Lisa Eklund

Gender and international crisis response: do we have the data, and does it matter?

For more than a decade the humanitarian community has been mandated to mainstream gender in its response to crises. One element of this mandate is a repeated call for sex-disaggregated data to help guide the response. This study examines available analyses, assessments and academic literature to gain insights into whether sex-disaggregated data are generated, accessible and utilised, and appraised what can be learned from existing data. It finds that there is a gap between policy and practice. Evaluations of humanitarian responses rarely refer to data by sex, and there seems to be little accountability to do so. Yet existing data yield important information, pointing at practical, locally-specific measures to reduce the vulnerability of both males and females. This complements population-level studies noting the tendency for higher female mortality. The study discusses some possible obstacles for the generation of data and hopes to spur debate on how to overcome them.

The bio-politics of population control and sex-selective abortion in China and India

China and India, two countries with skewed sex ratios in favor of males, have introduced a wide range of policies over the past few decades to prevent couples from deselecting daughters, including criminalizing sex-selective abortion through legal jurisdiction. This article aims to analyze how such policies are situated within the bio-politics of population control and how some of the outcomes reflect each government’s inadequacy in addressing the social dynamics around abortion decision making and the social, physical, and psychological effects on women’s wellbeing in the face of criminalization of sex-selective abortion. The analysis finds that overall, the criminalization of sex selection has not been successful in these two countries. Further, the broader economic, social, and cultural dynamics which produce bias against females must be a part of the strategy to combat sex selection, rather than a narrow criminalization of abortion which endangers women’s access to safe reproductive health services and their social, physical, and psychological wellbeing.

Doing or Undoing Gender? An Explorative Study of Gender, Activities, and Wellbeing among People with Mental Illness Attending Day Centers in Sweden

This study explores gender, activity, and well-being among people with mental illness attending day centers in Sweden. Based on survey data of 215 attendees, this study applies the concepts of doing gender and regulatory regimes to analyze the relationship between being involved in gendered activities and well-being. The results show that while both male and female participants are involved in gender-neutral activities, men are less likely to engage in women-dominated (WD) activities while women are more prone to engage in men-dominated (MD) activities. Moreover, women involved in MD activities show a positive correlation with well-being, while the same does not hold for men engaging in WD activities. The study concludes that both women and men are “undoing” gender but that women also tend to “re-do” gender, suggesting that gendered regulatory regimes are more permissive to diversified feminist subjectivities than masculine subjectivities.

Gender in relation to work motivation, satisfaction and use of day center services among people with psychiatric disabilities

Abstract Background: Day centres can prepare for open-market employment, and attendees’ work motivation is key in this. Aims: Adopting a gender perspective, this study investigated (1) motivation for day centre attendance, satisfaction with the day centre services, number of hours spent there, and number and type of occupations performed; and (2) whether those factors were related with motivation for open-market employment. Methods: Women (n = 164) and men (n = 160) with psychiatric disabilities completed self-report questionnaires. Results: There were no gender differences regarding satisfaction with the day centre services or number of hours spent there, but women engaged in more occupations. More women than men performed externally-oriented services and textile work, while men were in the majority in workshops. Externally oriented services, working in workshops, and low satisfaction with the day centre services were associated with higher motivation for employment. Women and men were equally motivated for employment. Women scored higher on motivation for attending the day centre, something that may deter transition into open-market employment. For men, less motivation for attending day centres may reduce their possibilities of gaining skills that can facilitate transitioning to open-market employment. Conclusion: Thus, the possibility for transitioning from day centre activities to open-market employment may be gendered.

Son Preference Reconfigured? A Qualitative Study of Migration and Social Change in Four Chinese Villages

Drawing from ethnographic data from 48 households in four villages in rural Anhui, this study explores how two practices known for upholding son preference are affected by rural–urban out-migration, with a particular focus on the division of labour in agricultural work and patrilocality. The study deploys the concepts of an intergenerational contract and the “unsubstitutability” of sons and finds that a weakening of the intergenerational contract can take place without substantially challenging the unsubstitutability of sons. The study concludes that although male out-migration undermines the argument that sons are needed to secure male manual labour in family farming, the vital role of male labour as a rural livelihood strategy largely persists. Moreover, although the study identifies migration-induced exceptions, patrilocality remains the main organizing principle for social and economic life for both male and female migrants. Hence, the study finds little support for the prospect that migration is attenuating son preference in rural China.

