Support for Gender Stereotypes: Does Madrasah Education Matter?

This paper examines the influence of the institutional nature of schools on gender stereotyping by exploring contrasts between non-religious and Islamic faith (that is madrasah) schools among secondary school-going adolescents in rural Bangladesh. In particular, differences in gender attitudes across school types are explored to elucidate what about schools matters. Using a uniquely designed survey to assess the influence of school type on student characteristics, we find large differences in stereotypical gender attitudes by school type and student gender. Madrasah students in general, and unrecognised madrasah students in particular, show unfavourable attitudes about women and their abilities compared to their peers in non-religious schools. However, these differences are diminished considerably in ordered probit models suggesting that school-level differences are explained by teacher characteristics such as the nature of teacher training and average family size of teachers. These estimated effects are robust to conditioning on a rich set of family characteristics.     

Routine Activity Theory,Target Congruence,and School Context: A Multilevel Analysis of Teacher Victimization

Teachers at school are typically considered as handlers or guardians of students and managers of classrooms—in roles that foster learning and protect students from harm. Thus, relatively little research attention is given to identifying the risk factors for teacher victimization in comparison with the great deal of work addressing the correlates of student victimization at school. The present study fills this gap in the literature on school violence by examining the individual- and school-level predictors of teacher victimization. The authors’ analysis is framed using a multilevel opportunity theoretical approach, incorporating measures of teacher activities, self-protection, teacher attributes that suggest target vulnerability and target antagonism, school-level norms supportive of delinquency, and school-level guardianship. These various risk and protective factors are examined using hierarchical negative binomial regression models with data from over 4,100 teachers in 98 schools in Kentucky.     

Gender Parity and Schooling Choices

Abstract

We examine the determinants of gender differences in schooling choices using data on 290,000 secondary school applicants in Ghana. Over a quarter of female students choose home economics as their preferred field of study compared to two per cent of males. We find that schooling choices vary significantly with academic performance and educational norms. Higher performing female students and those from districts with a history of gender parity in educational attainment are less likely to choose home economics. Differences across geographic areas account for more of the variation in schooling choices than observable individual, family, and school-level characteristics can explain.     

Natural Disasters,Gender and Handicrafts

Using original post-disaster household survey data gathered in rural Fiji, this article explores the disaster–gender nexus. Female-headed households are disadvantaged, not because of bias against them in disaster damage or relief, but because of a newly emerging gendered division of labour for dwelling rehabilitation that tightens their constraints on intra-household labour allocation. Female-headed households with damaged dwellings resort to female labour activities connected with informal risk sharing – augmenting production of handicrafts for kava rituals in exchange for male-labour help. Female-headed households without male-adult members resort to such activities more than those with them, because of their distinctly different decision-making processes.     

Intergenerational Transmission of Gender Attitudes: Evidence from India

This paper examines the intergenerational transmission of gender attitudes in India, a setting with severe discrimination against women and girls. We use survey data on gender attitudes (specifically, about the appropriate roles and rights of women and girls) collected from nearly 5500 adolescents attending 314 schools in the state of Haryana, and their parents. We find that when a parent holds a more discriminatory attitude, his or her child is about 11 percentage points more likely to hold the view. We find that parents hold greater sway over students’ gender attitudes than their peers do, and that mothers influence children’s gender attitudes more than fathers. Parental attitudes influence child attitudes more in Scheduled Caste communities and student gender attitudes are positively correlated with behaviours such as interacting with children of the opposite gender.     

Gender,Child Maltreatment,and Delinquency

Prior research and theorizing have suggested that the relationship between child maltreatment and delinquent outcomes is gendered. However, research to date that has sought to test this hypothesis has been incomplete due to issues such as inconsistency in findings, focusing on a single type of maltreatment or delinquent outcome within a given study, and an overreliance on nonprobability samples. The authors sought to expand on this literature by examining the effects of several different types of child maltreatment on six different delinquent behaviors during middle adolescence in a nationally representative probability sample of American adolescents. Results suggest that in the case of physical abuse and alcohol use, child maltreatment shapes delinquent behaviors differently for girls and boys, with several other types of delinquent behaviors being similarly shaped by child maltreatment among girls and boys. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Reverse Gender Gap in Schooling in Bangladesh: Insights from Urban and Rural Households

