Challenges Facing India, Myanmar and Thailand: The Future of Democratic Progress

In addition to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, India, Myanmar and Thailand face a myriad of crises that pose a serious challenge to each society's democracy, development and equality. The chapter probes into the influence external powers may have on the region's democratic progress by asking the following questions: What are the implications of China's rise for the rest of Asia, and in particular, India, Myanmar and Thailand? Has China or the US contributed to the recent illiberal trends in the region? In any case, the effect of US-China relations in the region's security, development and the respect of democratic values will have an enduring and profound influence on Asia after the pandemic. As the world moves towards meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is up to India, Myanmar, Thailand and other countries in Asia to also uphold them, including democratic values. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Social Transformations in India, Myanmar, and Thailand: Volume II: Identity and Grassroots for Democratic: Progress

This book explores the multifaceted obstacles to social change that India, Myanmar and Thailand face, and ways to overcome them. With a collection of essays that identify common challenges and salient features affecting diverse communities, this volume examines topics from subnational and local perspectives across the peripheries. The book argues that identity-based divisions have created a system of oppression and political contention that have led to conflicts of different kinds, and hence serving as the common cause of different social issues. At the same time, such issues have created space for marginalized groups around the world to call for change. The volume recognizes that social transformation comes into being through an active process of deconstructing and reconstructing shared norms and ideas. The contents in this book are thus centered around two focuses: The impacts of identities and grassroots. Both of these aspects are at the heart of each country's transformations towards democracy, peace, justice, and freedom. Under this framework, the chapters cover a diverse range of common issues, such as, minority grievances, gender inequality, ethnic identity, grassroots power in alliance-making towards community peace, recovery and resilience, digital freedom, democracy assistance and communication, and bridging multiple divides. As identity-based cleavages are daily lived experiences for individuals and communities, it requires grassroots initiatives and alliances as well as democratic communication to tackle obstacles at the root. Ultimately, the book convinces readers that social transformations must begin at the individual to communal level and local to national level. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Gender Pay Gap in Sports on a Fan-Request Celebrity Video Site

The internet is often thought of as a democratizer, enabling equality in aspects such as pay, as well as a tool introducing novel communication and monetization opportunities. In this study we examine athletes on Cameo, a website that enables bi-directional fan-celebrity interactions, questioning whether the well-documented gender pay gaps in sports persist in this digital setting. Traditional studies into gender pay gaps in sports are mostly in a centralized setting where an organization decides the pay for the players, while Cameo facilitates grass-roots fan engagement where fans pay for video messages from their preferred athletes. The results showed that even on such a platform gender pay gaps persist, both in terms of cost-per-message, and in the number of requests, proxied by number of ratings. For instance, we find that female athletes have a median pay of 30$ per-video, while the same statistic is 40$ for men. The results also contribute to the study of parasocial relationships and personalized fan engagements over a distance. Something that has become more relevant during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, where in-person fan engagement has often been limited. © 2023 Owner/Author.

Meeting the challenge of gender inequality through gender transformative research: lessons from research in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

While the global development agenda has prioritized gender equality, many challenges remain, and the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated inequalities. Gender transformative approaches to social change have the potential to address the underlying causes of inequality. This paper draws insights from studies funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre to understand how integrating gender transformative approaches to research can support social change. The findings suggest that gender transformative research is most successful in supporting change when it analyzes and addresses the multiple causes of inequality, takes an intersectional and structural approach, embeds the research in local contexts, and engages power holders and perpetrators of inequality.Alternate :RÉSUMÉSi les objectifs de développement mondial ont donné la priorité à l'égalité des genres, il y a encore de nombreux défis à relever dans ce domaine et la crise de la COVID-19 a exacerbé les inégalités. Les approches transformatrices du genre nous permettent de faire face aux causes sous-jacentes de ces inégalités. Cet article base son analyse sur des études financées par le Centre de recherches pour le développement international, au Canada, et vise à mieux comprendre comment l'adoption d'approches transformatrices du genre dans le contexte de la recherche peut appuyer le changement social. Nos résultats suggèrent que la recherche se basant sur une approche transformatrice du genre a de meilleurs chances d'inciter des changements sociaux lorsqu'elle analyse et répond aux différentes causes des inégalités, lorsqu'elle adopte une approche intersectionnelle et structurelle, lorsqu'elle intègre la recherche dans des contextes locaux et lorsqu'elle confronte les détenteurs du pouvoir et les responsables des inégalités.

