tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/cultural-norms-16807/articlesCultural norms – The Conversation2024-03-28T15:09:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2266322024-03-28T15:09:02Z2024-03-28T15:09:02ZThe Gambia may allow female genital mutilation again – another sign of a global trend eroding women’s rights<p>The Gambia’s ban on <a href="https://africlaw.com/2016/01/19/banning-female-circumcision-in-the-gambia-through-legislative-change-the-next-steps/">female genital mutilation (FGM)</a> since 2015 is <a href="https://africlaw.com/2024/03/22/threats-to-endfgm-law-in-the-gambia/#more/-3155">under threat</a>. Proposed changes before parliament could permit <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ijgo.12792">medicalised</a> female genital cutting and allow it for consenting adults. </p>
<p>This potential reversal has thrust the country into the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/18/move-to-overturn-fgm-ban-in-the-gambia-postponed">global spotlight</a> as the latest example of the backlash against gender equality.</p>
<p>The Gambia’s criminalisation of FGM was not the first in west Africa but it came as a surprise. The president at the time, Yahya Jammeh, declared the <a href="https://gambia.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/national_policy_for_the_elimination_of_fgm.pdf">rampant cultural tradition</a> a non-religious practice that caused harm. There was some dissent within the country but human rights groups <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-9fb847c01f8e448c97f5d09b8a844cba">welcomed</a> the ban. </p>
<p>Jammeh, who was president from 1994 to 2016, also oversaw the passage of other progressive gender-related laws. The <a href="https://www.lawhubgambia.com/domestic-violence-act-2013">Domestic Violence Act 2013</a> provided a framework for combating domestic violence in all its forms (physical, sexual, emotional, economic) and protection in particular for women and children. The <a href="https://www.lawhubgambia.com/sexual-offences-act-2013">Sexual Offences Act 2013</a> expanded the definition of rape, broadened the circumstances in which individuals could be charged, and reduced the burden of proof in prosecutions.</p>
<p>Jammeh also <a href="https://security-legislation.gm/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Childrens-Amendment-Act-2016.pdf">outlawed</a> child marriages in 2016. This was significant in country where <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR369/FR369.pdf">one in five young people aged 15-19 (19%)</a> are married. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/development-policy/news/eu-cuts-aid-to-gambia-over-human-rights-concerns/">one of the world’s most aid-dependent countries</a>, these reforms were all central to international donor interests. And they helped to improve the country’s democratic reputation. But at the same time, they made it easy for the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48609039">autocratic</a> leader to get away with other excesses. He also mobilised religion to manipulate beliefs and sentiments, particularly affecting girls and women. For example, Jammeh <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/05/gambia-female-government-workers-headscarves-islamic-republic">mandated</a> that female government workers wear veils or headscarves when he declared his <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353945890_2020_Religious_Tolerance_in_the_Gambia">Muslim majority</a> country an Islamic state in 2016. </p>
<p>President Adama Barrow, Jammeh’s successor, has emphasised religious tolerance and has refrained from employing religious symbolism. Unlike the state-sponsored homophobia under the Jammeh regime, Barrow has downplayed homosexuality as a <a href="https://www.pulp.up.ac.za/edocman/edited_collections/queer_lawfare_in_africa/Chapter%2011.pdf">“non-issue”</a>.</p>
<p>I am a legal scholar and human rights practitioner with published research on <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=Q0j-E18AAAAJ&citation_for_view=Q0j-E18AAAAJ:u5HHmVD_uO8C">female genital mutilation</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=Q0j-E18AAAAJ&citation_for_view=Q0j-E18AAAAJ:zYLM7Y9cAGgC">gender equality and women’s rights</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=Q0j-E18AAAAJ&citation_for_view=Q0j-E18AAAAJ:_kc_bZDykSQC">governance</a> in The Gambia. It’s my view that Jammeh’s ostensible compliance with gender equality norms was selective and intended for the international gallery rather than a genuine commitment to women’s rights and democracy.</p>
<p>His tactical stance highlighted a broader trend. Autocratic African leaders often accommodate global gender norms to maintain domestic power dynamics. The result, for example, is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00104140221074277">increased women’s political participation through quotas</a> along with a conservative approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights.</p>
<p>The Gambia experience also shows that western donors and multilateral institutions need to go beyond just pushing for reforms. Once they have got the reforms they advocated for, they should have a strategy for sustaining them. Forces that were opposed to the reform often regroup to campaign for its removal. </p>
<p>At its core, female genital mutilation <a href="https://www.pulp.up.ac.za/edocman/pulp_commentaries/protocol_to_ACHPR/Article_5.pdf">constitutes</a> a <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijgo.12792">violation</a> of the human rights of girls and women. These include the right to non-discrimination, to protection from physical and mental violence, and to health and life. </p>
<p>From a feminist perspective, the prevalence of FGM in numerous African nations revolves around upholding gender-specific norms and exerting control over women’s sexuality.</p>
<h2>Female genital mutilation in The Gambia</h2>
<p>Female genital cutting is a <a href="https://gambia.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/national_policy_for_the_elimination_of_fgm.pdf">deeply ingrained practice</a>. It is driven by cultural beliefs and often performed by traditional healers. According to the most recent <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-FR369-DHS-Final-Reports.cfm">national survey</a>, a large majority of Gambian women aged 15-49 years (73%) have undergone female genital cutting. More alarming is an <a href="https://www.unicef.org/gambia/media/776/file/The%20Gambia%20Multiple%20Indicator%20Cluster%20Survey%202018.pdf">8% increase in the prevalence</a> of FGM among girls under the age of 14 – from 42.4% in 2010 to 50.6% in 2018. </p>
<p>Numerous health risks associated with all types of the practice have been documented by the <a href="https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation">World Health Organization</a> and <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/2/4/bmjgh-2017-000467#ref-5">systematic reviews</a>. These include severe pain, bleeding, infections and complications during childbirth and elevated rates of anxiety and other mental health disorders. This has led to <a href="https://eyala.blog/my-musings/repealing-the-endfgm-law-will-be-a-betrayal-of-women-and-girls-in-the-gambia-jama-jack">calls</a> for the practice to be banned in order to protect girls’ health and well-being.</p>
<p>The Gambia’s current struggle with the FGM ban reflects a complex interplay between cultural norms, religious beliefs, and the fight for gender equality. The potential repeal of the ban poses a threat to human rights of women and girls in The Gambia.</p>
<h2>Reversal of hard-won gains</h2>
<p>Though The Gambia is constitutionally secular, religion influences nearly every facet of society. Islamic fundamentalists in the country are known for attacks on religious minorities, including <a href="https://malagen.org/media-monitoring/hate-speech-alert-imam-fatty-attacks-ahmadis/">hate speech</a> against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community and the <a href="https://www.voicegambia.com/2023/05/11/rising-religious-tension-in-the-country/">Christian community</a>. </p>
<p>The main fundamentalist religious actors draw inspiration from and still support the exiled former dictator Jammeh. They are at the forefront of the <a href="https://africlaw.com/2024/03/22/threats-to-endfgm-law-in-the-gambia/#more-3155.">recent pushback</a> against the anti-FGM law. They argue that the ban violates their religious and cultural freedoms as guaranteed in the <a href="https://www.lawhubgambia.com/1997-constitution">1997 constitution</a>. </p>
<p>On 4 March 2024 a <a href="https://standard.gm/nam-to-seek-power-of-attorney-from-jammeh-to-sue-govt/">strong supporter of Jammeh</a> proposed a private member’s <a href="https://satangnabaneh.com/contesting-the-prohibition-of-female-genital-mutilation-in-the-gambia/">bill</a> in the National Assembly that seeks to overturn the ban.</p>
<p>The push to reassert traditional gender roles isn’t isolated to The Gambia. There is a global trend of rolling back progress on gender equality. This trend is characterised by attempts to limit <a href="https://www.pulp.up.ac.za/emerging-voices-series/choice-and-conscience-lessons-from-south-africa-for-a-global-debate">women’s bodily choices</a>, an <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Women/WG/Gender-equality-and-gender-backlash.pdf">increase in violence</a> against them, as well as <a href="https://www.pulp.up.ac.za/edited-collections/queer-lawfare-in-africa-legal-strategies-in-contexts-of-lgbtiq-criminalisation-and-politicisation">attacks</a> on LGBTQI+ communities. It reflects a broader political climate of backlash against women’s rights and gender equality as a weapon in the reversal of democratic achievements.</p>
<p>Attempts have been seen to reverse legal protections against women and girls in <a href="https://au.int/en/articles/kenyas-court-ruling-against-fgm-demonstrates-commitment-member-states-shun-practices">Kenya</a>. In Sudan, state-sanctioned violence and societal pressure is aimed at <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2019/07/against-laws-regime-sudan-women-protesters-want/">restricting</a> women’s public participation. Similarly, Tanzania previously enacted a policy barring teenage mothers from <a href="https://www.moe.go.tz/sw/nyaraka/waraka-wa-elimu-na-2-wa-mwaka-2021-kuhusu-kuingia-tena-shule-kwa-wanafunzi-wa-shule-za">attending</a> public schools, though this policy has been reversed. </p>
<p>This global context highlights how anti-rights movements, undemocratic norms and gendered politics are working together to erode women’s rights and exacerbate inequalities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Satang Nabaneh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The potential repeal of the ban on female genital mutilation poses a threat to the well-being of girls in The Gambia.Satang Nabaneh, Director of Programs, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1856202022-07-08T13:49:26Z2022-07-08T13:49:26ZIf we want to build truly sustainable cities, we need to think about how women use energy and space<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472983/original/file-20220707-18-zfdmes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C13%2C8661%2C5761&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women use energy in different ways to men.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-standing-amidst-busy-office-going-1136901929">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women and men balance their different responsibilities in different ways, something the pandemic has brought into <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343828490_The_Differential_Impact_of_COVID-19_on_the_Work_Conditions_of_Women_and_Men_Academics_during_the_Lockdown">sharp relief</a>. But that isn’t always considered by those designing buildings. In fact, buildings designed without considering gender often benefit men and disadvantage women by default.</p>
<p>On top of this are sustainability concerns around how much energy buildings use. To meet <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-glasgow-climate-pact-171799">COP26 targets</a>, energy efficiency of buildings will have to improve by <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/updated-climate-commitments-ahead-cop26-summit-fall-far-short-net">30% by 2030</a>. But if that’s to happen, gender needs to be accounted for.</p>
<p>Buildings contribute to <a href="https://www.iea.org/events/iea-at-cop26-the-role-of-energy-efficient-buildings-on-the-path-to-net-zero-strategies-for-policy-makers">about 40%</a> of global energy consumption and about one third of greenhouse gas emissions, figures that are predicted to continue increasing. </p>
<p>Yet research shows that even when buildings are fitted with <a href="https://theconversation.com/low-energy-homes-dont-just-save-money-they-improve-lives-81084">low-energy tech</a> such as double-glazed windows and heat recovery systems, they can still end up using about <a href="https://www.usablebuildings.co.uk/UsableBuildings/Unprotected/BPEArchive/BPEPFindingsFromDomesticProjects.pdf">three times</a> more energy than originally predicted. This variation is down to the behaviour of the people occupying those buildings: factors not always taken into account by designers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.eceee.org/library/conference_proceedings/eceee_Summer_Studies/2021/1-energy-consumption-and-wellbeing/gendering-practices-and-policies-in-the-south-lessons-for-improved-equity-and-sustainability-in-pakistans-domestic-energy-sector/">My research</a> with colleagues on <a href="https://www.energyaccessandgender.co.uk/publications/">gender and energy access</a> in developing countries, including Pakistan, India, Nigeria and Ghana, has uncovered three key factors that result in women not having the same access to energy compared to men – a situation that makes achieving sustainability all the more challenging.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman wearing a red cardigan and jeans loads the dishwasher in a kitchen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472977/original/file-20220707-20-3yco38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women tend to take on the burden of household chores.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-loading-plates-into-dishwasher-165369386">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.energia.org/assets/2019/04/Gender-in-the-transition-to-sustainable-energy-for-all_-From-evidence-to-inclusive-policies_FINAL.pdf">Research</a> has shown that men and women use energy in different ways, thanks to the way labour is traditionally divided between them. Even today in most societies across the world, men tend to be considered the heads of their households and are frequently the <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/20/men-stress-out-if-theyre-not-the-breadwinner-study/">breadwinners</a> for their family. </p>
<p>Yet women are responsible for at least <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw61/redistribute-unpaid-work">2.5 times more</a> unpaid domestic work than men. They undertake the majority of household chores and care work, including cooking, cleaning and laundry, child rearing and elderly care – which is where most of their energy use at home usually goes. </p>
<p>In contrast, men are far more likely to use domestic energy for comfort, convenience and entertainment – such as lighting, fans, air conditioning, computers and TV. And women also tend to be <a href="https://archive.discoversociety.org/2016/01/05/go-ask-gladys-why-gender-matters-in-energy-consumption-research/">more responsible</a> than men when it comes to energy use, often making more <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42955967">eco-friendly choices</a> like using less air conditioning.</p>
<h2>Not gender neutral</h2>
<p>The first of the three factors we found is that we still don’t have enough <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/gender-data-gaps-are-just-the-start-of-the-conversation-93808">gender-specific data</a> showing exactly how and when women need energy. Second, women are underrepresented in the energy sector. According to the <a href="https://www.iea.org/topics/energy-and-gender">International Energy Agency</a>, women account for only 22% of energy workers, with even lower numbers in management.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/transport-apps-are-being-hailed-as-a-sustainable-alternative-to-driving-but-theyre-not-female-friendly-181972">Transport apps are being hailed as a sustainable alternative to driving: but they're not female-friendly</a>
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<p>And third, energy policies that try to be gender neutral usually leave women’s energy needs <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629620301262">marginalised</a>. Without explicitly designing energy systems to benefit women as well as men, we often end up with situations where, for example, limited domestic electricity connections and scheduled power cuts have greater impacts on women’s daily routines.</p>
