose majors in humanity and education. ...
... More important for our contribution, international research on social stratification emphasizes the role of 'horizontal dimensions of education-based stratification' (Charles & Bradley, 2002;Gerber & Cheung, 2008;Torche, 2011). One well-researched indicator for horizontal stratification is the quality of (higher) education institutions (Gerber & Cheung, 2008). ...
The German initiative of excellence was the most far-reaching political measure in university funding–a shift from an equal distribution of funds, rooted in Humboldt’s tradition, to large-scale merit-based funding. Recent studies have examined the question how the initiative has affected (in)equality in university funding; but as yet little is known about effects on graduates’ monetary returns for university degrees. We analyse whether a degree from a ‘university of excellence’ leads to a wage premium at labour market entry. Inspired by previous work that found advantages only for subgroups, we further analyse whether the excellence effect on wages differs by social background and gender. Applying a difference-in-differences approach in combination with a simulation study, we do not identify a statistically significant excellence premium in the wages for graduates of ‘universities of excellence’. Checking for effect heterogeneity, the overall result holds for different social backgrounds as well as for men and women. But even though the average treatment effect, university’s status of excellence, is not significant at the usual thresholds, at least a tendency towards higher wages in the short run is identifiable (at a significance level of 13%). Finally, we discuss our results in light of policy evaluation and social stratification processes.
... First, it is likely that some sectors attract individuals of different profiles to top HRM positions. For example, in line with a somewhat stereotypical view of male and female primary inter ests, the manufacturing sector attracts more male HRM professionals and the education sector attracts more females (Charles & Bradley, 2002;Hinz & Gartner, 2005). Similarly, the secondary sector attracts more individuals with education in engineering and natural sciences than the tertiary sector does. ...
In recent years, scholars and practitioners have increasingly recognized that human resource management (HRM) has paid insufficient attention to the impact of context. While research has been devoted to examining the impact of national context on HRM systems, this literature has been largely separate from that focused on other levels of context affecting organizational choices in HRM strategies, such as the impact of the organizational environment, industry sector, occupation, or workforce characteristics. In addition, research has tended to consider elements of context in isolation rather than considering its impact at different levels. The goal of The Oxford Handbook of Contextual Approaches to Human Resource Management is to provide a more holistic approach to developing a contextual understanding of HRM. This handbook offers a comprehensive understanding of the influence of contextual characteristics on the design and implementation of HRM systems. Rather than focusing on a single level or approach to examining context, the handbook provides both conceptual and empirical analyses of different elements of context using a range of lenses and measures. To explore the influence of contextual factors at multiple levels, the volume assembles a range of detailed conceptual and empirical accounts of how context affects the design, implementation, and impact of HRM activities.
... The resistance of these stereotypes and their repetition in space and, most importantly, in time, can be traced back to the fact that they are hardly perceived as discriminatory. As Charles and Bradley (2002) note, to the parents the son and daughter are the same, but different. Their differences are perceived as natural and harmless. ...
This volume contains papers presented in the First International
Conference of the Journal “Scuola Democratica” which took
place at the University of Cagliari on 5-8 June 2019. The aim of
the Conference was to bring together researchers, decision
makers and educators from all around the world to investigate
the concepts of “education” in a “post-democracy” era, the
latter being a set of conditions under which scholars are called
to face and counteract new forms of authoritarian democracy.
Populisms, racisms, discriminations and nationalisms have burst
and spread on the international scene, translated and mobilized
by sovereigntist political movements. Nourished by neoliberalism and inflated by technocratic systems of governance
these regressive forms of post-democracy are shaping historical
challenges to the realms of education and culture: it is on this
ground, and not only on the political and economic spheres, that
decisive issues are at stake. These challenges are both tangible
and intangible, and call into question the modern ideas of justice,
equality and democracy, throughout four key dimensions of the
educational function, all of which intersected by antinomies and
uncertainties: ethical-political socialization, differences,
inclusion, innovation.
The Conference has been an opportunity to present and discuss
empirical and theoretical works from a variety of disciplines and
fields covering education and thus promoting a trans- and interdisciplinary discussion on urgent topics; to foster debates among
experts and professionals; to diffuse research findings all over
international scientific networks and practitioners’ mainstreams;
to launch further strategies and networking alliances on local,
national and international scale; to provide a new space for
debate and evidences to educational policies. In this framework,
more than 600 participants, including academics, educators,
university students, had the opportunity to engage in a
productive and fruitful dialogue based on researches, analyses
and critics, most of which have been published in this volume in
their full version.
