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Associations between gender equality and health: a systematic review

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Tania L King, Anne Kavanagh, Anna J Scovelle, Allison Milner, Associations between gender equality and health: a systematic review, Health Promotion International , Volume 35, Issue 1, February 2020, Pages 27–41, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/day093

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This systematic review sought to evaluate the impact of gender equality on the health of both women and men in high-income countries. A range of health outcomes arose across the 48 studies included. Gender equality was measured in various ways, including employment characteristics, political representation, access to services, and with standard indicators (such as the Global Gender Gap Index and the Gender Empowerment Measure). The effects of gender equality varied depending on the health outcome examined, and the context in which gender equality was examined (i.e. employment or domestic domain). Overall, evidence suggests that greater gender equality has a mostly positive effect on the health of males and females. We found utility in the convergence model, which postulates that gender equality will be associated with a convergence in the health outcomes of men and women, but unless there is encouragement and support for men to assume more non-traditional roles, further health gains will be stymied.

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The Gender Equality Paradox in STEM fields: Evidence, criticism, and implications

Margit Osterloh Roles: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing Katja Rost Roles: Conceptualization, Funding Acquisition, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing Louisa Hizli Roles: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing Annina Mösching Roles: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing

This article is included in the Gender Stereotypes in the 21st Century collection.

The gender gap in the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science) in richer and more egalitarian countries compared to poorer and less egalitarian countries is called “Gender Equality Paradox” (GEP). We provide an overview of the evidence for the GEP and respond to criticism against the GEP. We explain the GEP by the higher identity costs of women in wealthier countries due to an increase in the gender stereotype gap and at the same time a lower marginal utility of wealth. We discuss why the GEP in rich countries in the future might enlarge the gender pay gap in spite of more gender equality.

gender stereotypes, women in STEM, gender pay gap, career aspirations, preferences, identity costs, power imbalance

Introduction

The lack of representation of women in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science) is a worldwide phenomenon. Remarkably, within wealthy countries like Switzerland and Sweden which at the same time are characterized by high levels of formal gender equality, the proportion of female STEM graduates is lower than in countries like Algeria or Morocco. For example, female STEM graduates in Switzerland make up 22 percent, in Germany 28 percent, in Sweden 36 percent, while in Morocco there are 45 percent, and in Algeria 58 percent of female STEM graduates ( Hizli et al ., 2022 ). 1 The gender gap in STEM fields in richer and more egalitarian fields compared to poorer and less egalitarian countries is called “Gender Equality Paradox” (GEP). It contradicts the common assumption that as countries become wealthier and more gender equal 2 , the preferences between women and men become more equal.

In our paper, we first provide an overview of the evidence for the GEP. Second, we respond to criticism against the GEP. Third, we try to explain why the share of women in STEM is lower in richer than in poorer countries. Fourth, we discuss why the GEP might matter. We argue that the GEP in wealthy countries might increase the gender pay gap and possibly contribute to a greater power imbalance in partnerships in spite of more formal gender equality. The aim of our paper is to contribute to the understanding of the GEP in order to find out which policy implications are to be considered.

Empirical evidence for the Gender Equality Paradox

In recent years, the GEP has been the subject of extensive research. In this section we discuss the most interesting findings of this research. It shows that the existence and relevance of the GEP today is no longer questioned, but that the explanations for this phenomenon are unsatisfying.

Stoet & Geary (2018) are among the most cited authors studying this phenomenon. They find a negative cross-country correlation between what they term the "propensity of women to graduate with STEM degrees" and formal gender equality. The authors call this the “educational-gender-equality paradox”. Stoet & Geary (2018) used the 2015 PISA database , an every-three-year international assessment of half a million 15-year-old students in mathematics, reading, and science in 37 mostly developed countries and 39 developing countries, which calculated each student´s highest subject, second highest and lowest performing subject. The results on achievements in science, mathematics, and reading show that girls perform better in reading than boys, but at the same time perform similarly or even better than boys in STEM fields across most countries. However, women obtain fewer college degrees in STEM disciplines than men. Paradoxically, the loss of females graduating in STEM fields is higher in gender-equal countries. The study suggests two explanations for this finding. The first explanation is rational decision-making concerning the relative strength of women and men: According to expectancy-value-theory ( Eccles, 1983 ; Wang & Degol, 2013 ) to decide about their educational choices, students use their knowledge of what subjects they perform best and enjoy most. The second explanation concerns economic opportunities and risks: in countries with more gender equality, girls and women can afford to engage in subjects according to their individual interests. In contrast, in environments with fewer economic opportunities and higher economic risks, girls and women tend to choose high-paying STEM occupations. Yet, Stoet & Geary (2018) do not explain, why in more gender-equal environments the differences in competencies and interests of boys and girls amplify.

A more recent study by Stoet & Geary (2022) investigates sex differences in adolescents’ career aspirations across 80 countries using the 2018 PISA database . The study shows that boys are more likely to aspire to things-orientated or STEM careers, while girls tend to aspire to people-oriented occupations, leading to stereotypical male and female careers. In countries with higher levels of women's empowerment, these sex differences are more pronounced, e.g., in Finland or Sweden compared to Morocco or Saudi Arabia. The authors show that these correlations are mostly due to an increase in boys´ aspirations for things-oriented skilled blue-collar careers, and a decrease in their aspirations for people-oriented careers. Stoet & Geary (2022) interpret this result from economic backgrounds: an increase in women's empowerment leads to a higher national wealth, allowing students to pursue careers based on their interests rather than on economic security. The authors suggest that a higher national wealth also enhances working conditions for things-oriented skilled blue-collar jobs, which are often better paid than people-oriented occupations. Stoet & Geary (2022) refer to this interpretation as the “Counter Intuitive Gender Empowerment Model” (CIGEM). They suggest that biological factors contribute to the strong differences in career aspirations in countries with high women´s empowerment. However, it remains unclear why higher economic security affects the interests of boys and girls differently. Overall, the GIGEM model leads the two authors to scepticism about policy interventions to reduce stereotypical careers. In their view, if anything, information about STEM can be provided at an early age, though there is no guarantee that such interventions would be effective. It would make more sense to encourage girls to pursue careers that are neither things- nor people-oriented, for example, careers in management.

The study of Thelwall and Mas-Bleda (2020) extends the GEP to academic research publishing. The study unravels the gender disparities among researchers in STEM by comparing the first-author gender in 30 million articles from various academic fields across 31 countries. In countries where there is a higher proportion of female first-authored research, disparities in gender across different academic fields are larger. These gender disparities are analysed and categorized as subject-wide or nation-specific. The results show that the proportion of female first authors varies to a large extent between the countries as well as the fields. Greater diversity between fields in the proportion of female first-authored research is found in countries and fields with more female researchers, suggesting that in these countries there is more leeway for cultural and biological sex differences in preferences. In order to enlarge the percentage of female researchers in STEM the authors suggest increasing gender differentiation in a more gender-equal academic environment.

Vishkin (2022) considers the GEP in chess participation with a total number of 803,485 active players (15.7% females) originating from 160 countries born between 1920 and 2017. He shows that today, women of younger age cohorts in countries with lower gender equality tend to participate in chess more frequently than women of older age cohorts. The study suggests a generational shift, with younger players participating more in countries with less gender equality. Additionally, a curvilinear effect is found, indicating that gender differences in chess participation are most pronounced at both the highest and lowest ends of the gender equality spectrum.

Napp and Breda (2022) analyse how gender stereotypes concerning brilliance, talent, competitiveness, and self-confidence vary across countries and across students with different abilities using the PISA 2018 database. They measure the strength of gender talent stereotypes among a group of students by the average difference in the attribution of failure to lack of talent, comparing equally able boys and girls within this group. The authors show that stereotypes linking talent and brilliance to men are more pronounced in more developed and gender-egalitarian countries. They also observe similar patterns for competitiveness, self-confidence, and willingness to pursue information and communications technology (ICT)-related occupations. Moreover, the stereotypes associating talent primarily with men are larger among higher-ability students. The more women are present in education, labour force and politics, the stronger is this gender talent stereotype. The authors explain their findings by deeply rooted essential gender norms. According to Napp & Breda (2022) those norms are strengthened in wealthy and egalitarian countries by more individualistic values that give more importance to self-realization and self-expression. However, why this should be the case remains unclear.

Falk and Hermle (2018) establish a positive cross-country correlation between six fundamental preferences and economic development and gender equality. 3 These values comprise altruism, trust, risk-taking, patience, positive and negative reciprocity. The authors find a strong correlation between GDP per capita and the gender equality index. Both—economic development and gender equality—are associated with higher gender differences in fundamental preferences. The study uses data from the Global Preference Survey across 76 countries. The survey was validated by incentivized choice experiments and controlled for potential confounding factors. The authors explain their findings with better material and social resources available in wealthy countries. These resources eliminate the gender-neutral goal of subsistence and create scope for gender-specific ambitions and desires for self-expression. Again, it is unclear why gender-specific ambitions increase with wealth.

Objections to the Gender Equality Paradox

The findings on the Gender Equality Paradox have met some objections. Richardson et al. (2020) challenge the robustness of the Gender Equality Paradox, showing that it is sensitive to measurement methods. Stoet and Geary (2018) find a negative cross-country correlation between the “propensity of women to graduate with STEM degrees” and formal gender equality. However, Richardson et al. (2020) demonstrate that the correlation between gender equality, as identified by Stoet and Geary (2018) , and women in STEM shows small effect sizes and becomes insignificant when alternative measures of gender equality and of women in STEM are considered. In addition to this methodological criticism, two points have to be taken into account.

First, STEM is a broad designation, including biology, mathematics, physics, or mechanical engineering. The share of women within these fields varies strongly. Based on a study with global data more than 60% of students in biology are female, while the share of women in electrical or mechanical engineering is less than 20% ( Federkeil & Friedhoff, 2022 ). To address this issue, some papers have introduced more narrow definition of scientific fields of study: For instance, Ceci et al. ( 2014 ; 2023 ) have categorized these fields into LPS (life sciences, psychology, and social sciences) and GEMP (geosciences, engineering, economics, mathematics/computer science). LPS-fields tend to have a higher share of women and GEMP-fields a lower share of women. Osterloh et al. (2023) distinguish between female-dominated fields of study (more than 70% of women) and male-dominated fields of study (more than 70% of men). A more precise classifications might lead to a different size of the GEP.

Second, the correlation between the “propensity of women to graduate with STEM degrees” and formal gender equality is based on cross-country data. However, “propensity of women to graduate with STEM degrees” is an individual disposition. Assumptions about individual characteristics solely based on group-level data can lead to incorrect conclusions. Consider a scenario in which countries with a high average GDP consist of very few extremely wealthy individuals and many poor individuals, e.g., South Africa. 4 In Switzerland, there is a relatively high gap between male- and female-dominated fields of study ( Osterloh et al. , 2023 ), thus the GEP matters to a high degree. Yet among women in STEM-fields there are many migrants from countries with a low GDP and a low level of women´s empowerment. Policy implications not taking this fact into account would be misleading.

Third, the GEP suggests causality between wealth and gender equality and gender-specific values. For example, Falk and Hermle (2018) propose as an explanation for their findings the “resource hypothesis”. This hypothesis predicts that the greater availability and gender-equal access to material and social resources as well as the lower exposure of women to male influence reduces economic pressures. It opens opportunities for gender-specific ambitions and desires and contributes to the expression of gender-differentiated preferences across countries. The underlying assumption of the resource hypothesis is inherently different characteristics of men and women. The resource hypothesis thus assumes that affluence causes gender-differentiated preferences. However, causality can only be inferred by panel data or laboratory experiments. To our knowledge, such data do not exist.

