scholarly journals Are All Jobs Created Equal? A Cross-National Analysis of Women’s Employment and Child Malnutrition in Developing Countries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah Burroway

Using multi-level models, the analysis examines female employment and child stunting across 49 developing countries. At the country level, female labor force participation is not associated with malnutrition after controlling for economic development. At the individual level, a binary measure of employment is not significantly associated with malnutrition. However, a more nuanced measure of seven occupational categories shows that certain types of employment improve malnutrition. Professional, clerical, sales, and domestic jobs are associated with reduced stunting. These effects are only partially mediated by wealth, perhaps suggesting that some jobs may bring benefits to the household beyond the sheer acquisition of tangible resources. Agricultural jobs are associated with increased malnutrition. Manual labor and service work do not have an effect on malnutrition, compared to unemployment. Thus, women’s employment is not necessarily a mechanism for empowerment and wellbeing. Not all jobs are created equal, and many of them do not confer the benefits that are typically associated with working outside the home.

Author(s):  
Trevor Diehl ◽  
Brigitte Huber ◽  
Homero Gil de Zúñiga ◽  
James Liu

Abstract This study explores the individual- and country-level factors that influence how getting news from social media relates to people’s beliefs about anthropogenic climate change. Concepts of psychological distance and motivated reasoning are tested using multilevel analysis with survey data in 20 countries (N = 18,785). Results suggest that using social media for news is associated with a decrease in climate skepticism across the sample. However, social context at the individual-level (conservative political ideology and low trust in science) and at the macro-level (high gross domestic product and individualism) moderate the effect, and therefore reduce social media’s potential to inform the public about climate change. This study contributes to conversations about the ability of emerging media to address science issues, particularly in developing countries.


Author(s):  
MANDY BOEHNKE ◽  
MICHAEL FELDHAUS

Utilizing a multi-level analytic approach (HLM), the present study analyzes reasons for variations in the number of children among 4069 25- to 34-year old women in 25 OECD countries, surveyed in the World Value Survey (WVS). Educational attainment, household income, age, and pro-child attitudes were included as individual-level predictors, whereas on the country-level, individualism and masculinity (as conceptualized by Hofstede), the Human Development Index (HDI), marriages rates, female employment rates, and early childcareenrolment rates were used as predictors. On the individual level, pro-child attitudes and age covaried positively with number of children, educational attainment did so negatively, whereas household incomewas unrelated. Beyond the overall finding that more highly educated women have fewer children, analyses revealed that the impact of education on fertility varies significantly between countries. Of the macro-level indicators, HDI had the strongest impact in that women in countries higher on HDI have fewer children. Country-specific individualism predicted individual number of children positively after partialing for HDI. This result was, however, not sustained, once female employment rates were included in the prediction model: Against age-old folklore convictions, 25- to 34-year-old woman in countries with a high female employment rate have more not fewer children.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
MIKKEL BARSLUND ◽  
MARTEN VON WERDER ◽  
ASGHAR ZAIDI

ABSTRACTIn the context of emerging challenges and opportunities associated with population ageing, the study of inequality in active-ageing outcomes is critical to the design of appropriate and effective social policies. While there is much discussion about active ageing at the aggregate country level, little is known about inequality in active-ageing experiences within countries. Based on the existing literature on active ageing, this paper proposes an individual-level composite active ageing index based on Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data. The individual-level nature of the index allows us to analyse inequality in experiences of active ageing within selected European countries. One important motivation behind measuring active ageing at the individual level is that it allows for a better understanding of unequal experiences of ageing, which may otherwise be masked in aggregate-level measures of active ageing. Results show large differences in the distribution of individual-level active ageing across the 13 European countries covered and across age groups. Furthermore, there is a positive association between the country-level active ageing index and the equality of its distribution within a country. Hence, countries with the lowest average active ageing index tend to have the most unequal distribution in active-ageing experiences. For nine European countries, where temporal data are also available, we find that inequality in active-ageing outcomes decreased in the period 2004 to 2013.