During the past few decades, several indices were developed to search for the best measure of the complex phenomenon of gender segregation, for example Duncan and Duncan index of dissimilarity. Karmel MacLachlan (IP) index; Employment standardized index of dissimilarity, Size standardized Dissimilarity index, Association index under Structured Log Linear model, Total occupational concentration, Male or female-dominated occupations and Gender labelling of Industries etc. The objective of this paper is to present and discuss the methodologies used to measure occupational sex segregation. I have made attention to the question, of how the degree of segregation should be measured. It is concluded that the measurement of the level of segregation by sex is still a matter of great controversy. No index is right for all proposes and the appropriate index can be chosen according to the study's objective.
Even in academic fields dominated by women students (e.g., educational research), academic careers are characterized by vertical gender segregation in favor of men. This clashes with the public understanding of educational research as a women's domain that is more strongly associated with warmth (a stereotypically feminine trait) than competence (a stereotypically masculine trait), as revealed in our first study. We thus conducted an experimental vignette study of 189 adults from the general public to explore how women versus men researchers working in educational research versus physics (as a contrasting domain clearly dominated by men) were perceived on several dimensions of competence and warmth. Whereas the female researcher in physics was rated as more competent than the female researcher in educational research, the woman in physics was penalized for her gender stereotype-incongruent domain choice by being perceived as less warm. However, the male researcher in educational research was perceived as both warmer and more competent than his man counterpart in physics, and as smarter than the female researcher in educational research. These findings suggest rewards instead of penalties for men pursuing academic careers in initially women-dominated domains, likely contributing to the increasing gender gap in academic careers in these domains.
Este artículo constituye una primera investigación —en el siglo XXI— sobre la Universidad en España en comparacióncon los sistemas de educación postsecundaria de los países del mundo. Analiza los recursos universitariosy su distribución por países. Presenta primero los datos internacionales sobre niveles generales deescolarización, para centrarse en la «educación terciaria» (postsecundaria). Se presenta la evolución en lasúltimas tres décadas, así como las tasas actuales de estudiantes. Analiza los recursos económicos en el contextode las desigualdades existentes en los países del mundo, además de la proporción del PNB y el gastopor estudiante. Diferencia el sector público y el privado, diversos niveles de la Administración y los sistemas deayuda económica a estudiantes. Entre los recursos se analizan en detalle los relativos a investigación ydesarrollo (I+D) tanto en capital humano como en presupuesto. El artículo finaliza con un detalle de los datossobre bibliotecas universitarias en el contexto del conjunto de las bibliotecas de cada país. El artículo demuestralas diferencias más importantes de la Universidad española en comparación con los demás países de la UniónEuropea. Se utilizan los mejores datos de la UNESCO, la OCDE, el Banco Mundial y las Naciones Unidas.Este artículo es parte de una línea de investigación que se desarrolla en colaboración con varios centros: Universidadde Barcelona, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Georgetown University, University of Pennsylvania y elComité de Ciencias Sociales del European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research (de laComisión Europea, Bruselas).
Este estudio es la segunda parte —o continuación— de otro anterior titulado «La Universidad española en unmundo globalizado: los recursos», publicado por los mismos autores en la Revista Española de InvestigacionesSociológicas (n.º 102, abril-junio 2003). Se trata de una investigación comparativa sobre la Universidad enEspaña en relación con los sistemas de educación postsecundaria de otros países del mundo. El objetivo esevaluar la calidad diferencial de los sistemas universitarios de los distintos países del mundo. En la primeraparte se realiza un análisis de los resultados de los sistemas universitarios y su distribución por países. Sepresentan los datos comparativos de capital humano en la Universidad, fundamentalmente profesores y estudiantes,que se pueden considerar como recursos y también como resultados. Calcula la población que tieneeducación terciaria, tanto entre la población adulta como entre los/as jóvenes de las cohortes respectivas. Enla segunda parte se analizan las tendencias de especialización y graduación, señalando las diferencias entrepaíses. Se analiza el proceso de feminización de las universidades, en especial la situación de Europa. Se explicanlas tendencias de globalización e internacionalización de los estudios universitarios, analizando en detalleel caso de los/as estudiantes extranjeros. La última parte estudia la relación entre educación terciaria yocupación en el mercado de trabajo. Se tienen en cuenta también las relaciones con el desempleo. Este artículocomplementa el análisis previo de los inputs con la investigación de las diferencias y desigualdades enlos outputs, que se consideran cada vez más importantes en los estudios que tratan de medir la calidad de ladocencia y la excelencia de la investigación en la educación universitaria. Se presentan las diferencias másimportantes de la Universidad española en comparación con los demás países de la Unión Europea y, a suvez, los resultados que obtienen los sistemas europeos en relación con otros países avanzados del mundo. Sedelimitan los factores que explican el retraso y la decadencia de la Universidad europea actual. Se utilizan los mejores datos de la UNESCO, la OCDE, el Banco Mundial y las Naciones Unidas. Parte de estos datosse utilizan actualmente en el Standing Group on Indicators and Benchmarks de la Dirección Generalde Educación y Cultura, en la Comisión Europea (en Bruselas), donde el representante de Españaes el profesor J. M. de Miguel. Este artículo es parte de una línea de investigación que se desarrolla encolaboración con varios centros: Universidad de Barcelona, Universidad Pública de Navarra, GeorgetownUniversity, University of Pennsylvania y el Comité de Ciencias Sociales del European Cooperationin the Field of Scientific and Technical Research (de la Comisión Europea, Bruselas). Incluye unabibliografía seleccionada y al día.