Nevertheless, numerous research papers show a cross-county association between affluence of a society, gender equality, and gender gaps in STEM. We acknowledge the difficulties in measuring this gender gap and refrain from assuming causality due to the absence of panel data or experimental evidence on the GEP. Therefore, in the next chapters, we focus on possible explanations of the observed positive correlation between wealth and gender gaps in STEM and why it matters for gender policy.

Possible explanations for the Gender Equality Paradox

Undoubtedly, there is greater financial security associated with STEM degrees which is particularly important for poor countries with little social security ( Stoet & Geary, 2020 ). However, this applies equally to men and women. What then increases the difference between the proportion of male and female STEM students with rising wealth and formal equality?

We try to explain this fact in four steps. In the first step, we draw on the empirical study by Breda et al. (2020) . The authors show that the stereotype "math is not for girls" is more widespread in rich, egalitarian countries compared to poor, non-egalitarian countries. That is, horizontal gender norms are stronger. At the same time, in egalitarian, rich countries, a general superiority of men is rejected, as expressed for example in the statement "a university degree is more important for men than for women", i.e., traditional vertical gender norms have become weaker. Consequently, horizontal, and traditional vertical gender norms today are negatively correlated. This means that women want to be equal concerning formal rights but different in their professional aspirations. This new gender norm termed “equal but different,” is most prevalent among affluent and well-educated couples. A new cult of motherhood is arising among wealthy families ( Goldin, 2021 ): men take “greedy jobs” with 50 to 70 hours work per week and high earnings, and women work in family-and child-friendly jobs with limited career opportunities. Women with such role norms often chose humanities and social fields of study ( Combet, 2023 ). These fields are characterized by a lower decay of knowledge than STEM fields. They allow women to re-enter the workforce more easily after maternity leave ( Ferriman et al. , 2009 ). But which horizontal gender norms gain salience with wealthy families while traditional vertical gender norms erode?

To answer this question, in a second step, we draw on the study by Falk and Hermle (2018) which tells us about the contents of different preferences between men and women. The authors state that the gender difference increases for several fundamental preferences in rich, egalitarian countries. In our context, the difference in altruism is particularly important. Consistent with this finding, Eagly et al. (2020) show that in the USA over the past 80 years, as wealth has increased, the stereotyping of women as "communal" or caring has increased, but that of men has not. The growing gender gap in altruism is important because most STEM careers are not driven by altruistic goals ( Diekman et al., 2010 ). We conclude that in wealthy countries there is an increasing difference in preferences for STEM subjects due to the increase in stereotyping women as communal. Violation of such stereotypes causes identity costs ( Akerlof & Kranton, 2000 ; Akerlof & Kranton, 2010 ). As a result, identity costs increase for women who choose STEM subjects in rich, egalitarian countries. For men, these identity costs do not change.

Third, we draw on the results of happiness research, according to which there is a decreasing marginal utility of wealth ( Frey & Stutzer, 2002 ; Layard et al., 2008 ). Higher income increases life satisfaction less in rich countries than in poor countries. At the same time, the identity costs for women in choosing STEM subjects increase, because in wealthy countries, stereotyping women as communal has increased. This leads to a relatively lower share of female STEM graduates in these countries. However, why the stereotyping of women as communal or caring has increased in rich countries remains unexplained.

As a result, we find some possible explanations for the initially counterintuitive "Gender Equality Paradox". In rich, gender-equal countries for women pursuing STEM careers the increase in utility of wealth is lower than the increase of identity costs. As a result, women avoid identity costs. In poor countries with low formal gender equality the opposite is true because wealth matters more than identity costs. However, we find no explanation for the increase in communal preferences of women in wealthy countries. We do not know whether this is due to a biological “gender essentialism”, or due to a deep history of learned cultural gender norms, e.g., the persistence of the male breadwinner model ( Tinsley et al., 2015 ). Alesina et al. (2013) and Jayachandran (2015) show traditional cultural imprints of values and norms are very stable. In any case, as long as there are no panel data or experimental findings, causality cannot be claimed.

Why does the Gender Equality Paradox matter?

Reducing the GEP—if possible—would offer two advantages. First, more female STEM graduates would counteract the shortage of STEM occupations and promote innovation. The higher the share of female STEM graduates, the higher the number of female innovations ( Niggli & Rutzer, 2021 ; Rutzer & Weder 2021 ).

Second, more female STEM graduates would reduce the gender wage gap between men and women because in most countries STEM-related education is associated with higher earnings ( Kirkeboen et al., 2016 ). For example, in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, men earn about 20 percent more per hour than women ( European commission, 2020 ). This wage gap to a great part is due to the low percentage of women occupied in well-paid STEM professions. In Germany, graduates in academic STEM subjects earn 17% more than those in non-STEM subjects ( Anger et al., 2021 ). In addition, as soon as children arrive, gender wage gaps enlarge because the lower-earning mother is likely to restrict her working hours more than the well-paid father with a STEM degree. In Germany the part-time rate of women increased from 38 to 68% ( Lott et al., 2022 ), and in Austria from 37 to 65%. 5 Moreover, the mother's career prospects decrease when returning to a full-time job ( Zweimüller, 2021 ), as well as her retirement income and her income security in case of a divorce.

As a consequence, a new paradox arises: The growing GEP in wealthy and gender-equal countries will lead to an increase in the gender wage gap and possibly to a growing power imbalance within partnerships. Yet, this development obviously is not perceived as problematic in our countries. The literature on subjective well-being demonstrates that on average life satisfaction of women in wealthy countries is as high as that of men, even though they earn less and expect lower retirement incomes than men ( Schröder, 2020 ). An explanation might be that the new cult of motherhood and family-friendly occupations reduce the conflicts regarding the costs and quality of childcare. It also enables higher fertility and more intense childcare. Welfare states should not only be rich in equality but also rich in children to be sustainable. Analyses that balance these advantages and disadvantages of a growing GEP are urgently needed.

Conclusions

The "Gender Equality Paradox" (GEP) reveals that richer, gender-equal countries have a larger gender gap in STEM graduation compared to poorer, non-gender-equal countries. We propose a theoretical explanation of the GEP. In rich, gender-equal countries, stereotyping of women as "communal" or caring has increased, leading to higher identity costs for women pursuing STEM careers. Also, the value of the STEM income premium is lower for women in such countries due to the decreasing marginal utility of money. For women in poor, gender-unequal countries, the opposite holds. In these countries, for girls, marginal utility of money matters more than identity costs. With this approach, we can give a more detailed explanation of the GEP than former proposals. This we consider as the strength of our paper. However, a weakness consists in the lack of causality between wealth and communal preferences of women.

Overall, our considerations lead to the prediction that as wealth and formal equality increases, the gender pay gap will become even larger. Possibly the power imbalance within partnerships also increases. A new, surprising paradox would arise. A first step to test the assumptions of our theoretical explanation would need to develop a measurement of identity costs in order to compare these costs in rich and poor countries. This would include an operationalisation of the concept of identity costs, which is still outstanding.

Further research is needed to explore three crucial aspects. First, it is important to investigate the correlation between the wealth of a country and its democracy index. High democratic values might influence the choice of individuals concerning STEM subjects. Second, we need to understand why the preferences of men and women in wealthy countries diverge. Is it biology, inertia of norms, gender marketing or something else? Third, we should analyse the possible advantages and disadvantages of a growing GEP in the light of life satisfaction, fertility and quality of childcare on the one hand and the gender wage gap on the other hand. Further investigations of these factors will provide valuable insights into the complex interplay of societal and individual influences on preferences and career choices.

Data availability

No data are associated with this article.

Acknowledgments

We thank Milena Milosavljevic for her help with literature research.

1 https://genderdata.worldbank.org/indicators/se-ter-grad-fe-zs/?fieldOfStudy=Science%2C%20Technology%2C%20Engineering%20and%20Mathematics%20%28STEM%29&view=bar

2 There is a strong positive correlation between a country’s Gross Domestic Product and measures of formal gender equality, see Duflo (2012) .

3 Falk and Hermle (2018) do not relate explicitly to the gender equality paradox.

4 In such cases, it would be suitable to consider the median instead of the average GDP per capita.

5 https://www.statistik.at/statistiken/arbeitsmarkt/erwerbstaetigkeit/familie-und-erwerbstaetigkeit

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• The abstract provides a concise overview of the article's content, including the definition of the Gender Equality Paradox (GEP) and its implications. However, it could be improved by briefly mentioning the main findings or conclusions of the
• The abstract provides a concise overview of the article's content, including the definition of the Gender Equality Paradox (GEP) and its implications. However, it could be improved by briefly mentioning the main findings or conclusions of the study.
• The introduction effectively introduces the concept of the Gender Equality Paradox and provides context for its significance. However, it would be beneficial to include a clear statement of the research objectives or hypotheses to guide the reader. The references to specific countries and their gender disparities in STEM fields provide concrete examples but could be supplemented with additional data or statistics to enhance the argument's persuasiveness.
• Empirical evidence for the Gender Equality Paradox: The section provides a comprehensive review of existing studies on the GEP, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the topic. However, it would be helpful to summarize the key findings of each study to facilitate easier comprehension. The use of various studies and datasets strengthens the credibility of the argument. However, it may be beneficial to incorporate more recent studies, to ensure the information is up-to-date.
• Objections to the Gender Equality Paradox: The section effectively addresses objections to the GEP raised by previous research, demonstrating a critical engagement with the literature. However, it could benefit from a more structured presentation of the objections and the corresponding responses. The inclusion of alternative measures of gender equality and women in STEM fields adds depth to the analysis but could be further elaborated to clarify their significance.
• Possible explanations for the Gender Equality Paradox: The section offers compelling theoretical explanations for the GEP, drawing on existing literature to support the argument. However, it could be strengthened by providing more explicit connections between the proposed explanations and the empirical evidence presented earlier.
• The discussion of identity costs and the decreasing marginal utility of wealth offers valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying the GEP. However, additional clarification may be needed to fully elucidate these concepts.
• Why does the Gender Equality Paradox matter?: The section effectively highlights the implications of the GEP for gender equality and economic outcomes. However, it could be enhanced by discussing potential policy implications or recommendations based on the findings. The consideration of both advantages and disadvantages of the GEP adds nuance to the discussion but could be expanded to provide a more comprehensive analysis of its societal impact.
• Conclusions: The conclusions succinctly summarize the key findings of the study and highlight areas for future research. However, it may be beneficial to reiterate the main contributions of the study and their implications for understanding the GEP.

Is the topic of the opinion article discussed accurately in the context of the current literature?

Are all factual statements correct and adequately supported by citations?

Are arguments sufficiently supported by evidence from the published literature?

Are the conclusions drawn balanced and justified on the basis of the presented arguments?

Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.

Reviewer Expertise: My research interests are in socio-educational approaches, and especially gender equality, gender mainstreaming and gender equality in STEM areas, because of the gender gap in the STEM sector.

• Respond or Comment
• COMMENT ON THIS REPORT

Reviewer Expertise: gender inequality, divorce, homogamy

• The authors frequently use
• The authors frequently use the term “identity costs,” which refers to two papers by Akerlof and Kranton. At the end of the paper under review, the authors assume that it is worthwhile to operationalize the concept of “identity costs” to measure them. Throughout the paper, what “identity costs” may mean in the context discussed did not become fully clear to the reviewer. As the concept seems to be of high importance for further developing the “Gender Equality Paradox” (GEP), a few additional sentences for clarification might be helpful.
•  Perhaps it is too early to formulate concrete research hypotheses on the authors’ uptake and further development of GEP research. However, the paper might gain a lot by developing and adding such hypotheses.

Reviewer Expertise: Higher Education Research, Science Studies, Organizational Research, Neo-institutional Theory

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Alongside their report, reviewers assign a status to the article:

Reviewer Reports

• Georg Krücken , University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
• Wilfred Uunk , University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
• Sonia Verdugo-Castro , University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

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• v.7(4); 2021 Apr

Gendered stereotypes and norms: A systematic review of interventions designed to shift attitudes and behaviour

Rebecca stewart.

a BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Breanna Wright

Steven roberts.

b School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Natalie Russell

c Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Associated Data

Data included in article.