<p>When it comes to urban planning and development, gender also plays a <a href="https://theconversation.com/sexism-and-the-city-how-urban-planning-has-failed-women-93854">significant role</a> in achieving sustainability. Even though women will make up the <a href="https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/Gender%20and%20Prosperity%20of%20Cities.pdf">majority</a> of urban citizens in the coming decades – with increasing numbers of <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/more-women-have-become-homeowners-and-heads-household-could-pandemic-undo-progress">female-run households</a> – they still face a huge number of <a href="https://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/urban/factsheet.html">barriers</a> in their everyday life in cities. </p>
<p>Part of this has to do with how, according to geographers <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9493.2010.00388_3.x">Sylvia Chant and Cathy McIlwaine</a>, cities around the world are still “overwhelmingly designed <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Cities-Slums-and-Gender-in-the-Global-South-Towards-a-feminised-urban/Chant-McIlwaine/p/book/9781138192782">by and for men</a>”. When it comes to public access, not only do women often have more complex <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11116-015-9627-9">travel patterns</a> than men thanks to their unpaid care work, they also have a harder time accessing or <a href="https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/womens-safety-security_0.pdf">feeling safe</a> on transport.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A balcony with glass doors on the left, with plants around its edges" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472965/original/file-20220707-16-hghrxn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Balconies like this offer no private space for women to carry out activities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rihab Khalid</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221462962100431X">my research</a> with my colleague <a href="https://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/research/phd-research/maiss-razem">Maiss Razem</a> shows that even private domestic spaces are often not designed for women, with implications for sustainability. For example, in Pakistan and Jordan, contemporary housing usually follows Westernised modernist designs, with increasing reliance on <a href="https://sciencetrends.com/are-our-houses-demanding-more-from-us/">mechanical ventilation and cooling</a>. </p>
<p>Building regulations in these countries also tend to put restrictions on the heights of walls and roof parapets, often for aesthetic purposes. This means that outdoor spaces are frequently exposed with low walls, meaning that women – who must adhere to <a href="https://guides.library.cornell.edu/IslamWomen/home">cultural codes of modesty</a> – cannot work or relax outdoors in private.</p>
<p>That means women are forced to limit their time spent outdoors. Instead of drying clothes outside, for example, they use indoor tumble dryers, and as a result have to turn on air conditioning and lighting: all contributing to unnecessary energy use. </p>
<p>What’s more, even indoor spaces are now also designed to imitate popular Western building styles, including open-plan designs with large glass windows. This means they not only increase <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-net-zero-strategies-are-overlooking-something-vital-how-to-cool-buildings-amid-rising-temperatures-172080">heat inside buildings</a> (meaning more air con is required), but also end up restricting more religious women’s private access to indoor space.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A balcony viewed from the left, with other houses facing it across the street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472978/original/file-20220707-12-9fzsly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neighbouring windows often overlook domestic outdoor spaces, meaning women mostly feel forced inside to work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rihab Khalid</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Planning regulations also tend to prevent <a href="https://www.kpf.com/stories/mixed-use">mixed-use buildings</a>, where shops or offices sit on the ground floor below people’s homes. But since women already have limited access to public employment, preventing women from working from home means it’s even harder for them to earn money. </p>
<p>Such exclusionary housing policies have a long <a href="https://fee.org/articles/zoning-laws-the-housing-market-and-the-ripple-effect/">history of discrimination</a>. And their continued “gender neutrality” means that we are still far from building what urban historian <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173814">Dolores Hayden</a> imagined as the “<a href="https://www.nowwhat-architexx.org/articles/2018/5/24/dolores-haydens-non-sexist-city">non-sexist city</a>”, designed to allow women’s social and economic empowerment.</p>
<p>Energy, gender and space are closely interlinked. Only by investigating how they intersect can we truly begin to move towards creating sustainable societies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Part of the research mentioned in this article was funded by the Anglia Ruskin University QR-GCRF funded (2020–2021) project: ‘Gender equity and energy access in the Global South’, in collaboration with the 2020 Isaac Newton Trust Research Fellowship at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge.
Part of the research mentioned in this article was funded by the Cambridge Trust PhD scholarships for the University of Cambridge. </span></em></p>My research shows how urban design can make it harder for women in some countries to make sustainable choices.Rihab Khalid, Research Fellow in Sustainable Energy Consumption, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1843582022-06-07T15:22:29Z2022-06-07T15:22:29ZFor more equitable and sustainable fisheries, women must be empowered to lead<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467253/original/file-20220606-14-abgvdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=108%2C333%2C5898%2C3674&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In some global fishing communities, women influence decisions, resulting in stronger claims to area-based fishing rights, improved economic returns and greater women's empowerment.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>An estimated <a href="https://spccfpstore1.blob.core.windows.net/digitallibrary-docs/files/5a/5a3e3262ecb72d8bbe94b5e153c99f05.pdf?sv=2015-12-11&sr=b&sig=n3P%2B3juuP0WZYZUVyRhLk%2FLqwSKzSmZ1f9hxkDw2%2FU0%3D&se=2022-11-30T03%3A12%3A11Z&sp=r&rscc=public%2C%20max-age%3D864000%2C%20max-stale%3D86400&rsct=application%2Fpdf&rscd=inline%3B%20filename%3D%22WIF35_04_Harper.pdf%22">45 million women</a> make up 40 per cent of the workforce in small-scale fisheries worldwide. But they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55074-9_35">left out</a> of decision-making processes when it comes to the access and use of fisheries and coastal resources. </p>
<p>Fisheries policies, laws and programs have historically ignored women’s presence and contributions in fishing communities, resulting in their marginalization. This has also negatively impacted their livelihoods and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104743">widened gender inequalities</a>. However, there are some fishing communities around the world where women do shape decisions. These communities boast of stronger <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0110-z">claims to area-based fishing rights</a>, improved <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106709">economic returns</a> and greater <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09718524.2020.1729538">women’s empowerment</a>.</p>
<p>Learning from these gender-inclusive fishing communities can help engage more women in fisheries management and benefit everyone. Ongoing efforts to address the sustainability of small-scale fisheries, such as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s <a href="https://www.fao.org/voluntary-guidelines-small-scale-fisheries/en/">Voluntary Guidelines</a> for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries, urgently call to identify potential entry points for change.</p>
<p>As researchers studying environmental governance, gender and fisheries, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12672">we looked at</a> where and how women participate in decision-making. There are only 54 studies documenting such fishing communities around the world. We found that when women participate in decision-making, they help make small-scale fisheries more equitable and sustainable.</p>
<h2>Gender equality gaps plague small-scale fisheries</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2010.00368.x">Women’s roles and responsibilities</a> in fisheries are often different from men’s. For example, women harvest and sell seafood and seaweed in shallow waters, sometimes on foot and using simple gear. They also engage in fish trading and fish processing in large numbers. </p>
<p>These activities support the survival and well-being of the women themselves, their families and local communities. In contrast, men often engage in harvesting activities farther away from the coast and use boats and more sophisticated fishing gear.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A fishmonger sits behind a platter of fish in a market" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467194/original/file-20220606-18-98x7j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467194/original/file-20220606-18-98x7j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467194/original/file-20220606-18-98x7j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467194/original/file-20220606-18-98x7j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467194/original/file-20220606-18-98x7j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467194/original/file-20220606-18-98x7j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467194/original/file-20220606-18-98x7j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Although men and women have their own sets of roles and responsibilities when it comes to fisheries, more often than not, the women’s work is given less importance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nonetheless, women’s roles and contributions are often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12075">not counted</a> in fisheries statistics and their work is considered part of their household duties. Fisheries managers and policymakers tend to assume that all people participating in fisheries are men.</p>
<p>In some regions, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-019-00147-0">social and cultural norms also dictate</a> what women can and cannot do within fisheries. For example, they sometimes face restrictions in accessing fish auctions and markets. Their household duties as spouses, mothers and caregivers also leave them with less time to attend to their work in fisheries. </p>
<h2>Women’s active participation makes a difference</h2>
<p>In our study, we identified the different roles women perform in decision-making, including leadership positions, networking, resource monitoring and even local activism. </p>
<p>Women exert influence within a range of decision-making spaces, including formal laws and regulations. For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0101-0">Indigenous Heiltsuk women</a> in the central coast of British Columbia secured their traditional rights to access the local Pacific herring fishery through collective action.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h4I0KLSxmUc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Women involved in the fisheries in Galicia, Spain, influenced the government to take action that avoided shellfish exploitation.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Women also participate in different resource management arrangements where communities collaborate with local governments and other stakeholders like non-profit organizations. In the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2007.09.007">Galician shellfish fishery</a>, women organized into associations and influenced the administration to take decisive action and avoid the over-exploitation of shellfish.</p>
<p>Informal networks, social gatherings and ceremonies also provide women with opportunities to influence decisions. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-5395(00)00087-X">Newfoundland and Labrador</a>, volunteer groups provided a voice for women impacted by the cod moratorium in the 1990s.</p>
<p>Some of these roles allow women to actively participate in leadership positions, but not all. For example, in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0107-7">Danajon Bank, Philippines</a>, women often attend meetings out of obligation as community members and have less influence over outcomes.</p>
<h2>Institutionalized gender barriers still exist</h2>
<p>When given a chance to actively participate in fisheries management, women have achieved many positive outcomes for themselves, their families and communities. In the Brazilian Amazon, women’s active participation in collaboratively managing the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106709">Arapaima fishery</a> led to a 77 per cent rise in their income. This is compared to virtually no income earned by women in communities without such an arrangement.</p>
<p>Women also challenge social norms and customary practices that limit their activities in fisheries. Such norms often specify where to fish, how to fish and whether they would need to seek permission the from men in the community. But women like the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0110-z">artisanal fisherwomen in Chile</a> successfully fought for their rights to freely access nearshore resources.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1532847458371649536"}"></div></p>
<p>Despite these success stories, women in some fishing communities across the world still face substantial <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-021-00232-3">barriers like gendered power relations</a>. In these cases, men hold more power while women are considered subordinates or helpers. This is seen in the small-scale fisheries in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0102-z">United Kingdom</a>.</p>
<p>Most <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09718524.2020.1736353">fisheries legislation</a> does not support women’s activities. Indeed, some legislation — like the rules that ban fishing on foot and the use of certain nets that restrict fisherwomen from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2016.1257078">harvesting octopus in Madagascar</a> — is gender discriminatory. </p>
<p>Some other legislation like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-019-00153-2">the Mexican</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wrr.2016.04.001">Ghanaian fisheries</a> policies have pledged to address gender issues although they often lack concrete measures.</p>
<h2>Let women take the lead</h2>
<p>Women can actively participate in fisheries only when gender issues and inclusivity are given due importance in planning and management processes. </p>
<p>Such processes promote agency and empower women. Women’s representation can be further legitimized through the respect they earn by their ongoing contributions to decision-making.</p>
<p>As we mark this year’s <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/oceans-day">World Oceans Day</a> and the <a href="https://www.fao.org/artisanal-fisheries-aquaculture-2022/home/en/">International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture</a>, we must find ways to give the 45 million women in small-scale fisheries a chance to be heard.</p>
<p>We must recognize the informal spaces where women already socialize and network so that we can involve them in decision-making without increasing their existing workloads.</p>
<p>At the same time, we also must pay more attention to the role of men in recognizing and supporting women’s work in fisheries.</p>
<p>Only then can we make progress towards creating equitable and sustainable fisheries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184358/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madu Galappaththi receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea M. Collins receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Armitage receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Creating opportunities to meaningfully engage women in governance and decision-making is necessary to achieve gender equality in small-scale fisheries.Madu Galappaththi, PhD Candidate in Social and Ecological Sustainability, University of WaterlooAndrea M. Collins, Associate Professor, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of WaterlooDerek Armitage, Professor, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1493482020-12-29T14:19:35Z2020-12-29T14:19:35ZGroup exercise may be even better for you than solo workouts – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374565/original/file-20201212-22-1nagota.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=280%2C452%2C5676%2C3558&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">During the pandemic, exercise classes and groups need to take social distancing guidelines into account.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-attend-an-outdoor-soulcycle-class-at-the-hudson-news-photo/1271598743">Noam Galai/Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Group exercise is very popular: Nearly 40% of regular exercisers participate in group fitness classes. In advance of the coronavirus pandemic, the American College of Sports Medicine predicted that group fitness would be <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1249/FIT.0000000000000526">one of the top three fitness industry trends in 2020</a> – for good reason.</p>