Gendered Economic Vulnerabilities in Disaster Environments: The Case of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that entrenched and gendered economic disadvantages can become more pronounced in a disaster environment, especially when the disaster is a long-term situation, as with the pandemic. There is a large body of literature that has highlighted the existence of gender bias against women, in relation to their financial positions pre-disaster, which become more exacerbated during a disaster. Regional elements, including cultural factors, can become more pronounced, in increasing not only physiological and psychological vulnerabilities of women but also financial vulnerabilities during the disaster. A review of current literature (mostly media and academic literature, 2020-2021) has been undertaken to present a discussion of enhanced financial vulnerabilities of women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations for threat mitigation are also provided. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Feminist Governance in the European Parliament: The Political Struggle over the Inclusion of Gender in the EU's COVID-19 Response

The research objective of this article is to analyze the European Parliament's response to the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of feminist governance. Feminist governance can either play a role in ensuring the inclusion of a gender perspective in crisis responses, or, quite the opposite, crises may weaken or sideline feminist governance. The empirical analysis focuses on two aspects of feminist governance: (1) a dedicated gender equality body and (2) gender mainstreaming. In addition to assessing the effectiveness of feminist governance, the analysis sheds light on the political struggles behind the policy positions. The article argues that feminist governance in the European Parliament was successful in inserting a gender perspective into the COVID-19 response. The article pinpoints the effects of the achievements of the European Parliament's Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee and gender mainstreaming on gendering the pandemic crisis response.

Re-thinking care after the pandemic: a European Care Strategy for Caregivers and Care Receivers

The importance of care for our sustainability is increasingly discussed by policy makers and academics. For several reasons, however, the law has failed to address it. Accordingly, care has long been in a state of crisis, where the needs of those who require care are not met, and those who care are routinely subject to discrimination and cannot care in a dignified way. The Covid-19 Pandemic has highlighted the extent of the problem. The EU has responded by announcing on 7 September 2022 ‘A European Care Strategy for Caregivers and Care Receivers'. Although not flawless, this initiative is ground-breaking. It is now crucial to sustain momentum and to continue to build on this initiative. © 2023, The Author(s).

Masculinity and COVID-19: Symposium introduction

This article presents an introduction to the Symposium on Masculinity and COVID-19. In this symposium, the authors focus on how gender inequalities in particular have structured social life during this global pandemic. At all levels, gender is a central part of the story of COVID-19-from how people experience the disease to how national decisions have been shaped by cultures of manhood. And from the rate of disease, and how men respond to public health calls, to what homelife looks like for people during shutdown, and nationalistic political responses, masculinity has been a unique liability to the human population during this time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Women's Participation in Firms' Management and Their Impact on Financial Performance: Pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 Period Evidence

At a time when gender equality is a key priority of all international organizations, this paper can be considered a remarkable contribution to the role of women executives in firms' performance. More specifically, this study focuses on the effect of women holding positions of responsibility on firms' performance worldwide. For the purposes of our research, we applied cross-sectional and panel data analysis for all sectors at an international level from 2019, the year preceding the breakout of the pandemic crisis, to 2021, while the indicators used to measure the participation of women in executive positions are classified as ESG indices. The empirical analysis findings end up showing that the participation of women in executive positions positively affects firms' performance over time, while there is no material change observed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic period. More specifically, when the percent of women processing job positions of responsibility increases by 10%, then the index of profitability will increase from 1.4% to 1.8%, regardless of the measurement of female participation in executive positions used. The results of this study constitute a remarkable contribution to the promotion of the creative economy, the progress of societies, and sustainable development. The research's outcome can be primarily used by policymakers drawing up policies for achieving gender equality in the labor market and workplaces and by shareholders and firms' managers in order to trust females in executive positions in favor of their firms' financial performance. The current study is unique in that it focuses on the period before and during the COVID-19 period, as a period of high volatility in economic activity worldwide, while the sample includes firms from large and mid-cap companies belonging to developed and emerging markets. The above approach will contribute to providing more credible information related to the role of women executives in firms' performance.

A Sociotheological Approach to Catholic Social Teaching: The Role of Religion in Moral Responsibility During COVID-19

