Postmillennial femininities in the popular romance novel

Popular romance fiction was thought to carry a patriarchal ideology and was often dismissed as a manifestation of ingrained prejudice and bigotry against the female sex. However, there appears to have been influence from feminism, particularly where Harlequin Mills and Boon stories use the contemporary world and ‘reality’ as a touchstone. In this article I will discuss how the heroines of Harlequin Mills and Boon postmillennial ‘Modern’ novels display various expressions of feminism which contribute to the construction of their identities but that ultimately these tales rely on the dismantling of these autonomous identities sine the heroine is still required to be ‘swept off her feet’.     

Talent alone does not suffice: erotic capital,media visibility and global popularity among professional male and female tennis players

Following Catherine Hakim’s notion of the increasing significance of ‘erotic capital’ in contemporary society, this paper addresses the effects of erotic capital in the realm of professional sports. Erotic capital may be closely related to popularity and thus represents a key marketing asset, in particular for female athletes facing a predominantly male audience. These ideas are examined here through analysing the media visibility of top tennis players in the German print media, as well as their global popularity (measured by search engine queries). The results provide further evidence of gender discrimination in sport since they show that the popularity of female athletes depends on their physical attractiveness whereas such a relationship does not exist for male athletes. Given gender-discriminatory consumer and print media preferences, female athletes face strong incentives to adapt to a sexualized sports culture that reinforces hegemonic masculinity.     

An Ideational Approach to Gendered Institutional Change: Revisiting the Institutionalization of a New Prostitution Regime in Sweden

Recent work in the field of feminist institutionalism has made important progress in furthering our understanding of gendered institutional change. I argue that gradual ideational changes play an essential role in processes of gendered institutional change, and that examining the interaction between ideas and gendered institutions is of great importance for gaining a better understanding of processes of this type. This article revisits an empirical study of gendered institutional change in Swedish prostitution policy in the effort to specify two idea-based mechanisms that are conducive to gendered change, namely, consensus concerning the problem and gendering of the problem.     

Gender differences in perpetuating factors,experience and management of chronic insomnia

The higher prevalence of insomnia in women has been attributed to biological factors, which are less likely than cognitive and behavioural factors to play a role in perpetuating insomnia. Gender differences in perpetuating factors have not been extensively examined. This study compared men’s and women’s self-reports of factors that perpetuate insomnia; experience of symptoms, perceived severity and impact on daytime functioning; and use of strategies to manage insomnia. Data were collected at baseline, using reliable and valid measures, in a project that evaluated behavioural therapies for insomnia. The sample (N = 739) consisted of women (62.4%) and men (37.6%). Gender differences were found in: (1) perpetuating factors: men took more naps and held more unhelpful beliefs about insomnia, whereas women experienced higher pre-sleep arousal; (2) perception of insomnia severity: higher among women; (3) perceived impact of insomnia: higher fatigue among women; and (4) use of strategies (higher in women) to manage insomnia. Gender differences were of a small size but could be associated with women’s stress, expression of somatic symptoms, and interest in maintaining their own health to meet multiple role demands.     

Gender differences in European volunteer rates

The main goal of this research is to identify the reasons for gender differences in European volunteer rates in different types of voluntary organisations. To that end, we focus in volunteer rates at individual and national levels. We have drawn our data from the European Values Survey (EVS, 1999 and 2008). We have employed Logit models carrying out independent estimations for the individual likelihood of working as a volunteer for four categories: social awareness, professional, education and social justice. We have carried out independent estimations and we have also repeated estimations by gender subsamples. Our main result is that social factors might be even more relevant for decisions to volunteer than individual socio-economic factors. Specifying the peer group as much as possible allows better control of social variables. For example, studying the female volunteer rate is more relevant to control for the female national NGO membership rate than the total national rate. We also highlight important gender differences. For example, education is positively correlated with decisions to volunteer for both genders in all categories, but the educational effect is stronger for men in relation to professional activities and stronger for women in relation to social awareness and social justice activities.     

女性“第二轮班”现象真的存在吗 —— 基于女性教育、职业和收入特征的实证研究

本研究借助国家统计局和妇女联合会的调查数据,对比了中国不同性别城镇劳动者在有酬劳动 时间和家务劳动时间分配上的差异特征,并利用面板数据模型验证了影响女性群体时间选择偏好的主要因素。 结果表明,在中国女性城镇劳动力者中,显著存在着“第二轮班”现象,即不仅参与有酬劳动,而且负担了很 大比重的无酬家务劳动。同时,教育、职业和收入等因素对不同性别劳动者时间分配有一定程度的影响。     

OECD 国家和中国生育产假政策的比较

生育保护假期制度是保障育龄妇女权益的重要手段,OECD国家将产假期限、工作保护和津贴补助三者有机结合,创设的陪产假和育婴假制度极大地促进了性别平等,帮助受雇者平衡工作与家庭的冲突,提升了生育保护水平。当前中国面临着二孩政策全面放开后生育率不如预期乐观的情况,如何走出低生育率陷阱成为亟需解决的问题。通过对OECD国家和中国现有的产假制度进行比较,研究为完善我国生育产假政策提供建议。     

Preferred learning style： Gender influence on preferred learning style among business students

Past studies indicate that there was a correlation between gender and students＇ preferred styles of learning. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the influence of gender on the learning style preferences of business students based on the VARK （Fleming, 2002b） learning style survey, consisting of the V（isual）, A（ural）, R（ead-Write） and K（inesthefic） learning styles. The sampling design used for this study was non-probability sampling and the sampling technique conducted was convenient sampling on 207 male students and 199 female students from the business school. The study found that gender only influences the V（isual） and A（ural） learning styles of business students. In addition to that, even though both male and female students exhibited a similar response towards both these learning styles, female students were found to demonstrate slightly higher preference for the V（isual） and A（ural） learning styles as compared to the male students. The findings draw attention to facets of learning that may exist in pre-university and tertiary classrooms with a combination of female and male students, which could have an impact on teaching and managing these students.     

大病风险冲击下农户户内劳动供给的性别差异分析——来自四川贫困县的证据

本文首先利用四川省秦巴山区一个县2696户农户调查数据和153户深度访谈数据,考察贫困地区农户大病风险以及大病风险下农户户内劳动供给的性别差异,然后通过典型案例总结大病风险下农户户内女性劳动供给的模式。研究发现,农村女性面临更多的大病风险,但却提供更多的户内劳动供给———从事更多的家庭收入创造活动和提供家庭成员大病患者的照料服务。文章最后讨论了大病风险下户内劳动供给性别差异的原因并提出了相关建议。     

汉律“性越轨”治罪条令与汉代女性人身权益——基于简牍资料的研究

解读相关简牍资料可知,汉律"性越轨"治罪条令具有如下特点:轻视常人间的强奸罪,重视对和奸的判罚,为了维护夫权,量刑环节注重和奸中妇女的婚姻状态;在严惩乱伦行为的同时,客观上为某些特殊身份地位妇女群体架构起一个相对安全的空间;虽然汉律维护良贱等级界限,但对某些下层妇女权益有所关照。上述条令创制初衷乃为维护既有社会等级制度,而非实现社会公平正义,因此,对于汉代女性人身权益的法律保护而言,该条令虽产生过一定积极效用,但从根本上讲,无论是从立法条令内涵来印证,还是以司法实践效果来检验,均反映出该条令存在诸多局限。