tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/gender-roles-12198/articlesGender roles – The Conversation2024-02-28T22:11:57Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230802024-02-28T22:11:57Z2024-02-28T22:11:57ZStop breaking women’s hearts at work: 7 ways to make workplaces better for cardiovascular health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578772/original/file-20240228-20-3fdqgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1581%2C73%2C6597%2C4329&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Research shows women are at higher risk for burnout and psychological, emotional and physical stress in the workplace in comparison to their male counterparts.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prominent heart health messaging focuses on the <a href="https://www.heartandstroke.ca/stroke/recovery-and-support/make-healthy-choices#:%7E:text=Be%20more%20active,disease%20and%20stroke%20by%2030%25.">role of lifestyle behaviours</a> (such as physical activity and nutrition) in cardiovascular health. However, the role of <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/social-determinants-of-health#tab=tab_1">social determinants of health</a> (or SoDH) — which include sex, gender, poverty, environment — is also well established. SDoH not only directly impact <a href="https://doi.org/10.1161/circresaha.121.319811">risk and progression</a> of heart disease, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajmo.2023.100047">but also health outcomes</a>.</p>
<p>Certain types of heart disease are <a href="https://www.heartandstroke.ca/what-we-do/media-centre/news-releases/system-failure-womens-heart-and-brain-health-are-at-risk">significantly more common in women</a>, compared to men. Moreover, compared with their non-Black counterparts, heart health for Black women is differentiated by a heavier burden of traditional risk factors, earlier development of the disease and nearly 20 per cent higher <a href="https://onlinecjc.ca/article/S0828-282X(23)01619-7/abstract#:%7E:text=Compared%20with%20their%20nonblack%20counterparts,higher%20rates%20of%20cardiovascular%20mortality.">rates of cardiovascular mortality</a>. </p>
<h2>Women, work and heart health</h2>
<p>Canadians spend an average of 7.5 hours per day at work, translating to roughly half of our waking hours. Several researchers have shown a relationship between <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/increasing-workplace-flexibility-associated-with-lower-risk-of-cardiovascular-disease/">workplace and heart health</a>. For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2023.307413">research has linked</a> increased workplace flexibility (hybrid models, flexible schedule) with lower risk of cardiovascular disease. </p>
<p>Research also shows women are at higher risk for burnout and psychological, emotional and physical stress in the workplace <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/14/burnout-is-on-the-rise-gen-z-millennials-and-women-are-the-most-stressed.html#:%7E:text=Two%20types%20of%20people%2C%20however,burnout%20than%20men%20(37%25)">in comparison to their male counterparts</a>. This disproportionate burden has been attributed to several factors in and outside the workplace, inextricably linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01400">gender roles, sexism, racism, ageism and misogyny</a>. For instance, women are more likely to experience gender-based violence, assumptions about gender-roles, and higher cognitive and emotional workload in and out of work. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman bringing a mug to an older woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578728/original/file-20240228-22-q2iddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578728/original/file-20240228-22-q2iddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578728/original/file-20240228-22-q2iddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578728/original/file-20240228-22-q2iddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578728/original/file-20240228-22-q2iddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578728/original/file-20240228-22-q2iddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578728/original/file-20240228-22-q2iddp.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">Many women balance paid work with gendered labour in the home and care-taking roles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once again, these burdens are <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/ca/%7E/media/mckinsey/locations/north%20america/canada/gender%20diversity%20at%20work/gender_diversity_at_work_in_canada.pdf">higher in equity-deserving groups</a>, especially for women experiencing <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace">intersectional forms of discrimination</a>, such as <a href="https://canadianwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Resetting-Normal-Gender-Intersectionality-and-Leadership-Report-Final-EN.pdf">racism, colonialism, ableism and homophobia</a>. </p>
<p>It should not come as a surprise then that almost 90 per cent of reported <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/takotsubo-cardiomyopathy-broken-heart-syndrome#:%7E:text=More%20than%2090%25%20of%20reported,no%20long%2Dterm%20heart%20damage.">stress-induced heart disease</a> — or “<a href="https://www.heart.org/en/news/2021/10/13/broken-heart-syndrome-is-on-the-rise-especially-among-older-women">broken heart syndrome</a>” — is found among women, and five per cent of women suspected of having a heart attack actually have this disorder.</p>
<p>Women are often the heart of their communities, and assume multiple, and intersecting, gendered social roles. For instance, many balance paid work, with <a href="https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/diff/ace-women-health/Healthy%20Balance/ACEWH_hbrp_thinking_it_through_women_work_caring_new_millennium.pdf">gendered labour in the home and in care-taking roles</a>. To make matters worse, women are then <a href="https://hbr.org/2022/04/stop-framing-wellness-programs-around-self-care">bombarded with wellness and self-management messaging</a> that tells them they are <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-psychology-of-weight-loss/202308/going-on-vacation-wont-cure-your-burnout">responsible for managing stress</a> and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-psychology-of-weight-loss/202306/the-burnout-burger">risk in a “healthy” way</a>.</p>
<p>In terms of workplace health, women and equity-deserving groups have been compared to the “canary in the mine.” Canaries were traditionally used in coal mines to detect the presence of carbon monoxide. The bird would succumb to the toxicity before the miners, thereby providing time to take action. </p>
<p>However, psychologists Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674251014">make an important point</a>: No one ever declared that the canaries needed to be more resilient or do more self-care to be less susceptible to the influence of carbon monoxide.</p>
<p>Women make up over half of the population, yet continue to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.neuron.2021.06.002">under-represented in the workplace in several ways</a>, including <a href="https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/women-and-leadership-in-canada/#:%7E:text=Women%20are%2030%25%20less%20likely,%2C%20report%20finds%2C%202017">leadership and positions of influence</a>. </p>
<h2>Creating heart-healthy workplaces</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman at a desk looking at a tablet" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578730/original/file-20240228-24-sbksv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578730/original/file-20240228-24-sbksv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578730/original/file-20240228-24-sbksv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578730/original/file-20240228-24-sbksv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578730/original/file-20240228-24-sbksv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578730/original/file-20240228-24-sbksv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578730/original/file-20240228-24-sbksv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hybrid work models can increase productivity and workers’ locus of control and support flexible hours.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Workplaces can have a positive impact on women’s health by ensuring knowledge about women and heart disease is translated into actions that support prevention and treatment. Here are seven evidence-based recommendations for co-creating heart-healthy workplaces:</p>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>Flexible hours</strong>: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716211415608">Inflexible work schedules</a> have been shown to increase stress for <a href="https://workplaceinsight.net/working-mothers-disproportionately-more-stressed-study-claims/">women and families</a> — including stressors transmitted to children. Effective “flex hours” initiatives (for example, flex hours to support physical activity) show <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2023/workplace-flexibility-may-support-cardiovascular-health">positive impact on workers’ heart health</a>, physical activity and sleep patterns, especially in adults ages 45 and older and for those who had increased cardiovascular disease risks.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Flexible hybrid work models</strong>: Evidence on hybrid work models has grown exponentially since March 2020. It appears that when using a non-fixed, worker-led approach, hybrid work models can <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/increasing-workplace-flexibility-associated-with-lower-risk-of-cardiovascular-disease/">increase productivity, workers’ locus of control and support flexible hours</a>. Research supports that women are more likely to use this option, when offered, but also highlights that when employers fail to monitor impact, or properly design jobs for hybrid and remote working, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/25/hybrid-working-may-hold-back-womens-careers-say-managers">hybrid work models can augment gender pay and promotion gaps</a>. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Invest in psychological safety</strong>: A <a href="https://theconversation.com/fostering-psychological-safety-in-the-workplace-4-practical-real-life-tips-based-on-science-204661">psychologically safe workplace</a> is where employees feel comfortable taking risks and being themselves without fear of judgement, lateral violence (for example stonewalling, bullying) or negative consequences. Psychological safety is positively associated with workplace engagement, innovation, job performance and job satisfaction — all desirable outcomes for institutions, organizations, the bottom line, clients and the community. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Offer health benefits</strong>: Mandatory benefits, also known as statutory benefits, are <a href="https://novascotia.ca/lae/employmentrights/docs/labourstandardscodeguide.pdf">required by Canadian employment law</a>. They include provincial health-care coverage, pension contributions, employment insurance, survivor insurance and workers’ compensation insurance. <a href="https://velocityglobal.com/resources/blog/employee-benefits-in-canada">Supplementary benefits</a> help attract and retain workers. Examples include dental care, medication insurance, disability insurance and many complementary medicine services. These <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF03403639">supplementary benefits</a> have been associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.33020">improved health outcomes</a>, and <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/universal-health-coverage-(uhc)">reduced chronic disease risk</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Invest in programs supporting health promotion</strong>: In addition to the examples above, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/initiatives/resource-center/pdf/WHRC-Workplace-Best-Practices-for-Heart-Healthy-Employees-508.pdf">workplaces can invest</a> in programming that supports health-promoting behaviours in and out of work. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/jom.0000000000000467">Such programming</a> has been associated with workplace satisfaction, productivity and favourable health-related outcomes. Additional examples of health promotion include health risk appraisals, lunch and learns, flexible and inclusive leave options, and time off for leisure activities, spiritual practices, volunteering or community engagement. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Engage in collective conflict resolution strategies</strong>: Evidence supports that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470432/">collaborative conflict resolution</a> approaches, like mediation, can provide a positive learning opportunity for those involved. This encourages workers to find a solution together, <a href="https://demlegaleagle.com/blog/2020/12/3-ways-workplace-mediation-may-beat-discipline/">rather than via formal disciplinary action</a>, where the root causes of conflict often go unaddressed.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Commit to policy, procedure and protocols that combat ‘isms’</strong>: Ibram X. Kendi’s book, <a href="https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist"><em>How To Be An Antiracist</em></a>, provides rationale and examples for how to ensure policy and procedures are anti-racist. Adopting this approach requires a significant, but worthwhile investment, learning and unlearning, but gains can be made through small changes. Workplaces can also adopt policies that combat other forms of discrimination, including ageism and sexism. For instance, several employers have started to <a href="https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/stay-at-home-mom-resume">encourage applicants</a> to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2023/02/24/how-stay-at-home-parents-returning-to-work-can-overcome-common-barriers/?sh=f500d7f2c091">report “stay at home mom” as part of their work experience</a>, and the several transferable skills this experience offers.</p></li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A yellow canary perched on a branch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578731/original/file-20240228-18-alxd70.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578731/original/file-20240228-18-alxd70.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578731/original/file-20240228-18-alxd70.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578731/original/file-20240228-18-alxd70.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578731/original/file-20240228-18-alxd70.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578731/original/file-20240228-18-alxd70.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578731/original/file-20240228-18-alxd70.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Integrating health and safety strategies is a better option for workers than waiting until the ‘canary’ expires.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather than waiting until the canary in the workplace coal mine expires, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/jom.0000000000000467">evidence shows</a> there are options available to integrate health and safety strategies that achieve measurable benefits to enhance the overall health and well-being of workers, their families and the community. </p>
<p>In acknowledging that factors like the built environment, social and health systems, and outdated policies are the problems needing to be addressed — rather than people, including women, those living with disability, and equity-deserving groups — we take a step towards healthier, safer and more accessible workplaces.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223080/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannan M. Grant has received funding from Diabetes Canada, Dietitians of Canada and currently holds funding from Medavie, Tri-Council Funding Programs, Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research, IWK Health, Mount Saint Vincent University. She is affiliated with Mount Saint Vincent University, IWK Health, Dalhousie University, Dietitians of Canada, Diabetes Canada, People in Pain (PIPN), and Dr. Lee-Baggley and Associates.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dayna Lee-Baggley dislosures: Consulting fees from: Bausch Health, Novo Nordisk; Clinical advisory committee: Tobacco Free Nova Scotia; Royalties: New Harbinger Publications; Funded by: Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Fund, Employment and Social Development Canada, Government of Canada; Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research, Research Grants; Owner or co-owner: Dr. Lee-Baggley and Associates Inc and ImpACT Workplace Solutions Inc.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacquie Gahagan receives funding from SSHRC and CIHR.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barb Hamilton-Hinch, Jessica Mannette, and Leigh-Ann MacFarlane do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Acknowledging that factors like the built environment, social and health systems, and outdated policies are the problems — rather than people — is a step towards healthier and safer workplaces.Shannan M. Grant, Associate Professor, Registered Dietitian, Department of Applied Human Nutrition, Faculty of Professional Studies, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityBarb Hamilton-Hinch, Associate Professor, School of Health and Human Performance, and Assistant Vice Provost of Equity and Inclusion, Dalhousie UniversityDayna Lee-Baggley, Adjunct professor, Department of Family Medicine & Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie UniversityJacquie Gahagan, Full Professor and Associate Vice-President, Research, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityJessica Mannette, Research Assistant, Department of Psychology, Saint Mary’s UniversityLeigh-Ann MacFarlane, Educational Developer, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2241392024-02-28T02:58:50Z2024-02-28T02:58:50ZWhat is the role of the mother? At the heart of Anatomy of a Fall is a critique of anti-feminist backlash<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577765/original/file-20240225-30-2le1ib.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C6%2C4492%2C2526&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madman Entertainment</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Justine Triet’s French legal drama Anatomy of a Fall, novelist Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller) is on trial for murdering her husband, Samuel (Samuel Theis), after he falls to his death from the attic of their Grenoble home. </p>
<p>During an early interview with her lawyer Vincent (Swann Arlaud), Sandra holds up her hand abruptly and utters “stop”. She’s a successful writer, used to being in control of the story – and she’s stopping this one before it goes any further. </p>
<p>Sandra’s hand hovers in front of Vincent, and it shakes with emotion. “I did not kill him,” she asserts. “That’s not the point,” her lawyer replies.</p>
<p>Vincent’s suggestion that the truth of Samuel’s death is unimportant is a tragic forecast. As Anatomy of a Fall unfolds and Sandra is scrutinised in court, Triet channels a forensic evisceration of the patriarchy against the backdrop of the French legal system to explore anti-feminist backlash and the rising tensions around gender parity in the modern family.</p>
<h2>Finding the story underneath</h2>
<p>Sandra is a strikingly unique character. As her trial progresses, Sandra’s grief is overlooked as Vincent and the court probe her personal life. Often, when she is pressed on her relationship, Sandra loudly clears the phlegm from her throat to mask rising emotion. </p>
<p>Rushed into her defence and not able to grieve, Sandra struggles with her emotions, concealing them whenever possible. When comforting her bedridden son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner), she appeals to his sense of reason instead of emotion – despite speaking with a wavering voice. When nothing elicits a reaction, she shrugs and allows his godmother Monica (Sophie Fillières) to take her place. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fTrsp5BMloA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Sandra is unabashed about prioritising her ambition alongside domestic labour and family responsibilities. She also places her own emotional wellbeing first. During the year her son is recovering from an accident which leaves him partially blind, she is revealed to have had several affairs with women in order to stay afloat emotionally. Speaking about these infidelities in court, Sandra is matter-of-fact, unremorseful about hurting her husband to protect herself. </p>
<p>Hüller plays Sandra with a naturalism aided by minimal makeup and simple costuming. Triet developed the script for the actress, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q1jCRW80pZI">and calls Hüller</a> “honest” and her portrayal of Sandra “ungraspable”. This slipperiness – in portrayal and characterisation – shows Sandra as a dynamic, flawed creature. Triet showcases this nuanced portrayal via strategically shallow lensing and the occasional close up when framing Hüller, foregrounding the drama of her micro-expressions. </p>
<p>In one scene, blood rushes up Sandra’s neck and face during an argument with Samuel. He insists he performs the majority of their domestic labour and can’t focus on his writing. Her expression ripples, muscles in her neck contorting. She labels him a victim of his own making, before striking him on the face. </p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-women-want-freuds-infamous-question-invites-voyeurism-but-examining-what-they-do-is-far-more-revealing-199202">What do women want? Freud's infamous question invites voyeurism – but examining what they do is far more revealing</a>
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</em>
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<h2>A woman’s place</h2>
<p>Anatomy of a Fall begins with Samuel being found dead by Daniel. Police retrieve damning audio of an argument between the couple from Samuel’s computer, and Sandra is arrested for murder. </p>
<p>Placed on trial opposite a formidable state prosecutor, played by Antoine Reinartz, Sandra’s initial suggestion that Samuel died by suicide is dismissed. The prosecutor attempts to discredit Sandra as a selfish and unfeeling partner who cuckolded her husband and stole his ideas for her novel. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577766/original/file-20240225-19-jz360q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Film still: a courtroom" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577766/original/file-20240225-19-jz360q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577766/original/file-20240225-19-jz360q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577766/original/file-20240225-19-jz360q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577766/original/file-20240225-19-jz360q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577766/original/file-20240225-19-jz360q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577766/original/file-20240225-19-jz360q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577766/original/file-20240225-19-jz360q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=408&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 trial begins with a thorough probing of Sandra’s sexual orientation and maternal instinct in order to isolate her.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madman Entertainment</span></span>
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<p>The trial begins with a thorough examination of Sandra’s sexual orientation and maternal instinct in order to isolate her. The prosecutor signals doubt over Daniel’s testimony, attempting to separate Sandra from her only ally. </p>
<p>Despite its firm feminist history, <a href="https://www.haut-conseil-egalite.gouv.fr/stereotypes-et-roles-sociaux/travaux-du-hce/article/rapport-2023-sur-l-etat-du-sexisme-en-france-le-sexisme-perdure-et-ses">sexism is on the rise</a> in France. Triet explores this issue through the sustained attacks male characters direct at Sandra’s nontraditional lifestyle choices. The state prosecutor, defending his right to speak for Samuel’s absent voice, reiterates Samuel’s accusations surrounding Sandra’s success that verge into gaslighting.</p>
<p>The case reaches its crescendo via the audio recording of the fight, in which a tearful Samuel demands Sandra take more domestic responsibility to give him time to write. Stoic, she refuses. </p>
<p>The prosecutor frames Sandra as a time-greedy novelist with disdain for her family obligations. But Triet suggests another perspective: Sandra is a woman who has been dragged from her beloved London by the man she loves and stuck in an isolated house in a country where she doesn’t speak the language. She helps to take care of her son, and enjoys her work because she’s good at it and it makes her happy. Why should she give it up?</p>
<h2>The gendered lens of domestic labour</h2>
<p>Triet flips the traditional roles in Anatomy of a Fall. Samuel is the homemaker while Sandra performs traditionally masculine roles as the more confident, career-focused family member. </p>
<p>Through the inversion of these roles, Triet explores the persistence of patriarchal attitudes to women in the labour market. The director critiques the traditional notion of a woman’s place as being in the home via Sandra’s disinterest in playing the self-sacrificial role of homemaker Samuel seems desperate for her to take. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577768/original/file-20240225-19-az4jk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Film still: a woman lies on a bed with a dog." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577768/original/file-20240225-19-az4jk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577768/original/file-20240225-19-az4jk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577768/original/file-20240225-19-az4jk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577768/original/file-20240225-19-az4jk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577768/original/file-20240225-19-az4jk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577768/original/file-20240225-19-az4jk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577768/original/file-20240225-19-az4jk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=408&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">Hüller plays Sandra with naturalism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madman Entertainment</span></span>
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<p>While one might initially see Sandra as an overworked mother in a co-parenting relationship with the usual financial and time management problems, she is slowly revealed as the less skillful parent: Samuel is more suited to homeschooling, comforting and supporting their son, no matter the extenuating circumstances. His distaste at this role reveals the incongruity of insisting Sandra take his place.</p>
<p>Especially in the post-COVID era, where so many now work from home, Triet’s reversal of the familiarly gendered lens of domestic labour forms a timely critique. When viewed from this perspective Sandra’s earlier “stop” hand signal feels less like a threat than a plea for clemency. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-anatomy-of-a-fall-reversed-french-art-cinemas-box-office-decline-220872">How Anatomy of a Fall reversed French art cinema’s box office decline</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224139/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blythe Worthy 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>Director Justine Triet channels a forensic evisceration of the patriarchy against the backdrop of the French legal system.Blythe Worthy, PhD Candidate, The University of Sydney, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222312024-02-01T17:20:55Z2024-02-01T17:20:55ZIrish referendum: how the Catholic church shaped Ireland’s constitution to define the status of women<p>It has been 87 years since feminist and activist Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09612029700200154">declared</a> that the new 1937 Irish constitution was based on a “fascist model, in which women would be relegated to permanent inferiority”. </p>
<p>Several clauses were labelled “sinister and retrogressive” by women’s groups who feared gender bias embedded within the constitution would restrict Irish women to their domestic roles as wives and mothers.</p>
<p>Since the constitution entered into force, it has been amended 32 times. The ban on abortion, for example, was overturned in 2018 – a move that the current Irish Taoiseach (prime minister), <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44265492">Leo Varadkar</a>, described as the latest step in a “quiet revolution” towards modernity.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/according-to-irelands-constitution-a-womans-duties-are-in-the-home-but-a-referendum-could-be-about-to-change-its-sexist-wording-222477">According to Ireland’s constitution, a woman's duties are in the home – but a referendum could be about to change its sexist wording</a>
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<p>On March 8 2024 (also International Women’s Day), the Irish electorate will vote once again to amend the constitution and formally change the status of women in Ireland. This time the choice is to either retain Article 41.2 – the “woman in the home” clause – or to replace it with Article 42B that acknowledges the wider concept of family care. </p>
<p>According to Article 42B, the state “recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and shall strive to support such provison”.</p>
<p>The fact that it has taken 87 years for this to happen would have astounded the women who raised the alarm about Article 41.2 in 1937. Their overarching concern was that the text used reflected a prescriptive presumption that the primary function of women in Irish society was that of wife and mother. </p>
<p>Article 41.2 states that: “by her life within the home, woman gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved”. It also asserts that mothers “shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home”.</p>
<p>What women’s groups quickly recognised in 1937 was the inherent danger of assigning women a specific “social function” that was different from men. This perceived difference had already been used to limit the choices of women prior to 1937. The <a href="https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0219/1116230-ireland-women-juries/">1927 Juries Act</a>, for example, made women exempt from automatic consideration for jury service. </p>
<p>Article 41.2 therefore had the potential to further restrict women’s lives, especially with regards to the right to engage in paid work outside the home. But where did the phrasing for Article 41.2 come from? And what ideology underpinned the assertion that the “natural” role for women was that of wife and mother? </p>
<h2>The ‘natural’ social function of Irish women</h2>
<p>The answer is simple. The text of Article 41.2 comes directly, nearly word for word, from Catholic doctrine. </p>
<p>Pope Leo XIII set out the “natural” duty of women in <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html">Rerum Novarum</a>, a pastoral letter issued in 1891. It stated: “woman is by her nature fitted for home work and it is this which is best adapted to preserve her modesty and promote the good upbringing of children and the wellbeing of the family.” </p>
<p>In 1931, another papal letter, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19310515_quadragesimo-anno.html">Quadregesimo Anno</a>, was published by Pope Pius XI. The pope proclaimed that: “Mothers, concentrating on household duties, should work primarily in the home or in its immediate vicinity.”</p>
<p>Six years later, in 1937, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera oversaw the drafting of the new Irish constitution. The influence of his Catholic advisors is self-evident. </p>
<p>In the archives of the Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, a document reflecting on the position of women in the constitution stated that: “it is an unreality to imagine that the position of an electoral vote abolishes for either men or women…diversity of social function. Nothing will change in law and fact of nature that woman’s natural sphere is in the home.” </p>