Author(s):  
Wenjun Zhu ◽  
Si Zhu ◽  
Bruno F. Sunguya ◽  
Jiayan Huang

Our study aims to examine the disparity of under-5 child stunting prevalence between urban and rural areas of Tanzania in the past three decades, and to explore factors affecting the rural–urban disparity. Secondary analyses of Tanzania Demographic and Health Surveys (TDHS) data drawn from 1991–1992, 1996, 1999, 2004–2005, 2009–2010, and 2015–2016 surveys were conducted. Under-5 child stunting prevalence was calculated separately for rural and urban children and its decline trends were examined by chi-square tests. Descriptive analyses were used to present the individual-level, household-level, and societal-level characteristics of children, while multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to examine determinants of stunting in rural and urban areas, respectively. Additive interaction effects were estimated between residence and other covariates. The results showed that total stunting prevalence was declining in Tanzania, but urban–rural disparity has widened since the decline was slower in the rural area. No interaction effect existed between residence and other determinants, and the urban–rural disparity was mainly caused by the discrepancy of the individual-level and household-level factors between rural and urban households. As various types of determinants exist, multisector nutritional intervention strategies are required to address the child stunting problem. Meanwhile, the intervention should focus on targeting vulnerable children, rather than implementing different policies in rural and urban areas.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimiter Toshkov ◽  
Giulia Cretti

We study how individual and country-level variables interact in affecting political gender attitudes in Europe. Based on data from the 2017 Eurobarometer survey, we show that there are high levels of support for more women in politics and legal measures to achieve gender parity across the EU. In fact, more people, and women in particular, put higher trust in female compared to male political representatives than the other way round. We find that – at the individual level – gender, age and education have significant effects on political gender attitudes. Contrary to theory, however, the effect of gender is not mediated by beliefs about the proper role of women in politics and society. We also do not find support for the contextual effects of masculine culture and the religiosity of society, but we do uncover significant gaps in political gender attitudes between post-communist and other countries, especially for men. This gap is very significant in size and declines only marginally with the age of the respondent. Our study identifies men in post-communist countries as the group least likely to trust female politicians and support gender parity in politics in Europe. These attitudes are at least partly independent from stereotypes about gender roles.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Begum Dikilitas ◽  
Burcu Fazlioglu ◽  
Basak Dalgic

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the effect of exports on women's employment rate for Turkish manufacturing firms over a recent period of 2003–2015.Design/methodology/approachThe authors establish treatment models and use propensity score matching (PSM) techniques together with difference-in-difference methodology.FindingsThe results of the study indicate that starting to export increases women’s employment rate for manufacturing firms. Gains in female employment rates are observed for the firms operating in low and medium low technology intensive sectors, low-wage sectors as well as laborlabor-intensive goods exporting sectors.Originality/valueThe authors complement previous literature by utilizing a rich harmonized firm-level dataset that covers a large number of firms and a recent time period. The authors distinguish between several sub-samples of firms according to technology intensity of the sector in which they operate, wage level and factor intensity of exports and investigate whether or not women gain from trade in terms of employment opportunities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Zasuwa

Product boycotts represent an important form of sustainable consumption, as withholding purchasing can restrain firms from damaging the natural environment or breaking social rules. However, our understanding of consumer participation in these protests is limited. Most previous studies have focused on the psychological and economic determinants of product boycotting. Drawing on social capital literature, this study builds a framework that explains how individual- and contextual-level social capital affects consumer participation in boycotts of products. A multilevel logistic regression analysis of 29 country representative samples derived from the European Social Survey (N = 54221) shows that at the individual level product boycotting is associated with a person’s social ties, whereas at the country level, generalized trust and social networks positively affect consumer decisions to take part in these protests. These results suggest that to better understand differences among countries in consumer activism, it is necessary to consider the role of social capital as an important predictor of product boycotting.


2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 385-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayle Kaufman ◽  
Hiromi Taniguchi

This study examines the relationship between gender ideology at the individual level, gender equality at the country level, and women and men’s experiences of work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW). We use data from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme as well as the 2011 to 2015 Human Development Reports. Our sample consists of 24,547 respondents from 37 countries. Based on multilevel mixed-effects logistic models, we find that women are more likely than men to experience WIF and FIW. At the individual level, traditional gender ideology positively predicts WIF and FIW. Women and men who reside in more gender-unequal countries have a higher likelihood of FIW while men in these contexts also are more likely to experience WIF. Societal gender inequality is more consequential for those who hold less traditional gender ideology. In conclusion, gender egalitarianism at the individual level and gender equality at the country level are both associated with less WIF and FIW. Policies that seek to address work–family balance should incorporate measures to promote gender equality.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document