<p>Exercise has clear benefits for your <a href="https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Activity_Guidelines_2nd_edition.pdf">health and well-being</a>, and the side effects – think lowered blood pressure, improved glycemic control, better sleep – are overwhelmingly positive. And <a href="https://doi.org/10.7556/jaoa.2017.140">exercising in groups</a> may have particularly beneficial effects.</p>
<p>If you’ve been considering joining an online group class – or been encouraged to by others – here are some research-based reasons why that might be a great idea.</p>
<h2>Everyone else is doing it, why not you?</h2>
<p>Other people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-7-86">influence your attitudes and emotional responses to exercise</a>. That is, they can affect how you feel about exercising, which is critical for determining whether you do it or not. If you get to know others who exercise regularly, you start to perceive exercise as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-7-86">more positive, common, desirable and doable</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TU08z8YAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Psychology and exercise researchers</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=75fzUgIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">like us</a> know that people are influenced by those around them in a few different ways. Knowing other people who lift weights or take a spin class <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2019.1618726">influences your explicit and implicit attitudes</a> – your thoughts and feelings – about exercise.</p>
<p>It also molds what are called social norms: your perceptions about whether other people exercise and if you think you should.</p>
<h2>Fun with friends is motivating</h2>
<p>Even if you’ve already decided exercising is something you want to do and intend to do, there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217733068">different kinds of motivation</a> that can determine if you are successful at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2007.00325.x">beginning and maintaining exercise</a>. Exercising with others can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-7-86">boost those motivations</a>. </p>
<p>The highest quality or type of motivation is called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68">intrinsic motivation</a> – you’re doing something because the behavior itself is enjoyable, satisfying or both. If you enjoy exercise and not just the positive feelings you get after you’ve worked out, you are more likely to stick with it. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000157">Exercising with other people</a> <a href="https://www.livescience.com/40977-exercise-enjoyment-friends.html">can supply that enjoyment</a>, even if the activity itself is difficult or otherwise not something you love. Group exercise can turn working out into a fun social activity, which could lead to you continuing to do it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374563/original/file-20201212-15-1ch39gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="people stretching while socially distanced in stadium seats" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374563/original/file-20201212-15-1ch39gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374563/original/file-20201212-15-1ch39gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374563/original/file-20201212-15-1ch39gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374563/original/file-20201212-15-1ch39gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374563/original/file-20201212-15-1ch39gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374563/original/file-20201212-15-1ch39gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374563/original/file-20201212-15-1ch39gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exercising together – whether online or safely in person – can help you stick to the program.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-participate-in-a-morning-yoga-session-on-august-22-news-photo/1228159941">Mark Makela/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.essence.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/fitness-accountability-partner-helps/">Exercising with others</a> can also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2017.1280835">satisfy some basic psychological needs</a>. Any kind of exercise can help someone feel in control of their choices, but the social support from a group can <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2017.1354059">reinforce a sense of autonomy</a>. Similarly, group exercise can increase feelings of mastery – thanks to growing competence, for example, at spinning or step aerobics. And it will certainly increase your connectedness with others. People <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igy007">naturally choose to keep up</a> fulfilling behaviors in the long term and they promote mental health – a win-win.</p>
<p>In contrast, exercise feels less compelling if your <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066X.55.1.68">motivation is extrinsic</a> – for instance, someone else is telling you to exercise, or you’re primarily doing it to lose weight. In this case, sticking to a fitness regimen becomes less likely and less rewarding. Similarly, if the extrinsic factors go away – maybe you lose weight or decide you don’t care anymore about the number on your scale – then the motivation to exercise likely disappears as well.</p>
<h2>Buddies help make it a habit</h2>
<p>Exercising with others can make the whole process easier and more habitual. Friends can be your cue as well as your reward for exercising.</p>
<p>First, you look to other people to learn how to do things, and it’s a human tendency to model your behavior after those you see around you. When you <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2009.05.010">observe others breaking a sweat</a>, it can start to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000085">build your confidence in your own ability to exercise</a> – psychologists call this belief in yourself self-efficacy. You may then <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.30.1.56">tend to model your behavior</a> after others’, too. This is very important for starting a new exercise routine, because how much you believe in your own ability to take on that yoga class or try some new equipment at the gym will predict whether you give it a shot.</p>
<p>Second, friends can remove some of the barriers to exercising. A workout buddy can provide reminders and encouragement to exercise, hold you accountable and even help with tangible logistics, like giving you a ride or sending links for Zoom class opportunities.</p>
<p>And don’t discount the competitive urge. A little friendly <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/why-you-should-work-out-crowd-ncna798936">competition provided by your group</a> can also boost the intensity of your effort.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.03.005">Habits are automatic behaviors</a> that you don’t have to spend a lot of energy forcing yourself to do – they’re your default, preferred behavior. You do them consistently and frequently without using up all your willpower. Exercise pals can help here, too. Habits need a cue to trigger the behavior, and a friend regularly texting that she’ll see you at the pool on your usual day to get together could do the trick.</p>
<p>Habits also require a reward to maintain, and intrinsic motivation that comes from exercising with others can be the payoff that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000249">keeps exercise part of your daily routine</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374564/original/file-20201212-20-183ohth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="people working out outdoors with instructor" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374564/original/file-20201212-20-183ohth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374564/original/file-20201212-20-183ohth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374564/original/file-20201212-20-183ohth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374564/original/file-20201212-20-183ohth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374564/original/file-20201212-20-183ohth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374564/original/file-20201212-20-183ohth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374564/original/file-20201212-20-183ohth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The people in your group become an asset to help you get going and stick with it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-take-an-outdoor-class-at-pylo-fitness-with-workout-news-photo/1227956484">Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sticking with each other and exercise</h2>
<p>Group exercise appears to hold some benefits that individual exercise may not.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000103">Getting engaged</a> in group exercise may also <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10902087/">lead to a more consistent and resilient</a> exercise experience. Past research has shown that people who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1249/JES.0000000000000177">feel more connected</a> in their exercise class attend more sessions, arrive on time, are less likely to drop out, are more resistant to disruption and are more likely to have greater mental benefits from the exercise. Since quitting exercise programs is common and disruptions may easily throw people off their exercise routine, getting involved with a group exercise class might be a particularly good way to head off these problems. </p>
<p>When choosing an exercise group to join, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1249/JES.0000000000000177">consider how similar the other participants are to you</a> – think about age, gender, interests. You’re likely to form a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02879901">more cohesive group with people you identify with</a>, and these interconnected groups are more likely to stick together and continue exercising.</p>
<h2>Group support while safely distant</h2>
<p>So exercising with others can provide all the elements needed for a successful, enjoyable and active lifestyle. Especially if you’re feeling isolated by the pandemic and its effects, now could be the perfect time for you to give remote group exercise a try. If the weather works, maybe you can find a yoga class that meets outdoors with plenty of space between participants, or a running club whose members stay masked.</p>
<p>Virtual classes may function as a substitute for in-person group exercise classes. Yes, they may take a little more motivation to find and access, or call for equipment you don’t already have at home. But remote classes have additional potential benefits, including flexibility in schedule, diversity in activities and exercise types, and connecting with others who are physically distant.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149348/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Your most important piece of exercise gear may be the friends you buddy up with to work out.L. Alison Phillips, Associate Professor of Psychology, Iowa State UniversityJacob Meyer, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/911652018-02-08T12:49:02Z2018-02-08T12:49:02ZA personal journey sheds light on why there are so few black women in science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205280/original/file-20180207-74490-1qqziwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many black women scientists feel isolated or worry about being "perfect" to impress their peers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/iaea_imagebank/33026035184/in/photolist-Sjp4DJ-T1Z58N-T1Z5hW-TpwLRP-T1Z4Pm-Sjp5AU-Sjp4oU-Sjp4t3-RRDcUA-RUcw5B-T9aVai-RRDcnU-T9aVn2-RUcvCp-RUcvJ6-VqtDZP-Wso7A4-uKaqmd-uKahrY-u5Ubtr-KocydQ-JSJqcb-KGtFP2-KPiapr-KocxCG-JSJj2W-KGtG2B-KPibda-KE2Cew-KGtFnk-KGtFaM-KocxXj-KLvPgJ-fWmy4P-fWmY6p-fWmHW5-KPi9CM-g9V841-g9V8fo-YE3268-YE31VZ-XACgJy-SjpWqo-Tna2MC-bRSeLx-bCXw17-bCXvZo-Tpxydv-SjpWxC-TpxxP4">Laura Gil Martinez/IAEA/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nine years into my research and academic career, one of the most common questions I hear from family and friends is, “uzoqedanini ukufunda?” (“Will she ever finish studying?”)</p>
<p>They’re not the only ones who struggle to understand what it is that I do. My experience is that most black women “fall into” research and academia, rather than deliberately choosing it as a career direction from the start. That would explain why black women undergraduates often ask me “What is research?” and “Is reading all you do?” </p>
<p>The United Nations marks February 11 each year as the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/events/women-and-girls-in-science-day/">International Day of Women and Girls in Science</a>. This is an important occasion – but, based on the kinds of questions I receive almost daily, I’d suggest that retention rather than participation should be the focus of February 11 and related initiatives.</p>
<p>In South Africa, where I conduct my research and am working towards a PhD in <a href="http://deliveringfoodsecurity.org/team/">climate change and food production</a>, there is a particular need to attract and retain black women to the sciences. This has been a difficult, fraught process. Mamokgethi Phakeng, a full professor of mathematics education and a deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Cape Town, has <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/sajs/v111n11-12/09.pdf">offered</a> several reasons for this.</p>
<p>For instance, she has pointed out that black women wishing to enter “non-traditional” careers face opposition from patriarchal <a href="http://journals.co.za/docserver/fulltext/ju_sajhr/25/3/ju_sajhr_v25_n3_a5.pdf?expires=1518079336&id=id&accname=57716&checksum=D0043B7597EABAA80F6AD94865BE1ED6">African cultures</a>. This, she suggests, is part of the reason that <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/Report-03-10-12/Report-03-10-122001.pdf">men dominate</a> science and technology-related careers.</p>
<p>These issues can be addressed in several ways. Mentors and role models are crucial; so too are opportunities for black women scientists to find and build more collaborative spaces where they can combine their technical training with other skills. Cultural attitudes to the notion of “women as scientists” also need to be addressed.</p>
<h2>The reality</h2>
<p>During my talk at <a href="http://www.sfsa.co.za/representation-matters-black-women-in-science/">the Science Forum South Africa</a> conference in 2017 a young man asked me: “What is the big deal? Could it be that women are just not interested in the Sciences?” My answer was, “No sir!”, and that’s backed up by figures. <a href="http://www.sun.ac.za/english/InTheNews/05%20Apr%20-%20Business%20Day%20-%20Few%20Africa%20women%20graduating%20in%20science.pdf">University enrolment data</a> shows that attracting young black women to science courses at undergraduate level in South Africa is not the problem. </p>
<p><a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-06-15-00-why-are-there-so-few-black-professors">Retention</a> is the issue. There is a “<a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/commissions/FeesHET/docs/2015-Report-SecondNationalHETSummit.pdf">leaky pipeline</a>” that sees women complete undergraduate science degrees – and then leave academia rather than pursuing postgraduate qualifications.</p>
<p>This means that <a href="https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2014-11-07-addressing-the-shortage-of-black-and-women-professors">black women lecturers</a> in the sciences in South Africa’s academy have the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10734-017-0203-4">lowest representation</a>. Fewer lecturers ultimately mean fewer professors – the most senior, admired and respected in their academic disciplines.</p>
<p>In an environment like this, young black female scientists <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22258-where-are-all-the-black-women-in-science/">feel isolated</a> and misunderstood. I know this first hand, as a young black women researching methods to improve food production for sub-Saharan Africa on limited land and in the face of changing climate. My own experiences are part of the reason I started an organisation called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BlackWomenInScience/">Black Women in Science</a>.</p>
<p>I was also responding to complaints from other science students, who felt the same worry about their own skills and sense of isolation that I did. Black Women in Science, which has 150 members, aims to encourage women’s participation in science, technology, engineering and maths by approaching the career of a scientist in a collaborative manner. It’s not about sticking to one discipline or area of specialisation. </p>
<h2>Role models and cultural norms</h2>
