HIGHLIGHTS

Article highlights briefly convey key findings, main points, and policy implications.

Recent article highlights are available below:

  •  Cracking Under Pressure? Gender Role Attitudes Toward Maternal Employment During COVID-19 in Germany – Mathias Huebener, Natalia Danzer, Astrid Pape, Pia Schober, C. Katharina Spiess & Gert G. Wagner
    • Gender role attitudes became less egalitarian during the 2021 COVID-19 lockdown in Germany.
    • When restrictions lifted, egalitarian gender role attitudes returned, indicating the changes were largely transitory.
    • Mothers of dependent children, who shouldered most of the additional care burden, demonstrated remarkable stability in views on gender roles.
    • Norm-setting, social diffusion, cognitive dissonance, and defense of a cultural worldview explain variance by gender and presence of children in the household.
    • Public support for maternal employment and childcare infrastructure is important for shaping societal norms.
  • Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture in the Semi-Arid: A Case Study of Northeastern Brazil – Erika Valerio, Luca Panzone & Emma Siliprandi
      • Climate change increases risks for rural livelihoods, highlighting the need for resilience.
      • Women’s empowerment is key to bolstering agriculture’s resilience in semi-arid regions, such as northeastern Brazil.
      • Participatory approaches in policy design are crucial for women’s empowerment success.
      • Inclusion of feminist pedagogy in interventions enhances rural women’s empowerment.
  • Angry Men and Civic Women? Gendered Effects of Conflict on Political Participation in Kosovo – Julie Litchfield, Elodie Douarin & Fatlinda Gashi
    • The view that conflict victims are more politically active than non-victims needs nuancing.
    • In Kosovo, women’s war displacement is only associated with an increase in voting.
    • But men will join a political party (if injury or death in the family) or demonstrate (if displaced).
    • This implies that victimization does not contribute to challenging gendered social norms.
    • The accepted “post-traumatic growth” hypothesis is insufficient to explain these findings.
  • Impact of Female Peer Composition on Gender Norm Perceptions in Secondary School in Uruguay – Martina Querejeta
    • In Uruguay, higher exposure to female peers in the class leads to more progressive gender perceptions by male students.
    • Class sex composition also reduces time devoted to domestic work and improves mathematics performance of female students.
    • Even one-year peer interactions in secondary school may have substantial effects on increasing gender-egalitarian attitudes and behaviors.
  • “Missing” Women in Economics Academia in India – Ambrish Dongre, Karan Singhal & Upasak Das
    • In India, only one-third of faculty, conference participants, and published researchers in economics are women.
    • The drop in the representation of women occurs mainly at the doctoral and faculty levels.
    • Norms around marriage age and desire for financial freedom affect women’s pursuit of doctoral programs.
    • Biases in recruitment and the “two-body” problem impact women’s presence in faculty positions.
    • Indian institutions must invest in faculty mentoring, promotion transparency, and childcare availability to foster academic success of students and faculty.