In the face of ongoing attempts to achieve gender equality, there is increasing focus on the need to address outdated and detrimental gendered stereotypes and norms, to support societal and cultural change through individual attitudinal and behaviour change. This article systematically reviews interventions aiming to address gendered stereotypes and norms across several outcomes of gender inequality such as violence against women and sexual and reproductive health, to draw out common theory and practice and identify success factors. Three databases were searched; ProQuest Central, PsycINFO and Web of Science. Articles were included if they used established public health interventions types (direct participation programs, community mobilisation or strengthening, organisational or workforce development, communications, social marketing and social media, advocacy, legislative or policy reform) to shift attitudes and/or behaviour in relation to rigid gender stereotypes and norms. A total of 71 studies were included addressing norms and/or stereotypes across a range of intervention types and gender inequality outcomes, 55 of which reported statistically significant or mixed outcomes. The implicit theory of change in most studies was to change participants' attitudes by increasing their knowledge/awareness of gendered stereotypes or norms. Five additional strategies were identified that appear to strengthen intervention impact; peer engagement, addressing multiple levels of the ecological framework, developing agents of change, modelling/role models and co-design of interventions with participants or target populations. Consideration of cohort sex, length of intervention (multi-session vs single-session) and need for follow up data collection were all identified as factors influencing success. When it comes to engaging men and boys in particular, interventions with greater success include interactive learning, co-design and peer leadership. Several recommendations are made for program design, including that practitioners need to be cognisant of breaking down stereotypes amongst men (not just between genders) and the avoidance of reinforcing outdated stereotypes and norms inadvertently.

Gender; Stereotypes; Social norms; Attitude change; Behaviour change; Men and masculinities

1. Introduction

Gender is a widely accepted social determinant of health [ 1 , 2 ], as evidenced by the inclusion of Gender Equality as a standalone goal in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [ 3 ]. In light of this, momentum is building around the need to invest in gender-transformative programs and initiatives designed to challenge harmful power and gender imbalances, in line with increasing acknowledgement that ‘restrictive gender norms harm health and limit life choices for all’ ([ 2 ] pe225, see also [ 1 , 4 ]).

Gender-transformative programs and interventions seek to critically examine gender related norms and expectations and increase gender equitable attitudes and behaviours, often with a focus on masculinity [ 5 , 6 ]. They are one of five approaches identified by Gupta [ 6 ] as part of a continuum that targets social change via efforts to address gender (in particular gender-based power imbalances), violence prevention and sexual and reproductive health rights. The approaches in ascending progressive order are; reinforcing damaging gender (and sexuality) stereotypes, gender neutral, gender sensitive, gender-transformative , and gender empowering. The emerging evidence pertaining to the effectiveness of gender-transformative interventions points to the importance of programs challenging the gender binary and related norms, as opposed to focusing only on specific behaviours or attitudes [ 1 , 7 , 8 ]. This understanding is in part derived from a growing appreciation of the need to address outdated and detrimental gendered stereotypes and norms in order to support societal and cultural change in relation to this issue [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. In addition to this focus on gender-transformative interventions is an increasing call for the engagement of men and boys not only as allies but as participants, partners and agents of change in gender equality efforts [ 12 , 13 ].

When examining the issue of gender inequality, it is necessary to consider the underlying drivers that allow for the maintenance and ongoing repetition of sex-based disparities in access to resources, power and opportunities [ 14 ]. The drivers can largely be categorised as either, ‘structural and systemic’, or ‘social norms and gendered stereotypes’ [ 15 ]. Extensive research and work has, and continues to be, undertaken in relation to structural and systemic drivers. From this perspective, efforts to address inequalities have focused on areas societal institutions exert influence over women's rights and access. One example (of many) is the paid workforce and attempts to address unequal gender representation through policies and practices around recruitment [ 16 , 17 ], retention via tactics such as flexible working arrangements [ 18 , 19 , 20 ] and promotion [ 16 ].

The focus of this review, however, is stereotypes and norms, incorporating the attitudes, behavioural intentions and enacted behaviours that are produced and reinforced as a result of structures and systems that support inequalities. Both categories of drivers (structural and systemic and social norms and gendered stereotypes) are influenced by and exert influence upon each other. Heise and colleagues [ 12 ] suggest that gendered norms uphold the gender system and are embedded in institutions (i.e. structurally), thus determining who occupies positions of leadership, whose voices are heard and listened to, and whose needs are prioritised [ 10 ]. As noted by Kågesten and Chandra-Mouli [ 1 ], addressing both categories of drivers is crucial to the broader strategy needed to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Stereotypes are widely held, generalised assumptions regarding common traits (including strengths and weaknesses), based on group categorisation [ 21 , 22 ]. Traditional gendered stereotypes see the attribution of agentic traits such as ambition, power and competitiveness as inherent in men, and communal traits such as nurturing, empathy and concern for others as characteristics of women [ 21 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. In addition to these descriptive stereotypes (i.e. beliefs about specific characteristics a person possesses based on their gender) are prescriptive stereotypes, which are beliefs about specific characteristics that a person should possess based on their gender [ 21 , 25 ]. Gender-based stereotypes are informed by social norms relating to ideals and practices of masculinity and femininity (e.g. physical attributes, temperament, occupation/role suitability, etc.), which are subject to the influence of culture and time [ 15 , 21 , 26 ].

Social norms are informal (often unspoken) rules governing the behaviour of a group, emerging out of interactions with others and sanctioned by social networks [ 27 ]. Whilst stereotypes inform our assumptions about someone based on their gender [ 21 ], social norms govern the expected and accepted behaviour of women and men, often perpetuating gendered stereotypes (i.e. men as agentic, women as communal) [ 12 ]. Cialdini and Trost [ 27 ] delineate norms by suggesting that, in addition to these general societal behavioural expectations (see also [ 28 , 29 ]), there are personal norms (what we expect of ourselves) [ 30 ], and subjective norms (what we think others expect of us) [ 31 ]. Within subjective norms, there are injunctive norms (behaviours perceived as being approved by others) and descriptive norms (our observations and expectations of what most others are doing). Despite being malleable and subjective to cultural and socio-historical influences, portrayals and perpetuation of these stereotypes and social norms restrict aspirations, expectations and participation of both women and men, with demonstrations of counter-stereotypical behaviours often met with resistance and backlash ([ 12 , 24 , 32 ], see also [ 27 , 33 ]). These limitations are evident both between and among women and men, demonstrative of the power hierarchies that gender inequality and its drivers produce and sustain [ 12 ].

There is an extensive literature that explores interventions targeting gendered stereotypes and norms, each focusing on specific outcomes of gender inequality, such as violence against women [ 13 ], gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health (including HIV prevention, treatment, care and support) [ 5 , 8 ], parental involvement [ 34 ], sexual and reproductive health rights [ 23 , 35 ], and health and wellbeing [ 2 ]. Comparisons of learnings across these focus areas remains difficult however due to the current lack of a synthesis of interventions across outcomes.

Despite this gap, one of the key findings to arise out of the literature relates to the common, and often implicit, theory of change around shifting participants' attitudes by increasing their knowledge/awareness of gendered stereotypes or norms, and the assumption that this will then lead to behaviour change. This was identified by Jewkes and colleagues [ 13 ] in their review of 67 intervention evaluations in relation to the prevention of violence against women, a finding they noted was in contradiction of research across disciplines which has consistently found this relationship to be complex and bidirectional [ 36 , 37 ]. Similarly, The International Centre for Research on Women indicate the ‘problematic assumption[s] regarding pathways to change’ ([ 7 ] p26) as one of the challenges to engaging men and boys in gender equality work, noting also the focus of evaluation, when undertaken, being on changes in attitude rather than behaviour. Ruane-McAteer and colleagues [ 35 ] made the same observation when looking at interventions aimed at gender equality in sexual and reproductive health, highlighting the need for greater interrogation into the intended outcomes of interventions including what the underlying theory of change is. These findings lend further support to the utilisation of the gender-transformative approach identified by Gupta [ 6 ] if fundamental and sustained shifts in understanding, attitudes and behaviour relating to gender inequality is the desired outcome.

In sum, much is known about gender stereotypes and norms and the contribution they make to perpetuating and sustaining gender inequality through the various outcomes discussed above. Less is known however about how to support and sustain more equitable attitudes and behaviours when it comes to addressing gender equality more broadly. This systematic review aims to address the question which intervention characteristics support change in attitudes and behaviour in relation to rigid gender stereotypes and norms. It will do this by consolidating the literature to determine what has been done and what works. This includes querying which intervention types work for whom in terms of participant age and sex, as well as delivery style and duration. Additionally, it will consider the theories of change being used to address attitudes and behaviours and how these shifts are being measured, including for impact longevity. Finally, it will allow for insight into interventions specifically targeting men and boys in relation to rigid gender stereotypes and norms, seeking out particular characteristics that are supportive of work engaging this particular cohort. These questions are intentionally broad and based on the framing of the above question it is expected that the review will capture primarily interventions that address underlying societal factors that support a culture in which harmful power and gender imbalances exist by addressing gender inequitable attitudes and behaviours. In asking these questions, this review consolidates the knowledge generated to date, to strengthen the design, development and implementation of future interventions, a synthesis that appears to be both absent and needed.

2.1. Data sources and search strategy

This review was undertaken in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines [ 38 ]. A protocol was registered on the Open Science Framework (Title: Gendered norms: A systematic review of how to achieve change in rigid gender stereotypes, accessible at https://osf.io/gyk25/ ). Qualitative, quantitative and mixed method studies were identified through three electronic databases searched in February 2019 (ProQuest Central, PsycINFO and Web of Science). Four search strategies were developed in consultation with a subject librarian and tested across all three databases. The final strategy was confirmed by the lead author and a second reviewer (see Table 1 ).

Table 1

Search terms used.

There were no date or language exclusions, Title, Abstract & Keyword filters were applied where possible, and truncation was used in line with database specifications. The following intervention categories were included due to their standing in public health literature as being effective to create population level impact and having proven effective in addressing other significant health and social issues [ 39 ]; direct participation programs (referred to also as education based interventions throughout this review), community mobilisation or strengthening, organisational or workforce development, communications, social marketing and social media, advocacy, legislative or policy reform. Table 2 provides descriptions of each of these intervention categories that have been obtained from the actions outlined in the World Health Organisation's Ottawa Charter [ 40 ] and Jakarta Declaration [ 41 ] and are a comprehensive set of strategies grounded in prevention theory [ 42 ]. For the purposes of this review, legislative and policy reform within community, educational, organisational and workforce settings were included. Government legislation and policy reform were excluded.

Table 2

Public health intervention categories.

2.2. Screening

Initial search results were merged and duplicates removed using EndNote before transferring data management to Covidence for screening. Two researchers independently screened titles and abstracts excluding studies based on the criteria stipulated in Table 3 .

Table 3

Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

The University Library document request service was used to obtain articles otherwise inaccessible or in languages other than English. In cases where full-text or English versions were unable to be obtained, the study was excluded. Full-text screening was undertaken by the same two researchers independently and the final selection resulted in 71 included studies (see Figure 1 ).

PRISMA diagram of screening and study selection.

2.3. Data extraction

Data extraction was undertaken by the first author and checked for accuracy by the second author. Discrepancies were resolved by consensus with the remaining three authors. The extracted data included: citation, year and location of study, participant demographics (gender, age), study design, setting, theoretical underpinnings, motivation for study, measurement tools/instruments, primary outcomes and results. A formal meta-analysis was not conducted given heterogeneity of outcome variables and measures, due in part to the broad nature of the review question.