<p>Another pope, Benedict XV, was cited in the same document giving the opinion that no “new state of things, nor course of events can ever snatch woman, if she realises her mission, from that sphere which is natural to her – the family”.</p>
<h2>Finish the ’quiet revolution’</h2>
<p>We shouldn’t be surprised that the vernacular of Catholic social teaching, with its pronouncements on the “natural” and prescribed social function of women as wives and mothers, became entrenched in the Irish constitution. The influence of the Catholic church was omnipresent in Irish homes, schools, the media and every aspect of public life throughout the 1920s and 1930s. </p>
<p>Its power was evident in the passing of legislation outlawing divorce, access to birth control and abortion. It infiltrated all aspects of social and cultural life, banning dances or censoring Hollywood films and literature deemed to be a moral danger.</p>
<p>What we should be surprised about is that Article 41.2 is still in the Irish constitution. Today, Ireland is a secular nation. Its citizens now have access to divorce, birth control, legal abortion and equal marriage rights. </p>
<p>Ireland is also a nation slowly, and painfully, coming to terms with the trauma inflicted by the abuses of the Catholic church in schools, mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries. And yet it still has Article 41.2. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-woman-in-the-wall-bbc-drama-about-irelands-magdalene-laundries-is-essential-viewing-212061">The Woman in the Wall: BBC drama about Ireland's Magdalene Laundries is essential viewing</a>
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<p>If Ireland is to fully shake off the shackles of its Catholic past and achieve its ambition to be a modern and progressive nation, then Article 41.2 must be consigned to the annals of history on March 8 2024.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caitriona Beaumont receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
She is a Visiting Full Professor at University College Dublin, Ireland (2023-2025).</span></em></p>Ireland is to vote on modernising its conservative Catholic constitution in March.Caitriona Beaumont, Professor of Social History, London South Bank UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2194772023-12-19T23:20:05Z2023-12-19T23:20:05ZSame-sex couples divide household chores more fairly – here’s what they told us works best<p>Who does which household chores – or who does the most – is a perennial source of tension for many couples. From cleaning the toilet to taking out the trash, it’s sometimes the little things that can cause the biggest trouble.</p>
<p>Not without reason, either. Research shows women still do the bulk of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/yet-again-the-census-shows-women-are-doing-more-housework-now-is-the-time-to-invest-in-interventions-185488">housework and caregiving</a> in most heterosexual couples. And this unequal labour can lead to <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-juggle-is-real-parents-want-greater-flexibility-in-return-to-office-20220325-p5a820.html">burnout, health problems and financial stress</a>. </p>
<p>We also know same-sex couples often have a far <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-give-mum-chocolates-for-mothers-day-take-on-more-housework-share-the-mental-load-and-advocate-for-equality-instead-182330">more equitable division of labour</a> than heterosexual couples. But it’s not clear how same-sex couples manage to achieve this fairer split of household chores. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/27703371.2023.2285276">recent research</a> aimed to shed some light on this. We surveyed same-sex couples in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, and identified three key factors that enabled them to share the chores in ways they both feel is fair. </p>
<p>The couples in our study focused on achieving a sense of fairness and equality over time, rather than a strict 50-50 split. They all had different patterns of dividing tasks. However, they shared some common strategies that offer valuable lessons for any couple, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. </p>
<h2>1. Keep changing things up</h2>
<p>We know that when couples negotiate roles based on their individual availability and what they like doing – or what they least despise – it contributes to a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2378023120924805">sense of fairness and satisfaction</a>. </p>
<p>Same-sex couples we interviewed embraced flexibility when it comes to dividing housework. They negotiated chores based on their specific needs, preferences and availability. Flexibility is key – if the person who usually takes the children to swimming lessons has a lot on at work, the other partner would step in.</p>
<p>Beyond the day-to-day, same-sex couples often play the long game, balancing unpaid labour with each other’s career progression. Some couples in our study planned their working and family lives so both partners could progress at work by taking turns as the main caregiver when their children were born. </p>
<p>Others recognised that task specialisation – such as one person always doing the taxes, and the other always cooking – could lead to dependence and rigidity. So they consciously practised task sharing to avoid this. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-last-nights-fight-affects-the-way-couples-divide-housework-92582">How last night's fight affects the way couples divide housework</a>
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<h2>2. Communicate</h2>
<p>Couples who engage in honest conversations about their labour responsibilities <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0959353510375869">tend to view</a> their household division as fair. On the flip side, negative communication – aggression, avoidance or criticism – <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-023-01422-5">fosters a sense of unfairness</a>. </p>
<p>In our research, effective and open communication was key to achieving an equitable division of unpaid labour. But these conversations weren’t always easy. </p>
<p>Couples who felt guilty about not doing enough around the house, or frustration with their partner for not pulling their weight, found simple conversations could become emotionally intense. </p>
<hr>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yet-again-the-census-shows-women-are-doing-more-housework-now-is-the-time-to-invest-in-interventions-185488">Yet again, the census shows women are doing more housework. Now is the time to invest in interventions</a>
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<p>We all have different standards of cleanliness, gender socialisation and family background that shape how we approach housework. And this can also make it difficult to understand a partner’s perspective or expectations.</p>
<p>Couples in our survey navigated disagreements through candid conversations, transforming conflict into opportunities for greater mutual understanding and agreement. </p>
<p>It’s not just about talking, but also about regular “check-ins” to see how each person is feeling about the labour load, and renegotiating things when household circumstances or feelings change. </p>
<h2>3. Remember unpaid labour is valuable</h2>
<p>Housework is often devalued when compared with paid work. Previous research has shown how undervaluing housework <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-022-01282-5">diminishes the quality</a> of relationships. </p>
<p>Same-sex couples in our research sought to revalue unpaid labour by assigning it equal worth to paid labour. As one person said: </p>
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<p>The domestic tasks, we might not enjoy them, but we both value them equally. We both think they are important. </p>
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<p>Some couples actively acknowledged and appreciated difficult and time-consuming tasks, such as their partner cleaning the bathroom. Participants also found value in unpaid labour beyond the chores themselves, viewing them as acts of love, and found joy in small tasks. </p>
<p>One couple even turned household chores into a game, writing tasks on slips of paper and randomly selecting them from a bag – including enjoyable activities like walks or coffee breaks as rewards. </p>
<p>This not only lightens the mood but is also a strategy for involving children with less fuss.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-married-mothers-end-up-doing-more-housework-when-they-start-out-earning-their-husbands-183256">Why married mothers end up doing more housework when they start out-earning their husbands</a>
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<h2>4. Do a stocktake of the unpaid load</h2>
<p>We often fall into patterns of domestic labour without realising it. In our study, we found completing simple time-use surveys and discussing them can illuminate disparities in responsibilities. </p>
<p>Why not try it yourself? List down the household tasks done last week, including physical chores (like shopping or cleaning), emotional tasks (caring for children or pets), and mental tasks (planning meals, managing finances). </p>
<p>Estimate the time both you and your partner spent on each task. Then, have a heart-to-heart about who is doing what, how you both feel about it, and how it can be fairer.</p>
<h2>Lessons for all couples</h2>
<p>Adapting these strategies in heterosexual relationships isn’t easy. Deep-seated gender norms and societal expectations about the feminine “homemaker” and masculine “breadwinner” can be tough to shake. </p>
<p>And same-sex couples are <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/09/same-sex-married-people-more-likely-than-opposite-sex-counterparts-to-be-in-labor-force.html">more likely to both be working part-time</a> rather than having one partner at home and one working. </p>
<p>But that’s the challenge – to redefine and negotiate labour in a way that works for your unique relationship. Start by tossing out the old gender scripts about who should do what. Next, open a dialogue about chores. </p>
<p>Flexibility, communication and revaluing unpaid labour are strategies available to everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219477/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 organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Who does what chore can be a major source of tension in many households. Our survey of same-sex couples and their routines revealed four key strategies that can help lighten the load for everyone.Alice Beban, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Massey UniversityGlenda Roberts, Postgraduate Researcher/Project Manager, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2181672023-11-23T17:24:26Z2023-11-23T17:24:26ZWhy the man-hating feminist is a myth – according to science<p>As part of the “Women Against Feminism” campaign that launched in 2014, social media posts have <a href="https://time.com/3028827/women-against-feminism-gets-it-right/">featured</a> young women holding placards with the message “I don’t need feminism because…” listing various reasons ranging from “I respect men” to “I am not a MAN-HATER”. </p>
<p>This perception of misandry – a hatred of men - is perhaps the most prevalent and enduring stereotype about feminism. By this account, feminism is not really a movement to end sexism and bring about gender equality, but rather it is wholly concerned with dislike of men. </p>
<p>While “Women Against Feminism” was ultimately eclipsed three years later by the #MeToo movement, it reflects a wider reality that stereotypes about feminism have caused women to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224545.2019.1644280">spurn</a> and even publicly denounce the movement. </p>
<p>But is it actually true that feminists tend to dislike men? Not according to our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03616843231202708">recent research</a>.</p>
<h2>A root cause of hatred</h2>
<p>Research evidence shows that awareness of negative tropes of feminists as “man-haters” reduces both women’s willingness to identify as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2007.00348.x">feminists</a> and their support of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224545.2019.1644280">gender equality</a> initiatives. </p>
<p>The idea of the man-hater also animates <a href="https://xyonline.net/sites/xyonline.net/files/2019-12/Marwick%2C%20Drinking%20male%20tears%202018.pdf">hatred of feminism and of women</a> in the manosphere – websites that promote masculinity and misogyny – where it is used to promote opposition to gender equality and to justify acts of violence.</p>
<p>Of course, there are reasons to suspect that at least some feminists might hold negative attitudes toward men. A few even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/10/french-writer-book-pauline-harmange-i-hate-men-interview">advocate misandry</a> as a rational and authentic response to men’s violent, degrading and oppressive treatment of women. </p>
<p>In a way it would make sense for feminists to dislike a group that threatens their welfare and dignity. And we know that negative feelings toward advantaged groups in society can actually be an important driver of protest and other forms of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/abs/beyond-prejudice-are-negative-evaluations-the-problem-and-is-getting-us-to-like-one-another-more-the-solution/F5E01C0515257104E123D5B06D7ED714">collective action</a>. </p>
<p>But feminists, at least those subscribing to mainstream liberal beliefs, often see men and women as relatively similar to each other. And we know that perceived similarity promotes attraction and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(86)90041-7">positive attitudes</a> toward individuals and groups. </p>
<p>Feminists might therefore be expected to have positive attitudes toward men. Such views have been reflected in the words and actions of some prominent feminists.</p>
<p>The writer bell hooks (pen name) <a href="https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745317335/feminism-is-for-everybody/">explicitly called out the suffering of men</a>, particularly men of colour, under misogynistic systems. These sentiments were echoed by Emma Watson <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-your-issue-too">at the UN in 2014</a>. </p>
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<p>Despite its longevity and impact, the misandry stereotype has been subject to little scientific scrutiny. The studies that have been done, like most in psychology, are limited by small samples that are often drawn exclusively from populations of university students from the US. </p>
<p>Previous investigations have also been hampered by the relatively few women who identified (at least openly) as feminists in these samples (as low as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2009.01491.x?casa_token=lkCQjmvHnHAAAAAA:nxml8c6lWc1mtTgJNGnmZ4eQhepiNwALk1weILgS-Hu8FyEEI3OLemerZkXieD4ZUHV7x-FrkLi1">17%</a>). </p>
<p>More recent polling data in the US <a href="https://www.kff.org/other/poll-finding/washington-post-kaiser-family-foundation-feminism-survey/">show that</a> 60% of women and 33% of men consider themselves as “feminist” or “strong feminist”. In the UK, 67% of 18-24 year-olds <a href="https://www.youngwomenstrust.org/our-research/young-womens-feminism-and-activism-2019/">identify as feminist</a>.</p>
<p>What’s more, the measures of attitudes toward men often conflate the overall positivity and negativity with stereotypes and ideological beliefs. For example, researchers may use statements such as “Men act like babies when they are sick,” to measure hostile attitudes to men. </p>
<p>The problem here is that research participants might agree with this statement even if they are very fond of men. They may just endorse specific social stereotypes about how men (over)react to illness. </p>
<h2>Digging deeper</h2>
<p>In our research, we recruited 9,799 participants across the US, China, South Korea, India, Japan, Taiwan, the UK and Poland. </p>
<p>We included various measurements of attitudes to men, and feminism itself - including the extent to which someone identified as feminist, their specific beliefs and their participation or support for feminist social action.</p>
<p>We generally included a way for participants to indicate whether they had positive or negative attitudes in absolute rather than just relative terms. For example, we often included “feeling thermometers” in which participants rated how they felt about men on a sliding scale, ranging from 0 (“very cold”) to 100 (“very warm”), with 50 being neutral (“neither cold nor warm”).</p>
<p>We found that feminists overall had positive attitudes toward men, scoring well above the scale mid-point on feelings of warmth, liking and trust. Feminists and non-feminists barely differed in their attitudes. These patterns were largely consistent across nine countries in three continents. </p>
<p>Similarly, participation in feminist action was associated with anger about the mistreatment of women, but not with negative attitudes toward men. Feminists’ attitudes toward men were in fact about as positive as men’s attitudes toward men.</p>
<p>In some countries, we asked people to tell us how positively or negatively they thought “feminists” felt toward men. This allowed a direct comparison of what feminists actually think and what people think they think - a true test of the accuracy of the misandry stereotype. People incorrectly stereotyped feminists as having more negative attitudes toward men than feminists actually reported.</p>
<p>On average, participants believed that feminists’ attitudes to men were negative in absolute terms. Feminist participants were not quite as wrong about the attitudes of fellow feminists, but still massively underestimated their peers’ warm feelings towards men. Importantly, this finding was replicated with a nationally representative sample of adults in the UK (a gold standard in research into social attitudes).</p>
<h2>Origins of the stereotype</h2>
<p>If the stereotype that feminists hate men is unfounded, where does it come from? Our results suggested two possible reasons. First, believing that feminists hate men is a convenient way to dismiss what they have to say. </p>
<p>This possibility was backed up by the fact that participants who scored highly on a measure of hostile sexism, viewing women as trying to usurp men’s power, were most prone to seeing feminists as man-haters.</p>
<p>Second, even pro-feminist participants made an important mistake. They thought that feminists see men and women as largely dissimilar to each other. In fact, feminist participants tended to see men and women as largely alike. </p>
<p>This makes sense given that women have historically been discriminated against on the basis of fictional gender differences, such as not being “rational” enough for certain jobs. </p>
<p>Ultimately, we hope that by showing that feminism is not synonymous with man-hating, we can contribute to a more informed and accurate discussion about gender relations. </p>
<p>After all, people should be making judgements based on fact, rather than fiction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218167/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 organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Feminists are about as man-hating as men are.Aífe Hopkins-Doyle, Lecturer in Social Psychology, University of SurreyAino Lilja Petterson, Postdoctoral Fellow of Psychology, University of OsloRobbie Sutton, Professor of Social Psychology, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171352023-11-20T17:32:11Z2023-11-20T17:32:11ZWomen still face unfair pressure about having children – here’s what to expect if you don’t have kids when you’re young<p>If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s, particularly if you’re in a long-term relationship, you’ve probably been asked when you’re going to have children. In the UK and many other countries, there is a clear societal expectation that women will eventually become mothers. </p>
<p>Many people feel pressured to <a href="https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/40911-does-society-pressure-men-and-women-have-children">have children</a> by their own parents, who look forward to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/75/10/2250/5601159">having grandchildren</a>. Parenthood as the default life trajectory is evident in films and television, and even in public health recommendations. </p>
<p>A draft report from the World Health Organisation in 2021 caused an uproar when it suggested that all women of child-bearing age should avoid alcohol in case of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/who-alcohol-women-pregnancy-report-b1867960.html">becoming pregnant</a>. </p>
<p>These assumptions and pressures become more intense depending on age and timing. In England and Wales, <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/birthcharacteristicsinenglandandwales/2021">in 2021</a>, the average age was 30.9 years for women and 33.7 years for men to become parents. </p>
<p>Compare this with the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/birthcharacteristicsinenglandandwales/2017#:%7E:text=The%20average%20age%20of%20first,or%20subsequent%20births%20in%202017">2017 figures</a> of 28.8 years for women and 33.4 years for men. While age for all parents is increasing, it is now markedly higher for women to become mothers. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/should-i-have-children-148388?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=InArticleTop&utm_campaign=Parenting2023">Should I have children?</a> The pieces in this series will help you answer this tough question – exploring fertility, climate change, the cost of living and social pressure.</em></p>
<p><em>We’ll keep the discussion going at a live event in London on November 30. <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-conversation-should-i-have-children/london-tottenham-court-road">Click here</a> for more information and tickets.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Women becoming mothers at an older age translates into other social expectations. Mothers are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2012.678073">portrayed as selfish</a> for “choosing” older motherhood and supposedly risking the health of the baby due to increasing maternal age. </p>
<p>However, the evidence shows that delaying motherhood isn’t as simple as that. Women become mothers in their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353516639615">mid-30s</a> for a myriad of reasons, including establishing careers, not being in a suitable partnership or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13698575.2013.827633">not feeling ready</a>.</p>
<p>And, while rates of teenage pregnancy have <a href="https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/teenage-pregnancy">declined</a> in recent years, there is still a stigma associated with having a baby “too young”. This stigma is exacerbated if the mother is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14680770701824779">working class</a>.</p>
<h2>The gender parenting gap</h2>
<p>As we can see from the ONS figures, men are older when they have their first children. Men can continue to father children at a later age than women typically can get pregnant, but they arguably do not face the same social or time pressure as women to have children.</p>
<p>This gender gap continues into parenthood. If you pick up a parenting book, you’ll probably notice that the text is written primarily for mothers. Even when there is a move to a gender equal “parent”, much of the text still <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926506063126">refers to mothers</a> instead of fathers as the one predominantly responsible for caregiving. Meanwhile, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926500011002006">fathers</a> are seen as more part-time, bumbling assistants or “babysitters”.</p>
<p>Parenting is hard work, time-consuming and expensive, and many countries’ working cultures are not set up to support parents. It is often the mothers who scale down their paid working hours to pick up more of the childcare <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48656859">when the baby arrives</a>. </p>
<p>As I’ve found in <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781137581563">my research</a>, media about stay-at-home fathers depicts them as being forced into the role through economic pressure. This is a contrast to what these primary caregiving fathers have told me themselves, which is that they see parenting as an equal partnership. </p>
<p>There has been some progress in families towards equal parenting (including in gay and lesbian <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-070220-122704">partnerships</a>). But the idea of mothers as the primary caregivers persists, and means that women in their 20s and 30s still face undue pressure about whether (and when) to try for children.</p>
<h2>Choosing to be childfree</h2>
<p>Women and men should be able to choose their own path as to whether to become a parent or not. Obviously, ignoring social pressure is easier said that done. </p>
<p>There is some evidence that millennial and generation Z women are more commonly embracing being <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230208-the-adults-celebrating-child-free-lives">“childfree by choice”</a>. As the ONS figures show, half of all women do not have a child by <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/conceptionandfertilityrates/bulletins/childbearingforwomenbornindifferentyearsenglandandwales/2020">age 30</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young couple smiles and embraces each other while holding a small dachshund dog." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559723/original/file-20231115-23-u0rfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559723/original/file-20231115-23-u0rfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559723/original/file-20231115-23-u0rfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559723/original/file-20231115-23-u0rfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559723/original/file-20231115-23-u0rfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559723/original/file-20231115-23-u0rfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559723/original/file-20231115-23-u0rfii.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">Being childfree by choice is becoming more visible and celebrated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-black-millennial-couple-hugging-standing-1354297076">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, this comes with its own social implications. As research by Rebecca Harrington <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15240657.2019.1559515">notes</a>, women who decide to remain childfree are often stigmatised. They are seen to be going against the socially accepted “nurturing female” and the expectation that girls grow up to become mothers. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02646839908404595">identity shifts</a> that happen when women become mothers can impact friendships, especially between parents and non-parents. Maintaining relationships with others can be difficult while managing the the demands of caring for a young infant. For the friend without children, the arrival of a baby is not <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/adult-friendships-vs-kids.html">without its challenges</a>.</p>
<p>For all its ills, social media is helping change the conversation. The option to be childfree is becoming more visible and even celebrated through campaigns such as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/wearechildfree_/">We Are Childfree</a>. Seeing online communities of like-minded people with similar life trajectories can show you that becoming a parent isn’t the only option, and reassure you that you are not alone in whatever path you choose.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217135/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abigail Locke 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 pressure to parent looks different for women and men.Abigail Locke, Professor of Critical Social and Health Psychology, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2143472023-11-17T13:29:56Z2023-11-17T13:29:56ZForget ‘Man the Hunter’ – physiological and archaeological evidence rewrites assumptions about a gendered division of labor in prehistoric times<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560041/original/file-20231116-21-sqjk8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=544%2C53%2C4368%2C2812&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In small-group, subsistence living, it makes sense for everyone to do lots of jobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/tribe-of-hunter-gatherers-wearing-animal-skin-live-royalty-free-image/1194512903">gorodenkoff/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prehistoric men hunted; prehistoric women gathered. At least this is the standard narrative written by and about men to the exclusion of women.</p>
<p>The idea of “Man the Hunter” runs deep within anthropology, convincing people that hunting made us human, only men did the hunting, and therefore evolutionary forces must only have acted upon men. Such depictions are found not only in media, <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-of-human-evolution">but in museums</a> and introductory anthropology textbooks, too. </p>
<p>A common argument is that a sexual division of labor and unequal division of power exists today; therefore, it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/0591-2385.00226">must have existed in our evolutionary past</a> as well. But this is a just-so story without sufficient evidentiary support, despite its pervasiveness in disciplines like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2013.804899">evolutionary psychology</a>.</p>
<p>There is a growing body of physiological, anatomical, ethnographic and archaeological evidence to suggest that <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-theory-that-men-evolved-to-hunt-and-women-evolved-to-gather-is-wrong1/">not only did women hunt</a> in our evolutionary past, but they may well have been better suited for such an endurance-dependent activity.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YE6ZrpwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">We are both</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=u3iE81oAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">biological anthropologists</a>. Cara specializes in the physiology of humans living in extreme conditions, using her research to reconstruct how our ancestors may have adapted to different climates. Sarah studies Neanderthal and early modern human health, and excavates at their archaeological sites.</p>
<p>It’s not uncommon for scientists like us – who attempt to include the contributions of all individuals, regardless of sex and gender, in reconstructions of our evolutionary past – to be accused of rewriting the past to fulfill a politically correct, woke agenda. The actual evidence speaks for itself, though: Gendered labor roles did not exist in the Paleolithic era, which lasted from 3.3 million years ago until 12,000 years ago. The story is written in human bodies, now and in the past.</p>
<p>We recognize that biological sex can be defined using multiple characteristics, including chromosomes, genitalia and hormones, each of which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23623">exists on a spectrum</a>. Social gender, too, is not a binary category. We use the terms female and male when discussing the physiological and anatomical evidence, as this is what the research literature tends to use.</p>
<h2>Female bodies: Adapted for endurance</h2>
<p>One of the key arguments put forth by “Man the Hunter” proponents is that <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/444294299">females would not have been physically capable</a> of taking part in the long, arduous hunts of our evolutionary past. But a number of female-associated features, which provide an endurance advantage, tell a different story.</p>
