Prime-time narcos: the Mafia and gender in Colombian television

Through a content analysis of 532 programs screened on various national television networks in Colombia, this paper examines portrayals of women in the country’s narconovelas, fictional series derived from the telenovela genre that resonate forcefully with the public. We do so in order to gain a better understanding of their role in representing gender in Colombia. Relevant topics include: the widespread violence against women in a traditional, patriarchal country, the ineffectiveness of policies targeting gender discrimination, and ideologies of machismo and Marianismo. These practices are discussed as factors that may prevent women’s social empowerment and participation in the workforce and politics of the country. Our results show that, as per Colombia’s prevailing social relations, narconovelas demonstrate a gendered power imbalance and mestizo heteronormativity via macho plots that glamorize violence against women. Women are rarely key characters in narconovelas, and when they appear, they are dependent on men, and attain status through men or their families. In addition, the genre represents continuous verbal and physical aggression against women, especially if they belong to ethnic or racial minorities.     

就业、就业形势与就业对策——人口学视角的思考

本文从人口学角度入手分析我国就业问题,认为就业的内涵需要拓展;从人口发展形势分析,就业形势极其严峻,就业问题难以得到根本解决;人口学角度出发的缓解就业的对策包括普及高中阶段教育和实行城市妇女（部分人口）阶段性就业,并认为阶段性就业与社会性别平等并无冲突,而是对其有益的补充。     

Sibling rivalry and the gender gap: evidence from child health outcomes in Ghana

When capital and labor markets are imperfect, choice sets narrow, and parents must choose how to ration available funds and time between their children. One consequence is that children become rivals for household resources. In economies with pro-male bias, such rivalries can yield gains to having relatively more sisters than brothers. Using a rich household survey from Ghana, we find that on average if children had all sisters (and no brothers) they would do roughly 25-40% better on measured health indicators than if they had all brothers (and no sisters). The effects are as large as typical quantity-quality trade-offs, and they do not differ significantly by gender. Received: 22 May 1996 / Accepted: 13 July 1998     

社会性别视角下的流动人口社会保障状况研究

本研究通过利用2009年中国流动人口问题调查资料,在社会性别视角下展示了男女两性流动人口社会保障的状况与差异,探究了社会保险参保率性别差异的主要原因,提出了提高女性流动人口社会保障程度、缩小两性差距、促进男女公平享有社会保障权益的政策建议。     

The gender longevity gap: explaining the difference between singles and couples

This paper studies the respective gender longevity gap in favour of women among singles, utilitarian and altruistic couples. The following hypotheses are derived: (1) the gender longevity gap is smaller within couples than among singles; (2) marriage increases longevity of men but decreases longevity of women; and (3) the gender longevity gap decreases with an increase in wealth. The hypotheses are tested using a complete data set of the Swiss deceased at the age 65+ in 2001 and 2002, with information on the individuals’ age at death and their average earnings over the life cycle.     

Gates to retirement and gender differences: Macroeconomic conditions,job satisfaction,and age

ABSTRACT

The different pathways out of the labor force have been the focus of many recent studies, yet not enough scholarly attention has been paid to the effect of country-level, individual, and job characteristics and their potentially different influence across genders. The current article examines the relationships between retirement decisions and macroeconomic conditions, personal characteristics, and job satisfaction, while focusing on gender differences. Data came from 16,337 respondents in 13 European countries that participated in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We find that the relative importance of macroeconomic conditions and job satisfaction differs by gender.     

The construction of gender in dating apps: an interface analysis of Tinder and Bumble

In this article, we analyse two mobile dating applications: Tinder and Bumble. Mobilizing two studies by Erving Goffman and Lucille Alice Suchman, we present a detailed analysis of the affordances of the profile creation tools of both of these applications. Together, these theoretical perspectives make visible the effect that the constraints imposed by the app’s self-presentation tools have on constructing subjects that are intelligible to the apps’ algorithms and, by implication, its designers and other users. Specifically, through our analysis, we demonstrate how the gender categories made available to users in creating their profiles are reflective of the structural needs of the app’s programming. This work is motivated by two research questions: First, how do the affordances of digital communication tools structure their users’ identities as they are both constructed and performed through the technology? Second, in what ways are notions of gender reflected in the affordances of mobile dating applications’ profile creation tools? Our results indicate that these apps construct gender as a rigid category that has more to do with function (matching profiles) than with identity. Implications for identity and design are discussed.     