2.4. Quality appraisal

Three established quality appraisal tools were used to account for the different study designs included, the McMasters Critical Review Form – Qualitative Studies 2.0 [ 43 ], the McMasters Critical Review Form – Quantitative Studies [ 44 ], Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT), version 2018 [ 45 ]. The first author completed quality appraisal for all studies, with the second author undertaking an accuracy check on ten percent of studies. The appraisal score represents the proportion of ‘yes’ responses out of the total number of criteria. ‘Not reported’ was treated as a ‘no’ response. A discussion of the outcomes is located under Results.

2.5. Data synthesis

Included studies were explored using a modified narrative synthesis approach comprising three elements; developing a theory of how interventions worked, why and with whom, developing a preliminary synthesis of findings of included studies, and exploring relationships in studies reporting statistically significant outcomes [ 46 ]. Preliminary analysis was conducted using groupings of studies based on intervention type and thematic analysis based on gender inequality outcomes driving the study and features of the studies including participant sex and age and intervention delivery style and duration [ 46 ]. A conceptual model was developed (see Theory of Change section under Results) as the method of relationship exploration amongst studies reporting significant results, using qualitative case descriptions [ 47 ]. The narrative synthesis was undertaken under the premise that the ‘evidence being synthesised in a systematic review does not necessarily offer a series of discrete answers to a specific question’, so much as ‘each piece of evidence offers are partial picture of the phenomenon of interest’ ([ 46 ] p21).

3.1. Literature search

The literature search returned 4,050 references after the removal of duplicates (see Figure 1 ), from which 210 potentially relevant abstracts were identified. Full-text review resulted in a final list of 71 articles evaluating 69 distinct interventions aligned with the public health methodologies outlined in Table 2 . Table 4 provides a list of the included studies, categorised by intervention type. Studies fell into eight categories of interventions in total, with several combining two methodology types described in Table 2 .

Table 4

Included articles categorised by intervention type.

3.2. Quality assessment

Overall, the results of the quality appraisal indicated a moderate level of confidence in the results. The appraisal scores for the 71 studies ranged from poor (.24) to excellent (.96). The median appraisal score was .71 for all included studies (n = 71) and .76 for studies reporting statistically significant positive results (n = 32). The majority of studies were rated moderate quality (n = 57, 80%), with moderate quality regarded as .50 - .79 [ 119 ]. Ten studies were regarded as high quality (14%, >.80), and four were rated as poor (6%, <.50) [ 119 ]. Of the studies with significant outcomes, one rated high quality (.82) and the remaining 31 were moderate quality, with 18 of these (58% of 31) rating >.70. For the 15 randomised control trials (including n = 13 x cluster), all articles provided clear study purposes and design, intervention details, reported statistical significance of results, reported appropriate analysis methods and drew appropriate conclusions. However, only four studies appropriately justified sampling process and selection. For the qualitative studies (n = 5), the lowest scoring criteria were in relation to describing the process of purposeful selection (n = 1, 20%) and sampling done until redundancy in data was reached (n = 2, 40%). For the quantitative studies (n = 47) the lowest scoring criteria were in relation to sample size justification (n = 8, 17%) and avoiding contamination (n = 1, 2%) and co-intervention (n = 0, none of the studies provided information on this) in regards to intervention participants. For the Mixed Method studies (n = 19) the lowest scoring criteria in relation to the qualitative component of the research was in relation to the findings being adequately derived from the data (n = 9, 47%), and for the mixed methods criteria it was in relation to adequately addressing the divergences and inconsistencies between quantitative and qualitative results (n = 6, 32%).

3.3. Measures

Measures of stereotypes and norms varied across quantitative and mixed method studies with 31 (47%) of the 66 articles reporting the use of 25 different psychometric evaluation tools. The remaining 35 (53%) of quantitative and mixed methods studies reported developing measurement tools specific to the study with inconsistencies in description and provision of psychometric properties. Of the studies that used psychometric evaluation tools, the most frequently used were the Gender Equitable Men Scale (GEMS, n = 6, plus n = 2 used questions from the GEMS), followed by the Gender Role Conflict Scale I (GRCS-I, n = 5, plus n = 1 used a Short Form version) and the Gender-Stereotyped Attitude Scale for Children (GASC, n = 5). Whilst most studies used explicit measures as listed here, implicit measures were also used across several studies, including the Gender-Career Implicit Attitudes Test (n = 1). The twenty-four studies that undertook qualitative data collection used interviews (participant n = 15, key informant n = 3) as well as focus groups (n = 8), ethnographic observations (n = 5) and document analysis (n = 2). Twenty (28%) of the 71 studies measured behaviour and/or behavioural intentions, of which 9 (45%) used self-report measures only, four (20%) used self-report and observational data, and two (10%) used observation only. Follow-up data was collected for four of the studies using self-report measures, and two using observation measures, and one using both methods.

3.4. Study and intervention characteristics

Table 5 provides a summary of study and intervention characteristics. All included studies were published between 1990 and 2019; n = 8 (11%) between 1990 and 1999, n = 15 (21%) between 2000 and 2009, and the majority n = 48 (68%) from 2010 to 2019. Interventions were delivered in 23 countries (one study did not specify a location), with the majority conducted in the U.S. (n = 33, 46%), followed by India (n = 10, 14%). A further 15 studies (21%) were undertaken in Africa across East Africa (n = 7, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda), South Africa (n = 6), and West Africa (n = 2, Nigeria, Senegal). The remaining fifteen studies were conducted in Central and South America (n = 4, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina), Europe (n = 3, Ireland, Spain and Turkey), Nepal (n = 2), and one study each in Australia, China, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom. Forty-seven (66%) studies employed quantitative methods, 19 (27%) reported both quantitative and qualitative (mixed) methods, and the remaining five studies (7%) reported qualitative methods. Forty-two of the quantitative and mixed-method approaches were non-randomised control trials, 13 were cluster randomised control trials, two were randomised control trials, and eight were quantitative descriptive studies.

Table 5

Summarised study and intervention characteristics (n = 71).

Based on total study sample sizes, data was reported on 46,673 participants. Sample sizes ranged from 15 to 122 for qualitative, 7 to 2887 for mixed methods, and 21 to 6073 for quantitative studies. Of the 71 studies, 23 (32%) reported on children (<18 years old), 13 (18%) on adolescents/young adults (<30 years old), 29 (41%) on adults (>18 years old), and six (8%) studies did not provided details on participant age. Thirty-seven (52%) studies recruited participants from educational settings (i.e. kindergarten, primary, middle and secondary/high school, tertiary including college residential settings, and summer camps/schools), 32 (45%) from general community settings (including home and sports), three from therapy-based programs for offenders (i.e. substance abuse and partner abuse prevention), and one sourced participants from both educational (vocational) and a workplace (factory).

As per Table 5 , the greatest proportion of all studies engaged mixed sex cohorts (n = 39, 55%), looked at norms (n = 34, 48%), were undertaken in community settings (n = 32, 45%), were education/direct participant interventions (n = 47, 66%) and undertook pre and post intervention evaluation (n = 49, 69%). Twenty-four studies reported on follow up data collection, with 10 reporting maintenance of outcomes.

Intervention lengths were varied, from individual sessions (90 min) to ongoing programs (up to 6 years) and were dependent on intervention type. Table 6 provides the duration range by intervention type.

Table 6

Intervention type and duration.

Of the 71 studies examined in this review, 10 (14%) stated a gender approach in relation to the continuum outlined at the start of this paper, utilising two of the five categories; gender-transformative and gender-sensitive [ 6 ]. Eight studies stated that they were gender-transformative, the definition of this strategy being to critically examine gender related norms and expectations and increase gender equitable attitudes and behaviours, often with a focus on masculinity [ 9 , 10 ]. An additional two stated they were gender-sensitive, the definition of which is to take into account and seek to address existing gender inequalities [ 10 ]. The remaining 61 (86%) studies did not specifically state engagement with a specific gender approach. Interpretation of the gender approach was not undertaken in relation to these 61 studies due to insufficient available data and to avoid potential risk of error, mislabelling or misidentification.

3.5. Characteristics supporting success

Due to the broad inclusion criteria for this review, there is considerable variation in study designs and the measurement of attitudes and behaviours. With the exception of the five studies using qualitative methods, all included studies reported on p-values, and 13 reported on effect sizes [ 51 , 60 , 66 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 83 , 92 , 99 , 110 ]. In addition to this, the centrality of gender norms and/or stereotypes within studies meeting inclusion criteria varied from a primary outcome to a secondary one, and in some studies was a peripheral consideration only, with minimal data reported. This heterogeneity prevents comparisons based purely on whether the outcomes of the studies were statistically significant, and as such consideration was also given to the inclusion of effect sizes, author interpretation, qualitative insights and whether outcomes reported as statistically non-significant reported encouraging results, which allowed for the inclusion of those using qualitative methods only [ 53 , 73 , 81 , 82 , 98 ].

As outlined in Table 5 , the studies were grouped into three categories based on reporting of statistical significance using p-values. Two categories include studies reporting statistically significant outcomes (n = 25) and those reporting mixed outcomes including some statistically significant results (n = 30), specifically in relation to the measurement of gender norms and/or stereotypes. Disparate outcomes included negligible behavioural changes, a shift in some but not all norms (i.e. shifts in descriptive but not personal norms, or masculine but not feminine stereotypes), and effects seen in some but not all participants (i.e. shifts in female participant scores but not male). It is worth noting that out of the 71 studies reviewed, all but one reported positive or negligible intervention impacts on attitudes and/or behaviours relating to gender norms and/or stereotypes. The other category include those reporting non-significant results (n = 2) as well as those that reported non-significant but positive results in relation to attitude and/or behaviour change towards gender norms and/or stereotypes (n = 14). These studies include those which had qualitative designs, several who reported on descriptive statistics only, and several which did not meet statistical significance but who demonstrated improvement in participant scores between base and end line and/or between intervention and control groups. The insights from the qualitative studies (n = 5) have been taken into consideration in the narrative synthesis of this review.

Studies reporting statistically significant outcomes were represented across seven of the eight intervention types. The only intervention category not represented was advocacy and education [ 48 ] which reported non-significant but positive results. The remainder of this section will consider the study characteristics of the statistically significant and mixed results categories, as well as identifying similar trends observed in the qualitative studies which reported positive but non-significant intervention outcomes. When considering intervention type, direct participant education was the most common, with 49 of the 55 studies reporting statistically significant or mixed outcomes containing a direct participant education component, and all but one of the five qualitative studies.

The majority of interventions reporting achievement of intended outcomes involved delivery of multiple sessions ranging from five x 20 min sessions across one week to multiple sessions across six years. This included 48 of the 55 studies reporting statistically significant or mixed outcomes, and all five qualitative studies. Only one of the seven that utilised single/one-off sessions reported significant outcomes. The remaining six studies had varying results, including finding shifts in descriptive but not personal norms amongst a male-only cohort, shifts in acceptance of both genders performing masculine behaviours but no shift in acceptance of males performing feminine behaviours, and significant outcomes for participants already demonstrating more egalitarian attitudes at baseline but not those holding more traditional ones – arguably the target audience.

When considering participant sex, the majority of studies reporting statistically significant or mixed results engaged mixed sex cohorts (n = 33 out of 55), with the remaining studies engaging male only (n = 13) and female only (n = 9) cohorts. Of the qualitative studies, three engaged mixed sex participant cohorts. Interestingly however, several studies reported disparate results, including significant outcomes for male but non-significant outcomes for female participants primarily in studies incorporating a community mobilisation element, and the reverse pattern in some studies that were education based. Additional discrepancies were found between several studies looking at individual and community level outcomes.