This paper aims to examine gender dynamics within the technical field, with a specific focus on engineering education and the workforce. Acknowledging the complex interplay between gender identities, the research explores the nuances of social norms that sustain inequality in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). The persistent gender gap in STEM is highlighted by global statistics, which has prompted a thorough investigation of the difficulties faced by women in technical field. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study combines information from the Nepal Engineering Council (NEC) and survey data, interviews, and insights from the Population Census of Nepal 2078 BS. The findings demonstrate intricate patterns of gender disparity in STEM education, with variations between urban and rural environments and between various ecological belts. In particular, during educational experiences and field visits, the paper emphasizes the impact of societal beliefs and biases that lead to unequal opportunities and biased treatment. Workplace issues like leadership discrepancies, wage discrimination, and political influence highlight the ongoing gender gap. The research provides detailed insights into the gender gap in engineering by analysing data from NEC. To effectively address gender disparities in engineering, the paper concludes with recommendations for targeted interventions at the workplace, educational institutions, and policy levels. Thos policies that support women in technical fields, inclusive workplace cultures and equal opportunities should be encouraged. This research serves as a crucial tool for understanding and dismantling deeply ingrained biases, contributing to the ongoing discourse on gender equity within the context of engineering in Nepal.
I n tr oduc t ion. The article examines current ideas about professional gender segregation in Russian and foreign scientific discourses. Comparative analysis of various approaches to understanding gender issues allows us to identify new potentials for their study, as well as to pay attention to the development of the optics of Russian science in considering gender differences. Gender issues in the field of information technology require the closest attention and study, since this area is at the forefront of scientific, technological and social development.
Me t hodology and sources. The theoretical and methodological basis for interpreting the results of the study was the main provisions of sociological and economic theories: the theory of social representations (S. Moscovici), the concept of habitus (P. Bourdieu), role theory (R. Linton), and rational choice theory. To work with empirical data, we used the methods of comparative text analysis, analysis of documents and research reports (The Gender Inequality Index, The Global Gender Gap Index, Global Gender Gap Report, “Women and Men of Russia-2022”), and discourse analysis.
Resul t s and discussion. In foreign studies, with the long-established vision and acceptance of gender problems, there is an understanding that past steps to achieve gender parity in the labor market lead to a new configuration of gender differences, which requires new efforts to eliminate them. In Russian scientific literature, the main emphasis is on monitoring the current situation of women in the professional environment, analyzing statistics and searching for hidden mechanisms of professional gender segregation.
Conclusion. The results of the analysis show that in the presence of demonstrative statistics and large-scale empirical research, there is no theoretical consensus in the scientific discourse about the professional gender situation. There is a clear dissonance between the statement of problems by theorists and the lack of a request to find their solution on the part of practice, where gender “neutrality” or “indifference” reigns in some professional contexts. Conclusions are drawn about the nature of the Russian scientific gender discourse, which needs to develop a thesaurus of nonbinarity and develop an effective way of reasoning about gender issues.
A participação de mulheres no mercado de trabalho aumentou significativamente ao longo das últimas décadas, reflexo da maior escolarização entre elas. Entretanto, persiste a segregação de gênero ocupacional e retornos diferenciados para homens e mulheres. Utilizando dados dos Censos Demográficos de 1980 a 2010 e uma metodologia recente que analisa a ligação entre categorias educacionais e ocupacionais (linkage), lanço mão de um modelo de regressão logística para responder a seguinte pergunta: participação feminina no mercado de trabalho é incentivada quando as mulheres se encontram em uma área de formação que se liga mais às ocupações, possuindo, dessa forma, um mercado de trabalho específico? Percebeu-se que a ligação tem grande influência na probabilidade de participação de mulheres no mercado de trabalho, apesar de ao longo do tempo o efeito ter diminuído. Ainda assim, estar em uma área de formação que possui ligações mais específicas com o mercado de trabalho aumenta a probabilidade de mulheres decidirem participar do mercado. Como esperávamos, para homens estar em um nível-área mais ligado não tem tanto efeito em sua trajetória ocupacional, dado que são pressionados a participarem do mercado de trabalho independentemente de seu nível de ensino.