This paper documents a reverse gender gap in secondary schooling outcomes in Bangladesh drawing upon several rounds of nationally representative household survey data. In terms of enrolment status and years of schooling completed, boys are found to lag behind girls in the rural as well as in the urban area. Within the urban sample, the gender gap is widest in the non-metropolitan area. These findings are robust to extensive control for demand and supply-side determinants of schooling and remain unchanged even when we use a within household estimator. We consider one hypothesis, namely gender-differentiated response to a conditional cash transfer program to reconcile the findings of this reverse gender gap.     

Gender and Corruption in Business

Are firms with female owners or managers less corrupt than other firms? We test this question using firm-level data on corruption, ownership, and management. We find that women in positions of influence are associated with less corruption: female owners are associated with a lower incidence of bribery and report smaller levels of bribery. Moreover, corruption is seen as less of an obstacle in companies where women are represented in top management. By providing evidence that women are associated with lower levels of corruption in business our research contributes to the literature on development, gender equality, and corruption.     

Leadership Through A Gender Lens: How Cultural Environments and Theoretical Perspectives Interact with Gender

The purpose of this article is to present a theoretical overview of what makes a leader effective using the theoretical lenses of behavioral and contingency theories and the theory of transformational leadership. We then analyze these theories from a gender perspective. The presence and effects of gender discrimination in the workplace, managerial and subordinate preconceptions and attitudes as identified in the current body of literature and the possible consequences for potential female leaders are discussed. Finally, the article turns to discuss the interaction between national and organizational culture and gender in terms of leadership opportunities. The aim of this article is to contribute to the discussion on the above areas and to provide a bringing together of perspectives so as to facilitate future research. This is a review article where we theoretically examine the gender context in leadership theory and practice with some illustrations from observation and experience.     

Gender,Land and Sexuality: Exploring Connections

This article explores links between the issues of sexuality and gendered control over agricultural land. It discusses gendered land rights in several settings, concentrating particularly on agrarian and land reforms. I argue that land redistribution in the “household” model, discussed for Chile and Nicaragua, tends to entrench male household and agricultural control. In contrast, more collective forms, discussed for Vietnam, have displayed economic weaknesses but had potential to undercut such control by socialising women’s labour. Fears about and visions of female sexuality have much to do with backlashes against inclusion of women, either through allowing them membership of cooperatives and collectives or through granting rights such as joint titling to land. In sub-Saharan Africa, there currently exists much discussion of improving women’s control over agriculture and its products. These continue to meet opposition, despite female predominance in agriculture in the region. Thus, even though women work on the land in many societies, this does not give them any automatic “closeness” to nature or say within households. Control over women’s, especially wives’, labour within peasant households, is linked to the manner that their persons and their labour are bound up in this socio-economic form. The article also examines two feminist attempts to configure alternative agricultural forms: the case of a lesbian agricultural collective in the west of the USA and an Indian model of new female-centred households for single women. Heterosexuality as an institution and gender subordination more broadly, as the examples here indicate, have to do not only with sexual practices or identity but extend also to issues of labour and access to crucial resources.     

The Impact of Relationship Status, Gender, and Minor Status in the Police Response to Domestic Assaults

Data from police records on 320 domestic violence calls for assistance collected during a four-month period from five jurisdictions operating under a pro-arrest statute in a Northeastern state were examined to determine the distribution of incidents by victim-suspect household relationship. It was hypothesized that, despite the lack of any statutory distinction, police compliance with the requirements of a pro-arrest statute—and mandatory arrest policies—would be higher in incidents involving a parent complainant than in incidents between other household members. Logistic and ordinary least-squares regression indicated that the odds of arrest for cases of child to parent and sibling assault were significantly higher than for other kinds of relationships, especially adult partner cases. Analyses also revealed that police compliance with victim assistance actions was significantly less likely for victims of parent to child and sibling violence relative to other victim-suspect relationships. The police were also more legalistic in the application of the statute to both female victims and female suspects. The implications of the increased role of extra-legal variables in the arrest decision (i.e. age, gender and relationship status) and the police support of parental authority are examined.     

