Women in computer science research

This longitudinal evaluation of gender inequalities and economic growth addresses key questions in the evolving debate over the character of gender differentiation and the goals of womens empowerment. These questions include: 1) whether the impact of strategies of economic growth served to enhance or undermine the status of women; 2) whether changes in the status of women were accompanied by significant changes in gender inequality; and 3) the implications for existing debates. Section I reviews several sets of literature pertinent to the questions using three general approaches: modernization-neoclassical women in development and gender and development. Section II presents the data and methods used in the evaluation. The research assessed the contending interpretations reviewed in the first section by combining another set of cross-sectional and longitudinal data on womens status and inequalities between men and women with other existing indicators. Section III discusses the results in the following order: 1) cross-sectional patterns in womens status; 2) trends in womens status; 3) cross-sectional patterns in inequality between men and women; 4) trends in inequality between men and women; and 5) conclusion. Finally section IV presents an overall discussion of the findings of the whole longitudinal evaluation.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Videoconferencing, and Gender

With the second-largest nation in terms of population, India has been one of the most affected countries by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the repercussions of the ongoing pandemic can be noticed in terms of the widened deeply embedded gender inequalities in India. The post-recovery period would be immensely complex. The fear that the world is witnessing is the amplification of the existing gender gap or inequality. The pandemic has once again proven that the ill effects have a differential impact on both the sexes. Hence, an attempt through this research has been made to understand the changing dynamics of gender inequality in India due to the impact of COVID-19. The main objective of the paper is to find out the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the socio-economic structures that enhance the existing gender inequality, and how far it has impacted the deeply embedded gender inequalities. In this regard, qualitative research methods with descriptive analysis have been used. The literature and narratives available related to various dimensions of gender inequality have been reviewed to understand the differential impacts of the pandemic on women. The need to have an engendering governance outlook has been highlighted. No public health approach should neglect the gendered impact of such a crisis. The research tries to sum up with proactive strategy recommendations that the state should embark upon both as long-term and short-term goals.
 Keywords: COVID-19, Pandemic, Gender, Women, Governance, Equality

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-10 opines that all countries should reduce inequality (being it gender, income, regional or emission inequality) by 2030. However, the exacerbating effect of climate variability seems to widen gender inequality in developing countries such as Sub-Saharan Africa. It is on this backdrop that the UNFCCC mentioned the need for gender mainstreaming in raising climate finance to support developing countries. The main purpose of the study is to find out whether climate finance and rainfall variability impacts gender inequality among 46 Sub-Saharan Africa countries. Data was analysed using system generalised method of moment, to deal with the endogeneity problem inherent in the model. Sensitivity of the estimates was carried out to test the robustness of our results using panel quantile regression. The findings indicate that, SSA countries experiencing high rainfall variability are facing worsening gender inequality both in the short-run and long-run. For climate finance, it showed a significant gender equality strengthening effect in SSA both in the short-run and long-run. This indicates that, CF geared toward developing countries is not only helping mitigate and adapt to climate change, but bridging the gender gap too. Based on that, several policy implications are discussed.

Women across the world bear a disproportionate burden of poverty in terms of material deprivation, discrimination, and denial of their basic rights. This means they often have little opportunity to influence the processes and institutions which shape their lives. The under-representation of women's voices in decision-making and agenda-setting at all levels mean that their interests tend to be under-represented in critical policy-making fora, and their skills, experience, and knowledge under-utilized. This entrenches both gender inequality and the poverty confronted by women and their communities on a daily basis. There are, however, many examples where women have found the courage and the opportunities to challenge the status quo and become active citizens and successful leaders in political, economic and civil institutions, with inspiring results. This book brings together lessons and experience in building up women's involvement from Oxfam GB and its partners. Women's Leadership and Participation illustrates methodological approaches and learning points, covering a range of issues, from women's participation in national elections to female decision-making in community livelihood initiatives. It asks the questions: what are the structural barriers to women's leadership and participation? How can women be encouraged to take up leadership positions? Once they are leading, how can women (and men) be supported to carry out their roles effectively and for progressive purposes? The case studies in this book are also available as individual papers.

Sex and gender bias in chronic coronary syndromes research: analysis of studies used to inform the 2019 European Society of Cardiology guidelines

Egalitarian countries cultivate high-performing girls

This chapter introduces the book and its contribution to examining gender inequality, more commonly referred to as the gender gap, by offering diverse perspectives and analysis of women’s lived experiences from a broad range of settings and contexts. This collection complements existing literature analyzing gender inequalities, by honoring feminist epistemology that recognizes knowledge as situated knowledge and the centrality of women’s lived experience. This book adopts a methodology referred as ‘critical friend’—where every topic covered includes a critical response from another researcher. This collection makes an important contribution to our collective understanding of gender inequalities. This book adds topics not usually discussed when referring to the gender gap, as well as covering more common topics like inequalities in terms of employment, payment, and political representation and participation. All chapters are based on qualitative research and have in common an approach the embraces interdisciplinary, intersectional, and intentional research. This volume gives recognition to non-tangible dimensions of the gender gap, which are as important as those dimensions captured by the gender gap indicators.