<p>All human bodies, regardless of sex, have and need both the hormones <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/estrogen">estrogen</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/testosterone">testosterone</a>. On average, females have more estrogen and males more testosterone, though there is a <a href="https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/tests/testosterone#:%7E:text=Normal%20Results,0.5%20to%202.4%20nmol%2FL">great deal of variation</a> <a href="https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=167&ContentID=estradiol#:%7E:text=30%20to%20400%20pg%2FmL,50%20pg%2FmL%20for%20men">and overlap</a>.</p>
<p>Testosterone often gets all the credit when it comes to athletic success. But estrogen – technically the estrogen receptor – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1086185">is deeply ancient</a>, originating somewhere between 1.2 billion and 600 million years ago. It <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna38268611">predates the existence of sexual reproduction</a> involving egg and sperm. The testosterone receptor originated as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1086185">duplicate of the estrogen receptor</a> and is only about half as old. As such, estrogen, in its many forms and pervasive functions, seems necessary for life among both females and males.</p>
<p>Estrogen influences athletic performance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01651-w">particularly endurance performance</a>. The greater concentrations of estrogen that females tend to have in their bodies likely confer an endurance advantage – an ability to exercise for a longer period of time without becoming exhausted.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="sihoutte of a woman's body with cartoon systems highlighted" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&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 hormone estrogen has multiple effects throughout the body and plays a role in people regardless of sex.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cara Ocobock</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/H00-024">Estrogen signals the body to burn more fat</a> – beneficial during endurance activity for two key reasons. First, fat has more than twice the calories per gram as carbohydrates do. And it takes <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556002">longer to metabolize fats than carbs</a>. So, fat provides more bang for the buck overall, and the slow burn provides sustained energy over longer periods of time, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/apha.12234">can delay fatigue during endurance activities</a> like running.</p>
<p>In addition to their estrogen advantage, females have a greater proportion of <a href="https://blog.nasm.org/fitness/fast-twitch-vs-slow-twitch">type I muscle fibers</a> relative to males.</p>
<p>These are slow oxidative muscle fibers that prefer to metabolize fats. They’re not particularly powerful, but they take awhile to fatigue – unlike the powerful type II fibers that males have more of but that tire rapidly. Doing the same intense exercise, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1152/JAPPL.1998.85.3.1175">females burn 70% more fats</a> than males do, and unsurprisingly, are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00422739">less likely to fatigue</a>. </p>
<p>Estrogen also appears to be important for post-exercise recovery. Intense exercise or heat exposure can be stressful for the body, eliciting an inflammatory response via the release of heat shock proteins. Estrogen limits this response, which would otherwise inhibit recovery. Estrogen also stabilizes cell membranes that might otherwise be damaged or rupture due to the stress of exercise. Thanks to this hormone, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2165/11319760-000000000-00000">females incur less damage during exercise</a> and are therefore capable of faster recovery.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Silhouette of woman running with cartoon systems highlighted" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A variety of physiological differences add up to an advantage for women in endurance activities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cara Ocobock</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Women in the past likely did everything men did</h2>
<p>Forget the Flintstones’ nuclear family with a stay-at-home wife. There’s no evidence of this social structure or gendered labor roles during the 2 million years of evolution for the genus <em>Homo</em> until the last 12,000 years, with the advent of agriculture. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal">Our Neanderthal cousins</a>, a group of humans who lived across Western and Central Eurasia approximately 250,000 to 40,000 years ago, formed small, highly-nomadic bands. Fossil evidence shows <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.05.039">females and males experienced the same bony traumas</a> across their bodies – a signature of a hard life hunting deer, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/aurochs">aurochs</a> and wooly mammoths. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1212(199703)7:2%3C133::AID-OA326%3E3.0.CO;2-4">Tooth wear that results from using the front teeth as a third hand</a>, likely in tasks like tanning hides, is equally evident across females and males.</p>
<p>This nongendered picture should not be surprising when you imagine small-group living. Everyone needs to contribute to the tasks necessary for group survival – chiefly, producing food and shelter and raising children. Individual mothers are not solely responsible for their children; in foragers, the <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0001601">whole group contributes to child care</a>.</p>
<p>You might imagine this unified labor strategy then changed in early modern humans, but archaeological and anatomical evidence shows it did not. Upper Paleolithic modern humans leaving Africa and entering Europe and Asia show very few sexed differences <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20950">in trauma and repetitive motion wear</a>. One difference is more evidence of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2016.09.001">“thrower’s elbow” in males than females</a>, though some females shared these pathologies.</p>
<p>And this was also the time when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0435">people were innovating with hunting technologies</a> like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/spear-thrower">atlatls</a>, fishing hooks and nets, and bow and arrows – alleviating some of the wear and tear hunting would take on their bodies. A recent archaeological experiment found that using <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-40451-8">atlatls decreased sex differences</a> in the speed of spears thrown by contemporary men and women.</p>
<p>Even in death, there are no sexed differences in how Neanderthals or modern humans <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199569069.013.0017">buried their dead, or the goods affiliated with their graves</a>. These indicators of differential gendered social status do not arrive until agriculture, with its stratified economic system and monopolizable resources.</p>
<p>All this evidence suggests paleolithic women and men did not occupy differing roles or social realms.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="young women adorned with toucan and macaw feathers holding wooden sticks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.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">Young women from the Awa Indigenous group in Brazil return from a hunt with their bows and arrows.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-a-group-of-young-awa-women-adorned-with-toucan-news-photo/1258052224">Scott Wallace/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Critics might point to recent forager populations and suggest that since they are using subsistence strategies similar to our ancient ancestors, their gendered roles are inherent to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.</p>
<p>However, there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.20046">many flaws in this approach</a>. Foragers are not living fossils, and their social structures and cultural norms have evolved over time and in response to patriarchal agricultural neighbors and colonial administrators. Additionally, ethnographers of the last two centuries brought their sexism with them into the field, and <a href="https://kernsverlag.com/en/book/distorting-the-past/">it biased how they understood forager societies</a>. For instance, a recent reanalysis showed that 79% of cultures described in ethnographic data <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287101">included descriptions of women hunting</a>; however, previous interpretations frequently left them out. </p>
<h2>Time to shake these caveman myths</h2>
<p>The myth that female reproductive capabilities somehow render them incapable of gathering any food products beyond those that cannot run away does more than just underestimate Paleolithic women. It feeds into narratives that the contemporary social roles of women and men are inherent and define our evolution. Our Paleolithic ancestors lived in a world where everyone in the band pulled their own weight, performing multiple tasks. It was not a utopia, but it was not a patriarchy. </p>
<p>Certainly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2018.1433060">accommodations must have been made for group members</a> who were sick, recovering from childbirth or otherwise temporarily incapacitated. But pregnancy, lactation, child-rearing and menstruation are not permanently disabling events, as researchers found among the living Agta of the Philippines who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287829">continue to hunt during these life periods</a>.</p>
<p>Suggesting that the female body is only designed to gather plants ignores female physiology and the archaeological record. To ignore the evidence perpetuates a myth that only serves to bolster existing power structures.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Read more on this topic in <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-theory-that-men-evolved-to-hunt-and-women-evolved-to-gather-is-wrong1/">Scientific American</a></em></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214347/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>Female bodies have an advantage in endurance ability that means Paleolithic women likely hunted game, not just gathered plants. The story is written in living and ancient human bodies.Sarah Lacy, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of DelawareCara Ocobock, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Notre DameLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2150092023-10-25T13:48:57Z2023-10-25T13:48:57ZMen say they are spending more time on household chores, and would like to do more – survey of 17 countries<p>Women perform between <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=7">three and seven times more caregiving tasks</a> than men in the global south. These include household domestic work and largely focus on caring for children. </p>
<p>Hopefully this is changing. The <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf">2023 State of the World’s Fathers Report</a>, themed “Centering Care in a World in Crisis”, explored the experiences and involvement in caregiving among 12,000 men and women, many of whom are parents, across 17 countries. The survey looked at who does the caregiving, how they care, for whom, and what men and women think about care.</p>
<p>I am one of five co-authors of the report, which unveiled a remarkable appreciation for care among respondents. In an online survey they overwhelmingly associated care with positive terms. “Love” was the most frequently mentioned word across all countries. </p>
<p>Other frequently mentioned words included “help”, “protection”, “attention”, “responsibility”, “health”, “kindness” and “family”.</p>
<p>Most of the men involved in the survey said they were doing care work, and they were willing to do more. But many barriers stood in their way, including societal norms and financial constraints. While the findings of the research point to changes, it also found that the pace of change is far too slow. </p>
<h2>Growing pressure for greater equality</h2>
<p>Earlier this year, United Nations member states unanimously designated <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/news/2023/08/member-states-agree-on-international-day-of-care-and-support-a-milestone-for-gender-equality-and-sustainable-societies#:%7E:text=This%20international%20day%20shows%20the,key%20lever%20to%20sustainable%20development.%E2%80%9D">29 October as the International Day of Care and Support</a>. This reflects a growing recognition of the value of care and care work, highlighting the urgent need to distribute caregiving responsibilities more equitably. </p>
<p>Providing care for another person can be a positive experience, fostering empathy and meaningful relationships. However the unequal allocation of <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_633115/lang--en/index.htm">caregiving</a> between men and women has long hindered women’s participation in paid work. </p>
<p>In 2018, the International Labour Oganization estimated 606 million working age women were not able to do so because of unpaid care work. And the heavy burden of care work has had <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354252144_Women's_wellbeing_and_the_burden_of_unpaid_work">adverse consequences </a>on the physical and mental wellbeing of women.</p>
<h2>Moving in the right direction</h2>
<p>The State of the World’s Fathers report found that mothers still bore a greater share of responsibilities in care work such as cleaning, physical and emotional childcare, cooking and partner care. Women reported performing 1.32 times more physical childcare and 1.36 times more house cleaning than men across all countries surveyed for the report. </p>
<p>But fathers in countries as diverse as Argentina, Ireland, China, Croatia and Rwanda also reported dedicating significant hours to various unpaid caregiving tasks within the household.</p>
<p>The State of the World’s Fathers study attributed this shift to several factors, including the impact of <a href="https://www.who.int/europe/emergencies/situations/covid-19#page=58">COVID-19</a>, evolving gender norms related to caregiving, and structural factors such as care systems and parental leave policies.</p>
<p>In 15 countries, between 70% and 90% of men agreed with the statement, “I feel as responsible for care work as my partner.” </p>
<p>Encouragingly, in some nations like <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf">South Africa (85%) and Rwanda (93%)</a>, men disagreed with the statement, “Boys should not be taught to sew, cook, clean, or take care of their siblings.”</p>
<p>Men who were more emotionally aware and open to seeking emotional support were <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=22">two to eight times</a> more likely to provide care to a family member than those who were not emotionally aware. </p>
<p>Men who spent more time caring for others experienced greater well-being. Respondents who expressed satisfaction with their involvement in raising their children were <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=8">1.5 times</a> more likely to agree with the statement, “I am the person I always wanted to be” and report a sense of gratitude in life than respondents who did not report satisfaction with childrearing. </p>
<h2>Everybody needs to chip in</h2>
<p>It’s important to recognise that caregiving cannot be dependent solely on individual efforts. Men and women alike require the support of communities, care systems and policies to provide care effectively. </p>
<p>More than half of both mothers and fathers considered<a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=8"> political activism </a>for care leave policies a priority. This sentiment varied: 57% of fathers and 66% of mothers in India, and 92% of fathers and 94% of mothers in Rwanda supported this cause.</p>
<p>Women were more likely than men to <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=54">prioritise care policies</a> along with healthcare and gender equality policies. Concerns about the cost of living were prevalent among both genders, with slightly more women (58%) than men (53%) expressing this worry. </p>
<p>The study found a significant portion of individuals in all countries reported <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=54">taking action </a>to improve care policies. The majority (74%) discussed the issue with friends and family, while 39% of women and 36% of men signed or shared online petitions. Additionally, 27% of women and 33% of men attended events calling for improved care policies.</p>
<p>Policymakers have an important role to play in reforms for improved parental leave. Better data enables better policies, so there also need to be more accurate statistics on, for example, how many fathers take parental leave, and how time spent on care work is distributed among men and women. </p>
<p>Making it easier for men to share duties in the house is essential if countries are to <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/State-of-the-Worlds-Fathers-2023.pdf#page=81">thrive</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215009/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wessel Van Den Berg works for Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice.</span></em></p>The latest State of the World’s Fathers report found a shift in attitudes. In 15 countries, between 70% and 90% of men agreed with the statement, “I feel as responsible for care work as my partner.”Wessel Van Den Berg, Research fellow, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148962023-10-20T12:33:30Z2023-10-20T12:33:30ZNew research helps explain why Indian girls appear to be less engaged in politics than Indian boys<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553725/original/file-20231013-29-jh6y9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A recent survey found that just over half of boys in India consider themselves politically engaged compared with less than a third of girls. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/school-children-protest-at-a-global-climate-strike-2023-news-photo/1668666010">Sayantan Chakraborty/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Girls in India report being less interested and engaged in politics than boys and cite fewer opportunities to participate in politics, <a href="https://www.kuviraa.org/_files/ugd/4457e5_dbf1d4b8dde54864ab517d0334954c45.pdf">we found in a recent survey of youth across India</a>. </p>
<p>Further, although political interest and engagement was higher for older boys (ages 18-22) than younger boys (ages 14-17), girls’ political interest and engagement stagnated across age groups.</p>
<p>I study <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12889">young people’s political development</a>, and in the fall of 2022 I collaborated on a study with Indian nonprofit <a href="https://www.kuviraa.org">Kuviraa</a>. I am on the advisory board at Kuviraa, which aims to increase girls’ engagement in politics. We used an Instagram ad to survey over 600 youth ages 14-22 who lived in nearly 30 cities across India. </p>
<p>We found that just over half (51%) of boys considered themselves politically engaged compared with less than a third (29%) of girls. We also measured the survey participants’ level of political engagement based on five behaviors, including sharing political posts online, attending rallies and contacting government officials. We found that boys and girls age 17 and under had similar levels of political engagement. However, boys’ engagement became much higher than girls once they were 18 and older. </p>
<p>Further, boys had lower awareness than girls of the structural barriers women face in Indian politics. For example, 74% of the girls surveyed agreed that “it is more difficult in our society for women to become elected officials” compared with 54% of the boys. We found that girls’ awareness was higher with age, whereas boys followed the opposite trajectory, with lower awareness in the older age group. </p>
<p>We also explored possible predictors of youths’ political engagement such as public speaking skills or having a sense that they are able to affect politics. We found that the two significant factors that shaped youths’ political engagement were having parents who discuss politics with their children and parents who encourage their children to engage in politics. The effect was less for girls but still significant.</p>
<p>Finally, we analyzed over 430 open-ended responses to explore how participants explained gender disparities in Indian politics. In these responses, we noticed a pattern: Boys tended to attribute gender disparities in politics to individual women’s choices. “Women don’t take the initiative to stand as a candidate,” one 18-year-old boy explained. Meanwhile, girl respondents tended to emphasize structural forces at play. “It is a common mindset that women should work at home even today,” a 17-year-old girl wrote. “It’s clearly seen even in my family despite their modern mindset.”</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Women’s political representation is important to democracy and societal progress. Studies of India’s local councils have shown that having more women political leaders leads to <a href="https://gap.hks.harvard.edu/political-reservation-and-substantive-representation-evidence-indian-village-councils">more policies catered to women</a>. More women representatives also improves <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43189382">child health</a> and <a href="https://www.ncaer.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/13978049682_1247121758_Schooling.pdf">education</a> indicators and can lead to more <a href="https://www.peacewomen.org/sites/default/files/Making%20Women%20Count%20Not%20Just%20Counting%20Women.pdf">lasting peace</a> negotiations.</p>
<p>With India’s general elections coming up in 2024, a conversation about the importance of increasing women’s political representation is particularly timely. India’s Parliament <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/lok-sabha-women-reservation-bill-women-quota-bill-new-parliament-amit-shah/articleshow/103813919.cms?from=mdr">recently passed</a> one of the most progressive bills in any democracy to reserve a third of seats for women. Currently, Indian women <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2018/11/08/indian-women-are-voting-more-than-ever.-will-they-change-indian-society-pub-77677">vote in high numbers</a> but make up just 14% of Parliament. </p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Our findings suggest that parents simply talking to their children about politics, and encouraging them to engage, can have substantial effects on girls’ political interest and engagement. Yet more resources are needed to teach parents how to have these conversations, particularly with younger children.</p>
<p>It is also critical that boys understand the structural causes of gender inequities in Indian politics. That way they can be enlisted as allies in overcoming obstacles to women’s political engagement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214896/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Wilf is an Advisory Board Member at Kuviraa.</span></em></p>A survey of over 600 teens and young adults across India found boys are more politically engaged than girls and also less aware of the barriers women face to becoming active in politics.Sara Wilf, Ph.D. Candidate in Social Welfare, University of California, Los AngelesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2142022023-09-27T12:22:55Z2023-09-27T12:22:55ZWhat is an abaya − and why does it cause such controversy in France? A scholar of European studies explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550289/original/file-20230926-21-3zqi6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C7%2C4898%2C3245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The abaya is typically paired with a headscarf to cover the hair.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/women-attend-a-book-fair-in-riyadh-saudi-arabia-on-march-11-news-photo/646814194?adppopup=true">Lynsey Addario/Getty Images Reportage</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Worn by some Muslim women, an abaya is a long, loose-fitting, robelike garment that covers the entire body, except for the face, hands and feet. Through the abaya, women can <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2159028">express their religious identity</a> and dedication to following Islamic guidelines regarding modest attire. </p>
<p>In more conservative social circles, the abaya is part of expected dress conforming to social norms and culture. In Saudi Arabia, for example, women were required to wear an abaya <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-women/saudi-women-should-have-choice-whether-to-wear-abaya-robe-crown-prince-idUSKBN1GV190">until 2018</a>.</p>
<p>Worn over everyday clothing, the abaya is typically paired with a headscarf to cover the hair. This garment <a href="https://www.learnreligions.com/islamic-clothing-definition-abaya-2004279">finds its primary usage</a> in North Africa; the Horn of Africa, which includes countries such as Somalia and Somaliland; and the Arabian Peninsula. </p>
<p>Traditionally, the abaya was black or dark in color, reflecting a conservative approach. In present times, however, its design and aesthetics can vary between regions and communities. In some places, abayas may feature intricate embroidery that is specific to that locality. In others, the choice of fabric and the style of draping can differ, allowing women to align their abaya with regional fashion preferences. These regional variations offer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc.1.1.45_1">women a way to express their cultural identity</a> while respecting religious norms. </p>
<p>In fact, modern abayas – offering a wide spectrum of colors and innovative designs – <a href="https://en.vogue.me/fashion/saudi-designers-reinventing-the-abaya/">have become a fashion statement</a>. These designer abayas offer a departure from the conventional plain styles and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20160623-the-high-end-designer-fashion-hidden-beneath-the-abaya">incorporate innovative patterns</a>, like floral prints and geometric designs, and even metallic embellishments such as belts and pins. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Some women modeling colorful abayas." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.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">Models displaying abayas during a fashion show in Amman, Jordan, in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/models-display-dresses-by-jordanian-designer-ayat-al-zoubi-news-photo/467076500?adppopup=true">Jordan Pix/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>In societies where Muslims constitute a minority, the abaya takes on an added layer of significance. Muslim women can use the abaya as a <a href="https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/pdf/doi/10.4324/9781351256568-27">means to connect</a> with their cultural heritage. But it has also drawn criticism. </p>
<p>Critics argue that religious garments like the abaya represent a form of religious control <a href="https://doi.org/10.2979/MEW.2010.6.1.46">over women’s bodies</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109911405827">and</a> a <a href="https://sekkamag.com/2019/04/30/non-fiction-the-day-i-was-called-out-for-wearing-an-abaya/">reinforcement of patriarchy</a>. </p>
<p>Other critics of abayas say they object to public symbols of religious identity. Some individuals who advocate for a strong separation between religious and state affairs <a href="https://policycommons.net/artifacts/4826610/the-latest-laicite-clothing-controversy-in-france/5663213/">argue that religious expressions should be limited</a> to private settings. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/07/world/europe/france-abaya-muslims-school.html">France recently banned the wearing of abayas</a> in its public schools, arguing that it was in conflict with secular principles, which has caused an uproar. </p>
<p>Others, however, say these laws predominantly affect the country’s Muslim minority. This is because Christians do not typically express their religious identity through attire. Even when they do, Christianity often <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315149707-15/christonormativity-religious-neutrality-armin-langer">prioritizes belief over outward religious practices</a>, as opposed to mainstream Islam. </p>
<p>These critiques underscore the ongoing discussion surrounding the tension between religious practices and individual rights in diverse, multicultural societies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Armin Langer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In some conservative countries, the abaya is part of expected dress. But in countries where Muslims are in the minority, the abaya can be a way for women to connect with their religious identity.Armin Langer, Assistant Professor of European Studies, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2105922023-08-16T15:14:18Z2023-08-16T15:14:18ZNigerian women ensure they get the best possible healthcare by managing unequal power relations with men<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541539/original/file-20230807-31794-nxav4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C6221%2C4147&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rural women in Nigeria negotiate healthcare decisions with their partners. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cameroonian-refugee-couple-that-ran-away-with-dozens-of-news-photo/1239282860?adppopup=true">Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nigeria is a patriarchal society. Authority is vested in men, who tend to exert power and control over women in various spheres of life. This has an impact on women’s health and decisions about their healthcare.</p>
<p>Women’s health is affected not only by medical conditions and childbearing, but also by cultural behaviour and traditions. Social factors such as gendered access to healthcare or employment also affect people’s capacity to lead healthy lives. </p>
<p>The Nigerian feminist scholar Obioma Nnaemeka has described feminism in an African context as a matter of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/378553">negotiation</a> and compromise. She calls it “negofeminism”. It involves “give and take” instead of confrontational exchanges. </p>
<p>This concept helped me, as a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ogochukwu-Udenigwe">global health researcher</a>, to understand what rural Nigerian women said about seeking healthcare during and after pregnancy. </p>
<p>For our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-023-01647-3">study</a>, my colleagues and I interviewed women and their spouses in two rural communities in southern Nigeria. </p>
<p>Our findings describe ways in which women negotiate authority by ascribing the role of decision-maker to their men spouses while maintaining influence over their pregnancy healthcare decisions and actions. Negofeminism’s concepts of alliance, community and connectedness were highlighted through men’s constructive involvement in maternal health.</p>
<p>We found women were not passive victims. Instead, they navigated patriarchal environments to yield the best possible maternal health outcomes by gaining control of their healthcare decisions.</p>
<p>Recognising this form of agency can help in formulating policies and programmes that acknowledge how women’s wider social environments influence their health. </p>
<h2>Maternal health in Nigeria</h2>
<p>In Nigeria, limited access to quality healthcare contributes to <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR359/FR359.pdf#page=411">556 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births.</a>. UNICEF reports that Nigeria contributes <a href="https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/situation-women-and-children-nigeria">10% of the global pregnancy-related death burden</a>.</p>