Social Network Methodology in the Study of Disasters: Issues and Insights Prompted by Post-Katrina Research

Dynamic social networks, a key concept in modern social science research, are beginning to play a major role in understanding the ways in which individuals and communities respond to disasters. The authors of this paper review the relevant theory and research regarding how crises cause change in social networks, and how those changes may or may not facilitate recovery, as a function of the kinds of changes that occur. It applies the In/Out/Seeker/Provider (IOSP) framework to identify categories in which we might study disasters and the impact both on the networks and the impacts to the networks. This paper details options for applying social network analysis to research of both pre- and post-disaster settings and concludes by framing a research agenda for the future study of the dynamics of network change following a disaster.     

Gamers,gender, and cruel optimism: the limits of social identity constructs in The Guild

Abstract

Video game culture has a long, ongoing history of problems with representation and inclusivity, as a wide variety of forces have constructed video games and gaming as masculine. Against this background, the popular gamer-oriented web series The Guild (2007–2013) appears to offer a unique counterperspective, presenting a gender-diverse cast and focusing primarily on female protagonist Cyd “Codex” Sherman. As such, the show could potentially diversify popular conceptions of gamers. Through a close reading of The Guild, however, we demonstrate that it fails to do so. More specifically, the show’s portrayal of gamer identity serves as a form of cruel optimism, presenting it as an ideal that promises game players a consistent subculture and a sense of belonging, but ultimately traps them in narrow roles and identity constructs. Furthermore, the show’s gamer ideal also reproduces particular forms of gendered inequalities that posit aggressive, competitive masculinity as superior to both more passive masculinities and all forms of femininity. Overall, this leads The Guild to reinforce gaming culture’s existing problems with sexism and regressive stereotypes. Because of this, the show presents a relation of cruel optimism, assuming the appearance of positive change while failing to deliver on it.     

The gender wealth gap:structural and material constraints and implications for later life

Wealth is an important measure of economic well-being, because while income captures the current state of inequality, wealth has the potential for examining accumulated and historically structured inequality. This presentation documents the extent of gender inequality in wealth for Canadian women and men aged 45 and older. The analysis uses data from the 1999 Canadian Survey of Financial Security, a large nationally representative survey of household wealth in Canada. Wealth is measured by total net worth as measured by total assets minus debt. We test two general hypotheses to account for gender differences in wealth. The differential exposure hypothesis suggests that women report less wealth accumulation because of their reduced access to the material and social conditions of life that foster economic security. The differential vulnerability hypothesis suggests that women report lower levels of wealth because they receive differential returns to material and social conditions of their lives. Support is found for both hypotheses. Much of the gender differences in wealth can be explained by the gendering of work and family roles that restricts women's ability to build up assets over the life course. But beyond this, there are significant gender interaction effects that indicate that women are further penalized by their returns to participation in family life, their health and where they live. When women do work, net of other factors, they are better able to accumulate wealth than their male counterparts.     

从社会性别视角透析出生性别比失衡

20世纪80年代以来,出生性别比失衡问题越来越严重。男尊女卑、重男轻女等传统思想是出生性别比失衡的内在根源,妇女较低的家庭地位是出生性别比失衡的外在根源,妇女自身较低的素质是出生性别比失衡的外在表现。要根除这些根源,就要营造平等的社会性别文化,消除性别歧视;加强立法和政策宣传力度,建立起完善的社会保障制度,提高妇女社会地位;加强男女平等教育,提高国民素质,以及提高妇女的文化素质。     

The faces of local TV news in America: youth,whiteness, and gender disparities in station publicity photos

TV news is a visual medium that requires its on-air journalists to look good, but a history of lawsuits and survey research suggests that this burden is spread unevenly. Critics charge that women are expected to look younger and sexier, and minority broadcasters are held to a White standard of beauty. This project investigated the reality behind those complaints by examining the faces of on-air journalists working for local stations in the US according to race, gender, and attractiveness. The resulting content analysis of more than 400 online publicity photos suggests that a certain look dominates for men and for women and that the range of appearance standards is wider for men than women.     

Self-perceived health status,gender, and work status

ABSTRACT

This study analyzes the relationship between gender and self-perceived health status in Spanish retirees and housewives from a sample of 1,106 community-dwelling older adults. A multivariate linear regression model was used in which self-perceived health status was measured by the EQ-5D visual analogue scale and gender according to work status (retired men and women and housewives). Retired males reported a significantly better health status than housewives. Self-perceived health status was closely associated with physical, mental, and functional health and leisure activities. Finally, being a woman with complete dedication to domestic work is associated with a worse state of self-perceived health.     