BackgroundAmref Health Africa, with support from Global Affairs Canada, examines if women's access to reproductive health services in Tanzania is affected by Gender social norms, decision-making power, roles and responsibility, and access to resources in relation to the utilization of reproductive Health Services in Tanzania. A Gender Need Assessment (GNA) was conducted in five districts in ' 'Tanzania Simiyu Region to improve the infrastructure, supply, quality, and demand for integrated Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH), Nutrition, and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services. The analysis identifies gender as a fundamental maternal and child health driver through existing gender inequality at the household and community levels that dictates women's status.MethodsThe qualitative assessment involved data collected from gender- and age-desegregated focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) of key informants in three districts; Bariadi, Busega, and Meatu, in Simiyu region, Tanzania. Participants comprised 8-10 married women and men, unmarried women and men, and adolescent boys and girls. A total of 129 participants were involved in the FGDs.ResultsThis paper reports the critical drivers influencing gender inequality in Simiyu by detailing how Gender inequality affected women's access to reproductive health care in relation to; gender social norms, decision-making power, access to resources at the household and community level, roles and responsibilities, including men's and 'boys' roles are more valued than the roles and responsibilities of women and girls resulted to limited free time to do things for themselves, such as visiting the health facilities for RMNCAH.ConclusionsThis paper explored gender-based enablers and/or barriers influencing women and girls' realization of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. It was found that social norms, decision-making powers, and lack of access to and control over resources presented as key barriers. In contrast, continuous community sensitization and increased scope of women's participation in decision-making served as enabling environment to overcome gender inequities that influence woman's use of RMNCAH services in Tanzania. Such insights will shape interventions geared towards valuing differences in a manner that overcome gender inequities that influence woman's use of RMNCAH services in Tanzania.

Understanding gender issues and gender inequalities in development is one of the keys to success in realizing gender equality. Indonesia after the Reformation era experienced a transformation in encouraging gender equality in various developments. The success and failure of gender development can be measured through the Human Development Index, Gender Development Index, Gender Empowerment Index, and Gender Equality and Inequality Index. This research method is qualitative through an approach to gender issues in Indonesia with in-depth analysis based on literature study data including official documents, online news, books, and previous research articles with a development perspective. The research results explain that gender equality in Indonesia have not yet shown significant progress. One of the obstacles that remain is the low level of understanding of gender issues and gaps in development among society in general and programs planners, as well as development policymakers at both the Government and Regional government levels in particular.

various strata of society, but it particularly impacts women and children deeply. Poverty encompasses not only income deficiency for women but also the lack of social participation, leading to social exclusion. However, the question of whether poverty should be considered primarily as a women's issue or examined from a broader perspective is a subject of debate, as women can be disproportionately affected due to a gender-biased perspective. Recent research indicates that in contemporary societies, women are more adversely affected by poverty compared to men. Gender inequality and income disparities often restrict women's access to education, limit employment opportunities, push them into low-paying jobs, or hinder their workforce participation due to domestic responsibilities. Studies conducted by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) highlight the prevalence of global gender inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab Peninsula, and many South Asian countries. These studies also reveal that gender inequality is more pronounced in countries with low to medium levels of human development. Consequently, regions like the Arab Peninsula and South Asia exhibit extremely low rates of female workforce participation. Moreover, these regions often witness a significant lack of female representation in their parliaments. Among the fundamental causes of women's poverty are deficiencies in education and negative societal attitudes towards women. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to elevate women's educational levels and encourage their participation in the labor force. Studies have shown a correlation between increasing women's education levels and economic growth. Consequently, governments should review employment policies and social security mechanisms to enhance women's access to employment opportunities. Social assistance policies should be implemented with a rights-based approach and should encompass women. Addressing the excessive burden of household chores, gender-based discrimination, and patriarchal attitudes limiting women's career choices is of paramount importance. Transforming societal norms and dismantling gender biases are necessary for this purpose. The combat against female poverty necessitates the active engagement of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the realm of social policy implementations, social assistance programs, governmental initiatives related to gender-responsive budgeting, and the practices of financial institutions concerning microcredit.

This paper proposes to measure and to evaluate gender gaps and gender inequalities by means of the decomposition of an inequality measure. A three-terms decomposition of the Gini index is applied, thus allowing to take into account also the role of overlapping between female and male subpopulations. We develop an unified framework for the evaluation of gender gap, linking traditional measures, based on subgroups income means, to the approach related to inequality decomposition, and showing how overlapping component represents a key issue in gender gap analysis. An analysis of the income distribution of the Italian households shows how gender gaps represent a major source of inequality, without particular improvements during the last 20 years.