El libro Mujer en las Américas, brecha de género en un mundo global muestra desde diversas perspectivas las discusiones de género que se viven en el mundo actual, el objetivo del libro es discutir acerca de los distintos problemas que se enfrentan actualmente en este tema, que transita desde temas de género en la ciencia, importancia de los archivos, riesgo sexual, liderazgo, migración oposiciones políticas, rotación laboral e incluso una perspectiva personal de como se enfrentan algunos retos desde el punto de vista de una latina en el norte global. La metodología usada es diversa y esta explicada en cada uno de los capítulos que componen el libro. La conclusión general es que no se pueden detener este tipo de discusiones desde la ciencia, ya que permiten observar desde una perspectiva particular la forma de enfrentar retos y avanzar en el desarrollo de la sociedad, así como las luchas que se desarrollan al respecto.
Objetivou-se verificar a produtividade de docentes inseridos/as em programas de pós-graduação stricto sensu, da região Nordeste do Brasil, sob o recorte de gênero. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva, exploratória, de abordagem quantitativa, com coleta de dados realizada nos meses de março a outubro de 2020, via acesso à Plataforma Lattes de 31 docentes do sexo feminino que gozaram licença maternidade, 264 docentes do sexo feminino sem licença maternidade e 339 docentes do sexo masculino, inseridos/as em programas stricto sensu no quadriênio 2017 a 2020. Pode-se observar que as docentes mulheres sem licença maternidade e aquelas com licença maternidade possuem uma média de produtividade acadêmica maior que docentes do sexo masculino, com 63,95, 58,64 e 51,90 respectivamente. Todavia, mesmo com menor produção, verifica-se que docentes homens lideram em quase todas as áreas do conhecimento, com destaque para Engenharias (84,61%). Quando se comparam as docentes que usufruíram de licença maternidade com as que não usufruíram, observa-se redução significativa da produtividade daquelas que gozaram deste direito. Conclui-se que ainda há desigualdade de gênero no ambiente acadêmico/científico e que a maternidade traz consigo impactos na carreira da mulher docente, propiciando declínio de produtividade após o nascimento da criança.
The greatest impact due to the Covid 19 pandemic and the consequent economic crisis has borne most heavily on women, in both economic and social terms.
The aim of the following paper is to highlight the impact that the pandemic crisis has had on the female population in Italy and in other countries of the European Union and the world. The analysis aims to focus on various spheres of women's lives: a social sphere, a cultural sphere, a health sphere and an economic sphere.
The specific Italian case, analysed in the second chapter, will be compared with the European average, and with other EU countries, such as Sweden and Bulgaria. Accepting the reality of an entirely globalised world, the research will be extended to non-European states, such as the United States and Australia, and non-Western ones, such as China, India and Brazil.
It concludes with an optimistic approach, hoping for adequate public policy intervention in Italy and around the world to make women truly equal to men.
The Gender-Equality Paradox (GEP) describes the phenomenon that the gender gap in the preference for and choice of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors is larger in more affluent and gender-egalitarian societies. GEP has theoretically been explained by greater economic opportunities in affluent societies for gendered self-realization, yet the literature lacks a test of this explanation on the individual level. This study tests (a) whether household wealth is associated with a greater male-favorable gender gap in student's math intentions, (b) whether this association, if any, is different in size and shape in more affluent and less affluent countries, and (c) whether household wealth can account for GEP regarding math intentions. Multilevel regression analyses of 15-year-old students' intentions to study math rather than language from 60 countries of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 display that household wealth is only weakly and positively related to girls' and boys' math intentions and does not increase or decrease the gender gap in math intentions. This pattern of household wealth effects does not differ between more affluent and less affluent countries, and household wealth cannot account for GEP regarding math intentions. These findings underline that the economic need/opportunity interpretation of GEP does not hold on the micro level and requires further research into the drivers of GEP.
