Mobile Persons: Cell phones,Gender and the Self in North India

In this article I analyse the varied ways mobile phones are integrated into the daily lives of low-income people and the implications for courtship practices, marriage relations and kinship ties. Rather than offer a celebratory analysis of the mobile phone's empowering effects, my ethnographic research reveals a more complex story, one that shows how the presence of the mobile both reinforces and undermines gender roles and institutions of authority. Conceptually, I argue that mobile communication provides insights into north Indian personhood as ‘nodal’, while also stimulating new practices and ideologies that render this technology central to the struggle for (and over) power and domination.     

Gender differences in antifat attitudes

Abstract

Differences between women and men in the expression of prejudice toward obese people coexist with widespread antifat attitudes. It has been argued that these differences stem from women's tendency to internalize the social norm of slimness and to develop eating concerns, while men tend to resort to externalization and to showing antifat attitudes. Data obtained from 597 students (264 male and 333 female) revealed that men showed more prejudice against obese people, and that women had high scores in eating problems questionnaires. Finally, it is discussed why men and women adopt different strategies to deal with the social norm of thinness.     

Gender differences in cardiovascular disease prevention

Risk factors are generally shared between men and women with the major differences being hormonal. Nine modifiable risk factors account for over 90% of the risk of a coronary event in men and women--smoking, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, abdominal obesity, lack of exercise, alcohol excess, reduced intake of fruit and vegetables, and psychosocial issues. Approximately half the decline in deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD), between 1980 and 2000, can be attributed to a reduction in the major risk factors and the other half to the use of evidence-based management. As educational efforts to increase awareness of cardiovascular disease (not cancer) to be the leading cause of death and disability in women are also associated with preventative action, it is important that health-care professionals educate themselves about CHD in women and communicate with women themselves, so that women can come forward for advice and evaluation.     

Gender differences in social risk taking

Women in Western societies are typically more risk averse than men in individual risk taking decisions. In real life, however, risk taking decisions are usually made in a social context. So far, empirical evidence whether gender differences are also present in the social risk taking domain is missing. We use a controlled experiment to analyze gender differences in social risk taking. We find that inequality aversion is the main driver for risk aversion in social risk taking. Disaggregating the data for males and females shows that this effect is mainly driven by strong inequality aversion of women. Moreover, by running the experiment with non-standard subjects from an egalitarian small-scale society, our results suggest that gender differences in social risk taking are culture-specific.     

Gender differences in financial risk tolerance

The purpose of this research is to explore gender differences in financial risk tolerance using a large, nationally representative dataset, the Survey of Consumer Finances. The impact of the explanatory variables in the model is allowed to differ between men and women to decompose gender differences in financial risk tolerance. The results indicate that gender differences in financial risk tolerance are explained by gender differences in the individual determinants of financial risk tolerance, and that the disparity does not result from gender in and of itself. The individual variables that moderate the relationship between gender and high risk tolerance are income uncertainty and net worth, with income uncertainty moderating the relationship between gender and some risk tolerance. Financial fiduciaries should understand the differences in income uncertainty and net worth between men and women and how those differences relate to risk tolerance.     

Gender differences in Chinese journalists' blogs

The explosion of Internet users and j-bloggers in mainland China makes Chinese j-blogs an area worthy of examination. This study focused on the gender differences in Chinese journalists' blogs. The study found that female j-bloggers were more likely to write about lifestyle issues and use the diary-like and rumor-mill formats, while male j-bloggers were more likely to discuss hard news topics and use the opinion column format. In addition, female j-bloggers in China were more likely to receive and respond to reader comments than male j-bloggers. Traditional social norms for gender may have influenced the content and format of Chinese j-blogs.     

Gender differences in the ultimatum game

I explore the behavior of men and women in the ultimatum game. In one treatment, players remain mutually anonymous. In the second treatment, players'gender is common knowledge. Average offers made do not differ based on the gender of player 1. Offers are affected by the gender of player 2, with men attracting higher offers, particularly from female players 1. Players 2 of both genders choose a higher minimum acceptable offer when facing a female player 1. These patterns led to substantial differences in earnings. Such striking differences in expectations and decisions could impact salary negotiations and other real-world transactions.     