Gender, Social Change, and Living Arrangements Among Older Egyptians During the 1990s

We compare older Egyptian women’s and men’s propensities to live with unmarried children only, any ever-married children, and alone, and we assess “kin-keeping” versus “modernization” hypotheses about the effects of social change on living arrangements during 1988–2000. Socioeconomic differences among women and men accounted for much of their crude differences in living arrangements during the period. Propensities to live with any ever-married children declined, and propensities to live alone or with unmarried children only rose. Compared to men, women continued to live more often with any ever-married children and less often with unmarried children only, and the 1988 gender gap in solitary residence disappeared by 2000. Increasing coresidential demands from unmarried dependent children, less frequent coresidential support from ever-married children, and rapidly increasing rates of solitary living especially among older men suggest emerging needs for non-coresidential instrumental support, especially among older Egyptians who are economically disadvantaged.

社会融合中的性别差异:流动人口工作搜寻时间的实证分析

文章以扩展传统的流动人口社会融合的静态研究视角,使用国家人口计生委2010年上半年流动人口动态监测调查数据,从男女农村流动人口工作搜寻时间的角度进一步比较农村流动人口融入流入地劳动力市场过程的性别差异及影响因素。文章采用持续时间模型,通过研究农村流动人口在流入地城市找工作所花费时间的影响因素,发现虽然在给定时间内,女性流动人口在流入地找到工作所花费的时间比男性要短,但女性找到高收入工作的概率要低于男性,而接受低收入工作的概率要大于男性,从而导致性别区隔的流动人口社会融入模式。     

对中国县区级计生机构优质服务中社会性别公平程度的探索性研究——基于对M县计划生育管理与服务机构的调查

为探索中国县区级计划生育/生殖健康机构在优质服务体现社会性别公平的程度,对M优质服务项目县的计划生育管理和服务机构进行了2次共9组典型组专题讨论调查。结果表明,在优质服务目标群体的权益保障和责任分担方面,服务领域明显拓宽,社会性别公平程度有了一定改善。但是由于传统计划生育管理模式与服务观念的影响,计生机构主要关注已婚育龄妇女的权益和风险,未婚、更年期女性和男性的生殖健康服务仍然存在欠缺。在两性共同责任分担方面,男性分担避孕生育责任的趋势开始出现,但现有服务资源与规范仍制约着男性参与的程度。     

Media Action Research Group: toward an antiauthoritarian profeminist media research methodology

The Media Action Research Group (MARG) is an antiauthoritarian, profeminist (antiracist, anticolonial, queer, trans and anti-capitalist) group of activist-researchers both inside and outside the university, studying autonomous social movement media activism in Canada and beyond. In this article we map a taxonomy of activist-research, illustrating how MARG brings together five specific methodologies—activist-led issue-based research, militant participatory ethnography, feminist community research, prefigurative antiauthoritarian feminist participatory action research (PAFPAR), and autonomous media research—to study how women, people of colour, queer and trans people, and Indigenous people in antiauthoritarian or anarchist-leaning social movements are using grassroots media to support and report on these movements. We find that although MARG set out to create an antiauthoritarian research-activist collective, we are restricted in some ways by the intensification of neoliberalism in the university institution. Nonetheless we are able to conduct transgressive research at the intersection between antiauthoritarian activism and the academy, producing three direct and immediate impacts: within social movements, within media activism, and within the university.     

Gender, Job Searching, and Employment Outcomes among Mexican Immigrants

Past quantitative research has typically disregarded the effect of gender on the relationship between social capital and immigrant adaptation. However, recent theory and qualitative evidence suggest that gender is a significant factor moderating this association. I use Mexican Migration Project (MMP) data regarding Mexican immigrant experiences in the U.S. to examine quantitatively how the process of job searching, and the effects of network-based job searching, vary by gender. Results show no evidence of overall sex differences in the likelihood of using network (i.e., family-based or friend-based) or individual (i.e., non-network) job search methods, but there are sex differences in the processes affecting job search method used. Settlement increases women’s use of their friend networks to obtain work, while for men, it decreases the use of networks of any kind. Contrary to conventional wisdom, women who use network-based job searches are less likely to obtain formal sector employment than women who find work without network assistance. Conversely, using network-based job searches increases the likelihood that men will find work in the formal sector. Since employment in the formal sector is correlated with wages, as well as nonwage benefits, this suggests that using networks in the job search has markedly different effects on the overall economic well-being of male and female Mexican immigrants in the U.S.     

Vitality and malaise in demography: outlook and strategies for the future

"When dealing with age structures...the question could be posed...whether in the age structure such pronounced 'distortions' already exist as to make a major contribution to plotting the course of demography and then, as a more or less inevitable consequence, to shaping the social and economic context. In other words, whether conditions of 'demographic malaise' exist linked, on the one hand, to an extraordinarily young age structure and a consequent 'excess' population growth...and, on the other, to an extraordinarily old age structure and a subsequent 'excess' population decline.... This study proposes to focus particularly on this second instance, which pertains to contemporary western populations or sub-populations, [using the example of Italy]."