<p>So what’s holding young black women back? The giant leap from <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/Report-03-10-12/Report-03-10-122001.pdf">high school to university</a> is an enormous hurdle. This is true for all students, but – as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01696-w">data</a> about first-year dropout rates in South Africa show – especially among black students. This is because they tend to come from <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/education/2017-12-28-sa-comes-39th-in-grade-9-science-performance--out-of-39-countries/">lower quality</a> primary and secondary school systems than their white peers. </p>
<p>For those who remain in the system and look to pursue postgraduate degrees, the lack of mentorship and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-keep-more-women-in-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem-61664">role models</a> is another issue. When you don’t identify with people who are lecturing in terms of image, culture and background, it’s easy not to relate to the field or subject. Diversity in the lecture hall is a way to show black women students that they can also take ownership in a particular field.</p>
<p>It’s important for these young women to look beyond the academy for mentors, too. One of the women I admire is Getty Choenyana, who trained as a mechanical engineer, then founded <a href="https://oamobu.co.za/pages/about-us">Oamobu Naturals</a> and uses her scientific skills and knowledge to successfully produce marketable products. </p>
<p>Family, marriage and culture also influence black women’s experiences as scientists. A number of African communities and cultures do not have a tradition of professional women. There is a strong expectation that women must conform to the traditional roles of wife and mother. </p>
<p>I am a Zulu woman. If I were married, my in-laws would probably struggle to understand that I am unable to attend “<a href="http://www.sunika.co.za/traditional-clothing-in-south-africa/86-umembeso/116-planning-for-umembeso">umembeso</a>” (one of the many stages and rituals in a Zulu wedding) because I have a thesis to write-up. </p>
<p>This is an added layer of complexity and a daunting burden. I, and black women scientists like me, feel enormous pressure to <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/18117295.2017.1371980">be perfect</a> in the eyes of our academic peers and our own communities.</p>
<p>This points to the need for institutions to change too. It’s important that departments, faculties and senior academics understand the language and cultural challenges black women scientists face, and try to be more sensitive to them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91165/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ndoni Mcunu is doing her PhD at the Global Change Institute - Witwatersrand University. She is the founder of Black Women in Science (BWIS). </span></em></p>Family, marriage and culture are among the factors that influence black women’s experiences as scientists.Ndoni Mcunu, PhD Candidate, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/873822017-11-16T18:13:41Z2017-11-16T18:13:41ZJobs and paid-for schooling can keep Tanzanian girls from early marriages<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194351/original/file-20171113-27616-w73f5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many girls in Dar es Salaam's slums drop out of school because of the costs involved.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ICT4D.at/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sub-Saharan Africa is home to <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf">four of the top five countries</a> in early marriage – or child marriage – rates: Niger, Chad, Mali and Central African Republic. Despite decades of campaigning to restrict or forbid early marriage, little has changed for the world’s poorest women. The percentage of these particularly poor women who were in a conjugal union by the age of 18 <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/files/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-low-Single(1).pdf">has remained unchanged</a> for the continent as a whole since 1990 – and has <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/files/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-low-Single(1).pdf">actually risen in East Africa</a>.</p>
<p>Early marriage appears to have absolutely no benefits. It <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15570274.2015.1075757">accelerates population growth</a> and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15570274.2015.1075757">decreases women’s participation in the labour force</a>. It also reduces <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/530891498511398503/Economic-impacts-of-child-marriage-global-synthesis-report">a country’s overall national earnings</a>. Girls who marry before they turn 18 are at <a href="http://www.unfpa.org/press/state-world-population-2013-motherhood-childhood">greater risk</a> of childbirth-related complications that are the leading cause of death worldwide for girls aged 15 to 19. </p>
<p>But what’s not often reported in the media is that some girls themselves want to marry early. I discovered this when I <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2017.1390162">conducted interviews</a> with 171 people, most of them Muslim women, in two low-income neighbourhoods in Tanzania’s capital city Dar es Salaam. </p>
<p>The poorest girls and women see themselves as having few possibilities to earn an income for themselves. Even before they marry, girls from poor families must often resort to premarital sexual relations with their boyfriends who provide food and money. For many low-income Tanzanians, it’s also normal to start thinking about marriage at roughly age 15. Established cultural expectations in many ethnic groups suggest that adulthood begins at age 15 or 16. </p>
<p>Yet even those girls and parents who would like to delay marriage often have little choice because of poverty and the fact that women in slum neighbourhoods have fewer opportunities to earn an income than men do. Creating more opportunities for young women and girls to work and earn money is one possible solution to early marriages. Subsidising secondary education to keep poorer girls in school for longer is another.</p>
<h2>Choices</h2>
<p>One factor that pushes some girls into early marriage is the hidden costs associated with education. Many Tanzanian girls <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR243/FR243%5B24June2011%5D.pdf">drop out</a> after primary school. Primary education in the country is mandatory by law and is nominally free of charge. But numerous hidden costs exist: additional fees, uniforms, books and transportation. </p>
<p>Only a small percentage of students achieve good enough exam scores to be accepted to low-priced government secondary schools. This forces the rest into private secondary schools, which are usually too expensive for the poorest urban residents. Parents recognise the value of education and want to school their daughters. They just can’t afford to do so.</p>
<p>Sometimes the girls themselves wish to discontinue their studies. They perceive the transactional intimacy provided through marriage as offering a more secure future than an expensive secondary education.</p>
<p>After age 15, girls are expected to be self-sufficient to gain respect in the eyes of others. Marriage is viewed as a more likely way to gain that respect than through years of education with its high costs and uncertain rewards.</p>
<p>The people <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2017.1390162">I interviewed</a> felt that premarital sex was seen as shameful in their neighbourhoods. Relying on a husband or fiancé for money, though, is a respectable means of displaying independence. </p>
<p>When girls drop out of school, cannot find work and don’t have enough starting capital to sell food or other goods in their neighbourhoods, early marriage is often the only culturally approved way to be a productive adult. It can be seen as a sign of “success” for a girl: it means she has a good <em>tabia</em>; a good character.</p>
<h2>Employment could help</h2>
<p>Cultural traditions are a popular scapegoat for policymakers. But these should not be blamed for what are perceived elsewhere in the world as “backward” practices. Trying to eradicate cultural attitudes when these are grounded in economic and educational realities does little to change people’s behaviour. </p>
<p>Women living in the poorest parts of any city need policies that create employment opportunities. This would offer girls who might otherwise choose early marriage other choices.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Skinner_WIEGO_WP5.pdf">Tanzania was a leader in the 1990s</a> in Africa when it came to inclusive policies towards informal and street traders. But a rapidly growing population and competition among traders means many women cannot afford the licenses and permits needed to set up a business in a busy area with many customers. They may also not have sufficient capital or may need to stay close to home to care for family members.</p>
<p>Ultra-low interest micro loan programmes serving the poorest areas of the city could be organised for women who have no option but to obtain income from the smallest and least visible vending niches in the city. </p>
<h2>Making education more attractive</h2>
<p>Another option, or one that could run in parallel with improved access to work opportunities, could centre on education. Tanzania could consider employment-oriented education policies and subsidising secondary education for the poorest students. This would provide motivation for girls and their families to continue girls’ studies. These are issues over which poor families themselves have little control: structural change needs to come from above. </p>
<p>As long as girls and their families see the most viable – and morally acceptable – option for a girl’s economic survival to be early marriage with a male partner whose earning opportunities are greater than hers, the practice of early marriage is unlikely to decline among the urban poor.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Stark received funding from the Academy of Finland for this research. </span></em></p>Creating more opportunities for young women and girls to work and earn money is a possible solution to early marriages. Subsidising secondary education to keep poorer girls in school is another.Laura Stark, Professor of Ethnology, University of JyväskyläLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/795822017-07-02T08:37:16Z2017-07-02T08:37:16ZHow to stop the scales of justice being loaded against women and girls in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175796/original/file-20170627-6086-1qau9zg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Court proceedings are rarely sensitive to the inequalities faced by women and girls in Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>International and national laws broadly recognise equal rights for all. These include the right to <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx">fair and equitable</a> access to justice.</p>
<p>But justice for women and girls before the courts remains elusive in many African countries. This is partly because they face unique hurdles that disadvantage them from start. These include the fact that court hearings are lengthy and legal services extremely expensive. Hearings <a href="http://www.hiil.org/publication/uganda_report">can last decades</a>. The use of English and French can be intimidating and alienating given the high levels of illiteracy among girls and women.</p>
<p>Not all the disadvantages are necessarily unique to women and girls. But the structural conditions and cultural inequalities are loaded against them in most African societies. Court proceedings are rarely sensitive to the deep-seated <a href="http://fic.tufts.edu/publication-item/making-gender-just-remedy-and-reparation-possible/">social inequalities</a> tilted against women and girls. These include gender, ethnicity, class, culture, language, and location. </p>
<p>This can be seen in the case of sexual abuse cases in particular. Courts often impose very high thresholds for evidence. For example, litigants are asked to produce official documents such as medical forms, land or property titles to support or justify their claims. Yet often women and girls can’t get these documents because of <a href="http://fic.tufts.edu/publication-item/making-gender-just-remedy-and-reparation-possible/">cultural practices</a> that make owning property such as land and housing nearly impossible for them. </p>
<p>Women also often can’t act as surety or apply for bail for their loved ones because they don’t have a passport, national identification or proof of address.</p>
<p>There are other hurdles that victims of sexual abuse have to overcome. These include the fact that they are required to provide primary evidence of the abuse <a href="http://www.acordinternational.org/silo/files/uganda-an-audit-of-legal-practice-on-sexual-violence.pdf">backed</a> by a police doctor’s medical report. In reality, many victims are unable to report the abuse in good time. Police doctors are also inaccessible to the majority of victims and come with some hidden cost.</p>
<p>And once in court, they are subjected to painful, degrading and humiliating processes of cross examination and <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2010/04/uganda-victims-rape-and-sexual-violence-denied-justice/">re-victimisation</a> due to a lack of protection.</p>
<p>Judicial decisions should move beyond a narrow and exclusive focus on the cases before the courts. This entails focusing on social, economic and cultural rights of women and girls.</p>
<h2>Some lessons learnt</h2>
<p>There are ways in which judicial processes could go beyond an exclusive focus on punishment. A landmark high court ruling in Uganda which recently won <a href="http://www.womenslinkworldwide.org/en/awards/cases/missing-baby">international recognition</a> is a case in point. While the judge provided specific remedy to a couple that had their newborn stolen in hospital, it also upheld the state’s obligations under the right to health in ways that increases access to disadvantaged women. </p>
<p>Justice Lydia Mugambe’s ruling could go a long way in securing better health rights for women and girls in Uganda. It also points the way to transforming systems and structures of injustices and inequalities that shapes women and girls’ vulnerabilities in the first place. </p>
<p>The case also highlights the importance of civil society organisations acting as intermediaries between the court and victim. These organisations can provide relevant information and ensure proper procedures in handling cases.</p>
<p>Another area that could be improved is improving the court experience for women and girls. The process is as important as the outcome. How victims are treated through a court process can empower or disempower them. There should be accompanying efforts to engage and empower victims as citizens with full rights. This is particularly important where experience of violations strip women and girls of their dignity and sense of self-worth.</p>
<p>If not, court decisions could further entrench women and girls’ vulnerabilities, especially when required evidential proofs are erroneous. A case in point is the Kenya court ruling on sexual abuse which earned the dubious distinction of the <a href="http://www.womenslinkworldwide.org/en/awards/cases/she-wanted-it">worst judicial ruling</a> against women in 2016.</p>
<p>The Kenyan court <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/caselaw/cases/view/121219/">acquitted</a> a 23-year-old man of the crime of child defilement of a 14-year-old girl. The ruling assumed consensual sex occurred and a possible false claim by the girl due to delayed reporting. The court didn’t accord the girl special measures provided to children. Yet in reality, the girl was a minor incapable of making informed consent without special protection.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>Women and girls experience of accessing justice in Africa is shaped by their socio-cultural context of lower social status. It’s important that courts are responsive to these prevailing gender and generational inequalities and injustices that disadvantage women and girls.</p>
<p>It calls for investment in processes that create and ensure inclusive, safe, participatory spaces and dignity for victims who come before courts. This could include designing victim and witness participation and protection protocols for court use.</p>
<p>Clear court rules of procedures are required to guarantee confidentiality, safety, and dignity for victims of highly stigmatising cases, such as sexual abuse.</p>
<p>And courts should aim to adopt more flexible standards of evidence. They should also ensure proceedings are conducted in local languages and responsive to local realities – such as local taboos on sexual abuse. </p>
<p>Lastly, the majority of women and girls in Africa live in contexts of deeply rooted systems of socio-cultural injustices and structural inequalities. Given this, court procedures and decisions shouldn’t only enable justice. They should also change situations that exacerbate women and girls’ vulnerabilities for a just and equal society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Teddy Atim's article draws from a report: 'Making Gender-Just Remedy and Reparation Possible: Upholding the Rights of Women and Girls in the Greater North of Uganda' by the Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, USA and Isis-Women's Cross Cultural Exchange.