This book introduces Catholic social teaching (CST) and its teaching on the common good to the reader and applies them in the realm of public health to critically analyze the major global issues of COVID-19 that undermine public interest. It uses the sociotheological approach that combines the moral principles of CST and the holistic analysis of modern sociology and also utilizes the secondary literature as the main source of textual data. Specifically, it investigates the corporate moral irresponsibility and some unethical business practices of Big Pharma in the sale and distribution of its anti-COVID vaccines and medicines, the injustice in the inequitable global vaccine distribution, the weakening of the United States Congress's legislative regulation against the pharmaceutical industry's overpricing and profiteering, the inadequacy of the World Health Organization's (WHO) law enforcement system against corruption, and the lack of social monitoring in the current public health surveillance system to safeguard the public good from corporate fraud and white-collar crime. This book highlights the contribution of sociology in providing the empirical foundation of CST's moral analysis and in crafting appropriate Catholic social action during the pandemic. It is hoped that through this book, secular scholars, social scientists, religious leaders, moral theologians, religious educators, and Catholic lay leaders would be more appreciative of the sociotheological approach to understanding religion and COVID-19. "This book brings into dialogue two bodies of literature: documents of Catholic social teaching, and modern sociology and its core thinkers and texts…The author does especially well to describe how taking ‘the sociotheological turn'…will benefit the credibility and dissemination of Catholic social thought.” - Rev. Fr. Thomas Massaro, S.J., Professor of Moral Theology, Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University, Berkeley, California. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Towards an improved understanding of the antecedents of digital health service loyalty during a pandemic: An fsQCA approach

Loyalty towards digital health services has received unprecedented attention and acceptance during the Covid-19 pandemic period. However, whether this popularity will be retained into the future and the factors that can influence such loyalty is undetermined. This paper provides insight into this issue through a cross-cultural examination of the influence of digital service quality (e-quality) on consumer satisfaction and loyalty (e-loyalty) in the digital health service sector during a pandemic. A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is applied using a sample of 50 customers drawn from different professions across different countries who actively showed loyalty towards digital health during the pandemic. Research constructs evaluation for reliability and internal consistency was subsequently performed using Cronbach's alpha and Correlation analysis. The results reveal a significant positive relationship between service quality and the twin outcomes of consumer satisfaction and loyalty, while the findings established satisfaction as a prominent mediator for digital health. Findings from the fsQCA analysis identified four core factors that underpin loyalty in digital health platforms. Alternative paths have been identified based on gender, current education status, and other professions. In addition, two topologies are introduced taking digital health services from different platforms during the pandemic. Because of the primary nature of the data, this is first-hand experience gathered from the people who are directly or indirectly involved in receiving help from digital health services in a pandemic context. The application of the fsQCA technique for examining loyalty towards digital health services is applied in the e-health or digital health literature for the first time. The study findings will assist digital health service providers seeking insight into the factors that influence loyalty of e-health service consumers, enabling them to focus more accurately on the service quality dimensions that are effective in influencing consumer satisfaction and retention. The findings of this study contain a number of contributions, illustrating different topologies towards digital health that provide educators and policymakers with valuable insights.

Overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution: is the double-anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time?

Male researchers dominate scientific production in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, potential mechanisms to avoid this gender imbalance remain poorly explored in STEM, including ecology and evolution areas. In the last decades, changes in the peer-review process towards double-anonymized (DA) have increased among ecology and evolution (EcoEvo) journals. Using comprehensive data on articles from 18 selected EcoEvo journals with an impact factor >1, we tested the effect of the DA peer-review process in female-leading (i.e., first and senior authors) articles. We tested whether the representation of female-leading authors differs between double and single-anonymized (SA) peer-reviewed journals. Also, we tested if the adoption of the DA by previous SA journals has increased the representativeness of female-leading authors over time. We found that publications led by female authors did not differ between DA and SA journals. Moreover, female-leading articles did not increase after changes from SA to DA peer-review. Tackling female underrepresentation in science is a complex task requiring many interventions. Still, our results highlight that adopting the DA peer-review system alone could be insufficient in fostering gender equality in EcoEvo scientific publications. Ecologists and evolutionists understand how diversity is important to ecosystems' resilience in facing environmental changes. The question remaining is: why is it so difficult to promote and keep this "diversity" in addition to equity and inclusion in the academic environment? We thus argue that all scientists, mentors, and research centers must be engaged in promoting solutions to gender bias by fostering diversity, inclusion, and affirmative measures.

COVID-19-associated income loss and job loss: Evidence from Indonesia.

COVID-19 pandemic has substantially altered socioeconomic conditions around the world. While numerous existing studies analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among developed states, little is known about its effects on people's lives and social discrepancies in emerging economies. To this end, we empirically analyze the 2020 Indonesian Labor Force Survey data, hypothesizing that COVID-19 has given idiosyncratic risks and impacts on people by gender, age, education, occupation and regions. We find that income loss and job loss are prominent among males, younger and less educated people as well as among self-employed and part-time non-agricultural workers. These tendencies are not pronounced for people enjoying high income and mobility, but tend to be evident for urban residents and those having dependents. Notably, self-employed people have the highest risk of losing income, while part-time urban workers face the highest probability of losing their jobs. The propensity score matching method also demonstrates that these losses are most evident for the regions susceptible to COVID-19. Overall, we suggest that socioeconomically disadvantaged groups require additional support to strengthen their resilience in the face of exogenous shocks, such as the one caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.