<p>Some scholars have argued that women are only able to seek healthcare if they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243917736139">can make independent decisions</a>. But this approach often ignores <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003808">women’s realities</a>, such as the fact that their social network (mothers, grandmothers, spouses and community members) influences their use of healthcare services. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, as <a href="https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-023-01647-3">our study</a> shows, social dimensions don’t necessarily impede women’s autonomy.</p>
<p>Therefore, I believe that discussions of maternal health in an African context need to consider women’s experiences of being “African” and “women”. </p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>We <a href="https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-023-01647-3">studied</a> two predominantly rural communities in Esan South-East and Etsako West, local government areas of Edo State in southern Nigeria. We conducted five women-only focus group discussions with a total of 39 women, and three men-only focus group discussions with 25 men. Participants were chosen from a database of women participating in maternal health interventions.</p>
<p>We asked them who women first consulted for pregnancy care, and who made the decisions about seeking maternal healthcare. We also asked about their experiences of men’s involvement in maternal and child health.</p>
<p>We categorised their responses as negotiation, collaboration and manoeuvring. </p>
<p>It appeared that men were considered the decision-makers at the household level. Participants said a woman’s spouse should be the first to know of her pregnancy. Both men and women said men should make all the decisions about healthcare during pregnancy, even though it was clear that women sometimes influenced decisions.</p>
<p>Describing her experience, one woman said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the aspect of care, I will tell my husband, so he will decide. After my husband knows, I will go to the hospital to tell the doctor so he can tell me what to do. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similarly, men noted that women “cannot just go to healthcare facilities without the husband’s decision”. </p>
<p>But they also made comments like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My wife will tell me, ‘take me to go and see the nurse’. When I am not around, she can go see the doctor on her own. It is a normal thing in our community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Both men and women said it was important to get skilled care, especially for complications.</p>
<p>The act of the women telling the men can be thought of as a form of negotiation by women to influence decisions on access to maternal healthcare. First, she recognises the patriarchal environment and assigns the decision-making authority to men. But she is also using her agency in that environment.</p>
<p>Notions of men’s responsibility and collective action on maternal health were evident in the study. In these communities, men’s duties as expectant fathers were mainly of financial support to cover costs associated with pregnancy, including clinic visits, cost of delivery, essential medicines and feeding. </p>
<p>It can be argued that in ascribing decision-making authority to men, women benefit from men’s duty and responsibility to be providers. Women said they could not afford the high cost of maternal healthcare on their own. There was “give and take”.</p>
<p>Some women showed their resistance to men’s involvement in their pregnancy. They reported secretly seeking maternal healthcare without informing their partners. In this they were indicating control over their lives. </p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>Our findings show that it’s important to involve women’s communities and spouses in maternal health programmes. </p>
<p>We show that patriarchy affords men power over decision-making or financial resources. Women are not passive in these situations, they actively find ways around it to ensure they have access to skilled healthcare during pregnancy.</p>
<p>This study shows that maternal health is not always an individual responsibility – it can be one for the woman’s community and the nation. Ignoring this can undermine programmes and policies aimed at improving women’s health.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210592/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ogochukwu Udenigwe 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>Rural women in Nigeria circumvent patriarchy to make decisions on their healthcare.Ogochukwu Udenigwe, Doctoral Candidate, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2105462023-08-01T20:14:40Z2023-08-01T20:14:40ZIs traditional heterosexual romance sexist?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540323/original/file-20230801-20-gufy6l.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">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite progress towards greater gender equality, many people remain stubbornly attached to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243218809604">old-fashioned</a> gender roles in romantic relationships between women and men.</p>
<p>Conventions around heterosexual romance dictate that men should <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-019-00298-7">approach</a> women to initiate romantic interactions, ask women out on <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-019-01056-6">dates</a>, pay on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00332941211057144">dates</a>, make marriage <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0743558412447871">proposals</a>, and that women should take their husband’s <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-016-0628-8?fd=5847139347577468%7C5071078435750678&lp=/dating-women">surname</a> after marriage.</p>
<p>While some might view these conventions as sexist and anachronistic, others find them captivating and romantic. </p>
<p>They reflect differentiated gender roles in which men take the lead and women follow. Feminist <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/if-you-want-marriage-equals-then-date-equals/606568/">critiques</a> of such practices argue that they reinforce male <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192513x10391045">dominance</a> over women in intimate relationships.</p>
<p>So we set out to find out why women might still be attracted to these conventions in the modern world. We <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-023-01405-6">surveyed</a> 458 single women in Australia on their preference for these conventions, as well as a range of other attitudes and desires.</p>
<p>The study examined whether these conventions might simply be a benign reflection of women’s personal preferences for partners and relationships. But we also considered the possibility that they might be underpinned by sexist attitudes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-chivalry-is-not-dead-but-its-about-time-it-was-174197">No, chivalry is not dead – but it's about time it was</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What do women want from men?</h2>
<p>One possible reason women prefer these romance conventions is simply because they are traditional, and people like traditions. However, many of these conventions only really took hold in the <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Labor_of_Love/nqTPCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">20th century</a>.</p>
<p>Some provide a handy script that we can follow in romantic interactions. They help us to navigate the uncertainty of the situation by removing some of the guess work about who should do what.</p>
<p>Another possibility is that men’s enactment of these romance conventions indicates their likelihood of being a committed and invested <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243213503899">partner</a>. It may also <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-women-including-feminists-are-still-attracted-to-benevolently-sexist-men-101067">signal</a> he has resources available to invest in a relationship (and family), which research shows women find <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797620904154">appealing</a> in a partner.</p>
<h2>Women like ‘nice’ men</h2>
<p>We <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-023-01405-6">considered</a> whether women’s endorsement of these romance conventions might be explained by their personal preferences for partners and relationships. Specifically, we predicted that the preference for these conventions would be greater among women with a stronger desire to find a committed and invested partner.</p>
<p>We found women’s desire for an invested partner was indeed correlated with a greater preference for these conventions. This preference was also stronger among those who favoured a long-term committed relationship and disfavoured short-term casual sexual relationships.</p>
<p>We also investigated women’s attraction to dominant men, since these conventions require men to take the lead and play a more active role in romantic encounters. As predicted, women’s attraction to more dominant characteristics in a partner – such as being assertive and powerful – was also correlated with a greater preference for these conventions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/women-show-sexual-preference-for-tall-dominant-men-so-is-gender-inequality-inevitable-98159">Women show sexual preference for tall, dominant men – so is gender inequality inevitable?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>But is it sexist?</h2>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-016-0628-8?fd=5847139347577468%7C5071078435750678&lp=/dating-women">Previous research</a> has found that sexist attitudes and feminist identity are also relevant.</p>
<p>We found women who preferred these romance conventions were less likely to identify as a feminist. They were also higher on <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-00159-001">benevolent sexism</a>, which is a chivalrous form of sexism that idealises women, but also views them as less competent and needing men’s protection. We even found that they were higher on hostile sexism, which is a more overt form of sexism towards women.</p>
<p>Importantly, we analysed all these variables together to reveal the strongest predictor of the preference for these romance conventions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540331/original/file-20230801-191965-8l1956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540331/original/file-20230801-191965-8l1956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540331/original/file-20230801-191965-8l1956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540331/original/file-20230801-191965-8l1956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540331/original/file-20230801-191965-8l1956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540331/original/file-20230801-191965-8l1956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540331/original/file-20230801-191965-8l1956.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">‘Benevolent sexism’ idolises women, but also views them as weaker and less capable than men.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found women’s desire for an invested partner and a long-term relationship no longer accounted for women’s preference for these conventions. However, women who were less inclined to short-term casual sexual relationships were still more likely to prefer these conventions.</p>
<p>The strongest predictor of the preference for these conventions was benevolent sexism. This is somewhat unsurprising, since these conventions look very much like expressions of benevolent sexism in a romantic context.</p>
<p>Most strikingly, overt or hostile sexism still predicted women’s preference for these conventions.</p>
<p>In short, sexism stood out beyond women’s personal preferences for partners and relationships. This ultimately supports this idea that these conventions may be underpinned by sexist attitudes.</p>
<h2>Is romance incompatible with gender equality?</h2>
<p>Old-fashioned romance might seem benign and even enchanting. But some might find it problematic if it reinforces inequality between women and men in romantic <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721416686213">relationships</a>. We know that even subtle forms of <a href="https://theconversation.com/still-serving-guests-while-your-male-relatives-relax-everyday-sexism-like-this-hurts-womens-mental-health-116728">everyday sexism</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-chivalry-is-not-dead-but-its-about-time-it-was-174197">benevolent sexism</a> are harmful to women’s wellbeing and success.</p>
<p>As society moves towards greater gender equality, we may become increasingly aware of how rigid and restrictive gender roles play out in the context of private relationships.</p>
<p>Some might fear that increasing gender equality means the death of romance. But romance among those with diverse genders and sexualities should reassure us that it doesn’t require a universal and pre-determined script.</p>
<p>Perhaps a more critical understanding of ourselves might help us relinquish our attachment to following a simplistic formula set by others.</p>
<p>Embracing individual differences over inflexible conventions may also allow us the freedom to explore alternatives. We might start to see more egalitarian, or even female-led, romance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beatrice Alba 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>Despite greater gender equality, some women still prefer traditional gender roles in heterosexual relationships. We set out to discover why.Beatrice Alba, Lecturer, School of Psychology, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2085032023-07-04T14:07:07Z2023-07-04T14:07:07ZCouples in which the woman is the only earner report lower life satisfaction – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535371/original/file-20230703-274838-e2we55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=155%2C95%2C5507%2C3692&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tired-business-woman-sleepy-bored-sitting-2142729487">CrizzyStudio/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many women will, at least temporarily, be the breadwinner <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211055246">at some point in their relationship</a>. Changing employment trends and gender roles will affect many households. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcad034">our new peer-reviewed study</a> shows that for heterosexual couples, wellbeing is lower when the woman is the sole earner, versus if the man is the breadwinner or if both partners are employed. </p>
<p>Over 14 years of European social survey data, men and women reported lower life satisfaction when the female wife or partner was the breadwinner, with men suffering the most. This is true even after controlling for income, attitudes toward gender and other characteristics. </p>
<p>We analysed the <a href="https://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/">survey responses</a> of over 42,000 working-age people spanning nine countries. The data measures wellbeing by asking people to score how satisfied they are with their lives as a whole nowadays, from zero (extremely dissatisfied) to ten (extremely satisfied). Most people give a score <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/happiness-and-life-satisfaction#:%7E:text=The%20distribution%20of%20life%20satisfaction,-More%20than%20averages&text=Life%20satisfaction%20is%20often%20reported,-called%20%27Cantril%20Ladder%27">between five and eight</a>. </p>
<p>These “life satisfaction points” give us a sense of how different groups’ wellbeing compares. Before any controls, men’s life satisfaction is 5.86 when the woman is the sole earner, versus 7.16 when the man is the only earner. For women, the corresponding figures are 6.33 and 7.10 respectively.</p>
<p>Couples in Germany seem to struggle the most with female-breadwinner situations, followed by the UK, Ireland and Spain. However, the issue is fairly universal across Europe, even in more gender equal countries like Finland.</p>
<h2>Men struggle more</h2>
<p>In female-breadwinner households, men appear to struggle mentally more than women. We found that women’s breadwinning carries such a heavy psychological burden for men that they would prefer she was not employed at all. After accounting for basic characteristics, incomes and gender attitudes, out-of-work men report significantly higher life satisfaction when both partners are jobless. </p>
<p>Watching their partners go to the office (or work from home) every day might lead out-of-work men to feel worse about themselves. But when their partner is in the same boat as them, jobless men may instead feel like their lack of employment is less “deviant”.</p>
<p>Men in female-breadwinner couples report the lowest wellbeing when they are unemployed rather than “inactive” (not actively looking for work and/or doing housework or other care responsibilities). Unemployment is associated with the greatest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00036840903373295">psychological costs</a>, such as self-doubt, uncertainty, loneliness and stigma. In this study, we do not include people who are inactive for health or disability reasons.</p>
<p>In fact, unemployed men would rather swap places with their breadwinner wives. Men’s wellbeing is significantly higher when the woman is unemployed instead of the man, whereas women report equally low wellbeing when either partner is unemployed.</p>
<h2>Characteristics of female-breadwinner households</h2>
<p>Certain factors may contribute to female-breadwinner couples’ low wellbeing. For example, these couples <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928720971094">have lower average household incomes</a> than two-earner and male-breadwinner households, and are more likely to find it “difficult” or “very difficult” to cope on their current income. Additionally, more men in female-breadwinner couples report “fair”, “bad” or “very bad” health and are less educated.</p>
<p>When we controlled for these and other basic characteristics (like age and children) as well as gender-role attitudes and each partner’s share of household income, women’s wellbeing is only marginally lower (-0.048 life satisfaction points) when the woman is the sole earner instead of the man. </p>
<p>Yet, even after accounting for these factors, men’s wellbeing is still over half a life satisfaction point lower (-0.585) when the woman is the only earner. In Germany, this difference is over one full life satisfaction point (-1.112).</p>
<p>So, while our study suggests the characteristics of female-breadwinner couples mostly explain women’s lower wellbeing, they do not account for the discrepancy with men’s wellbeing.</p>
<h2>Masculinity, (un)employment and wellbeing</h2>
<p>In many countries, being the breadwinner remains central to men’s sense of self. Providing financially for the family is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/189945">key to masculinity</a> and tantamount to being a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt14bt2mz">“good” dad</a>. When these roles are reversed, couples can experience <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224211012442">social “sanctions”</a> like gossiping, ridicule and judgement from family, friends, and other people they know, as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00016993211066261">mental health difficulties</a>.</p>
<p>Unemployed men may be particularly vulnerable to isolation and loneliness, since they are less likely than women to have community or care-based social networks <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23747850">to draw on</a>, like friendships developed at the school gates. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203781906/sex-differences-social-behavior-alice-eagly">gendered expectations of selflessness</a> may lead women to go further than men in shielding a partner from the true extent of their distress. This could work the other way, too: when the man is unemployed, the woman may be more perceptive of and negatively affected by his struggles than he would be if these roles were reversed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young, heterosexual couple with dark hair, sitting side by side, both covering their faces with their hands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535319/original/file-20230703-258594-j88myj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535319/original/file-20230703-258594-j88myj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535319/original/file-20230703-258594-j88myj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535319/original/file-20230703-258594-j88myj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535319/original/file-20230703-258594-j88myj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535319/original/file-20230703-258594-j88myj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535319/original/file-20230703-258594-j88myj.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">Unemployment can take a toll on relationships.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sad-young-couple-sitting-table-on-756447463">Tiko Aramyan/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, unemployment has become a normal part of working life, including for middle-class professionals who were traditionally more <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298613/crunch-time">protected from this risk</a>. Our findings suggest that gender norms affect how couples cope with unemployment, with men placing more value on their own employment status than their female partner’s.</p>
<p>Additionally, men’s distress under the female-breadwinner arrangement may trigger women to hold themselves back from taking jobs or seeking higher-paying roles, further reinforcing gender inequalities in employment rates, career progression and incomes. </p>
<p>Clearly, there is still a long way to go to sever the link between breadwinning and masculinity. Challenging this idealisation of male breadwinning is critical so that men no longer feel like failures when they fall short of this expectation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208503/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Kowalewska receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, grant number ES/S016058/1, <a href="https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FS016058%2F1">https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FS016058%2F1</a>. </span></em></p>And men struggle more than women with female breadwinning arrangements.Helen Kowalewska, Lecturer in Social Policy, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2047362023-06-26T02:42:20Z2023-06-26T02:42:20Z‘Madness stripped away the niceties’: Tara Calaby imagines herself into a 19th-century asylum<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530851/original/file-20230608-21-5zn4i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C124%2C2647%2C2177&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">claudia soraya m w sirVs unsplash</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Kew Asylum, when it opened in 1872, was the larger of two public institutions in wider Melbourne that housed people with mental illness. <a href="https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00797b.htm">Grand and imposing</a>, it opened a few years after the overcrowded Yarra Bend Asylum. </p>
<p>A new historical novel, set at Kew Asylum in 1890s Melbourne, prises open this world – inviting contemporary readers into the taboo subjects of women’s mental breakdown and institutional confinement, through a same-sex romantic love story. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: House of Longing – Tara Calaby (Text Publishing)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>As a researcher of psychiatric institutions, I’ve often wondered about the potential and power of fiction to bring this hidden history of hospitalisation to life. People in the historical record have often struck me as remarkable, full of personality. </p>
<p>We can hear their words – scribbled in the margins of the clinical case notes, or in patient and family letters – as if they were spoken aloud. Far from being invisible or forgotten, decades of historical research using patient records has brought these experiences to light, but mostly inside academic studies.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530836/original/file-20230608-19-tpxww2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530836/original/file-20230608-19-tpxww2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530836/original/file-20230608-19-tpxww2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530836/original/file-20230608-19-tpxww2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530836/original/file-20230608-19-tpxww2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530836/original/file-20230608-19-tpxww2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530836/original/file-20230608-19-tpxww2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530836/original/file-20230608-19-tpxww2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A new novel set at Kew Asylum prises open the hidden world of women’s mental breakdown and confinement in 1890s Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charles Rudd/State Library of Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tara Calaby, whose novel is based on research, draws on these voices and writes in between the gaps, or at the interstices, of historical evidence. Her imagination fleshes out experiences that are hard for historians to access; she enters the interior lives of people from the past.</p>
<p>Her protagonist, Charlotte, becomes a cipher for the reader.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Charlotte had once read a newspaper report that had compared madwomen to wild animals. She knew, now, that lunatics were no more bestial than the men and women who gathered in Melbourne tea rooms to gossip and be seen. Madness stripped away the niceties, that was all: the base drives of fear and hunger and wrath and lust were simply more visible here.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/girl-interrupted-interrogates-how-women-are-mad-when-they-refuse-to-conform-30-years-on-this-memoir-is-still-important-199211">Girl, Interrupted interrogates how women are 'mad' when they refuse to conform – 30 years on, this memoir is still important</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Women’s secrets</h2>
<p>Charlotte Ross lives with her father George. Together they supply Melbourne’s professional middle class and elites with stationery: inks, paper, pens and ledgers. George is a widower who has grown a respectable and specialist business that allows Charlotte to maintain her role as an unmarried daughter in gainful employment, thus encountering people and the public world through the shop. The book opens with reference to the “noise and bustle of Elizabeth Street”.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530756/original/file-20230608-16-c17hwb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530756/original/file-20230608-16-c17hwb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530756/original/file-20230608-16-c17hwb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530756/original/file-20230608-16-c17hwb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530756/original/file-20230608-16-c17hwb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530756/original/file-20230608-16-c17hwb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530756/original/file-20230608-16-c17hwb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530756/original/file-20230608-16-c17hwb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&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>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While she possibly considers herself “plain” when judged alongside Melbourne’s society women and their fashionable dresses, Charlotte is a strong character with considerable presence. Her capacity for deep thought and ability to attune to the emotional states of other people are both strengths and weaknesses as the events of her life unfold; some tragic, others with vibrant potential and possibility.</p>
<p>When Charlotte encounters Flora Dalton, a doctor’s daughter, an instant attraction sparks something in her. The book’s title, <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/house-of-longing">House of Longing</a>, refers to a hidden desire both women slowly begin to acknowledge openly – but also to the many lives and desires of the women Charlotte later meets in the psychiatric institution.</p>
<p>Nineteenth-century Melbourne, with its much-rehearsed preoccupations with class, gender and social reputation, proves the perfect setting for Calaby to explore women’s secret emotional and sexual experiences in a world constrained by gender conventions. Calaby centres questions of women’s independence from men in this society.</p>
<p>Alert to the narrative of psychiatric illness and the language used in this book, I was interested in the way Charlotte and Flora use the word “mad” early in their friendship. As two women who possess a keen and wry sense of the world around them, they initially make light of the notion of losing reason, of the way “losing one’s senses” might be a “a freedom”.</p>
<p>Charlotte and Flora experience freedom by spending time together dressed as young men, camping in the bush east of Melbourne.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As soon as they thought it safe to do so, Charlotte and Flora ventured into the trees – deep enough to ensure privacy but not so far from the road as to risk getting lost – and exchanged their dresses for shirts and trousers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At first Charlotte finds the trousers “strangely confining compared to skirts” but later, when she changes back into her dress, she finds that clothing newly “constraining”, suggesting a gentle shift in her identity has taken place.</p>
<p>Here, too, Calaby seems to draw on the historical record: it wasn’t unheard of for women to escape their stifling lives by dressing as men in the 1890s. Accounts of <a href="https://theconversation.com/trans-people-arent-new-and-neither-is-their-oppression-a-history-of-gender-crossing-in-19th-century-australia-201663">women “passing” as men in the colonial era</a> were reported in newspapers and documented in medical and institutional records, as recorded by historians <a href="https://sydneyuniversitypress.com.au/products/78679">Lucy Chesser</a>, <a href="https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00848b.htm">Ruth Ford</a> and <a href="https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/provenance-journal/provenance-2021/policing-gender-nonconformity-victoria-1900">Robin Eames</a>.</p>
<p>Charlotte and Flora’s time in the bush gifts them a sense of physical freedom, where they can express bodily difference and sexual desire away from the scrutiny of men. They are literally clothed as gender-neutral, unfettered by the terrible stiffness of women’s dress fabrics and cuts. Flora neither resembles a “boy” nor a “woman”, but is “vulnerable, waiflike” in this experiment with her gender.</p>
<p>On her return to the city, Charlotte experiences a personal tragedy – and chooses a more dramatic escape from her oppressive clothing, stifling social expectations and somewhat lonely life as a solo woman. </p>
<p>Yet instead of liberation, she finds herself in an institutional setting purposefully designed to constrain, confine and sequester women: the lunatic asylum at Kew. Here, the novel’s action begins to revolve around the worlds of women and their keepers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trans-people-arent-new-and-neither-is-their-oppression-a-history-of-gender-crossing-in-19th-century-australia-201663">Trans people aren’t new, and neither is their oppression: a history of gender crossing in 19th-century Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Darkest moments and recovery</h2>
<p>In the late 19th century, police were the “first responders” to trauma and mental distress, responsible for taking individuals to the institutions. Physicians were then required to certify a person as needing hospitalisation. Charlotte is arrested by police, then hospitalised, where she is observed by doctors.</p>
<p>Readers less well-acquainted than I am with the processes of 19th-century asylum admissions will likely be horrified by Charlotte’s experience: stripped of clothing, talked about (rather than to); made subject to the medical men.