Resumo Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o perfil dos estudantes de ensino superior que ingressaram em cursos de licenciatura após seu período de expansão e diversificação no século XXI. Para tal, foi necessário revisar a literatura nacional e internacional, compreender um pouco da história da formação de professores no Brasil e como o crescimento do ensino superior entre 2002 e 2016 influenciou a matrícula de discentes nesses cursos. A partir deste trabalho inicial, foi possível interpretar com mais fundamento os resultados gerados a partir da utilização de modelos multinomiais para a manipulação dos Exames Nacionais de Desempenho dos Estudante (Enade) de 2015, 2016 e 2017. Nesses modelos, foram utilizadas combinações institucionais com grau acadêmico, rede, modalidade como variável dependente, enquanto o nível socioeconômico, a idade e o gênero dos estudantes foram utilizados como variáveis independentes. Os resultados apontam que estudantes de nível socioeconômico baixo, mulheres e indivíduos mais velhos possuem maior probabilidade de estarem em cursos de licenciatura.
The authors conducted semi-structured interviews and used random sampling in selecting Preschool Education majors from a university in Southern China. A total of 20 participants between the ages of 19 and 22 years were asked what influenced them to pursue preschool education and their future career plans. Thereafter, the scholarship of teaching and learning method was employed to inquire on the differences in experiences between men and women and how these experiences have affected their major and overall career choices.
Starting at the earliest phase in the educational career, our analyses show that there are already gender differences in mathematical competencies at early preschool age, but against the usual expectations, in favour of girls. In primary school, the early gender-specific differences are then reinforced: Boys perform better in mathematics and girls in German language. Nevertheless, these relative advantages in each domain compensate for each other, so there are no significant differences in the overall performance. Concerning the transition from secondary school to vocational training or higher education there was some evidence from the data that among graduates, young women tend to opt more often for vocational training than young men, whereas the men more often choose to study at universities for applied science than women. We did not find gender differences regarding university entry: Women do not aim lower with respect to university entry at similar grades than boys.
Finally, our results show the important role of mothers in shaping the level of education of their daughters. In summary, based on our analyses the expected cumulative differences among boys and girls and men and women over the life course appear to be in accordance with the so-called Matthew effect hypothesis: Small gender differences at preschool age are getting bigger over the school career, not so much with regard to competence trajectories but with regard to the chosen subjects in schools and fields of study at vocational training and tertiary education.
Educational expectations have increased over time, with greater increases among young women than men, yet research focused on expectations for post-baccalaureate degrees is limited. We investigate young men’s and women’s plans to attend graduate or professional school using Monitoring the Future data from 12th graders for 1976 to 2019, focusing on how academic performance and work and family values may be associated with post-baccalaureate expectations. We find that young women’s expectations for graduate or professional school began to exceed young men’s in the early 1990s and continued to do so afterward, although expectations for post-baccalaureate schooling declined some in recent years, especially among young men. Results also indicate that the gender gap over time is driven partially by more young women than men with B or lower average grades holding post-baccalaureate expectations. Work values may foster these high expectations, especially for lower-achieving young women. Finally, we examine whether post-baccalaureate expectations translate into higher attainments, and results suggest that higher-achieving students are better positioned to meet their post-baccalaureate expectations. Collectively, our findings suggest that sociocultural factors promoting women’s participation in the public sphere may encourage some young women to form high-level expectations that they are not academically equipped to meet.
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of workplace gender segregation in non‐standard employment in the United States. It compares segregation in standard and three non‐standard work arrangements paying special attention to independent contracting – a segment of contingent employment representing novel and consequential developments in work organization. In line with the prediction that inequality is lower in more marketized sectors of the labour market, my analyses based on a representative sample of the contemporary US workforce reveal that workplace gender segregation is lower in non‐standard employment. I further find that the degree of segregation corresponds to the degree of attachment to the employer and that segregation is lower in segments of the economy with higher market competition. Overall, my analyses indicate that a shift towards alternative work arrangements can reduce overall workplace segregation but does not lead to uniform desegregation across occupations, and that institutions of employment and market pressures faced by employers play significant roles in the effect of alternative work arrangements on workplace segregation.
Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth we examine processes by which students enter lucrative fields of study, selective colleges, and lucrative fields within selective colleges. We code fields by their graduates' average monthly income and use average incoming student's SAT scores to measure selectivity. We find that: (1) males are much more likely to enter fields of study with higher economic returns than are females; (2) socioeconomic factors do not affect chances of entry into lucrative fields net of other background factors, but SES predicts entry into selective colleges and lucrative fields within selective colleges; (3) measured academic ability is an important predictor for all dependent variables.
