Gender Equality in Comparative Perspective 2 |
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| Session Organisers | Dr Natalia Soboleva (LCSR National Research University Higher School of Economics) Dr Vera Lomazzi (GESIS - Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences) Dr Beatrice Elena Chromková Manea (Masaryk University) |
| Time | Wednesday 17th July, 16:30 - 17:30 |
| Room | D26 |
Countries vary a lot in the level of the gender equality. Some countries accept norms of gender equality while in others traditional gender role attitudes are still prevalent (Braun & Gloeckner-Rist 2011, Inglehart & Norris 2003, Fortin 2005). These tendencies depend upon different determinants ranging from cultural differences in the countries to the characteristics of the labour market. Gender role attitudes in their turn impact the behavior in different spheres such as family, labour market, etc.
Although gender equality is a very popular topic, many conceptual questions are still unclear. Popular cross-country datasets include a variety of items on gender role attitudes. However, the issue remains whether these items are comparable across countries. For example, the popular scales in European Values Study, World Values Survey, Gender and Generation Survey, European Social Survey and International Social Survey Programme have different factorial structure across countries or present problems in comparability across large samples (Braun 2009, Constantin & Voicu 2015, Van Vlimmen et al. 2016, Lomazzi 2017).
The session welcomes papers that study different aspects of gender equality in a comparative perspective. Authors are invited to submit papers based on European Values Study, European Social Survey, and other datasets that allow making cross-country or cross-regional comparisons. Contributions can be either theoretically or empirically based. We are particularly interested in research addressing the following topics:
• Comparison of different gender equality indices;
• Macro- and micro-level determinants of gender equality;
• The relation between gender role attitudes and behavior;
• The impact of gender role attitudes on different life spheres (e.g. family, labour market, politics, social solidarity, etc.);
• Tendencies in gender equality values and their impact upon social policy.
Keywords: gender equality, gender role attitudes, comparative research, cross-country comparison, comparability
Ms Emese Vita (Sociology) - Presenting Author
In the last few decades profound changes in family- and work life have occurred in Europe. Regarding partnership behavior can be observed the loss of the popularity of marriage and an increase in the proportion of singles and divorced. An important economic and social change has also occurred: lots of women entered on the labor market, most countries are characterized by dual-earner family models. However recent analysis (Murinkó 2013, Makay 2018) shows that public opinion regarding gender role attitudes (for example presence of women with small children on labor market) is rather traditional, than permissive.
Gender role attitudes are important because affects many different spheres of family life: division of household labor, childbearing plans, satisfaction with (family) life etc. This paper aims to examine opinions concerning gender roles and family attitudes in three Eastern- and Central European countries: Slovak Republic, Hungary and Romania, using the international data from the European Values Survey in comparative view, applying descriptive and multi level analysis methods.
Our examination suggests that there are slight differences in the patterns of gender role attitudes among different Eastern- and Central European societies, and remarkable patterns are noticed between single, married and divorced subgroups.
Professor Hachiro Iwai (Kyoto University) - Presenting Author
The last 40 years witnessed dramatic family changes in Asian societies. Demographic transitions are quite evident. Asian societies have faced a rapid fertility decline and are moving toward a small family form. Are Asian family values and practices converging? Asian societies also have experienced a rapid growth in women’s educational opportunities. What effects does the expansion have on gender values and practices in Asian societies? Based on EASS 2006 and CAFS (Comparative Asian Family Survey), this paper firstly attempts to clarify the similarities and differences in gender-role attitudes and the gender division of household chores in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Turkey. Using EASS 2006 and 2016, this paper secondly explores what changes in gender-role attitudes and the gendered division of domestic chores occurs in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
The first results of analysis show that the rapid expansion of women’s higher education leads to changes in the attitudes toward egalitarian gender roles in those Asian societies. However, it is evident that changes in attitudes do not correspond to everyday domestic practices in these societies. The Thai case is quite intriguing: while Thai people support gendered family values, Thai domestic practices are more egalitarian than those in the other societies.
The second results of analysis show that men and women in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are more likely to accept egalitarian gender role in 2016. Changes that occur among highly educated women in Korea and Taiwan are more evident. Participation in domestic chores among men is slightly improving in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan: even among Japanese well-educated men. Participation rate among well-educated women in Taiwan declines sharply.
Based on these results, this paper will discuss about recent social changes and gender relation in Asian societies.
Dr Hilal Arslan (Institute of Population Studies, Hacettepe University) - Presenting Author
Measuring women’s empowerment and monitoring gender equality depends on data availability on key focus areas of gender inequality. Currently, European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) has been tracking the state and progress of gender equality in 28 EU countries by using 31 indicators in six core domains of gender mainstreaming policies which are work, money, knowledge, time, power and health; and two satellite domains which are intersecting inequalities and violence against women. Most recent EIGE Gender Equality Index score shows that 66.2 percent of total equality has been achieved in across European countries with some differences between the countries. Despite there is urgent need of more data on gender indicators, there are conceptual and measurement issues with such overall indexes due to limitations of the indicators used to grasp women’s well-being. For instance, most income based indicators are measured at the household level and it is hard to estimate allocation of household resources across female members of the family. Most studies in women’s subjective well-being has only been carried out on explaining the levels happiness and far too little attention has been paid to gender based happiness inequality and the factors determine the distribution of happiness between men and women. Come along with other social inequalities considering gender based happiness inequality is quite fresh look in understanding women’s perception of distribution of life chances in the societies they live in. In this context, this study aims to describe gender based happiness inequality in European countries through showing its levels and trajectories. The main questions addressed in this paper are (1) Did happiness inequality decreased in Europe as Gender Equality Index suggest? Furthermore the study will seek for (2) the country characteristics that might explain different levels of gender based happiness inequality across Europe by using World Values Survey (WVS) data.