Notes are taken about her body, clothes, deportment and speech. She is noted as “stubborn”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530753/original/file-20230608-27-6y4gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530753/original/file-20230608-27-6y4gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530753/original/file-20230608-27-6y4gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530753/original/file-20230608-27-6y4gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530753/original/file-20230608-27-6y4gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530753/original/file-20230608-27-6y4gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530753/original/file-20230608-27-6y4gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530753/original/file-20230608-27-6y4gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women patients exercising at Kew Asylum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Library, London https://wellcomecollection.org/search/works</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Charlotte becomes increasingly aware of the dynamics of the wards and the personalities of doctors and attendant nursing staff. She forms friendships and alliances with other women who represent the range of “types” of patients in the period: the elderly and feeble women; the very young and vulnerable; the tough and scrappy women like Mary, whose life outside was marked by policing and arrests, rape and violence, and ultimately survival; young Eliza, whose baby has died; and the immigrant women like Inge, whose time in the institution was possibly safer for her than her home and marriage.</p>
<p>Calaby describes the asylum’s daily routine, such as menus, the gendered work regime for patients, and the hopeful intercession of visitors and advocates. Her characters are well-drawn portraits of women inmates, but also of the nuances in their care. </p>
<p>Some doctors were sympathetic figures who worked for the recovery of patients. Some nursing staff physically harmed patients. In <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/28344">Attending the Mad</a>, an important, well-regarded history of labour in the asylum, Lee-Ann Monk examines another side of the silenced experiences of both the “mad” and those who worked to manage and care for the confined. Miss Simmons, a controlling nurse who handles the women roughly, reflects the various kind and mean attendant identities in the historical record. The novel’s inmates experience her “care” as “punishment”. </p>
<p>Simmons slaps patients, and makes one young patient, Eliza, empty the “domestics” each morning: “It shouldn’t be her duty, but Simmons says it’s a punishment. For what, I don’t know. Eliza does everything she’s told to”, Inge tells Charlotte.</p>
<p>As it evolved, psychiatric practice became more reliant on the language of diagnosis. Charlotte – a witness to this professionalisation of mental health treatment – notices the way “classes” of patient are given roles or privileges, or deprived, within the institution.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230248649">My own research</a> has examined the blurred line between the asylum, families and the outside world. Patients could leave on trial, as Charlotte is able to do. “Recovery” was possible, though often assessed through the performance of appropriate gendered behaviour such as letter-writing, tasks such as needlework, mixing at social events like the asylum ball, or attending church services. All these practices formed part of the “moral therapy” of the day.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-catherine-hay-thomson-the-australian-undercover-journalist-who-went-inside-asylums-and-hospitals-129352">Hidden women of history: Catherine Hay Thomson, the Australian undercover journalist who went inside asylums and hospitals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Constraint and resistance</h2>
<p>From the start of the book, where Charlotte is forcibly fed through a tube, we understand that submission to the institution is not a choice. She is pinned down by two female attendants and a rubber tube is forced through her nostril by a doctor:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>She tried to struggle, but the women held her tightly: she could move only her head. […] this was an assault she never could have imagined. Her sinuses stung, her eyes watered; it felt like the tube must surely pass into her brain.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530843/original/file-20230608-21-g7bh09.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530843/original/file-20230608-21-g7bh09.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530843/original/file-20230608-21-g7bh09.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530843/original/file-20230608-21-g7bh09.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530843/original/file-20230608-21-g7bh09.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530843/original/file-20230608-21-g7bh09.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1099&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530843/original/file-20230608-21-g7bh09.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1099&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530843/original/file-20230608-21-g7bh09.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1099&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Force feeding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Inquiries into <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5912785">Kew Asylum</a> in 1876 and the <a href="https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/papers/govpub/VPARL1886No15Pi-clxxii.pdf">Royal Commission</a> into asylums in Victoria in the late 1880s both took evidence from many people, including inmates. </p>
<p>We have access to their voices of protest and reflection, and to their understanding of the violent treatment they sometimes received – as well as the carelessness that allowed accidents to happen, such as the novel’s horrific one in the asylum’s laundry, where a young inmate has her hand crushed in the mangle, leaving it “like a piece of butcher’s meat, misshapen and pulverised”. These voices of protest and complaint are reflected in Calaby’s novel, and also underscore the agency some women patients had in the space of the official inquiry.</p>
<p>In the 1876 Kew Inquiry, <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Reading_madness/4EkyGQAACAAJ?hl=en&bshm=nce/1">I found</a> the recorded words of women to be loud, full of purpose, and self aware. One patient, Margaret Henderson, gave formal evidence about being treated with “plunge baths” by attendants who held her under water:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I may have been dong something objectionable to them before I would be put into a bath, and I would look to be punished by it […] they said it was a thing belonging to the asylum, and I was to submit to it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Patients emerged in the inquiry as powerful advocates for others who were weaker than themselves, just as we see in Calaby’s novel. Laid bare in the evidence of investigations carried out about the state of asylums during the 19th century, “madness” or mental breakdown was exposed as complex, troubling and unknowable. But the inquiry also reflected a changing understanding of mental illness and its treatment, leading to greater scrutiny of medical men, asylum practices and the quality of care provided.</p>
<p>Kew Asylum and its population was a microcosm of the wider world of deprivation, control, violence, poverty and class that shaped the colonial world.</p>
<p>House of Longing examines the well-documented need for support for inmates from outside the asylum’s walls to achieve “recovery” and release. It also hints at the stumbling efforts of the medical fraternity to understand how to care for the mentally ill, who were women and men from all walks of life. </p>
<p>And it’s a hopeful story about love and courage – which suggests alternative futures for women seeking independence from marriage and social norms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catharine Coleborne 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>Tara Calaby’s novel peeps into the interior lives of women in a 19th-century asylum and uses her historical imagination to generate new knowledge.Catharine Coleborne, Professor of History, School Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2047722023-05-30T12:24:25Z2023-05-30T12:24:25Z‘Man, the hunter’? Archaeologists’ assumptions about gender roles in past humans ignore an icky but potentially crucial part of original ‘paleo diet’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528374/original/file-20230525-25-e5g7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=743%2C0%2C4100%2C2866&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What if prehistoric men and women joined forces in hunting parties?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/tribe-of-hunter-gatherers-wearing-animal-skin-royalty-free-image/1194512906">gorodenkoff/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most common stereotypes about the human past is that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199551224.013.032">men did the hunting while women did the gathering</a>. That gendered division of labor, the story goes, would have provided the meat and plant foods people needed to survive.</p>
<p>That characterization of our time as a species exclusively reliant on wild foods – before people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1501711112">started domesticating plants and animals</a> more than 10,000 years ago – matches the pattern anthropologists observed among hunter-gatherers during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Virtually all of the large-game hunting they documented was performed by men.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528430/original/file-20230525-27-1kn0er.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="stone points with centimeter ruler" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528430/original/file-20230525-27-1kn0er.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528430/original/file-20230525-27-1kn0er.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528430/original/file-20230525-27-1kn0er.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528430/original/file-20230525-27-1kn0er.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528430/original/file-20230525-27-1kn0er.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528430/original/file-20230525-27-1kn0er.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528430/original/file-20230525-27-1kn0er.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">Stone Folsom points, which date to between 11,000 and 10,000 years ago, are associated with the prehistoric hunting of bison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UMMAA 27673, 39802, 30442 and 37737, Courtesy of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s an open question whether these ethnographic accounts of labor are truly representative of recent hunter-gatherers’ subsistence behaviors. Regardless, they definitely fueled assumptions that a gendered division of labor arose early in our species’ evolution. Current employment statistics do little to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0300">disrupt that thinking</a>; in a recent analysis, <a href="https://data.bls.gov">just 13% of hunters, fishers and trappers</a> in the U.S. were women.</p>
<p>Still, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ph0ZKGEAAAAJ">as an archaeologist</a>, I’ve spent much of my career studying how people of the past got their food. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21979">I can’t always square my observations</a> with the “man the hunter” stereotype.</p>
<h2>A long-standing anthropological assumption</h2>
<p>First, I want to note that this article uses “women” to describe people biologically equipped to experience pregnancy, while recognizing that not all people who identify as women are so equipped, and not all people so equipped identify as women.</p>
<p>I am using this definition here because reproduction is at the heart of many hypotheses about when and why subsistence labor became a gendered activity. As the thinking goes, women gathered because it was a low-risk way to provide dependent children with a reliable stream of nutrients. Men hunted either to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-013-9173-0">round out the household diet</a> or to use difficult-to-acquire meat as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.20005">way to attract potential mates</a>.</p>
<p>One of the things that has come to trouble me about attempts to test related hypotheses using archaeological data – some of my own attempts included – is that they assume plants and animals are mutually exclusive food categories. Everything rests on the idea that plants and animals differ completely in how risky they are to obtain, their nutrient profiles and their abundance on a landscape.</p>
<p>It is true that highly mobile large-game species such as bison, caribou and guanaco (a deer-sized South American herbivore) were sometimes concentrated in places or seasons where plants edible to humans were scarce. But what if people could get the plant portion of their diets from the animals themselves? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528375/original/file-20230525-25-zpqjbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="caribou grazing among lichen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528375/original/file-20230525-25-zpqjbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528375/original/file-20230525-25-zpqjbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528375/original/file-20230525-25-zpqjbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528375/original/file-20230525-25-zpqjbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528375/original/file-20230525-25-zpqjbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528375/original/file-20230525-25-zpqjbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528375/original/file-20230525-25-zpqjbl.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">Herbivores can consume and digest some plant material that humans usually can’t.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/reindeer-caribou-close-up-of-a-male-animal-royalty-free-image/1352155127">pchoui/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Animal prey as a source of plant-based food</h2>
<p>The plant material undergoing digestion in the stomachs and intestines of large ruminant herbivores is a not-so-appetizing substance called digesta. This <a href="http://www.twincitiesnaturalist.com/2009/10/secret-insides-of-deer-stomach.html">partially digested matter</a> is edible to humans and rich in carbohydrates, which are pretty much absent from animal tissues.</p>
<p>Conversely, animal tissues are rich in protein and, in some seasons, fats – nutrients unavailable in many plants or that occur in such small amounts that a person would need to eat impractically large quantities to meet daily nutritional requirements from plants alone.</p>
<p>If past peoples ate digesta, a big herbivore with a full belly would, in essence, be one-stop shopping for total nutrition.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528432/original/file-20230525-23265-otdlhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two bison skulls facing camera" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528432/original/file-20230525-23265-otdlhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528432/original/file-20230525-23265-otdlhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528432/original/file-20230525-23265-otdlhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528432/original/file-20230525-23265-otdlhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528432/original/file-20230525-23265-otdlhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528432/original/file-20230525-23265-otdlhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528432/original/file-20230525-23265-otdlhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Killing a bison could provide a source of both protein and carbs, if you consider the digesta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UMMAA 83209 a and b, Courtesy of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To explore the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21979">potential and implications of digesta</a> as a source of carbohydrates, I recently compared institutional dietary guidelines to person-days of nutrition per animal using a 1,000-pound (450-kilogram) bison as a model. First I compiled available estimates for protein in a bison’s own tissues and for carbohydrates in digesta. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21979">Using that data, I found</a> that a group of 25 adults could meet the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recommended daily averages for protein and carbohydrates for three full days eating only bison meat and digesta from one animal.</p>
<p>Among past peoples, consuming digesta would have relaxed the demand for fresh plant foods, perhaps changing the dynamics of subsistence labor. </p>
<h2>Recalibrating the risk if everyone hunts</h2>
<p>One of the risks typically associated with large-game hunting is that of failure. According to the evolutionary hypotheses around <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0300">gendered division of labor</a>, when risk of hunting failure is high – that is, the likelihood of bagging an animal on any given hunting trip is low – women should choose more reliable resources to provision children, even if it means <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9780203974131-26/foraging-differences-men-women">long hours of gathering</a>. The cost of failure is simply too high to do otherwise.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528376/original/file-20230525-27-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Circa 1850 artist's rendition of hunters under wolfskins approaching buffalo" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528376/original/file-20230525-27-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528376/original/file-20230525-27-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528376/original/file-20230525-27-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528376/original/file-20230525-27-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528376/original/file-20230525-27-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528376/original/file-20230525-27-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528376/original/file-20230525-27-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&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 19th-century ethnographers recorded might not be a good representation of prehistoric conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/hunters-hiding-under-white-wolf-skins-while-stalking-news-photo/3089698">MPI/Archive Photos via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, there is evidence to suggest that <a href="https://giscenter.isu.edu/Research/Projects/BisonPaper.pdf">large game was much more abundant</a> in North America, for example, before the 19th- and 20th-century ethnographers observed foraging behaviors. If high-yield resources like bison could have been acquired with low risk, and the animals’ digesta was also consumed, women may have been more likely to participate in hunting. Under those circumstances, hunting could have provided total nutrition, eliminating the need to obtain protein and carbohydrates from separate sources that might have been widely spread across a landscape.</p>
<p>And, statistically speaking, women’s participation in hunting would also have helped reduce the risk of failure. My models show that, if all 25 of the people in a hypothetical group participated in the hunt, rather than just the men, and all agreed to share when successful, each hunter would <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21979">have had to be successful only about five times a year</a> for the group to subsist entirely on bison and digesta. Of course, real life is more complicated than the model suggests, but the exercise illustrates potential benefits of both digesta and female hunting.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528377/original/file-20230525-27-dduale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="black and white 1924 photo of two Inuit hunters with caribou carcass" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528377/original/file-20230525-27-dduale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528377/original/file-20230525-27-dduale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528377/original/file-20230525-27-dduale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528377/original/file-20230525-27-dduale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528377/original/file-20230525-27-dduale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528377/original/file-20230525-27-dduale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528377/original/file-20230525-27-dduale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Winter in the Arctic offers Indigenous hunters more chances to kill herbivores than to find edible plants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/two-inuit-hunters-in-canada-strip-the-meat-from-a-pair-of-news-photo/50851064">Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ethnographically documented foragers did routinely eat digesta, especially where herbivores were plentiful but plants edible to humans were scarce, <a href="https://www2.dmu.dk/1_viden/2_publikationer/3_fagrapporter/rapporter/fr528.pdf">as in the Arctic</a>, where prey’s stomach contents was an important source of carbohydrates. </p>
<p>I believe eating digesta may have been a more common practice in the past, but direct evidence is frustratingly hard to come by. In at least one instance, plant species present in the mineralized plaque of a Neanderthal individual’s teeth <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.09.003">point to digesta as a source of nutrients</a>. To systematically study past digesta consumption and its knock-on effects, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/507197">including female hunting</a>, researchers will need to draw on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd0310">multiple lines of archaeological evidence</a> and insights gained from models like the ones I developed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204772/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raven Garvey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If hunter-gatherers went beyond nose-to-tail eating to include the undigested plant matter in a prey animal’s stomach, assumptions about gendered division of labor start to fall apart.Raven Garvey, Associate Professor of Anthropology; Curator of High Latitude and Western North American Archaeology, Museum of Anthropological Archaeology; Faculty Affiliate, Research Center for Group Dynamics, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2038182023-04-24T21:12:53Z2023-04-24T21:12:53ZThe pandemic deepened gender inequality in dual-career households<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522399/original/file-20230421-5447-6sk3rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C23%2C5258%2C3513&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Although younger couples tend to share household labour more equitably, women still take on the bulk of home and family responsibilities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The switch to <a href="https://doi.org/10.25318/36280001202200800001-eng">remote work because of the COVID-19 pandemic</a> required dual-career couples to adapt to a new way of life. As work and domestic responsibilities blurred, couples attempted to balance work and family life at home. </p>
<p>For many heterosexual couples, this return to home life did not reflect their pre-pandemic routine, but one that resembled a scene from the 1950s.</p>
<p>Researchers examined these new relationship dynamics and found that, although both men and women were actively employed, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2020.1776561">women took on the greatest number of domestic responsibilities</a> during the pandemic. </p>
<p>Working mothers reduced their working hours or left their careers to take on the role of homemaker, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-08-18/pandemic-pushes-moms-to-scale-back-or-quit-their-careers">while their male partners continued to work</a>. </p>
<p>This phenomenon, where women take on a greater share of domestic responsibilities due to gender stereotypes, is known as the <a href="http://www.glopp.ch/A5/en/multimedia/A5_1_pdf2.pdf">gendered division of labour</a>. </p>
<p>Questions remain as to how and why the majority of domestic labour continues to fall on women, and what factors may be contributing to this type of gender inequality.</p>
<h2>Gendered division of labour</h2>
<p>The gendered division of labour can be explained by the social roles assigned to men and women at home and work. Social roles, in turn, are shaped by gender stereotypes. While women are seen as homemakers and caretakers, men are considered providers — <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1987-97607-000">best suited for employment</a>.</p>
<p>However, gender equality in the workplace and at home has greatly improved over the last several decades. Specifically, younger couples reported having more <a href="https://doi.org/10.17615/v2fd-fv26">equitable relationship dynamics</a>. </p>
<p>For example, men have taken on a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12497">more equal share of household work</a>. Overall, dual-career couples of today have different expectations of gender roles, with partners making household decisions based on factors beyond gender. </p>
<p>At the beginning of the pandemic, it was predicted that the shift to remote work would lead to more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000857">equal division of domestic labour</a>. However, our recent research, pending publication, found this progress was set back by the pandemic. In particular, we found the gendered division of labour among dual-career couples worsened.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman holding a child on her hip vacuums while a man sits on a couch looking at his phone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522398/original/file-20230421-22-jqtear.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522398/original/file-20230421-22-jqtear.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522398/original/file-20230421-22-jqtear.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522398/original/file-20230421-22-jqtear.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522398/original/file-20230421-22-jqtear.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522398/original/file-20230421-22-jqtear.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522398/original/file-20230421-22-jqtear.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">The gendered division of labour worsened during the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The goal of our study was to better understand why couples were returning to a more unequal division of labour, despite significant progress over the last several years. We interviewed employees who were part of dual-career partnerships to understand the circumstances and decisions behind these inequitable outcomes.</p>
<h2>Pandemic increased gender inequality</h2>
<p>Our findings showed that the pandemic worsened the gendered division of labour among dual-career heterosexual couples working remotely. This division was influenced by the age of couples and the existence of children. </p>
<p>Our research found that couples 50 years of age and over had a more traditional division of labour during the pandemic. Despite being fully employed, women in these partnerships took on most, if not all, of the household tasks and care-giving responsibilities. </p>
<p>One woman over 50 told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“So, I’m cooking and cleaning, I do all the grocery shopping. I do all the out stuff. He (spouse) has never been interested in cooking and chores, not knowing where simple things are, like where a rolling pin is kept, because he’s never used it in the kitchen, so it’s very much a division.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the other hand, couples under 50 participated in a more equal division of labour, with women and men sharing domestic tasks and responsibilities. However, when these couples had young children, women often took on a majority of household and caregiving responsibilities. </p>
<p>For couples who did not have children, despite a more equal division of labour, women were responsible for more feminine-oriented tasks (i.e., cooking and cleaning) while their male partners participated in more male-oriented tasks (i.e., taking out the garbage and yard work). </p>
<p>One woman under 50 told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I’m Martha Stewart and making dinner…in terms of division of labour…it’s stereotypical, he (spouse) will do the stuff outside the house, so lawn mowing, shovelling and I would do stuff inside the house.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Overall, domestic labour defaulted to women, who took on more home and family responsibilities, more feminine-oriented tasks, and felt a greater emotional burden towards this division of labour.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An Asian man carrying two trash bags towards a dumpster" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522712/original/file-20230424-1075-8py20s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522712/original/file-20230424-1075-8py20s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522712/original/file-20230424-1075-8py20s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522712/original/file-20230424-1075-8py20s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522712/original/file-20230424-1075-8py20s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522712/original/file-20230424-1075-8py20s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522712/original/file-20230424-1075-8py20s.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">For couples who did not have children, women were responsible for more feminine-oriented tasks, while their partners participated in more male-oriented tasks like taking out the garbage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Women’s feelings about domestic labour</h2>
<p>The interviews provided us with the opportunity to better understand participants’ feelings towards their division of household labour. Women within the 50 and over age group felt dissatisfied and frustrated with such unequal division of labour. </p>
<p>One woman over 50 told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I don’t like it and am not pleased with it, but it’s a battle and I haven’t got the strength for a fight. I mean, you will have to keep going anyways anyhow.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the other hand, women under 50, who experienced a more equal division of labour, expressed mixed feelings of guilt, gratitude and anxiety. Many women felt fortunate to have partners who shared the workload in the household, but others felt guilty.</p>
<p>Our findings demonstrated that, despite differences in age and caregiving responsibilities, women felt a moral obligation towards domestic labour. Researchers refer to this as “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/189945">doing gender</a>.” </p>
<p>One woman under 50 told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I feel intense guilt and stress and anxiety because I’m not able to participate in the kinds of food preparation that I was able to do before.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Implications for the future</h2>