Funding towards the research project and report was provided in large part by the Ford Foundation, East Africa and New York. Additional funding was provided by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IrishAid, the Government of Norway, the Australian Agency for International Development, and the Feinstein International Center and the Fletcher School of Law and International Diplomacy of Tufts University, USA.
</span></em></p>Clear court procedures are required to guarantee confidentiality, safety, and dignity for victims of highly stigmatising cases, such as sexual abuse.Teddy Atim, Visiting Fellow, Feinstein International Center, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/641002016-10-05T10:02:04Z2016-10-05T10:02:04ZIn parts of the world, bride price encourages parents to educate daughters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140136/original/image-20161003-30459-xt0es3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cultural norms play an important role in determining whether girls will be send to schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gpforeducation/16269000296/in/photolist-qMCSZ7-hHceBu-hyzfeF-dYf4Xn-88N6Bf-pmjdMD-dYzh66-94cN1F-p4P4b2-nubvJM-94fTKA-94fTRC-qxxtjM-ns8pse-i2kAZA-eaSYhN-qxxtWD-8xGceg-hGQ7od-8v7LvR-i2kHus-sE7w44-i2kS5d-hQipig-hLcQA7-nAhiGa-hLcv3w-hLcQLY-i2kBkq-hGQ7dd-6SYWDG-o9GsFa-i2mozk-i2kH7U-9qUBFR-hLcxSQ-hHcKqW-94fTpS-94cN7M-hHbNjK-eaMeCk-dYL2gK-3A8K99-94fSwu-hHd76x-pSY1Nm-94fT9h-dM8V2A-94cNfF-hHd774">Global Partnership for Education - GPE </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Education is one of the engines of economic growth and development. More education leads to higher incomes. For individuals living in low-income countries, an additional year of education increases wages by <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.91.4.795">7-11 percent</a>. </p>
<p>And the benefits to education are not restricted to wages: better educated women are more likely to have <a href="http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=gcc_economic_returns">healthier</a>, <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/akhwaja/papers/WhatDidYouDoAllDay.pdf">better-educated</a> children. They are also <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002259/225945e.pdf">less likely to die in child birth</a>.</p>
<p>As Hillary Clinton <a href="https://www.clintonfoundation.org/press-releases/no-ceilings-announces-charge-collaborative-harnessing-ambition-and-resources-girls">has said</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When girls have access to quality education in both primary and secondary schools, cycles of poverty are broken, economies grow, glass ceilings crack and potential is unleashed.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet, primary and secondary school completion are far from universal in low income countries. This is especially true for women whose rates of primary school completion are as low as <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.CMPT.FE.ZS?year_high_desc=false">30 percent in some sub-Saharan African countries</a>.</p>
<p>If education has such high returns, why isn’t educational attainment higher? </p>
<p>One possible answer is that parents often do not directly benefit from these returns. When making spending decisions, parents must think of their own old-age security as well. Parents may even worry that education will make children more likely to migrate, <a href="http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/192649.pdf">decreasing</a> the likelihood that their children care for them in their old age.</p>
<p>Cultural norms often play an important role in determining whether children are educated. Often such norms can make parents choose to educate boys over girls. However, my research suggests, culture can also play an important role in incentivizing parents to educate their girls.</p>
<h2>Here’s how:</h2>
<p>In my <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w22417?sy=417">paper</a> with researchers <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/economics/people/facultyPages/NavaAshraf.aspx">Nava Ashraf</a>,<a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/nunn/home"> Nathan Nunn</a>, and <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/alevoena/">Alessandra Voena</a> –– a part of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper series –– I studied one such cultural norm: the effect of bride price in Zambia and Indonesia on girls’ education. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140138/original/image-20161003-20230-tu2k24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140138/original/image-20161003-20230-tu2k24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140138/original/image-20161003-20230-tu2k24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140138/original/image-20161003-20230-tu2k24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140138/original/image-20161003-20230-tu2k24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140138/original/image-20161003-20230-tu2k24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140138/original/image-20161003-20230-tu2k24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bride price can help girls in some ways. A girl from Zambia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/14704200941/in/photolist-opmSDT-o8aB5k-onBibs-opqS3C-pACEb4-o89tKz-o8aBqv-pyA8ss-d6dT8w-opmSr8-opD99c-o89tYk-pj8URJ-oZgsaX-d6dF71-pACCqv-oZhj5K-pgJzm3-d6dWL7-pgJDFf-cTSTGN-pgur4D-pyA5J1-d6dLG7-d6dRgQ-pAmpWk-d6dDQ9-d6dXXb-EukVE7-d6dMTQ-pwbxi-d6dBFL-BCQpWm-B7Cx8H-AHBYYL-scosUx-BF9yAX-oZhQDn-pgMWsZ-oZhKuz">DFID - UK Department for International Development</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bride price is a custom whereby the groom pays the parents of the bride at the time of marriage. Many commentators think that bride price payments are an <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/report/59032/tanzania-study-links-payment-bride-price-abuse-women">abusive practice</a> since they believe these traditions are equivalent to buying and selling girls.</p>
<p>However, we find that bride price can benefit women as well.</p>
<p>In both Indonesia and Zambia, educated girls attract higher bride prices. For example, women who have completed primary schooling receive approximately 60 percent higher bride prices in Indonesia. </p>
<p>Indeed, females who belong to ethnic groups where traditional bride price amounts are larger are more likely to be enrolled in school than females who do not belong to these groups.</p>
<h2>What our studies show</h2>
<p>Moreover, we find that two large programs that built thousands of new primary schools in Indonesia and Zambia interact with bride price traditions in important ways. </p>
<p>In low income countries, <a href="http://econweb.ucsd.edu/%7Ekamurali/papers/Working%20Papers/Cycling%20to%20School%20(NBER%20WP%2019305).pdf">distance strongly affects school enrollment</a>, particularly for girls. School construction programs reduce the costs of attending school by building new schools that reduce the distance to schools.</p>
<p>We used census data to estimate the effect of these programs on female education by comparing growth in educational attainment for girls in districts where many schools were built to the growth in educational attainment for girls in districts where fewer schools were built. </p>
<p>We found that girls from ethnic groups with a strong bride price custom were more likely to respond to the school construction programs by enrolling in school.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140140/original/image-20161003-27269-aecpn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140140/original/image-20161003-27269-aecpn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140140/original/image-20161003-27269-aecpn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140140/original/image-20161003-27269-aecpn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140140/original/image-20161003-27269-aecpn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140140/original/image-20161003-27269-aecpn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140140/original/image-20161003-27269-aecpn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A girl taking a numeracy test at a primary school in Zambia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gpforeducation/28459097735/in/photolist-KmQjfT-KeU9Rn-KeU9HM-KmQiE4-s9teyX-s9TPh7-sodfxu-s2YFio-mC8MhY-6CwUkm-2WBkwX-8DJQeq-zkXo4-7gwM3Y-97AEYb-97xyrH-97xyKM-cVZ9xo-djT9dv-oMFC1d-9DZLJ-97xySF-mu8DZt-97AFtG-9DZCr-zkDsb-6K7LV9-97AFrG-87dFSA-uMWga2-6K3ELv-WnQ21-eDD2R2-97xyyR-2WBkwP-zkDs5-zkDrX-97xyJZ-xt1yUE-xt2rY3-5xAw98-97xyLX-97AFsG-D9Q7ap-97xyFK-HTb5CY-HTb5ns-CKVFR4-HTb5bf-zkZ1Z">Global Partnership for Education - GPE</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In both countries, we found that education increased more for girls from ethnic groups with bride price customs in districts where more schools were built: In Indonesia, an additional school per 1,000 students increased the probability of a girl from an ethnic group with a traditionally high bride price completing primary school by 3 percent. In contrast, the school construction had no effect on education for girls who did not belong to ethnic groups with strong bride price traditions. </p>
<p>While 3 percent may seem small, the effect of an additional school per 1,000 students on girls’ education is enough to close 20 percent of the gap in primary school completion between boys and girls. Moreover, 3 percent is the effect on the average girl, and it likely masks larger effects for girls in areas with few schools and smaller effects for girls who lived near a school already. </p>
<p>In Zambia, we find that school construction had similar effects on school enrollment for girls from ethnic groups with strong bride price traditions. Again, for girls in the non-bride price ethnic groups, the effect is close to zero. </p>
<p>My <a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/nbau/files/norms_policy_draft.pdf?m=1458321879">study of another custom</a> –– matrilocality, shows how other cultural norms can provide incentives to parents to invest in their daughters’ education. Matrilocality means that newly-weds stay with the parents of the bride after marriage and care for them in their old age. In such cases parents can benefit directly from their investments in their daughter’s education. </p>
<p>Indeed, I found that matrilocal ethnic groups in Indonesia are more likely to enroll daughters in school relative to sons when compared to non-matrilocal ethnic groups. On the flipside, I found that in patrilocal ethnic groups, where sons stay with their parents and care for them in their old age, boys are more likely to be enrolled in school relative to their female siblings.</p>
<h2>Unintended consequences</h2>
<p>But what happens when parents no longer rely on their children as much for old age support? </p>
<p>When parents have other ways of supporting themselves in their old age, they may invest less in their children’s education. <a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/nbau/files/norms_policy_draft.pdf?m=1458321879">Studying</a> the introduction and expansion of two pension plans in Indonesia, I found that women who were young when the pension plans were put into effect, and who would traditionally be expected to care for their parents, received less education. </p>
<p>Women who were born after the pension plan was put into place and came from matrilocal ethnic groups were 13 percent less likely to complete secondary school. The effect was stronger in places where more pension plan offices, which likely enrolled more people, were built.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140147/original/image-20161003-20213-hfwak2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140147/original/image-20161003-20213-hfwak2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140147/original/image-20161003-20213-hfwak2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140147/original/image-20161003-20213-hfwak2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140147/original/image-20161003-20213-hfwak2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140147/original/image-20161003-20213-hfwak2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140147/original/image-20161003-20213-hfwak2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A junior high school in Ghana.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eifl/27074126790/in/photolist-HfrYDu-4LK2yD-odJPuS-nQyxwF-7ZetsF-ogQ3fA-5mN1TL-7ZeuSt-pVgRU-myQ3L7-ggG9uS-myNmyM-b8dBPv-b8dBqH-myPQ8m-evmMjq-7LkN6F-4v1K1R-myQ1eJ-7XG6DB-pVgRT-myPhJt-myNDEZ-6aojhj-myPYdu-myNnYv-8Fr5Ge-82LndH-kghoE-785APS-myPiN2-myQsGd-52vqQM-myNKwk-5zWkHy-8Fr69k-7Zvc9J-myPZhd-kb5nYp-dDBzRD-myNKue-DX2VoY-787Swj-6n4qve-a5NAAE-784aZB-myNCoa-8jmv8X-49WVS-8cbtV4">EIFL</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Comparing patrilocal boys to non-patrilocal boys in Ghana, I found similar results. Patrilocal parents educated their sons less in response to the pension plan. A patrilocal boy born after the creation of the pension plan was 8 percent less likely to complete primary school. </p>
<p>So, the expansion of pension plans –– a well-intentioned policy –– had an unintended negative consequence. It reduced female education in Indonesia and male education in Ghana.</p>
<p>Parents’ expectations about old-age support may affect other decisions besides education. Research suggests that parents’ expectations that boys will support them in their old age may lead to son preference. This has already led to unbalanced sex-ratios in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2010.00317.x/abstract">China</a>, as well as <a href="https://scholars.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/avrahamebenstein/files/patrilocality_and_missing_women_april_2014.pdf">other countries</a>.</p>
<p>All this shows that culture matters. While bride price traditions may have other significant downsides, our findings suggest that bride price helps ensure that daughters are educated. </p>
<p>If we neglect the importance of culture, policies designed to increase female education and boost female welfare may be less effective than they could otherwise be. They may even have negative unintended consequences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64100/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Bau receives funding from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the International Growth Centre. </span></em></p>Here’s how cultural practices are playing a role in many countries in incentivizing parents to educate their girls.Natalie Bau, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/614792016-07-21T09:11:18Z2016-07-21T09:11:18ZWhat other cultures can teach parents about raising their children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131244/original/image-20160720-31121-s1p99x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monkey Business Images/Shuttertock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in a competitive world, where worth and value are increasingly based on league tables and performance indicators – and parenting hasn’t escaped this sort of scrutiny. Discussions about the world’s “<a href="http://www.ozy.com/acumen/who-are-the-worlds-strictest-parents/63050">strictest</a>” or “<a href="http://www.motherandbaby.co.uk/shopping-and-reviews/shopping-ideas/new-book-finds-out-who-are-the-worlds-best-parents">best</a>” parents are not hard to find – with culture playing a big part in these types of debates. </p>
<p>When it comes to parenting, cultural differences can actually help to challenge existing cultural norms by bringing in new ideas and values. This can in turn make it easier for people to appreciate and accept other <a href="http://jfi.sagepub.com/content/27/10/1383.short">parenting customs and traditions</a> – and it can even help to integrate new parenting styles. </p>
<p>This is because immigrant parents typically bring with them different ideas and values about parenting, which other countries are then exposed to. These cultural and psychological changes that happen when cultures meet – so-called “acculturation” – can lead to a “bicultural” parenting style, which can allow many families to have the best of both worlds. For example, parenting researchers have <a href="http://ideas.ted.com/how-cultures-around-the-world-think-about-parenting/">suggested</a> that Spanish parents can help other Western cultures appreciate the developmental value in allowing children to participate fully in family life during the evenings, rather than religiously going to bed at 6.30pm every night. </p>
<h2>Culture clash</h2>
<p>That said, the process of acculturation can create a number of challenges. <a href="http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/Pages/PDF/Bornstein-BohrANGxp1.pdf">Research suggests</a> that immigrant parents can be misunderstood and criticised by schools, other parents, mental health services, and child support workers who are not familiar with different parenting beliefs and practices. This might include telling their children they should avoid friendships with the opposite sex, or to always put family needs above their own. These traditional values are often very different to the way things are done in their new country’s culture.</p>