The role of digital transformation in the socio-economic recovery post COVID-19

Several measures have been taken to reduce the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. One of these measures is the broad digital transformation that has rapidly and unexpectedly forced the deployment of digital technologies into corporations' business models and organizational structures. This digital transformation has affected all the socio-economic aspects. In response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, this paper explores the impact of the implementation of digital transformation on the socio-economic recovery by employing cross-sectional regression analysis on 99 countries in year 2020. The paper analyzes the impact of digital transformation on each of economic growth, health care, and income inequality. The results reveal that the digital transformation has a positive and significant impact on the GDP per capita in which a 1% increase in digital transformation results in 1.52% increase in GDP per capita, a positive and significant impact on income equality in which a 1% increase in digital transformation leads to 0.05% increase in income equality, and a negative and significant impact on infant mortality rate, in which a 1% increase in digital transformation results in 0.85% decrease in infant mortality rate which reflects its positive impact on the health care. Hence, the digital transformation has a positive and significant effects on different socio-economic aspects.

The New Regulation of Telework and Remote Work in Portugal: Considerations and Prospects

COVID-1 9 led to an extraordinary increase in both telework and remote work, exposing some of the fragilities and loopholes of the Portuguese applicable regulation and leading the Portuguese Parliament to approve a new law on teleworking in the form of an amendment to the Labour Code aimed at extending the protection of teleworkers. This paper intends to analyse this new regulation implemented by Law No. 83/2021 of 6 December regarding its concept and scope of application;the telework agreement and the principle of volunteering;teleworkers' rights and employers' duties related to equipment, tools and teleworking-related expenses;employers' duty to abstain from any contact during rest periods;privacy and data protection;health, safety and work-related accidents;and the right to telework, namely for work-life balance reasons. The final objective is to provide a critical overview of the legal regulation, assessing its strengths and weaknesses.

Entre la "vieja" forma escolar y la "nueva" virtualidad: Lecciones de la pandemia para pensar la educación en México?

artículo analiza las implicaciones de la suspensión de la escuela presencial durante la pandemia de COVID-19. El articulo tambien se centra en la experiencia que cuestiona la "vieja” forma escolar, se reflexiona sobre el uso de las tecnologías de la información y comunicación y el futuro de la educación.Otros temas relacionados son las las limitaciones y desigualdades que desencadenó el uso de las TICs.

Promoting inclusion in clinical trials-a rapid review of the literature and recommendations for action.

BACKGROUND: Without inclusion of diverse research participants, it is challenging to understand how study findings will translate into the real world. Despite this, a lack of inclusion of those from under-served groups in research is a prevailing problem due to multi-faceted barriers acting at multiple levels. Therefore, we rapidly reviewed international published literature, in relation to clinical trials, on barriers relating to inclusion, and evidence of approaches that are effective in overcoming these. METHODS: A rapid literature review was conducted searching PubMed for peer-reviewed articles that discussed barriers to inclusion or strategies to improve inclusion in clinical trial research published between 2010 and 2021. Grey literature articles were excluded. RESULTS: Seventy-two eligible articles were included. The main barriers identified were language and communication, lack of trust, access to trials, eligibility criteria, attitudes and beliefs, lack of knowledge around clinical trials, and logistical and practical issues. In relation to evidence-based strategies and enablers, two key themes arose: [1] a multi-faceted approach is essential [2]; no single strategy was universally effective either within or between trials. The key evidence-based strategies identified were cultural competency training, community partnerships, personalised approach, multilingual materials and staff, communication-specific strategies, increasing understanding and trust, and tackling logistical barriers. CONCLUSIONS: Many of the barriers relating to inclusion are the same as those that impact trial design and healthcare delivery generally. However, the presentation of these barriers among different under-served groups may be unique to each population's particular circumstances, background, and needs. Based on the literature, we make 15 recommendations that, if implemented, may help improve inclusion within clinical trials and clinical research more generally. The three main recommendations include improving cultural competency and sensitivity of all clinical trial staff through training and ongoing personal development, the need to establish a diverse community advisory panel for ongoing input into the research process, and increasing recruitment of staff from under-served groups. Implementation of these recommendations may help improve representation of under-served groups in clinical trials which would improve the external validity of associated findings.