Gender differences and anti-school boys

This paper explores and contrasts the gender value systems of two groups of anti-school boys. It suggests that cultural differences in specifically gender values can lead to (i) polarisation between anti-school boys and (ii) confrontation with school authorities in ways not explained by the traditional theory of culture clash between the working class pupil and the middle class school. It is also noted that the label ‘counter-school’used by Willis to convey the culture of some working class boys (‘the lads’) may need to be refined if the culture is reassessed in a way which acknowledges the commonality between the gender value systems of ‘the lads’and those of the school. In fact, the research reported in this paper found that another group of anti-school boys (not working class) was much more counter the gender value system of the school than ‘the lads’and did not uphold traditional masculine values.     

Gender differences in bargaining with asymmetric information

We conduct an experiment on gender differences in bargaining with asymmetric information. Based on Abreu and Gul (2000), we introduce asymmetric information about commitments by inducing irrational types, who never back down from a fixed bargaining position. Bargaining behavior depends on whether gender is revealed or not. When gender is unknown, men are more likely to mimic irrational types than women, but this gender gap is eliminated when gender is known. Male-male pairs also experience longer delays than other pairs, but only when gender is revealed and only in pairs where one subject mimics the irrational type.     

青少年性心理发展的性别差异探析

青春期教育,已经引起了世界许多国家的关注.我国的青春期教育从无到有,现在正处于一个发展推广的时期.本文试图就男女青少年性心理发展的性别差异做些探讨,以便进一步增强青春期教育的针对性与科学性.     

Gender dynamics and rural household strategies

La forme que prend le ménage en milieu rural semble dépendre de facteurs structuaux tel l'accès aux ressources sans toutefois en être déterminée. Contrairement aux analyses qui soulignent seulement la présence d'un concensus au sein du ménage, nous considérons le ménage rural comme une unité politique qui implique des négotiations quotidiennes entre ses membres. Le concept d'hégémonie du ménage' est un outil analytique utile permettant d'aller au-delà des catégories 'conflit' et 'consensus' pour caractériser les dynamiques internes du ménage rural. Cette perspective est développée à l'intérieur d'une analyse de la dynamique entre les sexes dans le ménages ruraux de la côte de l'Équateur. Cet essai identifie certaines implications de cette approche en ce qui concerne les femmes et le développement.
Structural criteria such as access to land may condition the form the rural household takes but they do not determine it. It is suggested here, in contrast to analyses which emphasize household consensus, that we appreciate the farm household as a political unit involving daily negotiations between household members. The concept of 'household hegemony' is introduced as a helpful analytical tool which goes beyond conflict versus consensus dynamics. This approach is developed through a consideration of the gender dynamics within rural households in coastal Ecuador. Specific implications for women and development issues are considered.     

Gender differences in faculty attrition in the USA

In this study, we examined possible gender differences in reasons for faculty attrition during the last 20 years at a small women's liberal arts college. The attrition rate was calculated from archival data collected through old college directories. As in earlier studies, the attrition rate was higher for women (31%) than for men (18.5%). Reasons for leaving the college were assessed in an online survey completed by 45 out of 66 tenure-track or tenured professors who left (excluding retirees). Work–family conflict was the most frequently cited reason for leaving, with disproportionately more women than men giving this reason. Open-ended responses revealed that work–family conflict typically referred to the difficulty of coordinating two careers. Female faculty who left were also significantly more dissatisfied than males with the support for balancing work and family life at the college. The need for colleges to create spousal policies to help faculty coordinate dual careers was discussed.     

