Flexible work arrangements and gender differences in research during the COVID-19 period in Zimbabwean higher learning institutions

This study sought to investigate the impact of COVID-19-induced flexible work arrangements (FWAs) on gender differences in research outputs during COVID-19. A mixed research methodology was used, focusing on higher learning institutions in Zimbabwe. Purposive sampling was applied to select 250 researchers from the 21 registered universities in Zimbabwe. The study's findings revealed that institutions of higher learning in Zimbabwe did not provide the necessary affordances to enable both male and female academics to work from home effectively. The study also established that FWAs were preferred and appreciated by both male and female academics. However, whilst both male and female academics performed their teaching responsibilities without incident, unlike males, females struggled to find time for research, thus affecting professional growth and development negatively for female academics. Cultural traditions were found to subordinate females to domestic and caregiving responsibilities unrelated to their professions. The findings raise questions on the feasibility of the much-recommended FWAs for future work on female academics' research careers. Thus, without the necessary systems and processes to support female researchers, FWAs can only widen the gender gap in research outputs. This study contributes to the Zimbabwean higher learning institutions' perspective on how FWAs' policies and practices could be re-configured to assist female researchers in enhancing their research outputs as well as their career growth.

Converging Crises and the Cost of Exclusion: Unveiling the Invisible Women of Sri Lanka's Economy

In Sri Lanka, womens labor force participation has never exceeded 35% in over three decades. As of 2022, the country was ranked 110 out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forums Gender Gap Index. The gaps in womens participation in the formal economy alongside womens limited political empowerment are two leading causes for the country to be lagging in such global gender equality indicators. At a large cost to the economy, the existence of archaic gender norms that promulgate womens unpaid care work often exclude women from the formal labor force. This paper dissects the socio-economic and socio-political factors that lead to the invisibility of women in Sri Lankas economy, while seeking to understand how such underlying causes have been aggravated within the precarity of the post-pandemic context. It is important, now more than ever, to recognize the invisibility of women in Sri Lankas formal economy, while bringing about a transformative vision with a multi-pronged approach to address existing gaps and challenges. With reference to key principles of feminist economics, including the theoretical foundations of Claudia Goldin, Nancy Folbre, and Diane Elson, among others, the paper will make a case for inclusivity and intersectionality in policy recommendations aimed at encouraging womens entry, active engagement, contribution, and retention in Sri Lankas economy. The paper reaches a conclusion that when women lead, participate, and benefit equally in all aspects of life, societies and economies will thrive, thereby contributing to sustainable development and inclusive economic growth.

MASCULINIDAD HEGEMÓNICA, ROLES DE GÉNERO Y VIOLENCIA INTRAFAMILIAR EN PUEBLA-TLAXCALA, MÉXICO

El objetivo del artículo es analizar, desde la perspectiva de género, la incidencia de la masculinidad hegemónica y los roles de género estereotipados en la armonía familiar en la Zona Metropolitana de Puebla-Tlaxcala (ZMTP), donde se reporta un incremento de violencia durante el confinamiento por Covid-19 como resultado del reparto desigual en los quehaceres domésticos y el machismo en México. Es una investigación cualitativa donde se empleó el método de encuesta telefónica y descriptivo-exploratorio. Al final del trabajo, se evidencia que las tradiciones culturales y la normalización de la dominación masculina impiden la erradicación de los abusos en el hogar.Alternate :The objective of the article is to analyze, from the gender perspective, the incidence of hegemonic masculinity and stereotyped gender roles in family harmony where it refers to an increase in violence during confinement by Covid-19 in the Metropolitan Area Puebla-Tlaxcala (ZMTP) as a result of the unequal distribution of domestic chores and sexism in Mexico. It is a qualitative investigation where the method of telephone and descriptive-exploratory survey was used. At the end of the work, it shows that cultural traditions and the normalization of male domination prevent the eradication of abuse in the home.

Troubling gender norms on Mumsnet: Working from home and parenting during the UK's first COVID lockdown

This article examines the troubling of gender norms that unfolded on the social networking site, Mumsnet, at the beginning of the UK's first lockdown response to the COVID pandemic. Using an analysis of 7144 contributions which included the acronym ‘WFH' (=working from home), posted from March 1, 2020 to April 5, 2020, the article examines how Mumsnet members talked about working from home while caring for toddlers and home‐schooled children. Mumsnet discussions about everyday moral dilemmas create a discursive space for examining the situated rationalities and normative judgments that shape expectations of how to behave as a working parent. Drawing on post‐structuralist discourse theory, the article shows how Mumsnet contributors generated alternative sub‐categorizations of ‘good mums', and destabilized discourse assumptions of intensive motherhood, such as always ‘being there' for their children, thereby ‘working the weakness in the norms' (Butler, 1993) and creating potential for change.