<p>Incoming families also face challenges when their children start to identify with, and conform to their new culture. This can clash with parental desires to keep hold of traditional beliefs and ideas – creating what is known as an acculturation gap. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131245/original/image-20160720-31125-159eepp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131245/original/image-20160720-31125-159eepp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131245/original/image-20160720-31125-159eepp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131245/original/image-20160720-31125-159eepp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131245/original/image-20160720-31125-159eepp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131245/original/image-20160720-31125-159eepp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131245/original/image-20160720-31125-159eepp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘But all my friends are allowed them’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SpeedKingz/shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258902945_Parenting_in_immigration_Experiences_of_mothers_and_fathers_from_Eastern_Europe_raising_children_in_the_United_States">one study</a> of Eastern European immigrants to the US, one Russian mother explained the difficulties such culture clashes can create. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We are teaching our sons that they have to respect other adults and anybody who is older than them. You are supposed to respect teachers, not to mention parents and grandparents. Well, what they have learned in the US is that they can state their opinion in front of anybody and in any way they want to. So, for us, the downside of raising kids in the US is that the first phrase they learn here is, ‘it’s a free country’”.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Learning by culture</h2>
<p>Clearly, the culture a person is born into can have a big impact on parenting styles and the way children learn – <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/53w6141z">psychologists having long argued</a> that infants quite literally “find” themselves through others. This initially happens through time spent with their parents <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/publications/differential-parenting-children-diverse-cultural-bac/introduction">and cultural norms reproduced</a> through parenting behaviour. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235347978_The_Bio-Culture_of_Parenting_Evidence_From_Five_Cultural_Communities">One such study</a>, which looked at mothers’ natural interactions with their three-month-old infants across communities in rural West Africa, rural India, Costa Rica, Greece, and Germany, found these communities have starkly different cultural orientations when it comes to “independence” and “interdependence”, which was reflected in the way mothers interacted with their babies.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131248/original/image-20160720-31121-1g8n3kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131248/original/image-20160720-31121-1g8n3kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131248/original/image-20160720-31121-1g8n3kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131248/original/image-20160720-31121-1g8n3kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131248/original/image-20160720-31121-1g8n3kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131248/original/image-20160720-31121-1g8n3kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131248/original/image-20160720-31121-1g8n3kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How your culture can play a part in your parenting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CRSHELARE/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The study explored mothers’ interactions with their children looking at four basic components of parenting: “body contact”, “body stimulation” – stimulating the baby’s body through movement and touch – “face-to-face interactions”, such as eye contact and language, and the use of objects when interacting with the baby, known as “object stimulation”. </p>
<p>While all mothers made use of all of the above techniques to relate to their children, there were considerable cultural differences in the ways each mother interacted with her child. West African, Indian, and Costa Rican mothers (the more interdependent cultures) used more body contact and body stimulation, whereas German and Greek mothers (the more independent cultures) used more object stimulation and face-to-face interaction.</p>
<h2>Culture club</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3433059/">Researchers suggest</a> these sorts of differences make sense for the environments these children grow up in, because, object stimulation and face-to-face interaction are the sorts of parental behaviours that have been shown to encourage traits well suited to an independent culture. While body contact and stimulation are more likely to encourage development of an interdependent self. So, culture-specific patterns of parenting increase the likelihood of developing children that “fit” with cultural goals.</p>
<p>But while it is helpful to understand the role culture plays in parenting, ranking different cultures or picking the nation with the best parents, does no one any favours – particularly given the increasing multicultural nature of the world we live in. It is clear that when it comes to parenting, there is no one-size-fits-all option – particularly, when it comes to raising children in a different culture to the one you grew up in. </p>
<p>And of course, while cultural norms can play a big role in parenting styles, not all parents advocate prevailing cultural goals and beliefs – and many wholeheartedly oppose them. <a href="http://attachmentparenting.org/blog/2015/11/06/how-do-we-define-success-in-a-career-driven-society-once-we-become-parents/">Some parents</a> go to great lengths to reject dominant cultural ideals precisely because they perceive them to encourage parenting styles they fundamentally oppose. </p>
<p>What is clear, is that a blending of cultures, can help to teach parents a thing of two about how it’s done in other countries, while at the same time taking some of the “fear” out of cultural differences. And given the current political climate, this can only be a good thing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Carr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While the current political climate has cultivated a sense of fear surrounding cultural differences, when it comes to parenting, these differences could actually help make people better parents.Sam Carr, Lecturer in Education, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/590462016-07-08T01:44:21Z2016-07-08T01:44:21ZFreaks, geeks, norms and mores: why people use the status quo as a moral compass<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129449/original/image-20160705-814-n1fbe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does what's most usual seem inherently good to you?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=273595109">Fish image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Binewskis are no ordinary family. Arty has flippers instead of limbs; Iphy and Elly are Siamese twins; Chick has telekinetic powers. These traveling circus performers see their differences as talents, but others consider them freaks with “no values or morals.” However, appearances can be misleading: The true villain of the Binewski tale is arguably Miss Lick, a physically “normal” woman with nefarious intentions.</p>
<p>Much like the fictional characters of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Dunn">Katherine Dunn’s</a> “<a href="http://knopfdoubleday.com/book/43984/geek-love/">Geek Love</a>,” everyday people often mistake normality as a criterion for morality. Yet, freaks and norms alike may find themselves anywhere along the good/bad continuum. Still, people use what’s typical as a benchmark for what’s good, and are often averse to behavior that goes against the norm. Why?</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://psychology.illinois.edu/%7Eacimpian/reprints/TworekCimpian_IsOught.pdf">series of studies</a>, psychologist <a href="http://cimpianlab.com/">Andrei Cimpian</a> and I investigated why people use the status quo as a moral codebook – a way to decipher right from wrong and good from bad. Our inspiration for the project was philosopher David Hume, who pointed out that people tend to allow the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem">status quo (“what is”) to guide their moral judgments (“what ought to be”)</a>. Just because a behavior or practice exists, that doesn’t mean it’s good – but that’s exactly how people often reason. Slavery and child labor, for example, were and still are popular in some parts of the world, but their existence doesn’t make them right or OK. We wanted to understand the psychology behind the reasoning that prevalence is grounds for moral goodness.</p>
<p>To examine the roots of such “is-to-ought inferences,” we turned to a basic element of human cognition: how we explain what we observe in our environments. From a young age, we try to understand what’s going on around us, and <a href="http://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190100">we often do so by explaining</a>. Explanations are at the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000033">root of many</a> deeply <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.07.002">held beliefs</a>. Might people’s explanations also influence their beliefs about right and wrong?</p>
<h2>Quick shortcuts to explain our environment</h2>
<p>When coming up with explanations to make sense of the world around us, the need for <a href="http://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.207">efficiency often trumps the need for accuracy</a>. (People don’t have the time and cognitive resources to strive for perfection with every explanation, decision or judgment.) Under most circumstances, they just need to quickly get the job done, cognitively speaking. When faced with an unknown, an efficient detective <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374533557">takes shortcuts</a>, relying on <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.90.4.293">simple information</a> that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01642.x">comes to mind readily</a>.</p>
<p>More often than not, what comes to mind first tends to involve “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X13002197">inherent</a>” or “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X14000028">intrinsic</a>” characteristics of whatever is being explained.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128386/original/image-20160627-28395-5zez2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128386/original/image-20160627-28395-5zez2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128386/original/image-20160627-28395-5zez2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128386/original/image-20160627-28395-5zez2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128386/original/image-20160627-28395-5zez2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128386/original/image-20160627-28395-5zez2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128386/original/image-20160627-28395-5zez2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128386/original/image-20160627-28395-5zez2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Separate bathrooms reflect the natural order of things?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/editor/5911711237">Bart Everson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, if I’m explaining why men and women have separate public bathrooms, I might first say it’s because of the anatomical differences between the sexes. The tendency to explain using such inherent features often leads people to ignore other relevant information about the circumstances or the history of the phenomenon being explained. In reality, public bathrooms in the United States became segregated by gender only in the late 19th century – not as an acknowledgment of the different anatomies of men and women, but rather as part of a series of political changes that reinforced the notion that <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-did-public-bathrooms-get-to-be-separated-by-sex-in-the-first-place-59575">women’s place in society was different from that of men</a>.</p>
<h2>Testing the link</h2>
<p>We wanted to know if the tendency to explain things based on their inherent qualities also leads people to value what’s typical.</p>
<p>To test whether people’s preference for inherent explanations is related to their is-to-ought inferences, we first asked our participants to rate their agreement with a number of inherent explanations: For example, girls wear pink because it’s a dainty, flower-like color. This served as a measure of participants’ preference for inherent explanations.</p>
<p>In another part of the study, we asked people to read mock press releases that reported statistics about common behaviors. For example, one stated that 90 percent of Americans drink coffee. Participants were then asked whether these behaviors were “good” and “as it should be.” That gave us a measure of participants’ is-to-ought inferences.</p>
<p><a href="http://psychology.illinois.edu/%7Eacimpian/reprints/TworekCimpian_IsOught.pdf">These two measures were closely related</a>: People who favored inherent explanations were also more likely to think that <em>typical</em> behaviors are what people <em>should</em> do.</p>
<p>We tend to see the commonplace as good and how things should be. For example, if I think public bathrooms are segregated by gender because of the inherent differences between men and women, I might also think this practice is appropriate and good (a value judgment).</p>
<p>This relationship was present even when we statistically adjusted for a number of other cognitive or ideological tendencies. We wondered, for example, if the link between explanation and moral judgment might be accounted for by participants’ political views. Maybe people who are more politically conservative view the status quo as good, and also lean toward inherence when explaining? This alternative was not supported by the data, however, and neither were any of the others we considered. Rather, our results revealed a unique link between explanation biases and moral judgment.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129453/original/image-20160705-789-11unmss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129453/original/image-20160705-789-11unmss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129453/original/image-20160705-789-11unmss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129453/original/image-20160705-789-11unmss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129453/original/image-20160705-789-11unmss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129453/original/image-20160705-789-11unmss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129453/original/image-20160705-789-11unmss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129453/original/image-20160705-789-11unmss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What goes into even young children’s assumptions that ‘what is’ is ‘what ought to be’?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=111345740">Girl image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A built-in bias affecting our moral judgments</h2>
<p>We also wanted to find out at what age the link between explanation and moral judgment develops. The earlier in life this link is present, the greater its influence may be on the development of children’s ideas about right and wrong.</p>
<p>From prior work, we knew that the bias to explain via inherent information is present <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2014.09.001">even in four-year-old children</a>. Preschoolers are more likely to think that brides wear white at weddings, for example, because of something about the color white itself, and not because of a fashion trend people just decided to follow. </p>
<p>Does this bias also affect children’s moral judgment?</p>
<p>Indeed, as we found with adults, 4- to 7-year-old children who favored inherent explanations were also more likely to see typical behaviors (such as boys wearing pants and girls wearing dresses) as being good and right.</p>