Gender differences in correlates of recent physical assault among untreated rural and urban at-risk drinkers: role of depression

This study examined gender-specific correlates of past 6-month physical assault victimization among 468 men and 229 women at-risk drinkers recruited from both urban and rural settings. Both alcohol dependence and depression were associated with physical assault, but there were differences for women and men in the pattern of significant correlates. Specifically, for women the presence of alcohol dependence, depression or their comorbidity all were associated with physical assault. For men, depression by itself was not associated with physical assault, but alcohol dependence and especially alcohol dependence comorbid with depression were significant predictors. Further, there were stronger relationships between demographics and physical assault for men. The results have implications regarding identification of risk factors for physical assault victimization among at-risk drinkers. Overall, the results of this study suggest that screening and prevention interventions for physical assault among at-risk drinkers should target both alcohol use disorders and depression.     

Gender differences in team work and team competition

We study whether the gender performance gap is affected by the gender composition of teams. A real-effort experiment is employed with wages based either on the team’s performance, or on the outcome of a competition between teams. We find that, relative to a single-sex environment, gender diversity increases the gender performance gap with team pay whereas it decreases the gap with team competition. The results show that there can be a tension between the objective to maximize overall performance and to minimize gender inequality.     

Gender in Social Work Education and Practice in India

Social work as a profession is committed to the creation of an equal and just society. Social work pedagogy combines an analysis of psychosocial, economic and political contexts and methods of active intervention and administration of social welfare. Gender sensitization and awareness is an integral component of social work education and training in India. Through conscious efforts students are enabled to imbibe the concept of gender, to look at women not only as individual entities but also in relation to men, and the way relations between the two are socially constructed. This paper examines the integration of a gender perspective in social work education and practice and explores how this may play a part in enabling students to ‘unlearn’ their gender stereotypes imbibed during socialization. The paper draws on case study examples of some projects in India.     

Gender differences in perceptions of aftercare supports and services

Youth depart residential care with many continued risk factors, unique needs, and challenges as they reintegrate into the home, school, and community settings. Currently, there is limited research on needs and best practices in aftercare services and supports for youth departing from residential settings and even less is known about how these differ by gender. While preliminary studies have explored perceptions of need during reintegration and aftercare by youth and caregivers, little is known about how these may differ by gender or if perceptions change over time after experiencing the initial transition period. One way to address this knowledge gap is to identify how prepared males and females feel for reintegration in critical life domains, their beliefs about aftercare, and preferences regarding potential services or supports to aide in the reintegration at discharge. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore if males and females differ on preparedness for reintegration across critical life domains, beliefs about aftercare, and preferences regarding potential services or supports to aide in the reintegration at departure from a residential treatment facility (N = 132). Overall, very few differences were found between males and females at departure. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.     

Gender differences among Czech youth in prejudice towards minorities

Using a large survey of Czech high school students (n?=?1103), aged 15–20 years, this paper explores youth prejudice to a wide range of minority groups (n?=?21) where family, school, and community contexts are taken into account. General Structural Equation Models are used to explore the determinants of prejudice for 21 minorities using a comparative explanatory framework where the focus is gender differences in prejudice to minorities are examined using three social theories: Social Dominance Theory (SDT), the Theory of Gendered Prejudice (TGP), and Gender Role Beliefs (GRB). This research shows that gender plays a strong role in expressing prejudiced attitudes where females express (a) less prejudiced attitudes toward the Roma, black Africans, Gays and those with mental or physical disabilities, and (b) more prejudiced attitudes towards the homeless, Vietnamese, Muslims, and lesbians. This gendered pattern is explained in terms of insights from SDT, TGP, and GRB.     

Gender differences in symptoms of depression among adolescents.

In this paper, we examine sources of gender differences in depressive symptoms among adolescents. Using data collected from a self-administered survey of 306 high school students, we examine differences in the impact of life events, psychosocial resources, and parent-child relationships on levels of psychological distress. Our results confirm a substantial gender difference in level of psychological distress. Moreover, analyses indicate that this gender difference may be due largely to higher levels of self-esteem among males and a tendency for adolescents to perceive their fathers to be overprotective. There is, however, also evidence that other psychosocial resources and parent-child relationships are implicated in this gender difference. We also present analyses to support our contention that parent-child relationships have important effects on the development of psychosocial resources of adolescents that, in turn, influence levels of depressive symptoms.