The Sex Ratio Question and the Unfolding of a Moral Panic? Notions of Power, Choice and Self in Mate Selection Among Women and Men in Higher Education in China

Young adults have largely been absent in previous research on consequences of high sex ratios in China and few studies have zoomed in on those belonging to the higher strata of the population. With the purpose of contributing to filling this gap, this study investigates what implications sex ratio imbalance has for mate selection strategies and practices among young adults aged 19–24 in higher education in China. Being qualitative in nature, the chapter problematises notions of power, choice and self in mate selection. The study finds that the sex ratio question has contributed to a risk society, where the fear of being leftover has unfolded into a moral panic. With universal marriage as a norm, both women and men studied fear being subject to a marriage squeeze. Contrary to the dyadic power perspective, the study finds that women in higher education did not experience an advantage in mate selection despite their shortage. Reasons for this include elaborate criteria for the ideal spouse, gendered dating scripts and confined social circles. The risk of being “leftover” further makes both young men and women as well as their parents aware of the remote consequences of choice, which may instigate intentions of early timing of marriage, as well as hypergamous norms, as further fuelled by the construction of the “utilitarian woman” in media and popular discourse. The chapter concludes that by being constantly reminded of the risk of being “leftover”, marriage as a norm is further intensified among young adults.

Children's rights and gender equality in Swedish parenting support: policy and practice

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to explore how ‘childrens rights’ and ‘gender equality’ are articulated in parenting support policies in Sweden, and how these policies are enacted in practice with respect to the two perspectives mentioned. The analysis builds on key policy documents and interviews with civil servants working on parenting support on local, regional and national levels. The results show that despite national ambitions to enhance and achieve gender equality among parents, gender equality are downplayed in local settings. Important reasons are to be found in a lack of concrete strategies and instructions how to work with gender equality perspectives in cooperation with childrens rights perspectives, but also the different interpretations of gender equality and ‘good parenting’ made by the civil servants.

’Gendercide’, Abortion Policy, and the Disciplining of Prenatal Sex-Selection in Neoliberal Europe

ABSTRACT This article examines the contours of how sex-selective abortion (SSA) and ‘gendercide’ have been problematically combined within contemporary debates on abortion in Europe. Analysing the development of policies on the topic, we identify three ‘turns’ which have become integral to the biopolitics of SSA in Europe: the biomedical turn, the ‘gendercide’ turn, and the Asian demographic turn. Recent attempts to discipline SSA in the UK and Sweden are examined as a means of showing how the neoliberal state in Europe is becoming increasingly open to manoeuvres to undermine the right to abortion, even where firm laws exist.

Gender Attitudes among “Involuntary” Bachelors and Married Men in Disadvantaged and High Sex Ratio Settings : A Study in Rural Shaanxi, China

Compared to class relations, gender relations in high sex ratio contexts are understudied. Drawing on data from a survey conducted in rural southern Shaanxi, China, in 2014–2015, this article aims to assess if the section of the never-married male population who wishes to marry but face difficulties in achieving this goal is more or less gender equal in their attitudes than married men and, if so, in what aspects. Results provide further evidence that the role of the husband as the main economic support of the family and that of the wife, centered on the domestic sphere, remain firmly rooted in attitudes. However, the same results indicate that men who are squeezed out of marriage are not only the least endowed in socioeconomic capital but are also more likely than married men to confine women to their roles as wives and mothers; the “involuntary” bachelors report more conservative gender attitudes than their married counterparts mainly because they are less educated, more conservative with respect to other norms, and not exposed to marital life. All things being equal, marriage tends to make men more gender equal. In parallel, the involuntary bachelors make more demands on women’s economic contribution to the household; this sheds light on the stratifying effect of marriage as the marriage-squeezed men seek to escape poverty through marriage. (Less)