<p>If what we’re claiming is correct, changes in how people explain what’s typical should change how they think about right and wrong. When people have access to more information about how the world works, it might be easier for them to imagine the world being different. In particular, if people are given explanations they may not have considered initially, they may be less likely to assume “what is” equals “what ought to be.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128388/original/image-20160627-28373-ixuymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128388/original/image-20160627-28373-ixuymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128388/original/image-20160627-28373-ixuymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128388/original/image-20160627-28373-ixuymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128388/original/image-20160627-28373-ixuymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128388/original/image-20160627-28373-ixuymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128388/original/image-20160627-28373-ixuymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128388/original/image-20160627-28373-ixuymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Victoria started the trend in 1840 with her at-the-time unusual white wedding dress.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_Victoria,_1847.jpg">Franz Xaver Winterhalter</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consistent with this possibility, we found that by subtly manipulating people’s explanations, we could change their tendency to make is-to-ought inferences. When we put adults in what we call a more “extrinsic” (and less inherent) mindset, they were less likely to think that common behaviors are necessarily what people should do. For instance, even children were less likely to view the status quo (brides wear white) as good and right when they were provided with an external explanation for it (a popular queen long ago wore white at her wedding, and <a href="http://time.com/3698249/white-weddings/">then everyone started copying her</a>).</p>
<h2>Implications for social change</h2>
<p>Our studies reveal some of the psychology behind the human tendency to make the leap from “is” to “ought.” Although there are probably <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800284-1.00002-3">many</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12010">factors</a> that feed into this tendency, one of its sources seems to be a simple quirk of our cognitive systems: the early emerging <a href="https://theconversation.com/lifes-not-fair-so-why-do-we-assume-it-is-45981">bias toward inherence</a> that’s present in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-people-feel-a-rose-by-any-other-name-wouldnt-fit-as-well-46842">our everyday explanations</a>. </p>
<p>This quirk may be one reason why people – <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412448659">even very young ones</a> – have such harsh reactions to behaviors that go against the norm. For matters pertaining to social and political reform, it may be useful to consider how such cognitive factors lead people to resist social change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Tworek receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>It’s a common quirk of human psychology to make the mental leap that the way things are is the way things ought to be. New research into how we explain the world around us sheds light on the phenomenon.Christina Tworek, Ph.D. Student in Developmental Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/584792016-04-29T10:04:30Z2016-04-29T10:04:30ZShot or poisoned? Does the choice of Trump or Cruz really matter?<p>When asked to choose between the candidacies of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/21/politics/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-ted-cruz-poison-or-shot/">Lindsey Graham</a>, a Republican senator from South Carolina, remarked, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s like being shot or poisoned. What does it really matter?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But, in fact, it really does matter for the Republican Party.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120599/original/image-20160428-28029-3pzn9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120599/original/image-20160428-28029-3pzn9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120599/original/image-20160428-28029-3pzn9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120599/original/image-20160428-28029-3pzn9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120599/original/image-20160428-28029-3pzn9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120599/original/image-20160428-28029-3pzn9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120599/original/image-20160428-28029-3pzn9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120599/original/image-20160428-28029-3pzn9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Lindsey Graham.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Brian C. Frank</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Based on a survey taken before the Iowa caucus, voters see Cruz as the most orthodox neoconservative candidate on issues such as trade liberalization, taxes and shrinking the role of government. Simultaneously, he represents a slightly less authoritarian choice. By contrast, Trump is seen as taking a more moderate economic stance on trade and taxes, but a more extreme position on authoritarian values. </p>
<p>Most importantly for the electoral fortunes of the GOP, both candidates are located some distance away from the position of the median American voter.</p>
<p>Clearly, candidate positions evolve. Nominated candidates usually pivot toward the center in the general election. Nevertheless, candidates are often unable to ditch the image about their positions which were first formed in the public mind during the primary season.</p>
<p>If there is a contested Republican convention – a prospect which looks increasingly unlikely – delegates will probably support a candidate based on their positions and who is regarded as the least-bad electoral risk.</p>
<p>Two rival interpretations about the basis of support for the candidates are commonly heard. Let’s consider both:</p>
<h2>Interpretation #1: It’s the economy</h2>
<p>Numerous commentators regard both Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as economic populists with strongest support among those who are economically struggling and dissatisfied with growing social inequality. </p>
<p>Economists like <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-politics-of-anger-by-dani-rodrik-2016-03">Dani Rodrik</a> blame globalization for rising populism and the politics of anger. In this thesis, blue collar and less educated voters have grown weary of growing income disparities, stagnant or falling wages, lack of corporate accountability for the 2008 financial crisis and the continued exodus of manufacturing jobs overseas. Researchers at The <a href="http://www.hamiltonproject.org/assets/legacy/files/downloads_and_links/Employment_Earnings_Occupations_Changes_1990-2013_FINAL_1.pdf">Hamilton Project</a> found that American men without a college degree, in particular, have fared poorly in loss of real wages since 1990. </p>
<p>Washington Post reporters <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/22/economic-anxiety-and-racial-anxiety-two-separate-forces-driving-support-for-donald-trump/">Max Ehrenfreund and Scott Clement</a> found that Republicans worried about maintaining their economic situation are more likely to support Trump. It is thought that anti-establishment pitchforks are directed against both parties because Congress is perceived to continually promise job growth and rising living standards while in practice kowtowing to corporate donors, favoring trade liberalization and expanding tax loopholes for the rich.</p>
<p>From this perspective, Cruz provides an extreme version of Reaganesque economic orthodoxy on free trade, while Trump has trampled upon these neoconservative nostrums, such as by suggesting taxes on Chinese imports. </p>
<p>Likewise among Democrats. Sanders’ appeal to white, younger voters is often <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/02/why-donald-trump-and-bernie-sanders-were-inevitable-213685">attributed</a> to his progressive economic mantra of tackling income inequality, cleaning up campaign finance, reducing student debt and taking on Wall Street. His campaign has been a one-note angry shout for the “have-nots” against the “haves.” Hillary Clinton’s speeches have gradually tacked closer to Sanders on these issues, although she is saddled with her husband’s legacy of NAFTA.</p>
<h2>Interpretation #2: It’s cultural backlash</h2>
<p>The alternative argument suggests that popular support for Trump taps most deeply into a cultural backlash, rather than any economic issue. In this view, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/03/11/its-not-just-trump-authoritarian-populism-is-rising-across-the-west-heres-why/">authoritarian populism</a> in the U.S. and other Western democracies has been driven most strongly by cultural values. Trump’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rhetorical-brilliance-of-trump-the-demagogue-51984">rhetoric</a> stirs up a potent mix of racial resentment, intolerance, American First nationalism and isolationism. It emphasizes mistrust of outsiders, misogyny and sexism, attack-dog politics, and racial and anti-Muslim animus.</p>
<p>Racial politics are clearly part of this witch’s brew. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/upshot/trumps-secret-weapon-blue-state-voters.html?_r=0">Nat Cohn</a> found that support for Trump was strongest in areas with measures of racial animosity. <a href="http://www.salon.com/2016/03/24/most_racists_back_donald_trump_new_poll_suggests_racial_resentment_above_all_is_driving_trumps_rise/">Survey data</a> point toward the same conclusions. Jason McDaniel and Sean McElwee have shown that <a href="https://thewpsa.wordpress.com/2016/03/27/racial-resentment-and-the-rise-of-donald-trump/">racial animosity</a> is a critical driver in Trump’s support. </p>
<p>But American racial attitudes are arguably part of a broader phenomenon. My book comparing support for the <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/au/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/comparative-politics/radical-right-voters-and-parties-electoral-market?format=PB">radical right</a> in many countries found that authoritarian populists typically scapegoat outsiders. Populists favor nationalism, social conformity, order and strong leaders. </p>
<p>Taking up this broader theme, <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533">Matthew MacWilliams</a> in his research found that support for authoritarian values was one of the best predictors of Trump’s support. </p>
<p>Trump’s willingness to trample upon “political correctness” is thought to be catnip for less educated, older, blue collar Americans. This group finds themselves stranded like fish losing oxygen in a shrinking pool on the losing side of cultural tides, powerless to push back against long-term social evolution transforming the diversity of peoples and values in the United States. Meanwhile, Trump’s speech is anathema to civil discourse among educated liberals and establishment Republicans like Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney.</p>
<h2>Survey on favorability</h2>
<p>For evidence of which interpretation is right, we can dive into the <a href="http://www.electionstudies.org/">American National Election Study</a>, conducted in January 2016, just before the first votes were cast in the Iowa caucus. </p>
<p>The survey of 1,200 American citizens monitored candidate preferences by asking “Regardless of whether you will vote in the Democratic primary this year, which Democratic candidate do you prefer?” An equivalent question was asked for Republican contenders. </p>
<p>This does not imply that sympathizers necessarily cast a primary ballot for these candidates. Rather, the questions tap into overall favorability toward the candidates before the first vote was cast. </p>
<p>The position of the candidates can be assumed to reflect that of their sympathizers. These positions can then be compared with the median voter.</p>
<h2>Economic values</h2>
<p>What does the NES survey say about the economic issues interpretation of candidates’ appeal? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120402/original/image-20160427-30990-mtu7o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120402/original/image-20160427-30990-mtu7o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120402/original/image-20160427-30990-mtu7o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120402/original/image-20160427-30990-mtu7o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120402/original/image-20160427-30990-mtu7o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120402/original/image-20160427-30990-mtu7o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120402/original/image-20160427-30990-mtu7o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120402/original/image-20160427-30990-mtu7o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lib Con.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The chart above shows two classic indicators of these positions in the survey, including where supporters of each candidate placed themselves on the liberal-conservatism scale and whether they favored less or more government services and spending.</p>
<p>The evidence suggests that among Democrats, both Clinton and Sanders sympathizers saw themselves as liberal and favoring an expansion of government services and spending. Surprisingly, Clinton supporters were slightly more left wing than Sanders supporters. </p>
<p>Among Republicans, those most favorable toward Jeb Bush placed themselves remarkably close to the Democrats. Supporters of the other Republican candidates were all on the right of the median voter. Most supporters of the GOP candidates were fairly close to the median voter – with the exception of those most sympathetic toward Trump and Cruz. Cruz supporters were the most extreme and farthest from the average American on economic issues.</p>
<h2>Cultural backlash?</h2>
<p>What does the evidence say about the appeal of authoritarian values in America?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120405/original/image-20160427-30953-4vxiw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120405/original/image-20160427-30953-4vxiw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120405/original/image-20160427-30953-4vxiw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120405/original/image-20160427-30953-4vxiw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120405/original/image-20160427-30953-4vxiw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120405/original/image-20160427-30953-4vxiw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120405/original/image-20160427-30953-4vxiw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120405/original/image-20160427-30953-4vxiw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The chart above taps into social tolerance (how favorably respondents felt toward Muslims) and attitudes toward authority (how favorably they felt about the police). </p>
<p>The results provide a perfect snapshot of the range of choices on cultural values in the 2016 primary campaign. As expected, Sanders sympathizers show least support for authoritarian values. They are followed by Clinton supporters, who were closest to the mainstream position of the average American.</p>
<p>By contrast, supporters of most of the Republican candidates clustered together as more favorable toward these authoritarian populist values. Bush sympathizers were predictably more liberal than those of Cruz. </p>
<p>The most striking outlier concerns supporters of Trump, who displayed the strongest sympathy toward authoritarian populist values. This reinforces the notion that his distinctive brand of populism strikes a chord among less educated and older voters, who regard social diversity as a threat to traditional American values.</p>
<p>These factors continue to predict favorability toward Cruz and Trump even after controlling for other factors associated with political attitudes and electoral choices, including the age, gender, race, education and income of voters. </p>
<p>With Trump versus Cruz, the GOP faces a Hobson’s choice between two types of extremes. Which is the riskier bet for the future of the party – and indeed for America and the world? </p>
<p>Cruz’s support now appears to be lagging, while Trump has surged in recent primaries, so Trump may get a majority of delegates in the first round at the Republican convention. If the contest goes into a second round, however, the answer for Republican delegates probably depends upon whether they are most fearful of the dangers of authoritarian populism or neoconservatism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pippa Norris receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>A survey of 1,200 voters provides insight into which candidate is closest to the median American voter on the issues.Pippa Norris, ARC Laureate Fellow, Professor of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney and McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics, Harvard Kennedy SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/487442015-10-20T00:06:13Z2015-10-20T00:06:13ZTo make people buy into fighting corruption, we first need to know how to sell it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98374/original/image-20151014-12647-1nwcbzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4601%2C3069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indonesia's anti-corruption campaign 'Jujur itu hebat' (honesty is great) calls for people to rise as 'heroes'. But how many of us want to be the nail that sticks out to get hammered?