Finally, a quarter of studies worked with male only cohorts (n = 18). Of these, four reported significant results, nine reported mixed results, and the remaining five studies reported non-significant but positive outcomes, one of which was a qualitative study. Within these studies, two demonstrated shifts in more generalised descriptive norms and/or stereotypes relating to men, but not in relation to personal norms. Additionally, several studies demonstrated that shifts in male participant attitudes were not generalised, with discrepancies found in relation to attitudes shifting towards women but not men and in relation to some norms or stereotypes (for example men acting in ‘feminine’ ways) but not others that appeared to be more culturally entrenched. These studies are explored further in the Discussion.

In summary, interventions that used direct participant education, across multiple sessions, with mixed sex participant cohorts were associated with greater success in changing attitudes and in a small number of studies behaviour. Further to these characteristics, several strategies were identified that appear to enhance intervention impact which are discussed further in the next section.

3.6. Theory of change

One aim of this review was to draw out common theory and practice in order to strengthen future intervention development and delivery. Across all included studies, the implicit theory of change was raising knowledge/awareness for the purposes of shifting attitudes relating to gender norms and/or stereotypes. Direct participant education-based interventions was the predominant method of delivery. In addition to this, 23 (32%) studies attempted to take this a step further to address behaviour and/or behavioural intentions, of which 10 looked at gender equality outcomes (including bystander action and behavioural intentions), whilst the remaining studies focused on gender-based violence (n = 9), sexual and reproductive health (n = 2) and two studies which did not focus on behaviours related to the focus of this review.

As highlighted in Figure 2 , this common theory of change was the same across all identified intervention categories, irrespective of the overarching focus of the study (gender equality, prevention of violence, sexual and reproductive health, mental health and wellbeing). Those examining gender equality more broadly did so in relation to female empowerment in relationships, communities and political participation, identifying and addressing stereotypes and normative attitudes with kindergarten and school aged children. Those considering prevention of violence did so specifically in relation to violence against women, including intimate partner violence, rape awareness and myths, and a number of studies looking at teen dating violence. Sexual and reproductive health studies primarily assessed prevention of HIV, but also men and women's involvement in family planning, with several exploring the interconnected issues of violence and sexual and reproductive health. Finally, those studies looking at mental health and wellbeing did so in relation to mental and physical health outcomes and associated help-seeking behaviours, including reducing stigma around mental health (particularly amongst men in terms of acceptance and help seeking) and emotional expression (in relationships).

Breakdown of study characteristics and strategies associated with achieving intended outcomes.

In addition to the implicit theory of change, the review process identified five additional strategies that appear to have strengthened interventions (regardless of intervention type). In addition to implicit theory of change across all studies, one or more of these strategies were utilised by 31 of the 55 studies that reported statistically significant results:

• • Addressing more than one level of the ecological framework (n = 17): which refers to different levels of personal and environmental factors, all of which influence and are influenced by each other to differing degrees [ 120 ]. The levels are categorised as individual, relational, community/organisational and societal, with the individual level being the most commonly addressed across studies in this review;
• • Peer engagement (n = 14): Using participant peers (for example people from the same geographical location, gender, life experience, etc.) to support or lead an intervention, including the use of older students to mentor younger students, or using peer interactions as part of the intervention to enhance learning. This included students putting on performances for the broader school community, facilitation of peer discussions via online platforms or face-to-face via direct participant education and group activities or assignments;
• • Use of role models and modelling of desired attitudes and/or behaviours by facilitators or persons of influence in participants' lives (n = 11);
• • Developing agents of change (n = 7): developing knowledge and skills for the specific purpose of participants using these to engage with their spheres of influence and further promote, educate and support the people and environments in which they interact; and
• • Co-design (n = 6): Use of formative research or participant feedback to develop the intervention or to allow flexibility in its evolution as it progresses.

Additionally, four of the five studies using qualitative methods utilised one or more of these strategies; ecological framework (n = 3), peer engagement (n = 1), role models (n = 2), agents of change (n = 2) and co-design (n = 1). Whilst only a small number of studies reported engaging the last two strategies, developing agents of change and co-design, they have been highlighted due to their prominence in working with the sub-set of men and boys, as well as the use of role models/modelling.

The remaining 24 studies that reported significant outcomes did not utilise any of these five strategies. Eight used a research/experimental design, the remaining 16 were all direct participant education interventions, and either did not provide enough detail about the intervention structure or delivery to determine if they engaged in any of these strategies (n = 13), were focused on testing a specific theory (n = 2) or in the case of one study used financial incentives.

Figure 2 provides a conceptual model exploring the relationship amongst studies reporting statistically significant outcomes. Utilising the common theory of change as well as the additional identified strategies, interventions were able to address factors that act as gender inequality enforcers including knowledge, attitudes, environmental factors and behaviour and behavioural intentions (see Table 7 ), to achieve statistically significant shifts in attitudes, and in a small number of cases behaviour (see Table 8 ).

Table 7

Factors supportive of gender inequality in studies reporting significant positive outcomes (n = 55).

Table 8

Changes observed in attitudes and behaviours in studies reporting significant positive outcomes (n = 55).

4. Discussion

This systematic review synthesises evidence on ‘which intervention characteristics support change in attitudes and behaviours in relation to rigid gender stereotypes and norms’, based on the seventy-one studies that met the review inclusion criteria. Eight intervention types were identified, seven of which achieved statistically significant outcomes. Patterns of effectiveness were found based on delivery style and duration, as well as participant sex, and several strategies (peer engagement, addressing multiple levels of the ecological framework, skilling participants as agents of change, use of role models and modelling of desired attitudes and behaviours, and intervention co-design with participants) were identified that enhanced shifts in attitudes and in a small number of studies, behaviour. Additionally, a common theory of change was identified (increasing knowledge and raising awareness to achieve shifts in attitudes) across all studies reporting statistically significant results.

The articles included in this review covered a range of intervention types, duration and focus, demonstrating relative heterogeneity across these elements. This is not an unexpected outcome given the aim of this review was to allow for comparisons to be drawn across interventions, regardless of the overarching focus of the study (gender equality, prevention of violence, sexual and reproductive health, mental health and wellbeing). As a result, one of the key findings of this review is that design, delivery and engagement strategies that feature in studies reporting successful outcomes, are successful regardless of the intervention focus thus widening the evidence base from which those researching and implementing interventions can draw. That said, the heterogeneity of studies limits the ability for definitive conclusions to be drawn based on the studies considered in this review. Instead this section provides a discussion of the characteristics and strategies observed based on the narrative synthesis undertaken.

4.1. Intervention characteristics that support success

4.1.1. intervention type and participant demographics.

The 71 included studies were categorised into eight intervention types (see Table 4 ); advocacy and education, advocacy and community mobilisation, community mobilisation, community mobilisation and education, education (direct participant), research and education, research, and two studies that utilised four or more intervention types (advocacy via campaigns and social media, community mobilisation, education and legislation, and, advocacy, education, community mobilisation, policy and social marketing). With the exception of the individual study that utilised advocacy and education, all intervention types were captured in studies reporting statistically significant or mixed results.

Direct participant education was the most common intervention type across all studies (n = 47 out of 71, 66%). When considering those studies that included a component of direct participant education in their intervention (e.g. those studies which engaged education and community mobilisation) this figure rose to 63 of the 69 individual interventions looked at in this review, 54 of which reported outcomes that were either statistically significant (n = 23), mixed (n = 26) or were non-significant due to the qualitative research design, but reported positive outcomes (n = 5). These findings indicate that direct participant education is both a popular and an effective strategy for engaging participants in attitudinal (and in a small number of cases behaviour) change.

Similarly, mixed sex participant cohorts were involved in over half of all studies (n = 39 out of 71, 55%), of which 33 reported statistically significant or mixed results, and a further three did not meet statistical significance due to the qualitative research design but reported positive outcomes. Across several studies however, conflicting results were observed between male and female participants, with female's showing greater improvement in interventions using education [ 85 , 89 , 114 ] and males showing greater improvement when community mobilisation was incorporated [ 51 , 60 ]. That is not to say that male participants do not respond well to education-based interventions with 13 of the 18 studies engaging male only cohorts reporting intended outcomes using direct participant education. However, of these studies, nine also utilised one or more of the additional strategies identified such as co-design or peer engagement which whilst different to community engagement, employ similar principles around participant engagement [ 77 , 79 , 87 , 91 , 92 , 96 , 97 , 99 , 105 , 107 , 111 , 115 ]. These findings suggest that participant sex may impact on how well participants engage with an intervention type and thus how successful it is.

There was a relatively even spread of studies reporting significant outcomes across all age groups, in line with the notion that the impact of rigid gender norms and stereotypes are not age discriminant [ 10 ]. Whilst the broad nature of this review curtailed the possibility of determining the impact of aged based on the studies synthesised, the profile of studies reporting statistically significant outcomes indicates that no patterns were found in relation to impact and participants age.

The relatively small number of studies that observed the above differences in intervention design and delivery means definitive conclusions cannot be drawn based on the studies examined in this review. That said, all of these characteristics support an increase in personal buy-in. Interventions that incorporate community mobilisation engage with more than just the individual, often addressing community norms and creating environments supportive of change [ 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 117 , 118 ]. Similarly, education based programs that incorporate co-design and peer support do more than just knowledge and awareness raising with an individual participant, providing space for them to develop their competence and social networks [ 70 , 75 , 77 , 79 , 81 , 86 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 97 , 103 , 107 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 113 , 115 , 116 ]. When it comes to designing these interventions, it would appear that success may be influenced by which method is most engaging to the participants and that this is in turn influenced by the participants' sex. This finding is reinforced further when taking into consideration the quality of studies with those reporting on a mixed-sex cohort, which were generally lower in quality than those working with single sex groups. Whilst it appears mixed sex cohorts are both common and effective at obtaining significant results, these findings suggest that when addressing gendered stereotypes and norms, there is a need to consider and accommodate differences in how participants learn and respond when designing interventions to ensure the greatest chance of success in terms of impacting on all participants, regardless of sex, and ensuring quality of study design.

4.1.2. Intervention delivery

The findings from this review suggests that multi-session interventions are both more common and more likely to deliver significant outcomes than single-session or one-off interventions. This is evidenced by the fact that only one [ 67 ] out seven studies engaging the use of one-off sessions reported significant outcomes with the remaining six reporting mixed results [ 63 , 66 , 68 , 69 , 78 , 90 ]. Additionally, all but two of the studies [ 78 , 90 ] used a research/experimental study design, indicating a current gap in the literature in terms of real-world application and effectiveness of single session interventions. This review highlights the lack of reported evidence of single session effectiveness, particularly in terms of maintaining attitudinal changes in the few instances in which follow-up data was collected. Additionally this review only captured single-sessions that ran to a maximum of 2.5 h, further investigation is needed into the impact of one-off intensive sessions, such as those run over the course of a weekend. While more evidence is needed to reach definitive conclusions, the review indicates that single-session or one-off interventions are sub-optimal, aligning with the same finding by Barker and colleagues [ 5 ] in their review of interventions engaging men and boys in changing gender-based inequity in health. This is further reflected in the health promotion literature that points to the lack of demonstrated effectiveness of single-session direct participant interventions when it comes to addressing social determinants of health [ 121 , 122 , 123 ]. Studies that delivered multiple sessions demonstrate the ability to build rapport with and amongst the cohort (peer engagement, modelling, co-design) as well as the allowance of greater depth of learning and retention achievable through repeated touch points and revision. These are elements that can only happen through recurring and consistent exposure. Given these findings, practitioners should consider avoiding one-off or single-session delivery, in favour of multi-session or multi-touch point interventions allowing for greater engagement and impact.