<p>Our findings have important implications for the workplace and beyond. Given the increasing number of dual-career couples, these inequalities can lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000857">significant negative career outcomes for both men and women</a>.</p>
<p>Employers must recognize these challenges and develop policies and practices to support working women who aspire to grow and develop their careers. This can include advocacy for paid leave for both mothers and fathers, flexible work-from-home arrangements, or improved pay and benefits to help with increasing costs of living.</p>
<p>As well, employers should facilitate critical discussions about gender inequality and open the door for progress around gender roles and gender expectations. </p>
<p>These work-related challenges are a reflection of existing gender inequities within our broader society. With our findings, we aim to raise awareness about gender inequality and encourage individuals to advocate for closing the gender gap. Our hope is to encourage and promote a more equal and fair future for both men and women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203818/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 organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At the beginning of the pandemic, it was predicted that the shift to remote work would lead to more equal division of domestic labour. Recent research shows this was not the case.Tina Sharifi, PhD Candidate, Human Resource Management, York University, CanadaAyesha Tabassum, PhD Candidate, School of Human Resources Management, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2003072023-03-23T13:34:58Z2023-03-23T13:34:58ZWomen occupy very few academic jobs in Ghana. Culture and society’s expectations are to blame<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516646/original/file-20230321-1480-be3c0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There is a dearth of women teaching at institutions of higher education in Ghana</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In many parts of the world, men dominate the higher education sector. A 2022 UNESCO <a href="https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/SDG5_Gender_Report-2.pdf">report</a> found that, globally, fewer than two out of five senior academics are women. In an earlier report it showed that <a href="http://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/women-science">less than 30%</a> of the world’s researchers are women.</p>
<p>Ghana is no exception. The country has made some progress in improving gender parity and inclusion through various <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-gender-gap-report-2017">national policies</a>. But this progress has not extended to jobs in the higher education sector. In 2009, drawing on data from six of the country’s public universities, the regulator for tertiary institutions, National Council for Tertiary Education <a href="https://gtec.edu.gh/download/file/FINAL-STATISTICAL-REPORT-ON-TERTIARY-EDUCATION16.pdf">reported</a> that just 19.5% of academic staff were women. </p>
<p>Our recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2022.2048636">research</a> suggests these figures have not improved in the past few years. We set out to understand why so few women occupy academic positions in Ghanaian universities. We did this because understanding the reasons will help efforts at developing appropriate policy responses. </p>
<p>Our findings showed that traditional gender norms were the main barrier to Ghanaian women pursuing academic careers. There are set ideas in Ghanaian society about what women can and should do. Examples include the fact that women are seen primarily as caregivers and mothers rather than as professionals seeking careers. Entrenched ideas about what women can or should do is a major issue because it evokes negative gender stereotypes. Many women have in many circumstances internalised these stereotypes and shared them. In turn, this has contributed to the low numbers of women academics in Ghanaian universities. </p>
<h2>Low representation</h2>
<p>The gender composition from nine Ghanaian universities based on <a href="https://gtec.edu.gh/download/file/Tertiary%20Education%20Statistics%20Report%202018.pdf">data</a> from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission showed that:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Only 10.2% of all full professors – the most senior academic level – were women</p></li>
<li><p>Women accounted for just 14.2% of those ranked as Associate Professors</p></li>
<li><p>Only 13.4% of senior lecturers were women; the figure was 22.8% for lecturers and 26.4% for assistant lecturers.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These numbers reflect similar numerical trends elsewhere in the world. <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/staff-data">For example</a>, in Australia, women held 54.7% of lecturer ranks, 46.8% of senior lecturer ranks, and only 33.9% of women held ranks above senior lecturer. In Nigeria, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1261106/female-staff-in-nigerian-universities/">women represented </a> only 23.7% of academic staff in universities in the 2018/2019 academic year. In Sierra Leone, out of the 1779 full time academic staff only 267 were women <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/857591468302730070/pdf/ACS43930PNT0P10x0379833B00PUBLIC00.pdf#page=23">representing only 18%</a> of the total academic staff . </p>
<h2>What women told us</h2>
<p>We interviewed 43 female academics who represented a variety of academic disciplines categorised into three academic domains. These were biological/agriculture sciences, humanities and social sciences, and engineering/Information Technology. </p>
<p>Respondents included 3 professors/associate professors, 4 senior lecturers, 29 lecturers and 7 assistant lecturers. The interview questions were centred on participants’ own experiences and events within their work environment and the wider society. We also asked about female employment participation in higher education.</p>
<p>A number of respondents said that society expected them to have children while they were still young and that there was a perceived age limit for getting married. Education was only valued up to a point, as one respondent explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Everybody would want to see their child complete (a) first degree and once you are done with that you are virtually on your own. A lot of us would want to get married right after and that’s when you are lucky to have been grabbed whilst you were in school. And the next thing you have in society is that you get married and settle. And once you get married, in the first year everybody is expecting you to have a child. If you are deferring your childbearing to pursue education, society will raise a lot of concerns.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Others said that being highly educated limited their prospects of marriage. Ghanaian society felt men should care for women rather than women having a career of their own or being more successful than their husbands.</p>
<p>An interviewee told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… usually (in families) the man is known as the bread winner, so it is just normal that they will sacrifice the woman’s education for the man to improve and to be more economically secure to be able to take care of the family.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Cultural and societal norms meant that men were viewed as being better suited to teaching at a university level and forging careers in academia. Women, on the other hand were considered to be better teachers at the basic education level. </p>
<p>The interviewees also told us that, in their experience, academic institutions were unaware of the bias against them. </p>
<p>An interviewee told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… Many of our institutions are gender-blind in the distribution of PhD scholarships and other career development opportunities. They do not even know that the small number of women lecturers in the departments and faculties is a problem and that they need to do something urgently to address it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is known as <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-gender-blindness-5204197">gender blindness</a>. It shows that, even with the rise and widespread dissemination of national policy actions on gender equality, inclusion and grassroots activism, changes in behaviour and attitudes have not reached all institutions.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>There is a great opportunity to alter social structures to improve employment outcomes of women in the higher education sector – starting from societal norms, where attitudes and behaviour need to change. </p>
<p>This requires a multidimensional approach including social reconstruction through advocacy, social change activism and legislation. While the state should be driving legislation and social change advocacy, gender-based civil society organisations, universities, families and individuals also have a role to play. </p>
<p>The limited number of women occupying academic positions in Ghanaian universities undermines government efforts and national policy actions designed to improve gender equality in the workforce across the different sectors of the economy. <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/delivering-through-diversity">Research</a> has shown that there is significant value in a diverse gender mix in employment. It can help to achieve social justice and social inclusion with major economic benefits to the economy.</p>
<p>Changing society’s expectations is crucial. But Ghanaian universities should establish transparent gender-neutral policies towards recruitment and promotion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Desmond Tutu Ayentimi 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>Ghanaian traditional gender norms are the main barrier to Ghanaian women pursuing academic careers.Desmond Tutu Ayentimi, Senior Lecturer in Management, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1310272022-11-13T19:03:40Z2022-11-13T19:03:40ZCash for the winner, the loser for dinner: cockfighting in Timor Leste is a complicated game<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316581/original/file-20200221-92507-ofubd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C36%2C4031%2C2969&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annie Yuan Cih Wu</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The venue is brimming with cheers of excitement from the chicken owners. Despite bets being placed before the game started, the value of a bet can build up as the stronger chicken continues to win. </p>
<p>The atmosphere gets intense.</p>
<p>The brown dirt floor is speckled with red; the smell of this blood mixes with the smoke of cigarettes and floats up to coat the twilight sky. </p>
<p>Blood splashed on the ground by the knife of the winning chicken signifies not only masculinity and competition, but also the efforts dedicated to raising household chickens and the ability to earn an income off bets.</p>
<p>The rule of brutality is the loser cock will also contribute: not through a betting income, but through feeding the family. </p>
<p>In Timor-Leste, cockfighting is a strictly gendered event <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23820901?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">limited to men</a>. Women are forbidden to attend, embargoed by the culture, but foreign observers – including myself – seem exempt from the rule. </p>
<h2>Men’s work</h2>
<p>Men gather every afternoon at 6pm in large fields to gamble on cockfighting (<em>futu manu</em>). In one evening, a man can spend from US$10-$200 per game in a country where the median monthly income per household is <a href="http://www.statistics.gov.tl/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/HIES2011_Report_20-_20Final.pdf">US$235</a>. </p>
<p>Cockfighting is a cultural practice that has been prevalent in <a href="https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/%7Erfrey/PDF/410/Geertz72.pdf">Southeast Asia</a>, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/521598">South America</a> and the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/lasr.12094">South Pacific</a> for a long time. It is believed to have originated in South Asia before it was introduced into Greece in the time of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/cockfighting">Themistocles</a>, 524–459 BCE. </p>
<p>Each night there is a series of fights between an agreed number of chickens over several rounds of battles. Each winner chicken will continuously fight to the next round until the ultimate winner is announced. </p>
<p>This traditional cultural activity has been commercialised as a petty cash source and a channel for getting windfalls for Timorese men since the Portuguese colonial era. It is possible to win a few hundred dollars in one day if the fighter chicken is well-trained and strong enough to win several times. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.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">Attending the fights is strictly for men.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annie Yuan Cih Wu</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Loser cocks are frequently disabled, and a small corner is dedicated for them after each round. Owners take them home to serve for dinner. Timorese households rarely consume protein every meal. Especially in rural households, meat is eaten only a few days a week and these chickens form an important part of the diet. </p>
<p>Cockfighting has multiple advantages for a household: nutritional value, potential extra income, the leisure of excitement and a space for men to engage with peers and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/95/4/1341/3102954">demonstrate masculinity</a> and power during the game.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/before-chickens-became-food-for-people-they-were-regarded-as-special-exotica-184582">Before chickens became food for people, they were regarded as special exotica</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Women’s work</h2>
<p>Chicken selling and dealing is reserved for women to earn petty cash and accumulate private savings. </p>
<p>Forbidding women to participate in cockfighting restricts access to fun and highlights the privilege of its masculine nature. But men are not allowed to sell chickens that belong to their wives, mothers, sisters or daughters: that is the women’s traditional “piggy bank”. </p>
<p>One chicken may sell for US$15-40, and one woman can raise up to seven chickens a year, depending on the available space. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.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">Chickens can sell for US$15-40.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annie Yuan Cih Wu</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Permitting only women to be in charge of chicken sales is a security deposit and balancing structure. The family economics cannot be squandered by men’s addiction to cockfighting: the rights of sale are determined by the women. </p>
<p>Men are allowed to keep, train and raise chickens in their own way. They can often be seen exchanging information about their chickens before and after fights. But women are the treasurers in dealing with household chickens. </p>
<h2>Community work</h2>
<p>For the community, the petty cash spent on cockfighting allows the continuity of a Timorese tradition and supports the local economy. Social and communal relations are sustained and the informal economy is supported: cash stays local and is spent locally. </p>
<p>Cockfighting trading and training require multiple business skills that benefit the livelihoods of participants’ families: developing the system to collect betting cash and issue winners’ takings, running events, facilitating the game and selling cigarettes and drinks. </p>
<p>Yet it exists in a vague and informal economic sphere in Timor-Leste: somewhere between a leisure activity to unwind and a commercial trade to make money. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.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">Cockfighting is part leisure, part commercial betting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annie Yuan Cih Wu</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Winning incomes feed local households, guarantees cash flow and secures protein intake. It can improve food security and nutrition, and can relate incomes to small business. It is also a form of preserving cultural heritage.</p>
<p>After the last round of cockfighting ends, some men gently hold their winning chickens as if they were babies, carry them in light blue nylon string bags to catch a minivan, or pat them softly while walking them home. </p>
<p>In that moment, I see these cocks are more than a tool of income generation. </p>
<p>They are pets, warriors and royal portrait animals for Timorese households.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/twenty-years-after-independence-timor-leste-continues-its-epic-struggle-121631">Twenty years after independence, Timor-Leste continues its epic struggle</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131027/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annie Wu 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>Each night there is a series of fights. Each winner chicken will continuously fight to the next round until the last winner is announced.Annie Wu, Senior Research Officer, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1906022022-10-06T13:43:48Z2022-10-06T13:43:48ZZulu monarchy: how royal women have asserted their agency and power throughout history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484899/original/file-20220915-37506-jywf4t.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">EPA-EFE/Phill Magakoe/AFP Pool</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The passing away of South Africa’s Zulu king <a href="https://www.citizen.co.za/witness/news/eidos-news/obituary-zulu-king-goodwill-zwelithini-72-died-on-friday-20210312/">Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu</a> in March 2021 refocused attention on the role of royal women in Zulu leadership. After the official mourning period, and to the surprise of many observers, the late king’s will <a href="https://www.citizen.co.za/witness/news/kzn/update-queen-mantfombi-madlamini-zulu-to-reign-as-regent-until-installation-of-next-king-20210322/">appointed</a> his senior wife Queen Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu to hold the throne for his successor. </p>
<p>Queen Mantfombi <a href="https://www.citizen.co.za/witness/news/kzn/queen-mantfombi-dlamini-zulus-obituary-20210430/?fbclid=IwAR10PkNlTJf5_L6e37tk2NM8BNwk0tD3dRS2HsnwsHWT6iezFvpHK7cpFpI">died</a> six weeks later. Her will named her son <a href="https://www.citizen.co.za/witness/news/kzn/new-zulu-king-aims-to-unite-the-royal-family-20210603/">Misuzulu kaZwelithini</a> as the heir.</p>
<p>In response, Zwelithini’s first wife Queen Sibongile Dlamini Zulu and her daughters, Ntombizosuthu kaZwelithini and Ntandokayise kaZwelithini, <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-13-legal-tussle-over-zulu-royal-family-succession-could-take-years-to-resolve/">challenged the late king’s will in court</a>. They tried to prevent Misuzulu’s installation.</p>
<p>These contestations are only the latest episodes in a long history of royal women’s agency in the affairs of the Zulu kingdom. </p>
<p>Since 2010, the South African government has formally recognised seven kingdoms in the country. Of these, the Zulu royal house is the best financially supported. As a result of secret <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2019-08-07-secret-details-of-the-land-deal-that-brought-the-ifp-into-the-94-poll/">negotiations</a> in the last days of apartheid, the Zulu king is the largest landowner in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. He is the sole trustee of nearly 30% of KwaZulu-Natal’s land. South African taxpayers <a href="https://africasacountry.com/2021/04/the-king-is-dead">support the royal family</a> to the tune of R75 million (over US$4 million) each year.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-zulu-kingship-judgment-tells-us-about-the-future-of-south-african-customary-law-178786">What the Zulu kingship judgment tells us about the future of South African customary law</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As scholars of traditional authority in the region that is now KwaZulu-Natal, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02582473.2021.1937300?scroll=top&needAccess=true">we convened</a> a roundtable after Zwelithini’s passing with historian Jabulani Sithole to reflect on how historians have written about the king. As we noted in the roundtable, this necessary attention to Zwelithini and his forefathers has obscured the agency exerted by royal Zulu women in state-building. Historians still have much to explore on this topic. The isiZulu language, <em>izibongo</em> (praises) and place names are among the sources still to be mined in depth. But Zwelithini’s passing provides a starting point for reflection on the role of senior royal women in Zulu history.</p>
<h2>Gender, status and access to power</h2>
<p>In the historical polities of southeastern Africa, gender and generation shaped a person’s status and access to power. Respect for elders was encouraged. Women carried many responsibilities in showing respect for men. Men, too, were required to show deference for senior women – including mothers, mothers-in-law and royal women.</p>
<p>As the historian <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sifiso-Ndlovu">Sifiso Ndlovu</a> has argued, among royals,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the primary principles of social organisation were seniority, defined by lineage and relative age.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This does not mean gender did not come into play. As Ndlovu points out, some of the praises of royal women masculinise them. The <em>izibongo</em> of Queen okaMsweli, who was the mother of King <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/king-dinuzulu">Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo</a>, describe her as “uSomakoyisa”. This praise positions her as “the tough and uncompromising one”. The prefix “so” depicts a male figure (versus “no” to refer to a female). </p>
<h2>Reinforcing customs, fighting succession battles</h2>
<p>Perhaps most famous of the powerful Zulu women are Regent Queen Mkabayi kaJama, regent for Senzangakhona kaJama, and the Queen Mother Nandi. </p>
<p>Regent Queen Mkabayi operated as a senior member of the Zulu kingdom during its height in the early 19th century. She was responsible for enforcing custom and advising kings <a href="https://sahistory.org.za/people/shaka-zulu">Shaka kaSenzangakhona</a> and <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/king-dingane-ka-senzangakhona">Dingane kaSenzangakhona</a> as part of a military council. The <em>izibongo</em> of Queen Nandi present her as a strong-willed and protective mother who advocated for her son Shaka’s ascendancy.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-has-a-new-traditional-courts-bill-but-it-doesnt-protect-indigenous-practices-190938">South Africa has a new traditional courts bill. But it doesn't protect indigenous practices</a>
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<p>Royal women defended the Zulu monarchy during times of assault and civil war. For example, Novimbi okaMsweli advised her son Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo in the wake of the Zulu civil war that followed the British annexation of Zululand. While he was exiled to Saint Helena, she kept him updated and cooperated with the prime minister of the Zulu, Mankulumana kaSophunga.</p>
<p>Royal women also defended King Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo during his trial after <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/bambatha-rebellion-1906"><em>impi yamakhanda</em></a> (the war of the heads, or Bambatha’s Rebellion) in 1906, collaborating with Anglican missionary <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/harriette-emily-colenso">Harriette Colenso</a> to position the leader as protecting Zulu autonomy. </p>
<p>These royal women played important roles in succession disputes. <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Zulu_Woman.html?id=5ZTelqdJKgQC&redir_esc=y">Christina Sibiya</a>, the wife of King Solomon kaDinuzulu, provided her son <a href="https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/23611">Cyprian Nyangayezinzwe Bhekuzulu kaSolomon</a> with the impetus to claim the throne. She also testified in 1945 to the government commission that found her son to be the rightful heir.</p>
<p>In 1969, King Cyprian’s widows and Princess Greta <a href="https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/44558d306?locale=en">manoeuvred</a> to have Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu installed. Princess Nonhlanhla shaped the official account of Zwelithini’s ascendancy and rule through her contribution to his <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/King_of_Goodwill.html?id=ufAwAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">authorised biography</a>.</p>
<p>During King Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu’s long reign, royal women played key roles in sustaining and reestablishing cultural inheritances. The late king’s fourth wife, Queen Buhle kaMathe, revitalised uMkhosi woMhlanga (the <a href="https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/sights-and-sounds-from-umkhosi-womhlanga-2022/">Reed Dance</a>), a long-standing ceremony to celebrate Zulu womanhood, and held major cultural events at her palace.</p>
<p>Princess Ntandoyenkosi was granted the title of “head of the maidens” in 2005. Mukelile kaThandekile Jane Ndlovu Zulu and Nqobangothando kaNophumelelo MaMchiza Zulu promoted <em>izintombi zomhlanga</em> (virginity testing) revivals and a controversial <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-06-16-virginity-testing-gender-equality-commission-bans-maiden-bursaries/">bursary for “maidens”</a> proposed in 2016.</p>
<p>The claim by Queen Sibongile that she is entitled to half of the <a href="https://www.citizen.co.za/witness/news/kzn/zulu-royals-standoff-not-about-throne-but-about-who-gets-what-in-the-will-20210624/">royal estate</a> as Zwelithini’s only legal wife shows new forms of agency for the women of the royal family. It remains to be seen what role King Misuzulu’s new wife, Queen <a href="https://www.citizen.co.za/witness/news/kzn/meet-zulu-kings-wife-to-be-ntokozo-mayisela-20210515/">Ntokozo Mayisela</a>, will take in the public sphere.</p>
<h2>Sustaining chiefdoms</h2>
<p>Beyond the inner circle of the Zulu kingdom, there are instances of women sustaining chiefdoms in the early decades of colonial rule in Natal. The scholar Felix Jackson <a href="https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10413/12460/Jackson_Eva_Aletta_2014.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">shows women members of chiefly elites</a> attempting to reestablish polities in these difficult years.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-goodwill-zwelithini-the-zulu-king-without-a-kingdom-156965">South Africa's Goodwill Zwelithini: the Zulu king without a kingdom</a>
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<p>Zulu women don’t have a single, homogeneous status. Not all women enjoyed access to political power. But there were those who actively engaged in politics and governance. Their influence is yet to get full attention and understanding.</p>
<p>The intrigues of the succession dispute remind us that much more historical research is needed on women’s access to power.</p>
<p><em>Jabulani Sithole, a commissioner in the KwaZulu-Natal Commission for Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims, contributed to the research.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190602/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill E. Kelly's research has been supported by the American Council of Learned Societies and Fulbright.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liz Timbs has received funding from Fulbright </span></em></p>Royal women play important roles in succession disputes, such as the naming of King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu’s heir.Jill E. Kelly, Associate Professor of History, Southern Methodist UniversityLiz Timbs, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina WilmingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1884222022-09-11T12:36:20Z2022-09-11T12:36:20ZMothers of the movement: Leadership by alt-right women paves the way for violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481821/original/file-20220830-17833-l9e0f6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">QAnon members participate in a protest against the counting of electoral votes in Washington, DC, which affirmed President-elect Joe Biden's victory. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/mothers-of-the-movement--leadership-by-alt-right-women-paves-the-way-for-violence" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Only 14 per cent of Capitol riots arrestees to date have been <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/part-overlooked-role-women-played-capitol-riot/story?id=76924779">women</a>, and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/9/149">yet women played key leadership roles that are important in understanding alt-right movements</a>. Playing into gendered assumptions, <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520240551/inside-organized-racism">researchers of the alt-right tend to characterize women’s participation as passive</a>, with the demographics of Capitol riots arrestees revealing the predominance of <a href="https://d3qi0qp55mx5f5.cloudfront.net/cpost/i/docs/americas_insurrectionists_online_2021_04_06.pdf?mtime=1617807009">white, middle-aged, middle-class men</a>. </p>
<p>However, in <a href="https://routledge.pub/The-Capitol-Riots">our research on digital media and disinformation related to the Capitol riots</a>, we have found that women served key leadership functions in the organization and performance of the riots. They planned events, provided a gentler face for the alt-right, nurtured social cohesion among participants and shaped the direction of the riots.</p>
<h2>The intersection of race and gender</h2>
<p>One commonality between men and women in the Capitol riots was that <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/05/racisms-prominent-role-january-6-us-capitol-attack">the vast majority were white</a>. Yet, <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/White-Feminism/Koa-Beck/9781982134426">white women straddle two intersectional identities</a>, one dominant (whiteness) and one oppressed (female). </p>
<p>This allows them to choose when and how to enact each identity. Far-right movements tend to rely on traditional gender roles, contributing in this instance to women’s adoption of the labels “classic woman” or “tradwife” — roles based on sex-realism. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tradwives-the-women-looking-for-a-simpler-past-but-grounded-in-the-neoliberal-present-130968">Tradwives: the women looking for a simpler past but grounded in the neoliberal present</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/9/149/htm">Sex-realism is the notion that women are biologically different from men and thus cannot be equal</a>; while not considered subordinate, traditional roles for women are prescribed. Included in this alt-right form of feminism are race-based <a href="https://theconversation.com/replacement-theory-isnt-new-3-things-to-know-about-how-this-once-fringe-conspiracy-has-become-more-mainstream-183492">pressures to reproduce</a> white children, associated with the racist rhetoric of “<a href="https://moveme.berkeley.edu/project/maga/">Make America Great Again</a>.” </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">PBS takes a look at why women join the alt-right movement in the United States.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Women who participated in the Capitol riots performed traditional gender roles intersecting with racist rhetoric and actions. Our study of women’s participation at the Capitol riots identified four key groups: mobilizers, “QAMoms” (female QAnon conspiracy adherents), militias, and martyrs.</p>