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dzoro/6951459680/in/photolist-bAh3M7">dzoro/flick</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the fall of Suharto’s authoritarian and corrupt regime in 1998, Indonesia has carried out campaigns against corruption. But they <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/157073/corruption-continues-plague-indonesia.aspx">don’t seem to be working very well</a>. Why is that?</p>
<h2>Corruption is evil?</h2>
<p>Anti-corruption campaigns in Indonesia follow a dominant worldview that see corruption as something evil. Campaigns against corruption in Indonesia paint it as an extraordinary crime carried out by greedy people. </p>
<p>But in preaching anti-corruption messages, these campaigns neglect local cultural norms and values. In designing anti-corruption campaigns, we import an understanding of practices labelled as corrupt from Western countries, which generally value individualism and are not averse to conflict. </p>
<p>It’s difficult to apply these notions in local anti-corruption campaigns without taking into account the complexities of values, such as collectivism and social harmony, that exist in countries like Indonesia.</p>
<p>This lack of cultural sensitivity in preaching against corruption has created fear and discomfort, demonised certain cultural practices and genuine intentions, with an outcome that is far from desirable. A greater sensitivity to context is needed to effectively change people’s behaviour and attitudes towards corruption. </p>
<h2>Nuance in talking about corruption</h2>
<p>I look at corruption from the point of view of the individual actors. These are people who encounter issues of corruption daily and have to decide what to do. For my research I interviewed people in government and business, as well as anti-corruption campaigners in Indonesia.</p>
<p>The people I interviewed talk about corruption with nuance. The dominant view of corruption as “evil” is there, but it’s distant from their own lives.</p>
<p>They talk about corruption that is “out there” as opposed to their own practices, which they consider as “not corruption” or “less corrupt” and therefore “not evil” or “less evil”. </p>
<p>They see a spectrum of “badness” in practices associated with corruption. The dominant view in looking at corruption has often missed this important insight. </p>
<p>From my interviews, I find people attach the label “corruption” only to practices that are seen in excess or in a magnitude that they consider unacceptable to them. </p>
<p>They determine corruption based on how “severe” the act is, which depends upon group or social norms. This means the label “corruption” does not stand on its own; it is always seen in relation to other practices.</p>
<p>I also found that when people talk about difficulties of disengaging from “old” corrupt practices, they don’t talk about “abusing power”. People talk more about relationships and caring about others.</p>
<p>People I interview use words such as “<em>kita orang Timur</em>” (we – people of the East), “<em>uang ketupat</em>” (rice cake money), “<em>bantu</em>” (help) and “<em>berharap</em>” (to expect) to illustrate that certain practices such as giving gifts to officials exist to protect relationships. Removing them would create social tensions. It could also threaten people’s jobs and livelihoods. </p>
<p>Some that I interviewed argued that for “<em>orang kita</em>” (our people) or “<em>orang Indonesia</em>” (Indonesians) it is a natural call to give thanks to officials. </p>
<p>Others said they had to turn a blind eye to questionable practices because this is what is expected of them to keep their (and other people’s) jobs.</p>
<h2>Using a different lens</h2>
<p>I use <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/care-eth/">care or relational ethics</a> as a lens to better understand people’s attitudes towards corruption. This view, which builds on the work of feminist psychologist <a href="http://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.biography&personid=19946">Carol Gilligan</a> and other scholars, challenges the dominant ethics theory that views individuals as free agents. </p>
<p>In ethics theory, individuals are expected to apply abstract standardised universal principles not only to hypothetical scenarios but also to real and often highly conflicted situations in life. </p>
<p>According to relational ethics, people do not make decisions based on standardised principles. Instead they base decisions on what they think is best for others and their relationships with others, emphasising the connectedness and dependencies in human life. </p>
<p>People affected by issues such as corruption rarely think in a linear manner as described in decision-making models. In making decisions people don’t usually go through a step-by-step process of defining the problem, identifying the criteria and risks involved, developing alternatives and eventually making a supposedly well-informed decision. </p>
<p>They are more likely guided by previous experiences and this is where <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/20159434">identity and social relations play their role in institutionalised corruption</a>. What I am seeing in my ongoing analysis is that, for people who don’t engage in corruption, their identity is built around being a change agent, being a pious person, being an example for others. Those who do engage or become complicit in corruption may see themselves as “living the norm” and see the practice as the only way “to get things moving around here”.</p>
<h2>Talk is cheap</h2>
<p>One of the taglines in Indonesia’s anti-corruption campaign is “honesty is great” or <em>jujur itu hebat</em>. </p>
<p>The campaign calls for people to rise as “heroes” and to fight corruption to the best of their abilities, even if this include jeopardising their livelihood and other people they care about. But how many of us want to be the nail that sticks out to get hammered?</p>
<p>I do not intend to defend “corruptors”. I would argue, however, that identifying existing biases and limitations is just as crucial as the effort of improving governance itself. </p>
<p>The dismissive approach to local understandings of norms and culture is not helpful. If we want to make people really buy the anti-corruption fight, we first need to know how to sell it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48744/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kanti Pertiwi receives funding from the Australian Government. </span></em></p>Indonesia has carried out campaigns against corruption. But they don’t seem to be working very well. Why is that?Kanti Pertiwi, PhD Candidate, Organisation Studies and Social Change, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/413672015-05-13T04:32:02Z2015-05-13T04:32:02ZGlobal standards miss the nuance in local child labour<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80987/original/image-20150508-22740-1af93br.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children's labour entails both benefits and harm that should be assessed at the local level</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Finbarr O'Reilly</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Images of children working in hazardous and abusive conditions naturally provoke strong emotional reactions. For this reason, measures designed to stop children from working, and make sure they go to school, attract little opposition or debate. </p>
<p>Yet the reality is that a rigid approach to child labour has a downside. Work is neither all good nor all bad for children. It is often both.</p>
<p>Clearly the worst forms of child labour need urgent action. However, the solution is not necessarily a ban. Conditions sometimes can be changed to reduce the risk of harm. Working conditions can be rendered benign or even beneficial, which is more constructive than simply banning work that children often need or want for their own and their family’s survival. </p>
<h2>Both benefit and harm in most work</h2>
<p>The common assumption that, for children, work in the home is harmless while work for pay is harmful is wrong. There is both benefit and harm in most work depending on conditions, aptitude and training of children. So rather than classifying particular activities as harmful, we should recognise that the same work can entail both benefits and harm that should be assessed at the local level.</p>
<p>So how do we regulate children’s work in Africa, and what can be said about interventions seeking to control children’s labour? The African Union (AU) prohibits work that interferes with children’s development but unlike the UN and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) <a href="http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/childlabour/intlconvs.shtml">conventions</a>, the AU also recognises that rights are accompanied by <a href="http://www.au.int/en/content/african-charter-rights-and-welfare-child">responsibilities to family and society</a>.</p>
<p>The term “child labour” results in conceptual confusions. And given the widespread adoption of the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C182">1999 ILO convention</a>, the 1973 <a href="http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C138">convention</a> is now redundant. The 1973 convention prohibits work that is not harmful and is often beneficial. Also, sometimes children are overburdened with work in the home, which is not considered by this legislation.</p>
<h2>Cultural norms contrast with global legal regime</h2>
<p>Cultural norms suggest what work children of particular ages and genders can or should do from a young age, with a gradual increase in responsibilities. This contrasts with the international legal regime which says only work after a specific age should be allowed. </p>
<p>Children’s work also has a social and an economic context. International trade can affect children’s work and their relationships with their families, – a point illustrated by an <a href="http://www.younglives.org.uk/publications/PP/childrens-wellbeing-and-work-in-sub-saharan-africa/pb_childrens-wellbeing-and-work-in-ssa">Ethiopian case study</a>. </p>
<p>The production of cash crops generates income for families, but it also creates pressures within families, exacerbates gender inequalities, and competes with the production of food for the family. The net effect is that cash crops increase the contribution of children as producers and carers. So, the system of international trade can lead to exploitation of children.</p>
<p>Research also shows how changes in communities and <a href="http://www.younglives.org.uk/publications/PP/childrens-wellbeing-and-work-in-sub-saharan-africa/pb_childrens-wellbeing-and-work-in-ssa">crises within families</a> affect children’s lives and schooling. It also highlights how children perceive benefits as well as harm in their work. The benefits of working are not just material contributions to families and being able to overcome “shocks” (unplanned difficult events), but also the gaining of skills and the enhancement of children’s moral status and esteem.</p>
<h2>Work is bound with social relations</h2>
<p>The risk of harm to children needs to be measured against these benefits. For these children, not working would be inconceivable. Children’s work is inextricably bound with their social relations with their peers, parents and employers. Work gives meaning to their lives. </p>
<p>Research about poor children working on the streets of Ethiopia and <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/YoungLivesOxford/child-labour-in-sudan-factors-and-repercussions-ibrahim-march2014">Sudan</a> shows how income from work is essential for the livelihoods of children and their families. </p>
<p>The ability to earn money gives children some control over their lives. Working children develop networks to help each other. Many are able to save money and help their families. </p>
<p>Then there is the issue of the relationship between schooling and work. Our research shows that children undertake work to help their families and earn money for school expenses. While work can keep children from school, force them to drop out, or affect their performance, some children have successfully combined school and work. Others are able to continue schooling because of their work. Our research suggests the need for more flexibility in the school systems to support children who have to work. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/YoungLivesOxford/childrens-perspectives-on-their-working-lives-and-on-public-action-against-child-labour-in-burkina-faso">Burkina Faso</a>, the parents and children working on the mines and quarries acknowledge the work as hazardous. But they view it as a necessary response to extreme poverty. Also, children may be better off by accompanying their parents to work than being left alone at home. Interventions to remove children from work tend not to address problems facing their families and the need for alternative support. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/YoungLivesOxford/children-and-work-a-save-the-children-perspective-muokimarch2014">Kenya</a>, a Save the Children programme supports working children, which has led to children’s perspectives being included in a new draft for a child labour policy. However, the programme excludes children under the age of 14 who are supposed to be in school.</p>
<h2>Listening to what children say about work</h2>
<p>The African <a href="http://maejt.org/page%20anglais/English%20about%20us%20history.htm">Movement of Working Children</a> includes “the right to light and limited work” among its <a href="http://maejt.org/page%20anglais/documents/docs%202013/Jeuda104_12_AMWCY_%20rights.pdf">“Twelve Rights”</a> with no mention of age. It is high time that we direct attention to reducing harm in child labour rather than seeking rules that impose a blanket ban on children taking on any work. </p>
<p>A more enlightened approach to children’s work would start by listening to what children have to say and working with local communities to raise awareness of problems faced by working children, especially in balancing work and school, and to enhance the accessibility, flexibility and quality of schooling to cater for working children. </p>
<p>Ultimately, measures to reduce poverty and provide safety nets for children living in families facing crises are more appropriate than approaches that focus narrowly on preventing children from working. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>The research referred to in this article has been compiled into a book, Children’s Work and Labour in East Africa: Social Context and Implications for Policy, edited by Alula Pankhurst, Michael Bourdillon and Gina Crivello. It will be published on June 12, the Day Against Child Labour, by the <a href="http://www.ossrea.net">Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41367/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Young Lives research on child work, the African Regional Symposium and the publication of the briefs and the book on child work and labour in East Africa were funded by the OAK Foundation. </span></em></p>A more enlightened approach to child labour would listen to what children say about work, balance work and school, and enhance the flexibility and quality of schooling to cater for working children.Alula Pankhurst, Young Lives Ethiopia Country Director, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.