4.1.3. Evaluation

Very few included studies collected follow-up data, with only one third of studies evaluating beyond immediate post-intervention data collection (n = 24). Of those that did, ten reported maintenance of their findings [ 55 , 56 , 64 , 70 , 79 , 93 , 95 , 103 , 113 , 116 ], eleven did not provide sufficient detail to determine [ 50 , 52 , 57 , 65 , 66 , 82 , 91 , 92 , 94 , 102 , 105 ] and two reported findings were not maintained [ 61 , 90 ]. The last study, a 90 min single session experiment with an education component, reported significant positive outcomes between base and end line scores, but saw a significant negative rebound in scores to worse than base line when they collected follow up data six weeks later [ 63 ]. This study supports the above argument for needing more than a single session in order to support change long term and highlights the importance of capturing follow up data not only to ensure longevity of significant outcomes, but also to capture reversion effects. The lack of standardised measures to capture shifts in norms is acknowledged empirically [ 11 , 13 ]. However, the outcomes of this review, including the lack of follow up data collection reported, are supportive of the need for increased investment in longitudinal follow-up, particularly in relation to measuring behaviour change and ensuring maintenance of observed changes to attitudes and behaviour over time (see also [ 124 ]).

4.1.4. Behaviour change

When it comes to behaviour change, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn due to the paucity of studies. The studies that did look at behaviour focused on the reduction of relational violence including the perpetration and experience of physical, psychological and sexual violence [ 50 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 59 , 60 , 105 , 115 ], as well as more equitable division of domestic labour [ 82 , 86 , 98 ] and responsibility for sexual and reproductive health [ 58 , 116 ], intention to take bystander action [ 65 , 102 , 117 ] and female political participation [ 81 ]. Lack of follow up data and use of measurement tools other than self-report, however, make it difficult to determine the permanency of the behaviour change and whether behavioural intentions transition to action. Models would suggest that interventions aimed at changing attitudes/norms would flow on to behaviour change but need to address multiple levels of the ecological framework not just the individual to support this change, and engage peer leadership and involvement in order to do so. This supports findings from the literature discussed at the start of this paper, alerting practitioners to the danger of making incorrect assumptions about ‘pathways to change’ [ 7 ] and the need to be mindful of the intention-behaviour gap which has been shown to disrupt this flow from attitude and intention to actual behaviour change [ 6 , 13 , 35 , 36 , 37 ].

If studies are to evaluate the impact of an intervention on behaviour, this objective must be made clear in the intervention design and evaluation strategy, and there must be an avoidance of relying on self-report data only, which is subject to numerous types of bias such as social desirability. Use of participant observation as well as key informant feedback would strengthen evaluation. The quality of studies that measured behaviour change was varied, ranging from poor (n = 1 at <.5 looking at behavioural intentions) to high (n = 3 at >.85 looking at bystander action and gender equality). The majority of studies however, were moderate in quality measuring either lower (n = 4 at .57, looking at gender-based violence, domestic labour division and bystander intention, and n = 2 at .64 looking at gender-based violence) to higher (n = 11 at .71-.79, looking at gender-based violence, gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and behavioural intentions), further supporting the finding that consideration in study design and evaluation is crucial. It is worth noting that measuring behaviour change is difficult, it requires greater resources should more than just self-report measurements be used, as well as longitudinal follow up to account for sustained change and to capture deterioration of behaviour post intervention should it occur.

4.2. Theory of change

Across all included studies, the implicit theory of change was knowledge/awareness raising for the purposes of shifting attitudes towards gender norms and/or stereotypes. This did not vary substantially across intervention type or study focus, whether it was norms, stereotypes or both being addressed, and for all participant cohorts. The conceptual framework developed (see Figure 2 ) shows that by increasing knowledge and raising awareness, the studies that reported statistically significant outcomes were able to address factors enforcing gender inequality in the form of knowledge, attitudes, environmental factors, and in a small number of cases behaviour.

Further to this common theory of change, several strategies were identified which appear to have enhanced the delivery and impact of these interventions. These included the use of participant peers to lead, support and heighten learning [ 49 , 77 , 79 , 81 , 86 , 90 , 92 , 93 , 103 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 113 , 115 , 116 , 117 ], involvement of multiple levels of the ecological framework (not just addressing the individual) [ 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 70 , 72 , 74 , 81 , 86 , 91 , 97 , 98 , 102 , 117 , 118 ], developing participants into agents of change [ 49 , 52 , 58 , 60 , 72 , 81 , 98 , 117 , 118 ], using modelling and role models [ 49 , 51 , 52 , 58 , 60 , 65 , 82 , 98 , 110 , 117 , 118 ], and the involvement of participants in co-designing the intervention [ 51 , 70 , 81 , 90 , 91 , 97 , 111 ]. As mentioned earlier, these strategies all contain principles designed to increase participant buy-in, creating a more personal and/or relatable experience.

One theory that can be used to consider this pattern is Petty and Cacioppo's [ 125 ] Elaboration Likelihood Model. The authors posit that attitudes changed through a central (deliberative processing) route, are more likely to show longevity, are greater predictors of behaviour change and are more resistant to a return to pre-intervention attitudes, than those that are the result of peripheral, or short cut, mental processing. Whether information is processed deliberately is dependent on a person's motivation and ability, both of which need to be present and both of which are influenced by external factors including context, message delivery and individual differences. In other words, the more accessible the message is and the more engaged a person is with the messaging they are exposed to, the stronger the attitude that is formed.

In the context of the studies in this review, the strategies found to enhance intervention impact all focus on creating a relationship and environment for the participant to engage in greater depth with the content of the intervention. This included not only the use of the five strategies discussed here, but also the use of multi-session delivery as well as use of delivery types aligned with participant responsiveness (community mobilisation and co-design elements when engaging men and boys, and education-focused interventions for engaging women and girls). With just under two thirds of studies reporting positive outcomes employing one or more of these strategies, practitioners should consider incorporating these into intervention design and delivery for existing interventions or initiatives as well as new ones.

4.3. Engaging men and boys

Represented by only a quarter of studies overall (n = 18 out of 71) this review further highlights the current dearth of research and formal evaluation of interventions working specifically with men and boys [ 124 ].

Across the 18 studies, four reported significant outcomes [ 59 , 79 , 97 , 111 ], nine reported mixed results with some but not all significant outcomes [ 49 , 63 , 68 , 77 , 91 , 92 , 99 , 105 , 115 ] and the remaining five reported non-significant but positive results [ 75 , 87 , 96 , 107 ], including one qualitative study [ 53 ]. Quality was reasonably high (n = 12 rated .71 - .86), and there were some interesting observations to be made about specific elements for this population.

The majority of the studies reporting positive significant or mixed results utilised one or more of the five additional strategies identified through this review (n = 10 out of 14) including the one qualitative study. Three studies used co-design principles to develop their intervention, which included formative research and evolution through group discussions across the duration of the intervention [ 91 , 97 , 111 ]. Four studies targeted more than just the individual participants including focusing on relational and community aspects [ 53 , 59 , 91 , 97 ]. Another six leveraged peer interaction in terms of group discussions and support, and leadership which included self-nominated peer leaders delivering sessions [ 49 , 77 , 79 , 92 , 111 , 115 ]. Finally, two studies incorporated role models [ 79 ] or role models and agents of change [ 49 ]. Similar to the overall profile of studies in this review, the majority in this group utilised direct participant education (n = 12 out of 14) either solely [ 77 , 79 , 91 , 92 , 97 , 99 , 105 , 111 , 115 ], or in conjunction with community mobilisation [ 53 , 59 ] or a research/experimental focus [ 63 ].

The use of the additional strategies in conjunction with direct participant education aligning with the earlier observation about male participants responding better in studies that incorporated a community or interpersonal element. A sentiment that was similarly observed by Burke and colleagues [ 79 ] in their study of men in relation to mental health and wellbeing, in which they surmised that a ‘peer-based group format’ appears to better support the psychosocial needs of men to allow them the space to ‘develop alternatives to traditional male gender role expectations and norms’ (p195).

When taken together, these findings suggest that feeling part of the process, being equipped with the information and skills, and having peer engagement, support and leadership/modelling, are all components that support the engagement of men and boys not only as allies but as participants, partners and agents of change when it comes to addressing gender inequality and the associated negative outcomes. This is reflective of the theory of change discussion outlining design principles that encourage and increase participant buy-in and the strength in creating a more personal and/or relatable learning experience.

Working with male only cohorts is another strategy used to create an environment that fosters participant buy-in [ 126 ]. Debate exists however around the efficacy of this approach, highlighted by the International Centre for Research on Women as an unsubstantiated assumption that the ‘best people to work with men are other men’ ([ 7 ] p26), which they identify as one of the key challenges to engaging men and boys in gender equality work [ 7 , 13 ]. Although acknowledging the success that has been observed in male-only education and preference across cultures for male educators, they caution of the potential for this assumption to extend to one that men cannot change by working with women [ 7 , 13 ]. The findings from this review support the need for further exploration and evaluation into the efficacy of male only participant interventions given the relatively small number of studies examined in this review and the variance in outcomes observed.

4.3.1. One size does not fit all

In addition to intervention and engagement strategies, the outcomes of several studies indicate a need to consider the specifics of content when it comes to engaging men and boys in discussions of gendered stereotypes and norms. This was evident in Pulerwitz and colleagues [ 59 ] study looking at male participants, which found an increase in egalitarian attitudes towards gendered stereotypes in relation to women, but a lack of corresponding acceptance and change when consideration was turned towards themselves and/or other males. Additionally, Brooks-Harris and colleagues [ 68 ] found significant shifts in male role attitudes broadly, but not in relation to personal gender roles or gender role conflict. Their findings suggest that targeted attention needs to be paid to addressing different types of stereotypes and norms, with attitudes towards one's own gender roles, and in the case of this study one's ‘fear of femininity’ being more resistant to change than attitudes towards more generalised stereotypes and norms. This is an important consideration for those working to engage men and boys, particularly around discussions of masculinity and what it means to be a man. Rigid gendered stereotypes and norms can cause harmful and restrictive outcomes for everyone [ 2 ] and it is crucial that interventions aimed at addressing them dismantle and avoid supporting these stereotypes; not just between sexes, but amongst them also [ 127 ]. Given the scarcity of evidence at present, further insight is required into how supportive spaces for exploration and growth are balanced with the avoidance of inadvertently reinforcing the very stereotypes and norms being addressed in relation to masculinity, particularly in the case of male only participant groups.

There is currently a gap in the research in relation to these findings, particularly outside of the U.S. and countries in Africa. Further research into how programs engaging men and boys in this space utilise these elements of intervention design and engagement strategies, content and the efficacy of single sex compared to mixed sex participant cohorts is needed.

4.4. Limitations and future directions

The broad approach taken in this review resulted in a large number of included studies (n = 71) and a resulting heterogeneity of study characteristics that restricted analysis options and assessment of publication bias. That said, the possibility of publication bias appears less apparent given that less than half of the 71 included studies reported statistically significant effects, with the remainder reporting mixed or non-significant outcomes. This may be in part due to the significant variance in evaluation approaches and selection of measurement tools used.

Heterogeneity of studies and intervention types limited the ability to draw statistical comparisons for specific outcomes, settings, and designs. Equally, minimal exclusion criteria in the study selection strategy also meant there was noteworthy variance in quality of studies observed across the entire sample of 71 papers. The authors acknowledge the limitations of using p-values as the primary measurement of significance and success. The lack of studies reporting on effect sizes (n = 13) in addition to the variance in study quality is a limitation of the review. However, the approach taken in this review, to include those studies with mixed outcomes and those reporting intended outcomes regardless of the p-value obtained, has allowed for an all-encompassing snapshot of the work happening and the extrapolation of strategies that have previously not been identified across such a broad spectrum of studies targeting gender norms and stereotypes.

An additional constraint was the inclusion of studies reported in English only. Despite being outside the scope of this review it is acknowledged that inclusion of non-English articles is necessary to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the literature.