<h2>Mobilizers</h2>
<p>Women played key roles in the organization of the Jan. 6 protest, with “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/29/1041670956/house-panel-subpoenas-the-organizers-behind-a-rally-that-preceded-the-capitol-at">Women for America First</a>” (W4AF) serving as key mobilizers of the march-turned-riot. </p>
<p>In the weeks before the Capitol riots, W4AF held a <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/maga-bus-tour-coup">20-city bus tour</a> with Bob Cavanaugh, a county commissioner in North Carolina saying, allegedly jokingly: “We’d solve every problem in this country if <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/maga-bus-tour-coup">on the 4th of July every conservative went and shot one liberal</a>.” </p>
<p>Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene also served as an instigator of the riot, posting on the far-right social network Parler and <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/future-frontlines/reports/parler-and-the-road-to-the-capitol-attack/executive-summary/">inciting protesters to interfere with the peaceful transition of power</a>. She posted she needed “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Capitol-Riots-Digital-Media-Disinformation-and-Democracy-Under-Attack/Jeppesen-Hoechsmann-ulthiin-VanDyke-McKee/p/book/9781032160405">a grassroots army</a>,” in a promoted <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-twitter-capitol-riot-b1799872.html">parley</a> that garnered 39 million views, 240,000 upvotes and 12,000 comments. </p>
<p>Mobilizers such as W4AF and Greene are typically well-known, well-funded women who operate behind-the-scenes, exercising a great deal of agency or social power.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482526/original/file-20220902-10299-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a woman holds a WE ARE Q sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482526/original/file-20220902-10299-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482526/original/file-20220902-10299-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482526/original/file-20220902-10299-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482526/original/file-20220902-10299-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482526/original/file-20220902-10299-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482526/original/file-20220902-10299-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482526/original/file-20220902-10299-pnlr93.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">Women were prominent participants in a ‘Make America Great Again’ rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Mothers of the movement</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-mom-conspiracy-theory-parents-sex-trafficking-qamom-1048921/">Women characterized as QAMoms</a>, may be actual mothers and/or they may act as “mothers” of the movement. They have been introduced to conspiracy theories like QAnon, which exploit the nostalgia of an idealized past, through hashtags like <a href="https://doi.org/10.54501/jots.v1i2.51">#SaveTheChildren</a>. </p>
<p>On the surface, this hashtag represents a movement against child sex trafficking, but it has been repurposed by QAnon and QAMoms to promote the far-fetched conspiracy that deep-state Democrats are a cabal of sex-trafficking satanists. </p>
<p>Women drawn to the alt-right through conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns were seen at the Capitol riots leading prayers, providing first aid, organizing food and assuming stereotypical mothering roles. While playing into traditional gendered roles, these forms of mothering are also displays of leadership and social agency.</p>
<h2>Militias</h2>
<p>Alt-right women also, perhaps surprisingly, organize and participate in militias. <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jessicagarrison/conspiracy-charge-ohio-militia-capitol">Jessica Watkins, who served in the U.S. army in Afghanistan</a>, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-oath-keepers-and-10-other-individuals-indicted-federal-court-seditious-conspiracy-and">was arrested</a> and charged with seditious conspiracy for her alleged leadership role in the Capitol riots. </p>
<p>Watkins is transgender, and has been subjected to <a href="https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Jessica%20Marie%20Watkins%20Defense%20Motion%20for%20Release%20to%20Home%20Confinement.pdf">transphobic inhumane treatment</a> in prison, up to and including being housed naked in a brightly lit cell for several days. </p>
<p>She is alleged to have actively recruited members from the Ohio State Regular Militia that she had founded, and to have planned a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/26/politics/jessica-watkins-oath-keepers-capitol-attack/index.html">military style takeover</a> of the Capitol. Watkins was seen during the riots dressed in military garb and moving with militia members in military stack formation. </p>
<p>Shaped by military training, women who participate in and lead militias performed skilled leadership activities in the riots, such as directing and leading others to attack police lines or scale walls, in their alleged attempt to overthrow the state.</p>
<h2>Martyrs</h2>
<p>At the Capitol riots, some participants dressed up and performed the roles of famous patriotic women. Others like Watkins were at the forefront of the incursion into the Capitol building. </p>
<p>One of the most dramatic deaths of the day was such a woman. Ashli Babbitt, a business owner and self-styled QAMom, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/department-justice-closes-investigation-death-ashli-babbitt">was shot attempting to climb through a window to gain access to lawmakers in the House lobby</a>. </p>
<p>Babbitt was immediately <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/30/ashli-babbitt-trump-capitol-martyr/">claimed as a martyr by far-right groups</a>, barely moments after her death and against the wishes of her family. The outgoing POTUS Trump himself characterized her as having died at the hands of a corrupt government — despite the fact that he himself was President at the time of her death.</p>
<h2>Working against their own interests</h2>
<p>It may seem nonsensical for women to work against their own interests in supporting Trump, a man accused of sexual assault and misogyny. An explanation is contained within sex-realism, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2020.615727/full">a particular worldview that many QAMoms hold</a>. Instead of pointing to structures of patriarchy as oppressive, sex-realism is used by alt-right women to scapegoat immigrants and people of colour — those below them in society’s constructed racial hierarchies. </p>
<p>For tradwives, it may be easier to blame outsiders than to confront the fact that oppressive structures and behaviours may be enacted within their very families.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481822/original/file-20220830-33405-9ozp6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="three white women holding signs that read WE ARE Q, Q ARMY and WE ARE DIGITAL SOLDIERS" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481822/original/file-20220830-33405-9ozp6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481822/original/file-20220830-33405-9ozp6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481822/original/file-20220830-33405-9ozp6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481822/original/file-20220830-33405-9ozp6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481822/original/file-20220830-33405-9ozp6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481822/original/file-20220830-33405-9ozp6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481822/original/file-20220830-33405-9ozp6n.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">Women in Bucharest, Romania, participate in a protest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Yet, with the rise of global populism, we should not risk overlooking the contained agency of women participating in alt-right movements, where they mobilize disinformation, reinforce the traditional gender binary, promote conspiracies and enact racism. </p>
<p>The leadership of alt-right women ultimately paves the way for the escalating racist violence of male counterparts within the groups they lead, nurture and “mother.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188422/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 organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Women have assumed different roles in alt-right movements, including organizing protests, spreading misinformation and organizing militias.Sandra Jeppesen, Professor of Media, Film, and Communications, Lakehead Universityiowyth hezel ulthiin, PhD student, Communication and Culture, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1796012022-03-22T10:58:33Z2022-03-22T10:58:33ZUkraine coverage shows gender roles are changing on the battlefield and in the newsroom<p>News coverage of Ukraine’s war with Russia has been illustrated by images of men, young and old, taking up arms and fighting for their country. The political leaders involved are men who represent very <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-zelenskyy-emerged-as-the-antithesis-of-putin-and-proved-you-dont-need-to-be-a-strongman-to-be-a-great-leader-178485">different versions</a> of masculinity.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, from an ad hoc TV studio outside Kyiv, Ukrainian news anchor Marichka Padalko drew attention to the nuances of gender roles during wartime. Interviewed by video link at Oslo’s House of Press, Padalko relayed a discussion she recently had with her husband about who should take care of their three children. </p>
<p>“I must defend the country,” her husband told her. Over a 20-year career as a reporter and anchor, Padalko has built solid audience trust. She felt she couldn’t abandon her people at a crucial time in history. “So do I,” she responded.</p>
<p>In the face of Russian <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/us/politics/russia-ukraine-propaganda-disinformation.html">disinformation campaigns</a>, Padalko believes ensuring her fellow citizens get accurate accounts of the conflict is a task equally as important as fighting the Russian militarily. Eventually, her husband travelled with their three children to the western border of the country to bring them to safety.</p>
<p>“I do not have the luxury of seeing my children, but I know they are safe,” Padalko said before bravely declaring: “We will continue to broadcast until the very last minute.”</p>
<h2>Gender and war</h2>
<p>Besides the powerful testimony of being torn between motherhood and journalism in wartime, Padalko’s comments are a reminder of how gender-segregated wars often take shape.</p>
<p>“The connection between war and gender is arguably the most consistent gender issue across cultures,” renowned political scholar Joshua Goldstein <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/international-relations-and-international-organisations/war-and-gender-how-gender-shapes-war-system-and-vice-versa?format=HB&isbn=9780521807166">wrote more than 20 years ago</a>. He argued that this is a result of traits being equated with masculinity being constantly portrayed as aggressive and more appealing in situations of war.</p>
<p>In contrast, women are often portrayed <a href="https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/gendering-war-and-peace-reporting">as guided by pacifism and concern for others</a> – typically feminine attributes. At a first glance, reports from the war in Ukraine seem to reinforce these gender stereotypes: the endless flow of women and children leaving their country, while men between the ages of 18 and 60 stay behind to fight. On closer inspection, much of the news coverage from the war in Ukraine shows the changing gender roles in war. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/podcasts/the-daily/ukraine-russia-kyiv-civilian-military.html?showTranscript=1">New York Times podcast</a> brilliantly addresses the insecurities and fears of Ukrainian men. Listeners are introduced to Eugene, who is ready to fight but cannot come to terms with the fact that the enemy, Russian soldiers, are his neighbours. Another young man desperately tries to cross the border to Poland, without success. He expresses his deep fear of holding a gun and carrying out violent actions and finds it terribly discriminatory that men are not allowed to leave: “I’m an illustrator. I’m trying to draw motivational posters. And just because, I’m sorry, I have a penis, I cannot leave.”</p>
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<p>Television reports have featured crying men, devastated by how their lives changed in the blink of an eye, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/2/28/fleeing-ukraine-i-would-have-done-anything-to-keep-him-with">shattered by the sight</a> of their mothers, wives and children fleeing the country. Their stories add nuance to the binary designations that are usually found in war reportage: fight v flee, brave v fearful, active v passive, men v women. </p>
<p>The Ukraine war coverage helps us see that there is not necessarily a difference between fleeing to save your children or fighting the enemy with weapons or words. All are actions of war.</p>
<h2>Emotion in the media</h2>
<p>In the newsroom, television reporters (not least male reporters) seem to show more emotion in the coverage of this war than what was traditionally seen in war reporting. This is perhaps a testament to the relatively recent emotional turn in journalism. The attention to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2020.1727347">emotion in journalism</a> represents a shift that has opened up new spaces for more emotional and personalised forms of expression in <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781473957909.n9">public discussion</a>.</p>
<p>Not to be outdone, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/in-ukraine-female-war-reporters-build-on-legacy-of-pioneers-/6485720.html">the inspiring work by female reporters</a> covering this conflict hasn’t gone unnoticed.</p>
<p>While not a journalist herself, Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, has also joined the information battle to defend her country. As a screenwriter, she wrote for the comedy group that brought <a href="https://theconversation.com/volodymyr-zelensky-the-comedian-who-defied-the-might-of-putins-war-machine-178660">Volodymyr Zelensky into the limelight</a>. Now, she uses her communication skills to dictate the pace of the ongoing information war.</p>
<p>Zelenska’s battlefield includes social media, where she shares images by professional photojournalists and adds <a href="https://www.instagram.com/olenazelenska_official/?hl=nl">poignant captions</a>. In one <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Caj_kRcMgan/">post</a>, Zelenska included pictures of women in military uniform in the trenches, women as part of a rescue crew with helmet and headlights and women caretakers of newborn babies in a provisional bomb shelter. She wrote: “Our new opposition has a female face to it.” Posts like this support new war narratives that don’t differentiate between fighting and caring as actions of war.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Caj_kRcMgan","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Gender both shapes and is shaped by media content. These personal stories contribute to the overall narrative of the war and feed into a larger story of power and information exchange. The more complex and human media portrayals of gender may also affect the world’s understanding and empathy of Ukrainians’ peril on the battlefield and as refugees, and eventually influence the mood for change in international security policies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179601/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Mutsvairo receives funding from Norwegian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristin Skare Orgeret 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>War is a gender issue in many ways, but the coverage of Ukraine shows how the portrayals of men and women are changing.Kristin Skare Orgeret, Professor of Journalism and Media Studies, Oslo Metropolitan UniversityBruce Mutsvairo, Associate Professor in Media Studies, Utrecht UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1706132021-12-14T13:28:30Z2021-12-14T13:28:30ZWhat partnership looks like in Mormon marriages is shifting – slowly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436490/original/file-20211208-19-1jlb8tt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C47%2C2082%2C1362&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What should a marriage look like? Religious leaders' ideas have shifted for centuries.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">davidf/E+ via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Discussions about women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the LDS church or Mormon church, often revolve around <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/why-the-womens-ordination-question-will-shape-the-future-of-mormonism/">one question</a>: Will they ever be ordained? </p>
<p>Latter-day Saint women may serve as leaders of <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/learn/relief-society-general-presidency?lang=eng">women’s</a> or <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/learn/primary-general-presidency?lang=eng">children’s organizations</a>, but power in the church remains firmly in the hands of men.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.cgu.edu/people/caroline-kline/">my research on Mormonism and gender</a>, however, I’ve studied how women’s status and leadership have noticeably increased within Latter-day Saint families since the 1980s.</p>
<p>This change is significant, given <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/family?lang=eng">the importance of the family</a> in the church’s teachings. Latter-day Saints believe that families continue to be together beyond this life, and that familial relationships shape their destinies after death.</p>
<h2>Two centuries of change</h2>
<p>Unlike many churches, the LDS church does not employ paid, full-time clergy at the local level. Instead, all practicing men and boys are ordained into a lay priesthood, usually around age 12. Priesthood holders can lead local congregations as <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/my-calling-as-a-bishop/getting-started?lang=eng">bishops</a> and <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/my-calling-as-a-counselor-in-the-bishopric/getting-started?lang=eng">bishops’ counselors</a>. Depending on their status within <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-14-priesthood-organization?lang=eng">the priesthood hierarchy</a>, boys and men can officiate in baptisms and Holy Communion, which is called the “sacrament.”</p>
<p>Women of all ages, however, are barred from ordination and therefore barred from serving as bishops, apostles and prophets, among other types of leaders. In recent years, <a href="https://ordainwomen.org/">a grassroots movement</a> called Ordain Women has pushed to extend the priesthood to women. However, senior church leaders have held firm that “<a href="https://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/2014-04-05/elder-dallin-h-oaks-keys-and-authority-of-the-priesthood-40861">the divinely decreed pattern</a>” is for only men to be ordained, as one apostle of the church said in 2014. They emphasize that the blessings of the priesthood are available for everyone, including women and children. </p>
<p>The LDS church was founded in 1830, at a time when most Christian groups in the United States emphasized men’s “headship” or predominance in the family. Early Latter-day Saint leaders echoed these ideas and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23286316">likewise affirmed male superiority</a>.</p>
<p>Throughout the 20th century, LDS leaders often used the word “preside” to describe their vision of men’s leadership role in the family, which, up to the 1970s, emphasized their prerogatives to be <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1973/02/strengthening-the-patriarchal-order-in-the-home?lang=eng">the ultimate decision makers</a>.</p>
<p>But the 1980s and 1990s saw the beginnings of a noticeable softening in leaders’ rhetoric about male “headship.” Increasingly, notions of men’s presiding within the family were coupled with messages about equal partnership between husbands and wives. Sermons from church leaders began to emphasize the importance of <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1989/07/unrighteous-dominion?lang=eng">joint decision making</a>, compromise and <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1998/04/the-relief-society?lang=eng">working together within marriage</a>.</p>
<p>This shift toward a double discourse – one that simultaneously affirms male headship and egalitarianism in marriages – is reflected in the 1995 document known as “<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng">The Family: A Proclamation to the World</a>.” The proclamation laid out the church’s official stance on family and gender roles. It states that “fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurturing of children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.”</p>
<p>Many Latter-day Saints consider it to be a <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1998/02/the-family?lang=eng">divinely inspired document</a>. </p>
<h2>Balancing act</h2>
<p>How does a religion simultaneously emphasize both of these ideas: that men should preside and that men and women should be equal partners? How does a Latter-day Saint couple uphold both these visions of power dynamics within the home? </p>
<p>Part of the answer is in how the church has redefined the term “preside.” The church’s 2006 <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/family-guidebook?lang=eng">Family Guidebook</a> describes male “presiding” as leading religious training and rituals within the family. Presiding was no longer attached to male decision making; rather, it involved proactive participation within the family.</p>
<p>Even more recently, the concept of male presiding <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2012/06/counseling-together-in-marriage?lang=eng">has been reinterpreted</a> to simply mean that fathers need to make sure the whole family is happy and thriving and that decisions are made mutually with both partners’ full participation.</p>
<p>Another way LDS teachings have accommodated egalitarian ideas is by reinterpreting the role of Eve – the first woman on Earth, according to the Bible.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="God stands over Adam and Eve in an illustration." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436493/original/file-20211208-27-bblzge.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436493/original/file-20211208-27-bblzge.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436493/original/file-20211208-27-bblzge.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436493/original/file-20211208-27-bblzge.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436493/original/file-20211208-27-bblzge.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436493/original/file-20211208-27-bblzge.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436493/original/file-20211208-27-bblzge.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In many traditions, expectations for gender roles often circle back to Adam and Eve.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Angel_of_the_Divine_Presence_Clothing_Adam_and_Eve_with_Coats_of_Skins,_object_1_(Butlin_436).jpg">William Blake, 'The Angel of the Divine Presence Clothing Adam and Eve with Coats of Skins'/Fitzwilliam Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Throughout the church’s history, messages about Eve have reflected <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199358212.003.0011">evolving understandings of women’s roles</a>. In the 19th century, Latter-day Saints, like most other Christian traditions, used the curse God placed on Eve – <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/gen/3?lang=eng">that her husband would rule over her</a> – to justify <a href="https://jod.mrm.org/13/197">female subordination</a>.</p>
<p>Leaders in the early and mid-20th century downplayed the curse and evoked Eve as <a href="https://emp.byui.edu/SatterfieldB/Talks/Motherhood/Wives%20and%20Mothers%20in%20the%20Plan%20JRC.pdf">a noble model</a> of what they considered women’s main purpose in life: to become mothers. And in the late 1970s, then-president of the church Spencer W. Kimball, while <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1976/03/the-blessings-and-responsibilities-of-womanhood?lang=eng">speaking about Eve</a>, rejected the starkly patriarchal concept of men ruling over wives, saying he preferred the softer term “preside.”</p>
<p>Leaders in the 2000s have continued to reinterpret the story of Adam and Eve in increasingly egalitarian ways. Church leader <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2007/08/crossing-thresholds-and-becoming-equal-partners?lang=eng">Bruce Hafen</a> sees Adam and Eve as “equal partners.” </p>
<p>This focus on Eve to justify newer ideas of women’s leadership within their families – though still couched within concepts of men’s “presiding” – is especially meaningful given Latter-day Saints’ emphasis on the story of Adam and Eve. During a major rite in church members’ lives, called the <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/what-is-temple-endowment?lang=eng">temple endowment ceremony</a>, participants reenact part of the story, with men taking on Adam’s role and women Eve’s.</p>
<p>[<em>There’s plenty of opinion out there. We supply facts and analysis, based in research.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=politics-no-opinion">Get The Conversation’s Politics Weekly</a>.]</p>
<p>In 2019, leaders changed the part of the ceremony where women made an obedience covenant, promising to “hearken” unto their husbands in righteousness – which had been one of the last and most significant ways the church stressed men’s predominance in the family. In a nod to rising egalitarianism, women now make a covenant <a href="https://religionnews.com/2019/01/03/lds-church-changes-temple-ceremony-gives-eve-a-bigger-role/">to obey God directly</a>. Husbands no longer serve as middlemen between wives and the divine. </p>
<h2>The next generation</h2>
<p>This momentous change to the temple ceremony signaled the death knell for older Latter-day Saint concepts of female subordination within marriage. Tellingly, however, church leaders have doubled down on language of male “presiding,” even if it does not mean so much in practice. The same year the women’s temple covenant was changed, church authorities <a href="https://www.the-exponent.com/guest-post-why-is-preside-in-the-new-sealing-ceremony/">added a reference to male “presiding”</a> to the marriage ceremony.</p>
<p>The Latter-day Saint tradition continues, therefore, to embrace a double discourse of male headship and marital egalitarianism. For many Latter-day Saint feminists, this discourse is <a href="https://zelophehadsdaughters.com/2007/11/30/the-trouble-with-chicken-patriarchy/">disingenuous and unsatisfying</a>. These progressives desire teachings about marriage that better fit the new egalitarian ideals espoused by church leaders.</p>
<p>While leaders are clearly in no hurry to step away from talk of male “presiding,” one important outcome of the shift toward egalitarian rhetoric may be increasing male participation in the home. As fathers step into active, nurturing roles, a new generation of Latter-day Saint couples may increasingly live out a theology closer to equal partnership.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Kline does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>LDS leaders still stress that men should ‘preside’ over their families. But in recent years, messages about marriage have stressed more equal partnership.Caroline Kline, Assistant Director of the Center for Global Mormon Studies, Claremont Graduate UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1663482021-09-02T20:10:27Z2021-09-02T20:10:27ZWe studied 100 years of Australian fatherhood. Here’s how today’s dads differ from their grandfathers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418808/original/file-20210901-27-1n1kjwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C126%2C1225%2C1479&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Author Kate Murphy's grandfather, Geoff Murphy, posing with children Pete, Lynne and Mick in 1955.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today’s Australian fathers are believed to be more “hands on” and engaged with their children than the stereotypical absent breadwinner of generations past. </p>
<p>However, our research exploring <a href="https://www.monash.edu/arts/philosophical-historical-international-studies/fatherhood-an-australian-history-1919-2019">Australian fatherhood between 1919 and 2019</a> has found that while men’s family roles have changed, deep-rooted societal and cultural forces keep them from being the kind of fathers many of them would like to be. </p>
<h2>The breadwinner of the early 1900s</h2>
<p>Our research examined oral history interviews with (and about) fathers from diverse backgrounds, along with archival sources including letters, diaries and government files. Our goal was to better understand the experience of Australian fathering over the past 100 years.</p>
<p>We found a key factor shaping the history of Australian fatherhood has been the demands of paid work and the enduring power of the provider role — even in situations where dads are not the sole earners.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418817/original/file-20210901-21-12ovlr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418817/original/file-20210901-21-12ovlr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418817/original/file-20210901-21-12ovlr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418817/original/file-20210901-21-12ovlr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418817/original/file-20210901-21-12ovlr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418817/original/file-20210901-21-12ovlr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418817/original/file-20210901-21-12ovlr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A father holding his infant on a calf, New South Wales, ca. 1915.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the breadwinner father is hardly a uniquely Australian phenomenon, the ideal became institutionalised here in distinctive ways. </p>
<p>The 1907 <a href="https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/15931">Harvester Judgement</a>, a landmark court ruling, established the principle that the male basic wage should support a wife and three children. This decision, which in turn ensured lower wages for women, remained the basis for setting Australia’s minimum wage until the 1970s. </p>