Perceptions of the Teacher–Leader in Modern Society: Insights from the Master Teacher's Pedagogy

Abstract

Meeting the challenges of a modern era, including corporate scandal, government gridlock, and societal turmoil, requires a high level of effective leadership. In such an environment, the teacher–leader plays a critical role in cultivating the knowledge worker and learning organization. After all, the teacher–leader leverages the human resource by challenging and inspiring people to bring forth their best efforts and ideas in the quest to identify and implement creative solutions to society's dilemmas. To understand the opportunities and challenges encountered in the teacher–leader paradigm, the pedagogy of a prototypical teacher was modeled and evaluated. As the ideal model of the teacher–leader, the authors selected Jesus Christ, a historical figure whose acumen and influence earned him the title of “Master Teacher.” Jesus Christ was selected because he has repeatedly been recognized as a great leader; a great teacher; and one of the most influential people who has ever lived. Using the biblical record, Jesus’ teaching style was examined and a survey instrument developed and administered to students and faculty at a major university. Three core constructs that underlie Jesus's approach to teaching were identified: 1) empathy and motivation, 2) rigor and internalization, and 3) accountability and measurement. While students and faculty evaluate the techniques that comprise the empathy-and-motivation construct favorably, the other two constructs elicit student evaluations that would be too low for Jesus to obtain tenure. Ultimately, providing the rigor and accountability needed to cultivate personal growth and competitive skills is an unpopular task that professors tend to avoid by teaching to student expectations. Thus, the leadership conundrum—there is little incentive for teachers to lead or to help cultivate tomorrow's leaders.

The world we have created today has problems which cannot be solved by thinking the way we thought when we created them.

– Albert Einstein

     

Democracy and Gender Equality

This article examines the relationship between democracy and gender equality. In particular, it contrasts the impact of long-term stocks of democracy with the contemporary level of democracy and the participation of women in democracy. It contends that democracy should be thought of as a historical phenomenon with consequences that develop over many years and decades and that women’s participation should be included as an important component of democracy. The main argument is that long-term democracy together with women’s suffrage should provide new opportunities for women to promote their interests through mobilization and elections. A cross-national time-series statistical analysis finds that countries with greater stocks of democracy and longer experience of women’s suffrage have a higher proportion of the population that is female, a greater ratio of female life expectancy to male life expectancy, lower fertility rates, and higher rates of female labor force participation.

Gangs,Gender, and Violent Victimization

Gang scholars have recently turned their attention to a unique and underdeveloped line of inquiry: the victimization of gang members. However, the gang-victimization link remains unclear, especially in terms of how gang men and women are violently victimized in different—or similar—ways. Using a sample of 2,345 adult jail inmates incarcerated in Florida (ages 18–84), this study explores the role of gender in terms of (1) the forms of violent crimes gang members experience more than nongang members, (2) who victimizes gang members, and (3) if gang members’ risky lifestyles explain victimization risk. Findings reveal more similarities than differences among gang men (n = 300) and women (n = 53). Gang men and women are generally victimized by the same violent crimes, and while the offenders who target gang members vary, there are no significant gender differences. Female gang members were significantly more likely to be sexually assaulted by members of their own gang and nonmembers (compared to members of rival gangs). The gang-victimization link remains significant for both men and women even after accounting for demographic characteristics, gang membership, and risky lifestyles—including violent offending.     

Representative Bureaucracy: Examining the Effects of Female Teachers on Girls’ Education in Ghana

Scholars have examined representative bureaucracy as a viable means to make the bureaucracy more responsive to citizens in a democratic society. The theory argues that a diverse public service that mirrors the social demographics of its population in terms of gender, race, and ethnicity (passive representation) is more likely to be responsive to the needs of all citizens (active representation). Although a substantial body of empirical research exists, a comparative understanding of the theory is lacking in Africa. This study expands the empirical research on the theory to Ghana. It investigates whether passive representation of female teachers makes the education bureaucracy more responsive to girls. The analysis of a nationally representative data set on senior high schools (SHS) within the 216 districts of Ghana revealed that increasing the presence of female teachers is positively associated with the performance of girls on math and science exit exams.     