Sources of Stress, Burnout, and Career Decisions of Male Health and Nursing Professionals: A Qualitative Inquiry of the Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The human resources and workforce shortage of registered health and nursing professionals has been a long-term problem in health systems internationally, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many health and nursing professionals face stress and burnout, which may influence their career decisions and long-term human resources development. The purpose of this study is to investigate and understand the relationship(s) between sources of stress and the reasons why male health and nursing professionals decide to leave the profession within the next six months. With the employment of the social cognitive career and motivation theory and general inductive approach with 40 male health and nursing professionals, the results outlined personal considerations: my physical and mental health conditions, surrounding environments and individuals: pressure from my co-workers, and political considerations: unsupportive government policies, were categorized. The study provides recommendations to healthcare leadership, government agencies, human resources planners, and researchers to establish sustainable human resources strategies to solve the ongoing and long-term workforce shortage internationally.

WHO CARES DURING A PANDEMIC? EXPLORING THE GENDERED NATURE OF CARE WORK AMONG STAFF AT A SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITY DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

The objective of this paper is to investigate how staff at a South African university have coped with care work in the home during lockdown. Care work tends to be gendered and we therefore expect that lockdown will have impacted men and women differently. This study used mixed methods to investigate the impact of Covid-19 lockdown on care work perfomed by different categories of staff at a South African university. Findings from thematic analysis reveal common themes which emerged around care work in the home during lockdown. These are, inter alia, the importance of community, balance, partnership and career. Within these common themes, different experiences are further dissected in this article. We conclude that gender norms underpinning care work are complex, fluid and context dependent, but that the lockdown helped participants realise the importance of achieving the right work-life balance.

Voice and Agency in Digital Storytelling

When I returned to the high school classroom in the fall of 2022 after pursuing doctoral study and teaching college English, much of what I experienced was familiar. As a new teacher, I had to work to earn the trust and respect of my students, who were in grades 10 through 12. With that trust came students' willingness to explore, experiment, and try new things together. And, of course, tenth-grade students were just as rambunctious as I remembered. What was unfamiliar was that my students' high school experience had been severely altered by the COVID pandemic-a pandemic we now know was in no way finished influencing teaching and learning. One constant across my many years of teach...ing is that even students who trust themselves in the English classroom balk when encountering Shakespeare. The anxiety bubbled up when our class embarked on a study of The Taming of the Shrew in the second semester.

Who Does the Caring? Gender Disparities in COVID-19 Attitudes and Behaviors

Do men and women exhibit different attitudes and behaviors toward COVID-19 public health measures? Is there a gender gap in support for and compliance with government recommendations during a public health crisis? While the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on women suggests that they would oppose burdensome quarantine measures, theories of gender differences in prosocial and communion attitudes indicate that women should be more likely to conform with public health measures designed to protect the most vulnerable. We test hypotheses about a gender gap in attitudes toward public health recommendations through an original, nationally representative survey implemented in Peru, one of the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, and the construction of a representative matched sample that allows us to make comparisons between women and men. We find that women are more likely than men to endorse lockdown measures and to support the continuation of a nationwide quarantine. We also find evidence of a gender gap in compliance with public health recommendations about avoiding crowded areas and social gatherings. Our findings have important policy implications. The results suggest that public health recommendations to fight COVID-19 should be framed in a way that maximizes compliance by both men and women.

Gender differences on COVID-19 related anxiety among students

The COVID-19 pandemic creates complex problems and in almost all aspects of life, everyone has been anxious, worried, and panicked about survival. Starting with children, young and old, men and women feel anxious about the threat of COVID-19. This study aimed to determine the differences in anxiety levels between male and female students during the COVID-19 period based on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1969). This study used a survey method with a descriptive design. Sampling using accidental sampling, 396 respondents consisted of 99 male and 297 female with age range of 21-23 years was acquired. Data analysis was based on univariate and bivariate analysis using Chi-Square. The results showed that overall respondents were experiencing high levels of anxiety about COVID-19. On the other hand, there was non-significant difference in anxiety levels between male and female students in facing the COVID-19 pandemic;thereby, indicating that gender did not have significant role in emotional reactivity, such as anxiety and fear. Anxiety would arise when there would be environmental pressures that can hinder one's activities of both male and female students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Social Footprint of the Leisure Running Boom in Poland