The broad aim of the review and search strategy will have also inevitably resulted in some studies being missed. It was noted at the beginning of the paper that the framing of the research question was expected to impact the types of interventions captured. This was the case when considering the final list of included studies, in particular the relative absence of tertiary prevention interventions featured, such as those looking at men's behaviour change programs. This could in part account for the scarcity of interventions focused on behaviour change as opposed to the pre-cursors of attitudes and norms.

This review found that interventions using direct participant education interventions were the most common approach to raising awareness, dismantling harmful gender stereotypes and norms and shifting attitudes and beliefs towards more equitable gender norms. However due to the lack of follow-up data collected and reported, these changes can only be attributable to the short-term, with a need for further research into the longevity of these outcomes. Future research in this area needs to ensure the use of sound and consistent measurement tools, including avoiding a reliance solely on self-report measures for behaviour change (e.g. use of observations, key informant interviews, etc.), and more longitudinal data collection and follow-up.

When it comes to content design, as noted at the start of the paper, there is growing focus on the use and evaluation of gender-transformative interventions when engaging in gender equality efforts [ 1 , 2 , 6 , 128 ]. This review however found a distinct lack of engagement with this targeted approach, providing an opportunity for practitioners to explore this to strengthen engagement and impact of interventions (see 1 for a review of gender-transformative interventions working with young people). The scope of this review did not allow for further investigation to be undertaken to explore the gender approaches taken in the 61 studies which did not state their gender approach. There is scope for future investigation of this nature however in consultation with study authors.

An all-encompassing review, such as this one, allows for comparisons across intervention types and focus, such as those targeted at reducing violence or improving sexual and reproductive health behaviours. This broad approach allowed for the key finding that design, delivery and engagement strategies that feature in studies reporting successful outcomes, are successful regardless of the intervention focus thus widening the evidence based from which those researching and implementing interventions can draw. However, the establishment of this broad overview of interventions aimed at gendered stereotypes and norms highlights the current gap and opportunity for more targeted reviews in relation to these concepts.

5. Conclusion

Several characteristics supporting intervention success have been found based on the evidence examined in this review. The findings suggest that when planning, designing and developing interventions aimed at addressing rigid gender stereotypes and norms participant sex should help inform the intervention type chosen. Multi-session interventions are more effective than single or one-off sessions, and the use of additional strengthening strategies such as peer engagement and leadership, addressing multiple levels of the ecological framework, skilling up agents of change, modelling/role models, co-design with participants can support the achievement of intended outcomes. Longitudinal data collection is currently lacking but needed, and when seeking to extend the impact of an intervention to include behaviour change there is currently too much reliance on self-report data, which is subject to bias (e.g. social desirability).

When it comes to engaging men and boys, this review indicates that interventions have a greater chance of success when using peer-based learning in education programs, involving participants in the design and development, and the use of peer delivery and leadership. Ensuring clear learning objectives and outcomes in relation to specific types of norms, stereotypes and behaviours being addressed is crucial in making sure evaluation accurately captures these things. Practitioners need to be cognisant of breaking down stereotypes amongst men (not just between genders), as well as the need for extra attention to be paid in shifting some of the more deeply and culturally entrenched stereotypes and norms. More research is needed into the efficacy of working with male only cohorts, and care taken that rigid stereotypes and norms are not inadvertently reinforced when doing so.

Declarations

Author contribution statement.

Rebecca Stewart: Conceived and designed the experiments; Performed the experiments; Analyzed and interpreted the data; Wrote the paper.

Breanna Wright: Conceived and designed the experiments; Performed the experiments; Analyzed and interpreted the data.

Liam Smith, Steven Roberts, Natalie Russell: Conceived and designed the experiments.

Funding statement

This work was supported by Australian Government Research Training Program and the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth).

Data availability statement

Declaration of interests statement.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

No additional information is available for this paper.

Acknowledgements

This research was completed as part of a PhD undertaken at Monash University.

October 19, 2018

When Times Are Good, the Gender Gap Grows

A study shows growing national wealth and gender equality accentuates differences in the types of choices men and women make

By Emily Willingham

As the economy improves and gender equality increases, women in the workforce appear to make increasingly different social choices than men do.

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In an idealized version of human existence, wealth lifts all boats, gender equality prevails and everyone behaves freely as the individuals they are.

Such a gender-equal fictional utopia starts from a premise that equal access to wealth and opportunity will erase the divide between men and women. But what if the utopian predictions are wrong? What if women and men, when all other things are largely equal, express more, not less, of a gender-based perspective?

Armin Falk, an economics professor at the University of Bonn, and Johannes Hermle, a doctoral student in economics at the University of California, Berkeley, have undertaken a massive study that looks worldwide at how national wealth and gender equality affect the choices men and women make when they think about risk taking, altruism and other social factors.

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In their study involving 76 countries and 80,000 people, they found greater national wealth and gender equality are tied to bigger differences in preferences between men and women rather than to stronger similarities [see “Rich and Equal Mean Men and Women Make Different Career Choices”]. They reported their findings , which they say favor one of two competing hypotheses on gender choices, October 2018 in Science . “This is important work that will have a lot of impact,” says Matthias Doepke , an economics professor at Northwestern University who was not involved in the study. But he says, “the world is complicated, and I think we will find that neither hypothesis alone is a good summary of the data.”

Credit: Amanda Montañez; Source: “Relationship of Gender Differences in Preferences to Economic Development and Gender Equality,” by Armin Falk and Johannes Hermle, in Science , Vol. 362; October 19, 2018

Those hypotheses address how national wealth and equality affect the choices men and women make. One of them, which the authors dub the “social role hypothesis,” predicts wealth and gender equality will lead to more similarities in preferences between genders. With equality and readily available resources, the idea goes, women and men will become more alike in their ways.

The “resource hypothesis,” in contrast, holds that abundance and equality will give men and women more freedom to express gender-related preferences, unconstrained by hardships that might force them to do otherwise. In this scenario a woman who worked in male-dominated field 50 years ago might have felt pressured to behave as “one of the boys.” But with a more equal gender representation in the workplace, perhaps such constraints would fade, leaving her freer to express more gendered preferences if she wishes.

To test these two hypotheses, Falk and Hermle used responses to a survey from people representing every continent and countries at every level of economic development. The Global Preferences Survey asked participants about how they would respond in different scenarios involving six social factors: risk taking, patience, altruism, trust, and positive and negative reciprocation (responding in kind to positive or negative interactions). For example, for positive reciprocity respondents had to settle on how much they would pay for a thank-you gift to a total stranger in return for a kind deed. They also rated their responses to the statement, “When someone does me a favor I am willing to return it.” They were asked to rate their responses on a 0 to 10 scale, with 0 being not at all willing.

When the two researchers aligned these responses with the gross domestic product (GDP) for each country, they found higher GDP tracked with increasing differences in men and women’s preferences. When they mapped the survey responses against an index of gender equality in each country—based on factors such as when women gained the right to vote—they found again greater equality tracked with an increasing gender gap in preferences around trust, altruism and the other variables.

Falk and Hermle also batched GDP values into four groups to assess each of the six social factors separately. For all six, the two genders were much more similar in their preferences in the lowest compared with the highest GDP groups. The same pattern applied for gender equality: Across four bins of gender-equality index values the lowest values were associated with the smallest gender differences, the highest with the greatest gender differences in preferences. “Our study confirms the (resource) hypothesis,” Hermle says. “The main takeaway is that gender differences in preferences are increasing with country level of economic development as well as gender equality.”

Alessandra Fogli, monetary advisor in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis who was not part of the study, sees a missed opportunity in the analysis. “I wish they had first discussed the variation of overall preferences across countries, such as how trust or risk aversion vary across income groups, and not just the differences across genders,” she says. “The paper offers a suggestive, interesting finding to motivate a deeper, more systematic analysis. But I do not find it conclusive.”

Doepke also expresses some uncertainty. “I think the contrast and evaluation of the social role and resource hypotheses is a bit too simplified,” he says. “What should matter is conditions when the respondents of the study were socialized.” He points out that with survey participants ranging in age from adolescence to the 90s, socialization could have occurred decades ago for some, when gender divisions even in the richest economies “were very sharp.” He adds, “gender-preference gaps among millennials would tell us something about how boys and girls were socialized in the last 25 years or so whereas preference gaps for older cohorts would be informative on conditions in earlier times.” Having more resources, he notes, might simply mean parents have more time to socialize their children in gender-specific ways.

According to Hermle, various explanations for the findings are plausible. These social roles “are very powerful in explaining gender differences and preferences,” he says, but the current study did not measure such factors. Their findings establish a pattern that needs to be further examined to confirm or reject underlying causes, he notes.

Hermle also wants to ensure their findings are not misinterpreted as favoring evolutionary or biological explanations over social factors. “The biggest misinterpretation could be that our results indicate that social or gender-specific roles do not matter in the formation of gender differences in preferences,” he says. “I do think that they matter a lot.”

Study shows equality frees women to follow traditional gender choices – or does it?

Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Manchester

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Elisa Bellotti 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.

University of Manchester provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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If you want gender equality, get rich. Research shows that men and women tend to be more equal in more developed countries . You might expect that the more equal opportunities in these countries might reduce other differences between the genders, such as what kind of jobs people are more likely to have, or personality traits such as kindness or a tendency for risk-taking. But a new study published in Science argues the opposite, that greater equality actually widens these kind of gender differences.

Cleverly, the study doesn’t claim that gender preferences are culturally learnt or biologically driven. Instead, it simply describes them as “intrinsic” and says you can be agnostic about their origin. In avoiding the discussion about where these differences come from, the article simply treats gender preferences as a black box that economists and others shouldn’t open.

Yet while the study looked at data from all over the world to build its case, I believe it reaches the wrong conclusions simply by assuming that men and women have different preferences that are free to be expressed in more developed countries. Removing legal barriers to equal opportunity isn’t the same as removing the social pressures that help shape traditional beliefs about gender roles.

There are two ideas that could explain whether traditional gender roles and preferences are likely to increase or decrease as a country gets richer. The social role hypothesis says that gender roles defined by unequal opportunity instil differences in preferences. So when women have the same opportunities as men, these differences should disappear.

On the other hand, the resource hypothesis says that gender preferences aren’t created by gender roles . And once men and women have similar opportunities they are freer to express their “natural” inner differences.

What the study shows

Drawing on data from 80,000 people in 76 countries, the new research provides evidence to support the second hypothesis. In countries where economic growth had helped create more equal opportunities, men were more likely to take risks. Meanwhile, women were more likely to be trusting and kind, and less willing to postpone rewards to get more in the future. Because these results follow greater economic and social freedom, they supposedly show that these gender differences are intrinsic, and explain why men are more focused on their careers and women on their families.

The problem hidden in the logic of the study is that attitudes and preferences are not intrinsic. They are not characteristics we are born with, that we can simply add as a variable in an economic model correlating them with economic growth. We develop attitudes from an early age over the whole course of our lives, learning from everyone we interact with . This includes family members, teachers and other role models, as well as other children in our schools and later colleagues in our workplaces.

In this way , we learn that women should be caring and men successful, that girls should be altruistic and boys risk-taking. These gender stereotypes are then reinforced throughout our lives because society is structured to make women more likely to look after children and so tend to interact more with teachers and other mums. Men are more likely to spend more time on their careers and their social networks are more varied and offer more opportunities.

These differences result in what we call horizontal segregation , where women end up in so-called “pink collar” jobs because they are more likely to find out about vacancies from other women. When women do end up in male-dominated jobs, they have to face vertical segregation , making it almost impossible for them to reach leading roles. We see this in the well-documented lack of female leaders in many industries .

A counter-argument would be that these gender differences really are intrinsic because they depend on biological factors, such as the different levels of sex hormones men and women tend to have. There is now a solid stream of research that looks at how hormones such as testosterone and oestrogen may explain gender behaviour.