Microfinance and Gender: Issues,Challenges and The Road Ahead

Abstract

This special collection examines the claim that microfinance promotes gender equality. The focus is on three areas of the debate: first, the question of how successful microfinance has been in empowering women; second, whether and how negative gender discrimination operates within the sector; third, how power relations within and beyond the household shape the context and outcomes of microfinance initiatives. The papers in this collection demonstrate the divergence of circumstances and emphasise the need to go beyond the past searches for a simple narrative regarding the impact of microfinance. Rather, as the sector evolves and is incorporated into the mainstream financial system, the challenge ahead for researchers is to marshal the evidence on gendered dynamics to ensure that the gains made are built on through deeper understanding of why impact outcomes and processes differ and use this to inform new initiatives to further gender equality.     

The Effectiveness of Inputs in Primary Education: Insights from Recent Student Surveys for Sub-Saharan Africa

With SACMEQ and PASEC there are now two large data bases available on student achievement, socio-economic background and school and teacher characteristics in both anglophone and francophone sub-Saharan Africa. A joint analysis of PASEC and SACMEQ in a common education production function framework allows us to estimate the impact of educational inputs on student achievement in 21 sub-Saharan African countries and to compare our results with those of earlier empirical studies for education systems in Africa and other world regions. In our analysis we focus on school equipment, teacher quality and class organisation. The issue of teacher and student incentives cannot be adequately addressed with the given data. Our results are based on a traditional retrospective analysis of student achievement in PASEC and SACMEQ countries. In contrast to the ‘nothing works’ result from most industrialized countries' studies we find robust positive correlations of achievement test scores and the possession of textbooks and negative correlations with teaching in shifts. The most striking result is the weak or even absent correlation of achievement test scores and teacher education and professional training. However, some differences between francophone and anglophone education systems can be observed in this context if differences in the sampling methodology are duly taken into account.     

Traditional Food Crop Marketing in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does Gender Matter?

The present study aims to contribute to the scarce literature on traditional food crop marketing by analysing the factors influencing (a) the household’s decision to participate in the market and (b) the selling prices obtained by the household. Using an econometric approach, we analyse household data from 270 finger millet producers in western Kenya. A main focus of the study lies on the role of gender and farmer group participation. Results show that group membership increases the probability of market participation and is of particular importance for female farmers, who obtain higher selling prices when participating in a group.     

The Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity: The Role of Market Imperfections

This paper hypothesises that labour and credit market imperfections – by discouraging off-farm income-generating activities and restricting access to inputs, respectively – affect female farm productivity more deeply than male productivity. The paper develops a theoretical model, which decomposes the contribution of various market imperfections to the gender productivity gap. Empirically we show that agricultural labour productivity is, on average, 44 per cent lower on female-headed plots than on those managed by male heads. 34 per cent of this gap is explained by differences in labour market access and 29 per cent by differences in credit access.     

Interrogating Gender Divides in Technology for Education and Development: the Case of the One Laptop per Child Project in Ghana

The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project aims to make low-cost computers accessible to the “world’s poorest children,” presuming that the gadgets will support their empowerment via education. The project’s success globally, however, has been mixed at best, with many countries terminating their purchases due to cost, inadequate infrastructure, and negative side effects. In October 2010, Ghana suspended the country’s 3-year participation. This study examines the complex history and failure of OLPC Ghana in two pilot schools, one urban and one rural, with particular attention to gender bias. The analysis draws on interviews with government personnel, students, and teachers in the pilot classes. Despite lacking electric power in the rural community, UNDP’s Millennium Villages Project played a strong support role, making OLPC somewhat more effective with less of a gender divide in the rural school than in the urban school in Accra. Both pilot schools faced severe sustainability challenges raising decade-old questions about modernity and technological determinism. Further, in both schools, particularly the urban school, a digital divide by gender was evident.