The association mental health of adolescents with economic impact during the COVID-19 pandemic: a 2020 Korean nationally representative survey.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has affected innumerable aspects of life, including education, economy, and religion. Economic problems and inequality are associated with poor mental health in adolescents. This study aimed to identify the relationship between economic damage to families due to COVID-19 and various mental health problems in Korean adolescents and to evaluate the risk factors of mental health. METHODS: In total, 54,948 Korean adolescent students from 398 middle and 395 high schools were surveyed between August and November 2020. Complex sample logistic regression was performed to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for depression and suicidal ideation, respectively. A generalized linear model analysis was used to examine the association between mental health (unhappiness, loneliness, and stress) and the economic impact of COVID-19. Analyses were adjusted for age, gender, school grade, perceived academic achievement, perceived family economic status, and economic support. RESULTS: The ORs of depression (OR = 1.77, 95% CI:1.57-2.00), suicidal ideation (OR = 2.14, 95% CI:1.84-2.50), unhappiness (OR = 1.51 95% CI 1.42-1.60) and lonely (OR = 1.38 95% CI 1.27-1.49) for the low level of perceived family economic status was higher compared to middle level. Adolescents who experienced economic deterioration in their households as COVID-19 showed a higher risk of depression (OR = 1.42, 95% CI:1.35-1.49), suicide ideation (OR = 1.36, 95% CI:1.28-1.44), unhappiness (OR = 2.23 95% CI 2.19-2.27), lonely (OR = 1.20 95% CI 1.17-1.22), and stress (OR = 1.14 95% CI 1.12-1.16) than those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: The findings revealed an association between the decline in household economic status due to COVID-19 and mental health problems, such as stress, loneliness, suicidal ideation, depression, and unhappiness.

Understanding who is and isn't involved and engaged in health research: capturing and analysing demographic data to diversify patient and public involvement and engagement.

BACKGROUND: Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) can improve the relevance, quality, ethics and impact of research thus contributing to high quality research. Currently in the UK, people who get involved in research tend to be aged 61 years or above, White and female. Calls for greater diversity and inclusion in PPIE have become more urgent especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, so that research can better address health inequalities and be relevant for all sectors of society. Yet, there are currently no routine systems or requirements to collect or analyse the demographics of people who get involved in health research in the UK. The aim of this study was to develop to capture and analyse the characteristics of who does and doesn't take part in patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) activities. METHODS: As part of its strategic focus on diversity and inclusion, Vocal developed a questionnaire to assess the demographics of people taking part in its PPIE activities. Vocal is a non-profit organisation which supports PPIE in health research across the region of Greater Manchester in England. The questionnaire was implemented across Vocal activities between December 2018 and March 2022. In that time. Vocal was working with approximately 935 public contributors. 329 responses were received: a return rate of 29.3%. Analysis of findings and comparison against local population demographic data, and available national data related to public contributors to health research, was performed. RESULTS: Results show that it is feasible to assess the demographics of people who take part in PPIE activities, through a questionnaire system. Further, our emerging data indicate that Vocal are involving people from a wider range of ages and with a greater diversity of ethnic backgrounds in health research, as compared to available national data. Specifically, Vocal involves more people of Asian, African and Caribbean heritage, and includes a wider range of ages in its PPIE activities. More women than men are involved in Vocal's work. CONCLUSION: Our 'learn by doing' approach to assessing who does and doesn't take part in Vocal's PPIE activities has informed our practice and continues influence our strategic priorities for PPIE. Our system and learning reported here may be applicable and transferable to other similar settings in which PPIE is carried out. We attribute the greater diversity of our public contributors to our strategic priority and activities to promote more inclusive research since 2018.

Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) can improve the relevance, quality, ethics and impact of research thus contributing to high quality research. Currently in the UK, people who get involved in research tend to be aged 61 years or above, White and female. Calls for greater diversity and inclusion in PPIE have become more urgent especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, so that research can better address health inequalities and be relevant for all sectors of society. Yet, there are currently no routine systems or requirements to collect or analyse the demographics of people who get involved in health research in the UK. Vocal is a non-profit organisation which supports PPIE in health research across the region of Greater Manchester in England. Since 2018, one of Vocal's strategic priorities has been to promote inclusive research by diversifying those who are engaged and involved in research, through the development of more inclusive ways of working together, including methods to understand who is (and isn't) currently involved in Vocal's PPIE activities. We find that it's feasible to capture and analyse demographic data related to PPIE. Further, our emerging data indicate that we are involving people from a wider range of ages and with a greater diversity of ethnic backgrounds in PPIE for health research, as compared to available national data. However, similarly to national trends, more women than men are involved in PPIE work.