BackgroundIn a case study in Spain, the unequal proportion of men and women in a research organization in the energy sector is severe, and long-established dynamics that might determine differences in access to leadership positions and inequalities in research careers are evident. The gender gap in historically masculinized fields, such as energy engineering reflects more than simply the differences in male and female values and personalities. This study seeks to explore the gender gap in energy research centres and to identify barriers that potentially hinder the research careers of women. It proposes the development of a diagnostic tool, based upon indicators, to monitor and evaluate gender roles and inequalities in the management of research centres for identifying and addressing the dynamics and obstacles that hinder women's progress in the energy sector and their potential contribution to the field. This participatory multicriteria-based tool prioritizes the proposed indicators by their influence and importance in the context of energy research and applies it to the monitoring of a specific Spanish energy research centre.ResultsThe results are threefold: (i) the methodology is adaptable to different research centres; (ii) the analysis of indicators’ prioritization could lead to recommendations that should be addressed first; (iii) the diagnostic tool used in this in-depth case study of an energy research centre in Spain allowed results to be achieved in terms of gender dynamics. Two indicators stand out as the most relevant in our analysis: gender diversity in leadership positions and uncomplicated application of work–life balance measures. In this case study, the measurement of the first indicator has drawn unsatisfactory results, and the research of the latter is considered still insufficient. In conclusion, this difference becomes a vicious or negative circle for attracting and retaining more women to the research centre. Despite these results, no gender gap seems to be recognized and thus, no measures are being taken to improve the situation.ConclusionsComprehensive data and contextualized monitoring are necessary to effectively study and enhance the presence and participation of women in the energy science sector. This approach, combining quantitative and qualitative techniques, is suitable for any research centre that would like to monitor its gender gap, identify potential sources of inequity and address them.

Gender inequality is widely understood to be crucial to explaining the prevalence of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW). Yet the “civilization thesis” links a decline in violence in general in the Western world to modernization processes/socioeconomic development that began during the Enlightenment. The research presented here asks whether cross-national differences in World Health Organization survey-based estimates of IPVAW rates are more strongly linked to gender inequality than they are to socioeconomic development. Gender Development Index and Gender Gap Index (GGI) measures are used because, unlike other gender inequality measures used in cross-national comparisons, they fully separate gender inequality from women’s absolute level of attainment (the latter is strongly linked to socioeconomic development). Findings from linear regression models that controlled for relevant variables indicate that low socioeconomic development (not gender inequality) is key to whether a country has a high estimated IPVAW rate. In all nine models, at least one socioeconomic development variable was a stronger predictor of IPVAW rates than any gender inequality variable. Absolute poverty rates were a consistently significant predictor of IPVAW, while the GGI’s educational inequality component was the only significant gender inequality predictor. Hence, the findings highlight the need to eradicate the world’s worst material conditions and equalize educational provision.

The development of digital technology in the 21st century has revolutionized the way humans interact, work, and access information. However, as new opportunities open up, new challenges also arise in efforts to realize substantive gender justice. Gender justice can no longer be understood simply as equality of access or representation, but must be analyzed in a more complex context through an intersectionality approach that considers the intersection between various social identities such as gender, race, class, sexual orientation, age, disability, and geographical background. This research aims to explore how digital technology, if not accompanied by intersectional awareness, can reproduce or even strengthen structural inequalities that have existed in society. In today’s digital ecosystem, algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) are the main drivers in various fields, ranging from job selection and media reporting to social interaction in online media. However, many studies suggest that algorithms can carry systemic biases, as they are developed from historical data that reflect past inequalities. For example, automated recruitment algorithms may be biased against women or ethnic minorities, or facial recognition systems may fail to recognize people of non-white races with high accuracy. This phenomenon demonstrates that technology is not a neutral tool, but rather a social product that can reflect and maintain certain forms of dominance if it is not critically examined. Using a normative juridical research approach based on literature studies and presented descriptively, this study explains and analyzes issues related to gender justice in the digital sphere. In the final stage, conclusions are drawn by examining various case examples from academic literature and reports of international organizations. The main focus of the analysis lies on three dimensions: (1) gender representation and narratives in digital media; (2) access to and participation of women and vulnerable groups in technology development; and (3) the increasing prevalence of gender-based inequalities in online spaces.based violence, uch as doxing, cyberharassment, and nonconsensual pornography. These three dimensions will be examined using an intersectional lens to understand how the experience of injustice in the digital space is not homogeneous, but varies depending on the context of closely related identities. Furthermore, this research proposes the idea that sustainable digital culture development must be based on the principles of social justice that ensure diversity, inclusivity, and equality. Technology should be a tool to strengthen participatory democracy and social solidarity, not to deepen inequality or reinforce hidden discrimination. Therefore, a transformative approach is needed in public policy, technology design, digital education, and platform regulation, which is integrated with the principles of intersectionality and sustainability. The results of the study show that gender justice in the digital era will not be achieved only through the provision of internet access, but must involve a paradigm shift in the way technology is produced, accessed, and interpreted. Thus, the study closes with policy and practice recommendations that encourage collaboration between stakeholders including policymakers, technology developers, academics, and grassroots communities in creating a more equitable, ethical, and sustainable digital space.