This book provides a powerful theoretical framework for understanding cross-national cultural differences. Focusing on France and America, it analyses how the people of these two different cultures mobilise national 'repertoires of evaluation' to make judgements about politics, economics, morals and aesthetics. The analysis draws on eight case studies by eleven French and American researchers who have worked together over a number of years to develop systematic comparisons between these countries. The topics are wide-ranging, comparing how individuals use the cultural tools at their disposal to answer questions such as: are races equal? What constitutes sexual harassment? What is the value of contemporary art? Should journalists be neutral? How can the defense of the environment be reconciled with economic imperatives? Moving beyond simplistic essentialist models of national character, this comparative approach offers important insights that will interest not only sociologists but also political scientists and anthropologists.
This paper extends the conceptualisation and refines the operationalisation of gender inequality. The aim is to bridge theory - on gender relations - and measurement - of the reality of gender for women and men - by means of a set of social indicators of gender inequality. We first elaborate the concept of gender inequality and differentiate it from `women's status'. Gender inequality is defined as the departure from parity in the representation of women and men in key dimensions of social life. Next, we operationalise the concept through a set of social indicators developed from statistics provided in the United Nations Women's Statistics and Indicators (WISTAT) database. The 21 indicators measure disparities in the distribution of women and men in socially valued positions in five dimensions - physical well-being, public power, family formation, education and economic activity - within two spheres: human rights and social relations. Finally, we apply the social indicators of gender inequality in a cross-national analysis of the disparities between women and men at different levels of national development. The findings reveal the dismal state of women's human rights across all levels of national income and the disadvantage women experience in the interconnection between social relations of production and reproduction in countries rich or poor. This more complex measure of gender inequality has the potential to inform policy and practices aimed at achieving gender equality.
Examines the relationship between the occupational distributions of men and women in 25 industrial countries and selected social, economic, and cultural factors. The same economic structures that are associated with women's greater integration into the formal labor force also contributes to a deepening institutionalization of gender within the occupational structure. This may occur through the incorporation of women's traditional tasks into the formal economy, and/or through the hierarchical and functional differentiation of economic activity in highly industrial societies. Results indicate that some primary structural characteristics of modern economies (a relatively large service sector and a large employee class) are associated with greater female concentration in clerical, sales, and service occupations. Other social and cultural characteristics of these countries - low rates of fertility and more favorable ideological environments - partially offset these segregative forces. The actual penetration of egalitarian principles into the labor market appears to be mediated by the structure of interest articulation, with corporatist systems showing greater propensity toward segregations. -from Author
For nearly a century, virtually every industrial country has experienced a steady increase in the proportion of married women in paid employment. Today, over half of US wives under age 60 are employed, and within 15 to 20 years their employment rate seems likely to approximate that of married men. This transformation follows the demise of the 'breadwinner system' of employment initiated by the Industrial Revolution. Separating the workplace from the home destroyed the direct division of labor between husband and wife. Inherent weaknesses of the breadwinner system and its erosion by demographic and social changes (eg rising divorce rates) have pushed married women into the labour force. While this new egalitarian system brings wives back into economic production, it does so outside the home and thus in a way that is incompatible with child raising.-Author
Unlike the extensive cross-national research on occupational sex segregation, sex segregation within higher education has yet to be empirically examined comparatively. This article reports analyses for a wide range of countries from 1965 through 1990, using two measures of gender differentiation by field of study. The results indicate that gender differentiation has declined surprisingly little. Women are more likely to graduate from education, arts, humanities, social sciences, and law, and men are more likely to graduate from natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Few differences are found between more- and less economically developed countries. These findings echo those in the occupational sex segregation literature.
Students do not come to identify with a particular version of the college student role overnight. Instead, they must go through a multistage process, involving the learning of and identification with that role. This process occurs over time and can vary in terms of the different dimensions of meaning associated with the same version of college student. This article examines the effect of participating in a senior capstone course on undergraduates' identification with a particular university-promoted version of college student and discusses the implications of the findings for assessment and curricular development.
This chapter sets forth a general theory of gender stratification. While both biological and ideological variables are taken into account, the emphasis is structural: It is proposed that the major independent variable affecting sexual inequality is each sex's economic power, understood as relative control over the means of production and allocation of surplus. For women, relative economic power is seen as varying-and not always in the same direction-at a variety of micro- and macrolevels, ranging from the household to the state. A series of propositions links the antecedents of women's relative economic power, the interrelationship between economic and other forms of power, and the forms of privilege and opportunity into which each gender can translate its relative power.