The paper examines the problem of the social output of the leisure running boom as a relatively durable phenomenon of nowadays global scope. The concept of the "social footprint" to describe the social consequences and impact of the phenomenon of interest, is proposed, developed and implemented. Analysis conducted is focused on Poland as an exemplary country under social, political and economic modernization. The first two decades of the 21st century constitute the time frame of the study performed. The collected and analyzed empirical data allow us to claim that the running boom contributed to the progress of Polish modernization in the form of reconstruction of social structure (macro-social level), generation of social capital, strengthening of the position of local government, modernization of rural and urban landscape in social and spatial dimension (mezzo-social level) and changes in gender roles (micro-social level).

Strength through kindness: Celebrating the success of women leaders and feminine leadership styles

This chapter presents two stories of inspiring women political leaders, Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minster of New Zealand, and Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, to shed light on the dire importance of using feminine leadership models (i.e., embodying kindness, empathy and concern for others) during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as everyday practice. I use a multi-dimensional theoretical conceptualization grounded in gender stereotyping and the theory of androgyny to emphasize the transition from historical masculine leadership ideals ('think manager, think male'-Schein & Davidson, 1993) to leadership discourse that symbolizes inclusivity of leadership with an emphasis on using kindness, regardless of whether you identify as a male or female leader. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Organizational interventions towards achieving gender equality at the corporate top: a multiple case study approach

Purpose>The aim of this article is twofold: (1) to identify gender equality organizational interventions implemented by a selected number of Dutch companies to increase the number of women at the corporate top and (2) to identify how these interventions overcome barriers to women's advancement and contribute to more women at the corporate top.Design/methodology/approach>A comparative case study method was applied through conducting qualitative research. The research was conducted at four large Dutch companies.Findings>The research identified 23 organizational interventions that were classified in four categories. The cross-case analysis focuses on specific themes, such as the type of interventions, the identified barriers, the successfulness of the interventions and factors contributing to increasing the number of women at the corporate top. The research shows that top-level commitment to this topic is important for the success of interventions and for increasing the number of women at the corporate top and throughout the rest of the organization. Some of the barriers could be overcome by the interventions identified.Practical implications>This research provides companies with better insight into the quality and quantity of gender equality organizational interventions implemented by Dutch companies to increase the number of women at the corporate top. It can assist them in deciding which interventions could be implemented in order to achieve gender equality at their corporate top.Originality/value>The research provides in-depth insight into the types and number of implemented gender equality organizational interventions for women at the corporate top and into the results and perceived effectiveness of such interventions.

Alcohol consumption during COVID-19 Lockdown in Romania. Social demographic differences, predictors and moderators

This present study aims to examine the individual and social factors, the predictors and moderators of alcohol consumption during COVID-19 lockdown in Romania. In a community sample of 262 participants, we found gender and age differences on the alcohol consumption during the first two months of the outbreak. In addition, we also found that gender, age, and social influence positively predicted alcohol consumption during the lockdown. The research also explored the moderating role of age and gender in predicting the alcohol consumption during COVID-19 lockdown. The results revealed that only gender moderates the link between social influence and alcohol consumption during the outbreak. These results have practical implications by suggesting the need of designing prevention actions or interventions for this at-risk group. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Romanian) Obiectivul principal al articolului de fata a fost de a examina factorii individuali si de mediu, predictorii si moderatorii consumului de alcool pe parcursul carantinei instituite din cauza pandemiei de COVID-19. Utilizand un esantion de 262 de participanti, din comunitate (75% femei, M = 27,21, SD = 9,28), am gasit diferente la nivelul varstei si genului in ceea ce priveste consumul de alcool pe parcursul primelor doua luni de carantina. In plus, rezultatele au aratat ca genul, varsta si anturajul prezic pozitiv consumul de alcool pe parcursul carantinei. In cadrul acestui studiu, au mai fost analizate si posibilul rol moderator al genului si al varstei pentru prezicerea consumului de alcool pe parcursul carantinei. Rezultatele au aratat ca doar genul modereaza legatura dintre anturaj si consumul de alcool in timpul carantinei instituite din cauza pandemiei de COVID-19 (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The impact of COVID-19 on the gender division of housework and childcare: Evidence from two waves of the pandemic in Italy