<p>Male breadwinner assumptions shaped not just the country’s wages but also welfare and tax policy, so that it simply made better financial sense for fathers to work and mothers to stay at home with the kids. This entrenched a gendered division of labour in family roles that would last for generations.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418812/original/file-20210901-19-1433pmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418812/original/file-20210901-19-1433pmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418812/original/file-20210901-19-1433pmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418812/original/file-20210901-19-1433pmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418812/original/file-20210901-19-1433pmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418812/original/file-20210901-19-1433pmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418812/original/file-20210901-19-1433pmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Co-author Alistair Thomson’s grandfather, Hector, with his sons Colin and David in 1930.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Great Depression then made many fathers failed breadwinners. Geoffrey Ruggles, who was born in rural Victoria in 1924, recalled in an oral history interview that when his war-veteran father lost work, his mother was “forced to scrub other people’s washing”.</p>
<p>Humiliation fuelled marital discord and damaged Ruggles’ relationship with his father. He found an alternative father figure in his navy officer uncle:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[My uncle] had a lot of glamour about him […] an extrovert, a bright outgoing, merry man. A contrast to my father who was a sad sack. So Uncle Tom was a great fellow to be with, he gave me tools and helped me to start things like that, and fostered an idea of innovation – of doing what I wanted to do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The sons of struggling Depression-era families often grew up determined to be good providers for their own families. </p>
<p>Many were also veterans who sought the stability of “traditional” family life. These men became the stereotypical, Holden-driving, breadwinner fathers of the “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Imagining_the_Fifties.html?id=QmxN7ONUKmMC&redir_esc=y">imagined fifties</a>”, counterpart to the stereotypical 1950s housewife. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418827/original/file-20210901-16-1ln767p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418827/original/file-20210901-16-1ln767p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418827/original/file-20210901-16-1ln767p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418827/original/file-20210901-16-1ln767p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418827/original/file-20210901-16-1ln767p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418827/original/file-20210901-16-1ln767p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418827/original/file-20210901-16-1ln767p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Families leaving England in 1947 to build homes for the Australian government in New South Wales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keystone/Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These stereotypes are not entirely wrong. The sole-breadwinner father is often assumed to be the historical norm, but in fact this family arrangement was broadly achievable for only a brief time between the early 1950s and 1970s. For the only time in Australian history, many working-class families could manage on one wage. </p>
<p>By the mid-1970s, however, recessions, deindustrialisation and the casualisation of the workforce shattered the economic security of the (male) “job for life”. At the same time, feminism and equal pay were mounting a new challenge to the male breadwinner stereotype.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nurturing-dads-raise-emotionally-intelligent-kids-helping-make-society-more-respectful-and-equitable-161395">Nurturing dads raise emotionally intelligent kids – helping make society more respectful and equitable</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The “new man” of the late 20th century</h2>
<p>History is so often circular. The sons of the postwar, breadwinner fathers wanted to do things differently from their dads, too. </p>
<p>In another oral history interview, Peter, a man born in Melbourne in 1956, recalled:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As a teenager in the 1970s […] most of the guys that I knew had lousy relationships with their dads. And I think that was really common […] a lot of them had been to war, they’d come home and their role was to build a family, you know, build a financial basis for it so they worked long hours and they just really didn’t seem to relate to their sons. </p>
<p>We all got on really well with each other’s mothers. But the fathers were very distant figures and it’s very different from today.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418841/original/file-20210901-22-khae1p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418841/original/file-20210901-22-khae1p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418841/original/file-20210901-22-khae1p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418841/original/file-20210901-22-khae1p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418841/original/file-20210901-22-khae1p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418841/original/file-20210901-22-khae1p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418841/original/file-20210901-22-khae1p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Australian corporal reuniting with his son in Victoria in 1941 after an overseas deployment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The social, cultural and economic transformations sweeping Australia from the mid-1970s brought new opportunities and expectations for fathers. Feminism and the growing numbers of working mums challenged traditional gender roles in families and contributed to the emergence of the popular ideal of the “new man” by the 1980s. </p>
<p>Fathers of this generation were more likely to be present at the births of their children, and to be physically and emotionally “present” dads. </p>
<p>The inevitable outcome of these changes, some assumed, would be a dual worker-carer model of family life in which mothers and fathers have more equal parenting roles.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-hemingway-felt-about-fatherhood-139801">How Hemingway felt about fatherhood</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The “modified breadwinner” family</h2>
<p>Yet, today’s fathers still find their working lives to be a significant barrier to their ability to be active and engaged fathers.</p>
<p>Since the mid-1990s, the most common family formation has been the “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41604550">modified breadwinner</a>” model. Mothers typically return to work after having children, usually part-time, while the full-time working father earns the primary wage. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fatherhood-penalty-how-parental-leave-policies-perpetuate-the-gender-gap-even-in-our-progressive-universities-160102">The fatherhood penalty: how parental leave policies perpetuate the gender gap (even in our 'progressive' universities)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Although fathers are caring for children slightly more than in the past, <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/home/time+use+survey">time use surveys</a> confirm how much more time women spend doing childcare today compared to men. The unpaid labour of household and family management still largely falls on mothers, with dads “helping”, as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1440783320942413">homeschooling during COVID</a> has laid bare. </p>
<p>Fathers interviewed in the late 1990s and early 2000s express a desire to be more involved, but are tied to paid work that limits the time and opportunity for parenting. Many speak of the stress of trying to meet expectations at work, as well as home, and some feel excluded from family life. </p>
<p>Peter, a man born in the mid-1950s in Victoria, recalls: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was probably working pretty long hours and a lot of the duties were left up to my wife to do […] Even on the weekends, I found that if the kids had a choice of who they would go with, they tend to choose my wife anyway. I found that distressing quite often. </p>
<p>I never used to get home from work till 7:00-7:30. My job was to earn money, and the only time I did stuff around the house was on the weekend and for the kids.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The fathers who spend the most time with their children tend to be those living in less typical family types, including single and stay-at-home dads. </p>
<p>Gay male couples with kids are <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/sites/default/files/cfca/pubs/papers/a145197/cfca18.pdf">less detached from their children’s daily care</a> than fathers in heterosexual couple families, perhaps because they are able to evade the “gender baggage” that influences men’s and women’s roles in families.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418818/original/file-20210901-23-1oxeq3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418818/original/file-20210901-23-1oxeq3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418818/original/file-20210901-23-1oxeq3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418818/original/file-20210901-23-1oxeq3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418818/original/file-20210901-23-1oxeq3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418818/original/file-20210901-23-1oxeq3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418818/original/file-20210901-23-1oxeq3t.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">Father and son cutting a log in the forest at Kuitpo, South Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The parenting paradox</h2>
<p>Today’s Australian fathers face a striking paradox. They are expected to be more “hands-on dads”, yet there’s been little systemic change in their working lives (<a href="https://www.quarterlyessay.com.au/essay/2019/09/men-at-work">including access to, and uptake of, parental leave and flexible work</a>). There’s also been little change to gendered roles in family arrangements: a situation that, admittedly, many fathers have been happy to roll with.</p>
<p>Most fathers are still working long hours and many are concerned about how little time they have to be engaged fathers. Today’s dads may not view breadwinning as their raison d'être, but the breadwinner model of Australian fatherhood is not yet “history”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166348/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Murphy receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Grants scheme, for DP190100214 A History of Australian Fatherhood 1919-2019. She is affiliated with Monash University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alistair Thomson receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Grants scheme, for DP190100214 A History of Australian Fatherhood 1919-2019, and the Australian Research Council Discovery Linkage scheme, for LP170100860 People, Places and Promises: Social Histories of Holden in Australia. He is affiliated with Monash University, and is member of the Australian Labor Party.</span></em></p>Australian fatherhood remains closely tied to ‘breadwinning’. History helps us to understand why.Kate Murphy, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History, Monash UniversityAlistair Thomson, Professor of History, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661422021-08-16T14:31:09Z2021-08-16T14:31:09ZInside the warped world of incel extremists<p>In trying to understand what prompted a man in Plymouth, England to commit the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-58197414">worst mass shooting</a> in the UK for over a decade, attention has turned to his apparent links with the incel community – an online subculture of people who describe themselves as “involuntary celibates”.</p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/inside-the-warped-world-of-incel-extremists-166142&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Jake Davison allegedly shot his mother before a shooting spree which ended when he turned the gun on himself. His youngest victim was three years old. In the lead-up to the attacks, he compared himself to <a href="https://metro.co.uk/video/plymouth-shooter-jake-davison-clarifies-himself-as-an-incel-in-youtube-rant-2480403/">incels</a> in YouTube videos and contributed to their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/13/plymouth-shooting-suspect-what-we-know-jake-davison">forums</a>. </p>
<p>He uploaded videos in which he <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/14/plymouth-shooting-gunman-said-terminator-final-youtube-video/">fixated on his virginity</a> and, in a direct reference to incel ideology, Davison’s described himself as “<a href="https://metro.co.uk/2021/08/14/plymouth-shooting-what-is-an-incel-and-what-does-black-pill-mean-15090940/">blackpilled</a>”. This means that he believed himself too old, at 22, to find love. </p>
<h2>What is an incel?</h2>
<p>Incels refuse to accept responsibility for their circumstances, instead believing their inability to attract women makes them victims of oppression. Like all groups under the umbrella of online misogyny known as the “manosphere”, they subscribe to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/14/the-red-pill-reddit-modern-misogyny-manosphere-men">the “red pill”</a> conspiracy theory. They believe men are the true victims of gendered oppression, that male power has been usurped, and that feminism is a front to disguise men’s subjugation. </p>
<p>Incels essentialise this conspiracy in the idea of the “black pill”. To swallow the black pill is to accept that this oppression is insurmountable. It invokes a certain hopelessness. Incels believe there is nothing they can ever do to improve their lives. </p>
<p>Incels believe in a genetically essentialist social hierarchy. At the apex are “chads” – hyper-athletic attractive males who women desire instinctively. Beneath them are descending classes of “betas”. At the lowermost point are incels, whose innate characteristics make them unable to attract women. Height-cels say they are too short; skull and frame-cels blame their skeletal structure; wrist-cels believe their wrists are too thin; and there are many more delineations. Incels cannot accept responsibility for their lot in life, instead spinning themselves as victims of their own biology and societal oppression.</p>
<h2>Targeting women</h2>
<p>Incels blame women for this hierarchy and their low place within it. The culture portrays women as irrational and emotional creatures who are blindly pursuing the biological imperatives to seek sexual satisfaction and material security through marriage. </p>
<p>Incels believe women select different men for these functions, marrying an inferior “beta” for financial gain whilst cheating with “chads” for sexual gratification. To incels, women pursue their interests sociopathically and will not hesitate to harm men. A society dominated by women does the same and incels see their oppression as a natural consequence of women’s malicious and inhuman nature.</p>
<p>Nowhere is this expressed more bizarrely than the widely held <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2020.1804976">incel belief</a> in the “dogpill”. This is the view that women’s drive for sexual satisfaction is such that they will routinely have sex with large dogs. Absurdity is the point here. Women are portrayed as so depraved that they are undeserving of rights and bodily autonomy. </p>
<p>Incels call for women to be stripped of their rights and be forced to serve as state-mandated girlfriends or held in <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/reports/misogynist-incels-and-male-supremacism/mass-violence-and-terrorism-since-santa-barbara/">concentration camps</a>. Incels see themselves as the sexless victims of women’s nature, and call for them to be contained or controlled accordingly.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two hands holding up a red and a blue bill. Other than the pills, the image is in black and white." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416319/original/file-20210816-28-18ydoxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416319/original/file-20210816-28-18ydoxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416319/original/file-20210816-28-18ydoxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416319/original/file-20210816-28-18ydoxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416319/original/file-20210816-28-18ydoxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416319/original/file-20210816-28-18ydoxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416319/original/file-20210816-28-18ydoxg.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">Incels subscribe to the ‘red pill’ conspiracy theory, believing men are the true victims of gendered oppression.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-holding-red-blue-pills-hand-1575335608">Smile Shot/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The “black pill” refers to the oppression of incels at the hands of biologically malevolent women. In various online cultures, to take the black pill is to give up hope. And in incel culture specifically, it is to give up hope of ever having sex or a genuine romantic connection. Because they believe attractiveness is genetically determined, there is no hope for incels to rise in the hierarchy. They will be forever denied sex and happiness, and are doomed to be women’s victims. Nihilistic despair and dogmatic hopelessness permeates incel communities and it is from this that violence flows. </p>
<h2>Death and violence</h2>
<p>Given that the alternative is to languish in unceasing oppression, incel ideology legitimises violence against practically any target. Incel forums simultaneously glorify suicide whilst justifying <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/4/16/18287446/incel-definition-reddit">extreme violence against women</a> as a noble reaction to female domination. Violence is an ideological response; a means to <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/male-supremacy">punish women</a> for their perceived crimes and reclaim what has been usurped. Incel ideology is necessarily violent because there is no hope, only revenge.</p>
<p>For some time, the wider world has instinctively dismissed what is, admittedly, a childish ideology based on crude stereotypes and nonsensical concepts. Sadly this is no longer an option. Plymouth is not the first shooting linked to incels. Californian Elliot Rodger, a self-described “kissless virgin,” killed six in 2014 as “<a href="https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/rodger_video_1.0.pdf">revenge</a>” against those who denied him sex. Incel communities venerate Rodger as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43892189">a saint</a> to this day. </p>
<p>In Toronto, Canada, Alek Minassian was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56269095">convicted</a> of murdering ten people with a van in 2018. He <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/25/us/incel-rebellion-alek-minassian-toronto-attack-trnd/index.html">hailed</a> Rodger online minutes prior to the attack. Recent attacks in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52733060">Canada</a>, <a href="https://eu.azcentral.com/story/news/local/glendale/2020/05/23/westgate-shooting-who-armando-hernandez-jr/5237382002/">Arizona</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/hanau-terrorist-manifesto-shows-non-white-hatred-incel-trump-theft-2020-2">Germany</a> have also been linked to incels, while a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/21/us/incels-ohio.html">planned attack</a> in Ohio was discovered only days before Plymouth. There are many more examples, and some are <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/police-urged-to-clamp-down-on-incel-movement-after-plymouth-shooting-0nppjxhj8">calling</a> for the Plymouth shooting to be classified as an act of terror.</p>
<p>Although not obviously political, incel ideology revolves around imagined subjugation, and violence is intended to have a far-reaching social impact. Rodger hoped to “<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1173808-elliot-rodger-manifesto.html">deliver a devastating blow</a>” that would shake women to “the core of their wicked hearts”. Minassian fantasised of an “<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/alek-minassian-trial-incel-who-killed-10-people-in-toronto-van-attack-pleads-not-guilty-to-murder-12129597">incel rebellion</a>” that would overthrow the corrupt social order and return women to their proper place. </p>
<p>Few incels believe this is actually feasible, but <a href="https://www.dps.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/director_staff/media_and_communications/2020/txterrorthreatassessment.pdf">allegiance to</a> the principle motivates violence intended to strike at the social order and harm women as a distinct class. This is why the extreme violence of the incel community <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1751459">should be considered terrorism</a>.</p>
<p>Incel terrorism has spiked over the last decade and there is every indication this <a href="https://www.hsaj.org/articles/16835">community is growing</a>. If this most recent attack was motivated by incel ideology, it was neither the first nor likely to be the last. For all their warped concepts and ideological incoherence, incels are becoming a threat we must take seriously.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166142/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlie Tye receives funding from the Morrell Centre for Legal and Political Philosophy. </span></em></p>Jake Davison, the gunman in the UK’s worst mass shooting in a decade, has been linked to the ‘Incel’ movement – but what what do incels really believe?Charlie Tye, PHD Candidate, York Law School, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1638622021-07-20T12:11:28Z2021-07-20T12:11:28ZThe Tokyo Olympics will be the Games of all mothers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411301/original/file-20210714-17-1rltfer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4880%2C3250&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">American sprinter Allyson Felix celebrates with her daughter Camryn after finishing second in the women's 400-metre race at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials on June 20.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ashley Landis) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In March, the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Organizing Committee <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/news/tokyo-2020-first-ever-gender-balanced-olympic-games-in-history-record-number-of-female-competitors-at-paralympic-games">announced that the Tokyo Games would be the “first gender-balanced Olympic Games in history.”</a> </p>
<p>The gender gap in sport is <a href="https://www.athleteassessments.com/gender-equality-debate/">well-established</a>. Men have historically dominated elite sport for centuries, but thanks in part to the advocacy of organizations like the IOC Women in Sport Commission, global female representation in sport is greater than ever. </p>
<p>Central to this movement is the increased visibility of elite female athletes competing and succeeding at the Olympic Games, inspiring future female Olympians across the globe. Yet, major barriers still remain, particularly those faced by athletes who are mothers.</p>
<h2>Breastfeeding at the Olympics</h2>
<p>Mothers have been competing at the Olympics since the Paris 1900 Games when women’s events <a href="https://olympics.com/en/athletes/margaret-ives-abbott">were first added</a>. But the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games have highlighted the barriers faced by mothers and mothers-to-be as they vie for coveted spots on the Olympic roster. </p>
<p>Veteran Canadian basketball player Kim Boucher recently made a <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCOlympics/status/1408152397214539779?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1408587245917986825%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fsports%2Folympics%2Fsummer%2Fbasketball%2Folympics-canada-basketball-kim-gaucher-breastfeeding-1.6078717">plea via social media</a> to be allowed to bring her three-month-old daughter (whom she was still breastfeeding) to Tokyo. The organizing committee’s initial answer was no, given pandemic restrictions. When international media pressure mounted, the committee’s stance shifted. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1408152397214539779"}"></div></p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/basketball/olympics-canada-basketball-kim-gaucher-breastfeeding-1.6078717">statement to the CBC</a>, the committee said: “It is our understanding that no children stayed at Olympic Villages during previous Games. Nevertheless, there may be special circumstances, particularly with regard to infant children.” </p>
<p>With the ultimate reversal of their decision, Boucher and her daughter <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/basketball/tokyo-organizers-allow-nursing-mothers-bring-children-to-olympics-1.6085847?utm_content=buffer1222b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">will be attending the Olympic Games together</a>.</p>
<h2>Fighting to qualify</h2>
<p>In 2018, Canadian Olympic boxer Mandy Bujold’s dream of starting a family became a reality when her daughter was born.</p>
<p>Knowing she wanted to compete at another Olympic Games, Bujold set her sights on Tokyo 2020. Her plans were nearly put on hold when the International Olympic Committee’s boxing task force announced that the qualification criteria for the Tokyo Games would be based on rankings at three tournaments where Bujold had not competed <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/boxing/mandy-bujold-olympic-box-cas-appeal-the-moment-my-olympic-dream-was-almost-taken-from-me-1.6084647?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar">due to her pregnancy</a>.</p>
<p>Bujold fought back, bringing her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/boxing/mandy-bujold-tokyo-olympics-1.6085623">ruled on June 30</a> that accommodation must be made for women who were pregnant or postpartum during the qualification period.</p>
<h2>Mothers making waves</h2>
<p>After a nearly two-decade career highlighted by six Olympic gold medals over the course of four Games and countless world championship victories, American sprinter Allyson Felix could have retired with an unmatched legacy in track and field when she became pregnant in 2019. </p>
<p>But she didn’t. Instead, the decorated Olympian is returning to Tokyo for her fifth Olympic Games — and her first as a mother.</p>
<p>After a break with long-time sponsor Nike, Felix’s vocal advocacy has forced major corporations to reconsider how they support female athletes before and after pregnancy.</p>
<p>Shortly after facing public backlash regarding its treatment of pregnant athletes like Felix, Nike announced a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/08/16/under-fire-nike-expands-protections-pregnant-athletes/">new maternity policy</a> for sponsored athletes back in August 2019. The new policy expanded the amount of time a pregnant athlete’s pay and bonuses cannot be cut, from 12 to 18 months.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman running wearing a tank top with FELIX across the front" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411123/original/file-20210713-13-1k45d00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411123/original/file-20210713-13-1k45d00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411123/original/file-20210713-13-1k45d00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411123/original/file-20210713-13-1k45d00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411123/original/file-20210713-13-1k45d00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411123/original/file-20210713-13-1k45d00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411123/original/file-20210713-13-1k45d00.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">Allyson Felix finishes second during a semi-final in the women’s 200 metres at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in June.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ashley Landis)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another mother making waves in elite sport is Helen Glover, who became the <a href="https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31597147/olympic-champion-helen-glover-qualifies-toyko-become-first-british-mother-row-games">first mother</a> named to a British Olympic rowing team last month. The remarkable part of Glover’s story is not only that the right personal supports are now in place for her, but that it has taken so long for one of the sport’s best funded and most prolific national teams to achieve this milestone. </p>
<h2>The research is clear</h2>
<p>While participation in elite sport typically declines in pregnant athletes, female athletes are pushing against the societal narrative that they should “take it easy” during pregnancy and beyond by smashing stereotypes and continuing to compete.</p>
<p>As female participation in elite sport has grown during pregnancy and the postpartum period, so has <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32925496/%20%20and%20https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33560776">our understanding</a> of the health impacts of elite sport participation during this time. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30337460/">Extensive research</a> has demonstrated the safety and benefits of engaging in physical activity during pregnancy for both mother and child.</p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30337465/">The research</a> is clear: from a reduction in major pregnancy complication from gestational diabetes to pre-eclampsia, to improved mental health and delivery outcomes, the best advice for most pregnant individuals is to exercise regularly.</p>
<p>We recently conducted research that’s been published examining the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32925496/">impact of elite sport participation during</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33560776/">and following pregnancy</a> on health outcomes and return to sport. This data provided reassuring evidence of the safety of elite sport participation during pregnancy: elite athletes had similar pregnancy, labour and delivery outcomes to sub-elite and recreational athletes, and there is some evidence of reduction in common pregnancy ailments such as low back pain. </p>
<p>Now that pregnancy no longer marks the end of an athlete’s career, many elite athletes not only return to sport, but go on to break personal and world records as new moms. As more female athletes train and compete at the elite level during the reproductive years, it is critical sport policies evolve to support the health and well-being of all athletes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Thornton is an Assistant Professor at Western University and Sport Medicine Physician at the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic. She receives funding as a Canada Research Chair in Injury Prevention and Physical Activity for Health as well as through internal research grants and AMOSO funding. She receives an honorarium as Editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margie Davenport is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta. She receives funding from the Christenson Professorship in Active Healthy Living, NSERC, SSHRC, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Women and Children's Health Research Institute, and Canada Foundation for Innovation. She received a stipend from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology to develop the Pre & Postnatal Exercise Specialization.</span></em></p>The Tokyo Games might be the most gender-equal games in history, but many competition barriers still exist for elite athletes who are mothers.Jane Thornton, Clinician Scientist, Canada Research Chair in Injury Prevention and Physical Activity for Health, Sport Medicine Physician, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western UniversityMargie Davenport, Associate Professor, Christenson Professor in Active Healthy Living, Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.