This paper reanalyzes 3-stratum intergenerational mobility classifications, assembled by Hazelrigg and Garnier for men in 16 countries in the 1960s and 1970s. Log-linear and log-multiplicative models are used to compare mobility regimes and to estimate effects of industrialization, educational enrollment, social democracy, and income inequality on immobility and other parameters of the mobility process. Several models of mobility fit the data equally well, so criteria of plausibility and parsimony are applied to choose one model of stratum-specific immobility and another model of vertical mobility with uniform immobility. We find substantial similarity in mobility and immobility across countries, but the exogenous variables do explain systematic differences among countries. Cross-national variations are complex because most of the exogenous variables have different effects on different parameters of the mobility regime. Relative to other factors, industrialization and education have weaker effects on mobility regimes than has usually been supposed.
This study uses data on sex differences in the eighth-grade mathematical performance of over 77,000 students in 19 countries, 1964 and 1982 data on such differences in 9 countries, and data on gender stratification of advanced educational and occupational opportunities to explore when and where gender will affect students' performance in mathematics. The analyses show that there is cross-national variation in the performance of mathematics and that it is related to variation in the gender stratification of educational and occupational opportunities in adulthood, that sex differences have declined over time, and that school and family factors leading to higher mathematical performance are less stratified by gender when women have more equal access to jobs and higher education.
This cross-national study shows that women's enrollments in science and engineering fields in higher education increased between 1972 and 1992 throughout much of the world. This increase was positively influenced by women's level of enrollments in the nonscience and nonengineering fields. This finding suggests a positive spillover effect for women. The level of male enrollments in these fields also had a positive effect, thus suggesting that as fields of study become more open to men, they also become more open to women. These cross-national findings raise questions about the applicability of the persistence of an inequality perspective to women's expanded access to higher education.
This article develops a supply-side mechanism about how cultural beliefs about gender differentially influence the early career-relevant decisions of men and women. Cultural beliefs about gender are argued to bias individuals' perceptions of their competence at var- ious career-relevant tasks, controlling for actual ability. To the extent that individuals then act on gender-differentiated perceptions when making career decisions, cultural beliefs about gender channel men and women in substantially different career directions. The hy- potheses are evaluated by considering how gendered beliefs about mathematics impact individuals' assessments of their own mathe- matical competence, which, in turn, leads to gender differences in decisions to persist on a path toward a career in science, math, or engineering.
This paper uses cross-national data to examine how economic, political, and educational structures affect both the participation of women in the labor force and their employment in more powerful and wellrewarded positions. We find that both the level of industrialization and the degree of state corporateness positively influence the participation of women, but that these fail to affect the proportion of women in the administrative and managerial occupations. However, the relative number of women in higher education shows positive effects on both dependent variables. We interpret this finding as a process of ‘institutional demystification’ and discuss the overall pattern of effects as ‘incorporation at the rear of the bus.’
This study uses a “science pipeline” model and cross-national data to examine women's participation in science education and occupations in seven countries. Gender stratification in later science education and in science occupations is found in every country examined. Young women's participation in science education decreases with each stage in the science pipeline, but there is considerable cross-national variation in the extent of gender stratification in science. Findings show greater gender stratification in science occupations than in science education, suggesting factors other than training help maintain inequality in high-status science occupations.
This article develops an approach to cross-national research on the status of women that merges theoretical and methodological concerns. The approach consists of understanding the concept status of women within three dimensions—political, economic, and cultural. The article differentiates between a public and a private domain within each dimension. To understand and compare the status of women in different countries, it is argued that it is imperative to study the interrelationships among the dimensions and domains of status of women. Contrasting the approach taken here with that of extant research on gender inequality and with efforts to locate a universal measure of women's status provides an illustration of the complexity involved in analyzing the status of women, the meaninglessness of talking globally about a single measure of status of women, and the necessity to go beyond male-centered measures of status to capture more fully women's status and experiences.
This article introduces a structural approach to analyzing sex segregation data that rests on margin-free measures of the underlying association in sex-by-occupation arrays. The starting point for the analyses is a log-multiplicative model that is formally consistent with the conventional practice of summarizing cross-national variability in a single parameter pertaining to the overall strength of sex segregation. Under this baseline specification, the segregation regime is forced to take on the same basic shape in each country, with the only form of permissible variability being a uniform compression or expansion of the peaks and valleys characterizing the shared segregation profile. Although the latter model does not account for the cross-national variability in our illustrative data, it can be readily generalized in ways that both improve the fit and yield new insights into the structure and sources of sex segregation. These elaborated models can be used to examine the hierarchical structure of segregation, to identify the dominant ''segregation profiles'' in industrial countries, and to parse out the net residue of segregation at multiple levels of analysis.