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on families’ lives because of the increased demands of housework and childcare. Much of the additional burden has been shouldered by women. Yet, the rise in remote working also has the potential to increase paternal involvement in family life and thus to reduce gender role inequalities. This effect depends on the working arrangements of each partner, whether working remotely, at their usual workplace, or ceasing work altogether. Using two waves of an ad-hoc survey conducted in April and November 2020, we show that the time spent by women in domestic activities did not depend on their partners’ working arrangements. Conversely, men spent fewer hours helping with housework and home schooling when their partners were at home. Although men who worked remotely or did not work at all devoted more time to household activities during the second wave of COVID-19, the increased time they spent at home did not seem to lead to a reallocation of couples’ time.

The role of Muslim women in managing the family during crisis: Corona pandemic as a model

Purpose: This study aims to clarify the role of Muslim women in managing their families during the corona pandemic crisis. To achieve this aim, the researcher applied the descriptive and analytical approach. Design/methodology/approach: The Muslim women have had a prominent position consistent with the physical, psychological and mental characteristics that Allah has created them. This status is shown by: affirming their rights in all areas of life;affirming everything that preserved the dignity of women before Islam;and correcting all the conditions that detracted their dignity before the advent of Islam and making them responsible in public Islamic life on the level of: preserving Islam, spreading the Islamic call and achieving the civilization advancement of the Muslim nation. Findings: The study resulted in many significant results. The most important one of the study results was that, in the context of woman rights and responsibilities she had assumed in Islam, the Muslim woman had a prominent position in Islam. In addition, the mother in the Muslim family had a significant role as a leader, who is capable of managing the family in corona crisis and supporting family members in all aspects such as faith, intellectual endeavors, psychological, social and health, so that they are real leaders. Originality/value: The study recommends carrying out educational studies that identify and show the role of institutions other than the family in managing emergency crises. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Mothers' Domestic Responsibilities and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Lockdown: The Moderating Role of Gender Essentialist Beliefs About Parenthood.

The present work investigates how the increased domestic responsibilities created by the Spring 2020 lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway and gender ideologies relate to the well-being of mothers with elementary school children. In June 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional online study including current and retrospective measures with 180 mothers (M age = 39.96 years, SD = 6.11) of elementary school children across Norway. First, in line with earlier research on the strain of the pandemic on parents, and especially mothers, we found that Norwegian mothers' well-being during the lockdown significantly declined compared to before the lockdown (both measured retrospectively). Furthermore, mothers' well-being after the Spring 2020 lockdown did not immediately return to pre-lockdown levels. Finally, we predicted that gender ideologies (i.e., essentialist beliefs about parenthood) would exacerbate the negative impact of increased domestic responsibilities (i.e., childcare and housework) on mothers' well-being (i.e., higher standard-higher stress hypothesis). As predicted, for mothers who more strongly endorsed the belief that mothers are instinctively and innately better caretakers than fathers, perceptions of increased domestic responsibilities were associated with lower well-being post-lockdown. These findings point to the specific challenges mothers face in times of crisis, and the importance of addressing and confronting seemingly benevolent ideologies about motherhood that place additional burdens on women.

Breaking Free: Addressing Gender and Sexual Diversity in Communities Through Transdisciplinary Education

Notwithstanding the challenges in South Africa, Black people were also discriminated against in the services offered to people fleeing the war between Russia and Ukraine. [...]I ask, "What does breaking free mean in the context of Black-on-Black hatred and violence, racial discrimination and xenophobia, and Operation Dudula in South Africa?" "Are African refugees as human as Ukrainian refugees?" "Who is human, and whose rights should be celebrated?" "Are there some people whose humanity surpasses others?" "Are there people who are less human-whose rights do not matter?" "What do we mean by celebrating human rights amidst all the abuses of women, children, and those on the periphery of society, those who do not look like us, those who have different beliefs to our own?" "How long will we keep using 'them' and 'us' to divide humanity?" "When will the sexual health and reproductive rights of marginalised people be celebrated as human rights?" "When will the rights of the poor become human rights?" "Are human rights greater than environmental rights and ecological rights?" "Can humanity survive without the ecosystem?" "Can we celebrate humanity without celebrating all life forms and their support systems?" "Do human rights exist in unethical business and development?" I know I have asked too many questions, and the truth is that I have no answers to them yet. Ashnie Mahadew and Dipane Hlalele's article, "Challenging Gender Certainties in Early Childhood Care and Education: A Participatory Action Learning and Action Research Study," places the reader in the early childhood classroom to explore how dominant ideologies about gender can be challenged within communities, beginning with the youngest community members. [...]Year Student Teachers' Perspectives," 'Mathabo Khau discusses sexual rights within disability as a neglected and underdeveloped terrain in the human rights discourse worldwide, especially when addressing adolescent sexuality. [...]gender-nonconforming learners were mistreated in some schools while in others, these learners were accepted into friendship groups and class activities by teachers and other learners.

