Toward an Integration of Theory and Research on the Status of Women

Bradley, Karen; Khor, Diana

doi:10.1177/089124393007003003

Cited by 51 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Unfortunately we cannot do this for all measures of interest (there is, for example, no reliable data on “men’s income” and “women’s income” for the world, nor is there reliable longitudinal data on caloric consumption by sex). We do, however, have sex-specific data for key welfare indicators in the areas of education, representation in national assemblies, economic activity, and health (for prior studies using similar indicators, see Ashford 2001, 2005; Bradley and Khor 1993; Mason 1986; United Nations 1995; United Nations 2000). …”

Section: Measuring Global Gender Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Trends in Global Gender Inequality

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigates trends in gender inequality for the world as a whole. Using data encompassing a large majority of the world's population, we examine world trends over recent decades for key indicators of gender inequality in education, mortality, political representation, and economic activity. We find that gender inequality is declining in virtually all major domains, that the decline is occurring across diverse religious and cultural traditions, and that population growth is slowing the decline because populations are growing faster in countries where there is the greatest gender inequality.This study investigates whether, globally, women and men are converging or diverging with respect to key dimensions of welfare such as educational attainment, economic activity, length of life, and representation in national legislatures. Several studies find evidence of cross-country or global convergence -or at least the halting of divergence -on a number of welfare indicators, including education (Morrisson and Murtin 2007, Goesling andBaker 2008), income (Firebaugh 2003;Firebaugh and Goesling 2004;Sala-i-Martin 2006), fertility (Dorius 2008;Wilson 2001), and the Human Development Index (Crafts 2002), leading one development scholar to declare that "nearly everything that matters is converging" (Kenny 2005:1). The question is whether Kenny's declaration applies to gender inequality as well.Gender inequality differs from other types of inequality in significant ways, so we cannot tacitly assume that gender inequalities will trace the same path as other inequalities. Gender inequality exists when men (or women) enjoy a disproportionately large share of some valued good such as political power or long life. Men and women can differ in any number of domains, so gender inequality intersects other types of inequality (educational, economic, political, and so on). Women may be gaining on men in some domains and falling further behind in other domains. In a few domains, such as life expectancy, women have the advantage, so "declining gender inequality" in this instance refers to men gaining on women. These features of gender inequality imply that it is important to examine the domains of gender inequality separately.Our objective in this paper is to describe recent trends in global gender inequality, as measured by convergence or divergence in the indicators (described subsequently) that the Direct correspondence to Shawn F. Dorius or Glenn Firebaugh, Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, 206 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA 16802. sdorius@psu.edu and firebaugh@pop.psu.edu. * Authors contributed equally.Earlier versions of the paper were presented at the 2006 annual meeting of the Population Association of America in Los Angeles, CA and at the 2007 Mapping Global Inequality: Beyond Income Inequality Conference at University of California, Santa Cruz. 5 Note that number of national legislators is not a constant fraction of population size, since small countries sometimes have more legislators t...

show abstract

Section: Measuring Global Gender Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, gender inequality is multidimensional (Bradley and Khor 1993; Mason 1986), and these dimensions do not always move in tandem, nor do the dimensions necessarily respond to the same causes. Because composite indexes might mask divergent trends among its component dimensions, it is important to begin with separate indicators.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in Global Gender Inequality

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…15 The association between gender inequality and violence against women is based on feminist theory, which purports that gender-based inequities in political, economic, or social resources perpetuate male dominance and other traditional gender roles. 16–18 However, gender inequality has not yet been empirically supported as a risk factor for either physical or sexual ADV. 10, 19 More often, studies that demonstrate associations between individual-level gender-based attitudes and ADV 20–25 have been used to support community-level efforts to address gender inequality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These dimensions draw from the theoretic framework for gender-based inequities proposed by Bradley and Khor. 18 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A First Look at Gender Inequality as a Societal Risk Factor for Dating Violence

Gressard

Swahn

Tharp

2015

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction One of ten U.S. high school students is a victim of adolescent dating violence (ADV). Understanding ADV risk factors guides prevention efforts; however, research examining community- and societal-level risk factors is scant. Societal gender inequality is a known risk factor for violence against women, but has yet to be explored in relation to ADV. This study aims to determine whether the Gender Inequality Index (GII) correlates with levels of physical and sexual ADV victimization across U.S. states. Methods State-representative prevalence rates of self-reported physical and sexual ADV victimization were obtained from the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The state GII includes five indicators: (1) maternal mortality; (2) adolescent birth rate; (3) government representation; (4) educational attainment; and (5) labor force participation. Pearson correlation coefficients determined the association between physical and sexual ADV victimization, the GII, and GII indicators. Analyses were conducted in August 2014. Results Among U.S. states, the prevalence of physical ADV victimization in 2013 ranged from 7.0% to 14.8%, and the prevalence of sexual ADV victimization ranged from 7.8% to 13.8%. The GII was significantly associated with the state prevalence of female physical ADV victimization (r=0.48, p<0.01) but not female sexual ADV victimization. Neither physical nor sexual male ADV victimization was associated with the GII. Conclusions This exploratory study suggests that gender inequality may be a societal-level risk factor for female physical ADV victimization. As ADV prevention strategies are implemented at the state level, further research examining the effect of gender inequality on ADV is needed.

show abstract

“…Most of the published research that deals with aspects of gender inequality tends to focus on a single dimension of gender inequality and employs either a single measure operationalizations of the construct (see review by Bradley and Khor 1993) or a set of variables that tap such social dimensions as educational status, employment, poverty or political participation (Brewer and Smith 1995;DeWees and Parker 2003;Vieraitis and Williams 2002;Young et al 1994). Few attempts have been made to develop a measure for assessing gender inequality in different spheres simultaneously.…”

Section: Gender Inequality and Its Measurementmentioning

confidence: 98%