Recent data indicate that, while almost the same proportion of male and female college freshmen enter undergraduate premedical programs, substantially fewer females eventually apply to medical school. College transcripts from a large eastern university were examined to determine whether the lower persistence rate of females is a consequence of a generally lower level of academic performance. The evidence indicates that the differential rate of application is only slightly determined by sex differences in academic performance. Most of the variance is the consequence of a unique pattern of persistence. Females with moderate and low levels of academic performance are substantially less likely than males with similar levels of performance to apply to medical school, but those with a high level of performance are equally likely to apply. Existing "normative" and "structural barriers" approaches in explaining the persistence gap are assessed in terms of logic and evidence. A "normative alternatives" approach that may provide a more adequate explanation of these findings is offered.
This paper is concerned with one example of demographically related social change-women's changing work roles. The argument is that continued economic development in our society has led to increases in the demand for female labor which, combined with demographically induced shifts in the supply of unmarried and young women, have resulted in the considerable post-World War II rise in the labor-force participation of married women. The evidence is that these changes are irreversible and will not be greatly affected by the entry of the baby-boom cohorts into the labor market. Nevertheless, women's increasing dissatisfaction with job opportunities can be expected because several of the higher-level traditional female occupations will probably not expand greatly in the near future.
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This article addresses issues of cross-national convergence in patterns of occupational sex segregation in the context of a new typology that distinguishes between substantive-egalitarian, formal-egalitarian, traditional family-centered, and economy-centered systems. Each of these systems can be characterized by distinct underlying gender "logics" and by the context of state response to issues of gender equality in the labor market. Using census and labor force survey data from 1960 to 1990 for 14 industrialized countries, log-linear models are employed to evaluate how levels and patterns of occupational sex segregation have evolved over this time period. Analyses reveal that cross-national variation in both the levels and patterns of segregation is declining over time; but at the same time, the remaining diversity among countries is increasingly patterned according to one of four segregation regimes. It appears that wholly idiosyncratic cross-national differences in the contours of occupational sex segregation are withering away as countries Come to settle on, with ever-fewer exceptions, one of four possible segregation regimes.
This article examines trends in the segregation of fields of study by sex for associate, bachelor's, master's and professional, and doctoral degrees from 1980 to 1990. Three dimensions of segregation are examined: unevenness, concentration or crowding, and intergroup academic contact. Trends in segregation during the college years are considered by comparing data on freshmen's intentions, based on data from the Cooperative institutional Research Program, with degrees earned four years later, based on data from the National Center for Educational Statistics. The data indicate a remarkable slowdown in the trend toward gender integration after 1985. The slowdown is interpreted from a social-control perspective on sex segregation.
Presents results of a study investigating the role of academic achievement, internship experience, and college major in determining the gender gap in starting salaries of college graduates. Concludes that the gap in salaries would have been larger had females not achieved greater academic success, undertaken more internships, and majored in higher paying areas than their male counterparts. (DK)
We review the logic underlying margin-free analyses of sex segregation arrays. In the course of our review, we show that the Karmel-MacLachlan decomposition does not live up to its margin-free billing, as the index upon which it rests, I
p
, is itself margin-sensitive. Moreover, because the implicit individualism of D is necessarily inconsistent with margin-free analysis, the field would do well to abandon not merely the Karmel-MacLachlan decomposition but all related efforts to purge marginal dependencies from D-inspired measures. The criticisms that Watts (1998) levels against our log-multiplicative approach are likewise unconvincing. We demonstrate that our preferred models pass the test of organizational equivalence, that the “problem⤎ of zero cells can be solved by applying well-developed methods for ransacking incomplete or sparse tables, and that simple log-multiplicative models can be readily devised to analyze disaggregate arrays. We illustrate these conclusions by analyzing a new cross-national archive of detailed segregation data.
While women's suffrage has become completely institutionalized around the world, liberalized abortion is one indicator of the status of women that remains contested. Moreover, abortion rights differ fundamentally from women's suffrage in that they are not derivative of rights originally extended to men. In this article, we summarize and compare the results of prior studies that assess the effects of independence era, international linkages, modernization, state activism, and status of women on the rate of the adoption of women's suffrage and reproduction rights. We argue that world cultural models of progress and justice foster expanded models of political citizenship; these then provide more compelling rationales for further women's rights.
Two assumptions undergird the argument: In all societies producers have more power than consumers; those who control the distribution of valued goods beyond the family have the most power. Historically, the requirements of population replacement have interacted with modes of subsistence technology to shape the differential distribution of power and prestige by sex. Evidence comes from societies based on foraging, the hoe, the plow, herding, and industrial technologies.
Analysis of sex differences in choice of college major in the United States in 1955 and 1973, using nationwide data. Data on college major distribution by sex; Analysis of differences; Empirical estimation. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)