The Road to Femvertising: Stereotypes and Empowerment Analysis in Turkish Television Advertisements 1

Women have been represented by stereotypes and gender roles in the advertising industry for years. A new era of strong women representations has begun with female empowerment activities in advertising. Female empowerment in advertising is called femvertising. Femvertising activities aim to destroy stereotypes in advertisements, ignore sexuality, give pro-female messages, and represent women in an authentic way. The purpose of the study is to investigate women's representations in television advertising by analyzing stereotypes and female empowerment in Turkey. For this purpose, television advertisements, broadcasting on Turkish television channels between September 2020 and November 2020, were examined by content analysis. In Turkey, television ratings and shares were lower in Summer 2020, and started to rise after September 2020. Due to the increase in ratings and shares in Fall 2020, the television advertisements broadcasted in September, October, and November 2020 were included in the research to understand women representations in Turkish television advertising. A total of 189 television advertisements were analyzed after eliminating all repeated advertisements during this period. A coding schema was formed to examine the advertisements, and the criteria from previous studies such as gender, narrator, age, roles, characters, and empowerment activities were used in the coding schema. Findings revealed that women continue to be represented by stereotypes and shown in passive roles such as parenting and housekeeping. Female empowerment activities were used in only 28 of 189 advertisements. The research contributes to the literature of women's studies in terms of showing the latest findings related to women representations in broadcast advertising.

Compassion‐focused therapy group for men with intellectual disabilities who had maladaptive conceptualisations of masculinity

Purpose>The purpose of this paper is to determine the effectiveness of an adapted compassion-focused therapy (CFT) group treatment programme for individuals with an intellectual disability (ID), specifically aimed to help address maladaptive conceptualisations of masculinity.Design/methodology/approach>Outcome measurements were competed at pre- and post-group and the effectiveness of the intervention were assessed using a Wilcoxon signed ranks test.Findings>Findings demonstrated that the treatment group showed significant differences in their “gender role conflict” subscales including the Success, Power, Control and “Restrictive Affectionate Behavior Between Men” subscales;however, no significant differences were found on the Restrictive Emotionality or Conflicts Between Work and Leisure subscales. Furthermore, no significant differences were found on participants psychological well-being, psychological distress, anxiety, self-compassion or quality of life measures.Research limitations/implications>Limitations include that a lack of qualitative information regarding outcomes, a lack of control group and a small number of participants may have impacted the outcome of the research.Practical implications>The Men’s Masculinity group had a positive impact on the participant’s sense of success, power and control, so it could be considered that this group enabled participants to feel more powerful and in control of their difficulties which is associated with the “drive” system of CFT.Originality/value>Overall, this study adds to the small but growing literature that supports using CFT groups as a stand-alone psychological intervention when working with people with an ID.

Opvattingen over gender en het opvoeden van kleine kinderen voor en na de eerste lockdown in Nederland

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major changes in the division of paid and unpaid work in many Dutch households. Before the pandemic, work-care patterns were relatively traditional in the majority of families in the Netherlands, with women performing more unpaid tasks and men more paid work. These patterns were disrupted during the lockdown by the obligation to work from home and formal and informal childcare being unavailable. This meant that fathers were much more exposed to care and household tasks than before the pandemic. This effect was potentially reinforced by the fact that many ‘essential workers’ in education and healthcare were female, leaving their male partner to take over (extra) care tasks at home. But did these changes in the division of tasks also affect normative attitudes about gender and care? In this study we aim to answer this question using longitudinal data collected among 300 respondents in the Netherlands before (early 2019/2020) and after (July 2020) the first lockdown. We expect that attitudes about men’s caring capabilities have become more positive in partnered men and women if the male partner was working from home. The empirical results show that attitudes about gender roles regarding child rearing have become more traditional after the lockdown and this is particularly the case for men who worked from home while their partner continued to work outside the home.