Evidence shows that hormones may well influence sexual identity , the likelihood of developing certain diseases , and male aggression (although results are controversial). But there is no evidence that this is directly related to gender preferences in risk-taking, patience, trust and reciprocity. Interestingly, some studies show that while hormones seem to suggest an influence on male behaviour, the same effect is not found in females.

Studies that have looked at these biological factors also stress that they don’t fully explain gender differences in behaviours and preferences, because these are reinforced in boys and girls by society. In other words, no biological or genetic study has concluded that nature is stronger than nurture.

How free are we really?

The researchers behind the new study explain their results by referring to the theory of post-materialism . This says that once material needs are satisfied, human beings are free to make their own decisions and express themselves however they want. In poorer countries, men and women are more equally involved in simply making enough money to get by so they aren’t free in this way. In rich countries, more resources supposedly provide more scope for expressing intrinsic gender preferences and behaviour.

What I think the study actually shows is that economic equality leaves men and women freer to express the gender differences that have been created in them by social pressures. This is the same conclusion recently reached by Paul Polman, chief executive officer of Unilever, when discussing the 2017 World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap report (the same report used as a measure of gender equality in the new study).

If we really want to understand what drives gender inequality we should ask people who they think are the most caring and most successful people they know. Then we should count how many times women and men are named in these respective roles, by men and women respectively. They will show us how much traditional beliefs about gender roles are still in place, even more in supposedly rich and equal countries.

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Roots of gender equality: the persistent effect of beguinages on attitudes toward women

• Published: 29 October 2021
• Volume 27 , pages 91–148, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

• Annalisa Frigo 1 &
• Èric Roca Fernández   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1557-4966 2 , 3  

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This paper is concerned with the historical roots of gender equality. It proposes and empirically assesses a new determinant of gender equality: gender-specific outside options in the marriage market. In particular, enlarging women’s options besides marriage—even if only temporarily—increases their bargaining power with respect to men, leading to a persistent improvement in gender equality. We illustrate this mechanism focusing on Belgium, and relate gender-equality levels in the 19th century to the presence of medieval, female-only communities called beguinages that allowed women to remain single amidst a society that traditionally advocated marriage. Combining geo-referenced data on beguinal communities with 19th-century census data, we document that the presence of beguinages contributed to decrease the gender gap in literacy. The reduction is sizeable, amounting to a 12.3% drop in gender educational inequality. Further evidence of the beguinal legacy is provided leveraging alternative indicators of female agency.

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These differences are important in our empirical specifications to rule out competing mechanisms.

In general, cultural beliefs are deeply rooted and tend to evolve slowly. Several studies document persistence for a wide range of characteristics, including antisemitism and trust. See, for instance, Voigtlander and Voth ( 2012 ), Becker et al. ( 2016 ) or Lowes et al. ( 2017 ). Giuliano and Nunn ( 2020 ) analyse under which conditions culture persists or changes.

Bertocchi and Bozzano ( 2015 ) and Bertocchi and Bozzano ( 2019 ) validate this result using historical Italian data. Tur-Prats ( 2018 ) associates the stem family type to domestic, intimate-partner violence in Spain.

Their argument builds on the relative shortage of women, while this is irrelevant in our setting. However, we both emphasise the importance of the marriage market.

The economic literature argues that the gender-egalitarian culture of the Northern Sea region, documented in historically high levels of female employment (De Moor and Van Zanden ( 2010 )), was conducive to economic development. In particular, gender equality enabled human capital accumulation by aligning family’s fertility with women’s preferences for less offspring (Carmichael et al. ( 2016 )). However, we do not attempt to explain why that region was more gender-egalitarian to begin with. Instead, we are concerned with differences in gender equality within this area.

In 1998, UNESCO recognised some of them as World Heritage for their “outstanding example [... as] a religious movement characteristic of the middle ages, associating both secular and conventual values”.

Poor and well-off women joined beguinages alike. Destitute girls and women who sought poverty as a Catholic ideal became members, see McDonnell ( 1954 , p. 146) and Geybels ( 2004 ). On the other hand, daughters of wealthy citizens and noble-men entered the community, at times accompanied by their maids, see McDonnell ( 1954 , p. 97-99) and Geybels ( 2004 , p. 111). The Mistresses of the beguinages in Ghent indicate that “young beguines received their education [...]” in the beguinage, although the “fruit of their work” earned them a living, see Vander Schelden ( 1862 , p. 2 and p. 12); own translation from French. Beguinages combined contemplative lifestyle and work (McDonnell ( 1954 , p. 146-149). Indeed, admittance to a beguinage required the capacity of supporting oneself through work or personal finances (Geybels ( 2004 , p. 114-118) and beguines’ laboriousness put them “in competition with guilds and craftsmen” ( Ibid. p. 63). Beguine occupations included “carding, spinning, weaving and bleaching [... ,] making of bobbin lace, sewing, embroidery, making rosaries and baking communion wafers”. “[L]abour was compatible with the ideals of the vita apostolica [... because] the disciples in Jesus’s day also had to support themselves”. ( Ibid. p. 115-116). Caretaking and teaching were other profitable sources of income.

These initial arrangements differed from the concept of beguinage that developed later. However, they featured several women who followed a spiritual life outside convents.

See Simons ( 2010 , Table 3, p. 56-59; Appendix II), McDonnell ( 1954 , p. 64) and Geybels ( 2004 , pp. 69, 136, 143, 145 and 147).

Some pious men, known as beghards , emulated the lifestyle of beguines but never reached their reputation and size. Beghards were sort of small guilds, as they were essentially craftsmen in the textile industry.

The data on municipal size during 1437 is from Cuvelier ( 1912 ) and is restricted to the historical Brabant province. It comprises 439 towns, of which 22 had a beguinage.

To Denisart, “beguines are pious women whose status is [...] between religious and secular”; own translation from French, see Vander Schelden ( 1862 , Document V, p. XXV-XXVI).

McDonnell ( 1954 , p. 5) and Béthune ( 1883 , p. 90).

Warnkönig ( 1836 , p. 350) defines them as “women [...] who wear a particular monastic clothing, live together in a space not forbidden to outsiders [...], to lead a chaste and pious life under a superior and following their own statutes. They are not obliged by vows to renounce the world forever”; own translation from French. Vander Schelden ( 1862 , Document V, p. XXV-XXVI) confirms this characterisation adding that “beguines need not give up family relationships or friendships [...]”. Bishop Malderus of Antwerp similarly characterises beguines, especially noting the lack of vows, see McDonnell ( 1954 , p. 121-122). Mommaers and Dutton ( 2004 , p. 20) portray a similar arrangement.

McDonnell ( 1954 , p. 131) provides an analogous characterisation based on Béthune ( 1883 , p. 74): “[t]he beguinage was a retreat, especially well adapted to an urban society, where women living in common could pursue chastity without a vow and earn a livelihood by suitable work”. See also Bowie ( 1990 , p. 25).

According to Geybels ( 2004 , p. 59), the beguine movement was “poorly organised [...] with each community possessing its own statutes”. It always lacked common rules ( McDonnell ( 1954 , p. 134) and ecclesiastical opposition was partly founded on this, see Frédéricq ( 1889 , p. 168-169, par. 172).

French and Belgian beguines enjoyed powerful patronage and were granted privileges, including land donations, see Vander Schelden ( 1862 ) and McDonnell ( 1954 , p. 6, Ch. X and Ch. XI). Clerical tolerance is also emphasized, and the beguines’ lifestyle was praised and recommended by prelates and the Roman Curia.

Simons ( 2010 , p. 124-125) indicates that clergymen accepted beguines as “a sign of diversity” within the Church, and others simply saw beguines as women who “contributed to purify the faith”. However, some initial opposition is recorded because they preached and “interpreted the mysteries of Scripture”. See also footnote 17.

See Frédéricq ( 1889 , p. 168-169, par. 172) and Geybels ( 2004 , p. 56-65).

In fact, the Reformation was swiftly and decisively suppressed in present-day Belgium by the Spanish kings, who fiercely opposed it. Besides summary executions at main squares, including the beheading of important noblemen, Reformers were forced to chose between conversion or exile: Luu ( 2005 ) reports that between 100.000 and 150.000 Belgian Calvinists fled for the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The poem “ Ci encoumence li diz des Beguines ” written by the Parisian trouvère Rutebeuf around 1260 caricatures beguines “If a beguine marries, that is her vocation, because her vows or profession are not for life. Last year she wept, now she prays, next year she’ll take a husband. Now she is Martha, then she is Mary; now she is chaste, then she gets a husband.” . The author of this piece and other foreign visitors in the southern Low Countries expressed surprise over the public behaviour of women: they were usually shocked by women’s relative freedom of movement and action.

The cartulary of the beguinage in Ghent supports this perspective, see Geybels ( 2004 , p. 47).

We are aware that this represents only a small fraction of our data and we conduct several robustness tests to address the issue of small sample bias in Appendix F .

Lacking precise maps for municipal boundaries during 1866, this map represents beguinages overlayed on present-day municipal boundaries. Gender-equality indicators have been computed by aggregating data from 1866 to the present, using weighted averages.

In our context, a literate individual is someone able to read and write.

Census data from 1846 onwards have been recently digitised by the HISSTAT/LOKSTAT project of the University of Ghent. Older national censuses from the years 1800-1830 are archived as manuscripts in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Clearly, the parental decision on whether to educate a daughter or a son is influenced by other factors we control for in the regressions.

Financial problems and opposition from the Church doomed the success of the 1842 education bill. Although the reform contributed to increasing literacy rates, by 1880 39% of the population was still illiterate while this figure was as high as 51% in 1843.

Information on monasteries has been derived from Cottineau ( 1939 ), Berlière ( 1955 ), Michel ( 1923 ) and Department of History, The Ohio State University ( 2016 ). Monasteries were assigned to the relevant municipality existing in 1866. For instance, the priory of Oignies is located in the town of Aiseau although its name suggests it was in Oignies. Most religious institutions were suppressed, and their properties auctioned after the Napoleonic invasion.

Unfortunately, contemporaneous information on schools is only available at the provincial level.

The presence of this university should not directly encourage women to pursue higher education because they were not admitted until 1880, first at Université Libre de Bruxelles . Therefore, we expect distance to Leuven to have a negative impact on our measures of compared literacy, if any.

Our empirical strategy centres around the effects of beguinages. However, as Sect. 5 indicates, monasteries —especially those belonging to non-cloistered orders— are also related to increases in gender equality. Lastly, the presence of monasteries is instrumental in ruling out competing explanations, hence it makes sense to treat them separately.

We use shape-files from European Environment Agency ( 2017 ) tracing all major European rivers.

The list of Belgian cities during 1300 follows Bairoch ( 1988 ).

Crop yield data is provided by FAO/IIASA ( 2011 ). They measure production capacity for several crops based on geographic and climatic characteristics. In our setting, we consider low-input and rain-fed cultivation, mimicking medieval characteristics; and intermediate level of inputs and the use of irrigation to better account for 19th-century agricultural techniques.

This Table presents distances in kilometres to ease the interpretation. However, all regressions include distances expressed in log-km.

Cantons are the administrative level immediately above municipalities. Belgium counted 193 cantons in 1886 and each contained between one and 40 municipalities.

Complementing this channel, beguines acted as role modellers by successfully and independently conducting their own lives without the intervention of men, which signalled their merit and equal role with respect to males. On top of pious donations, beguinal independence was sustained by means of work —including high-level, prestigious professions as teachers. Moreover, their occupations contributed to tightening the relationship between beguines and townspeople. However, as we document later, our analysis suggests that role modelling is not the main mechanism contributing to gender equality. Similarly, as we show later, access to labour opportunities does not seem to drive our results.

Appendix G proposes a theoretical model that illustrates the mechanism and rationalises our findings.

Appendix C presents the results when the dependent variable is \(female\, literacy\, share_{i(j)}\) and \(female\, literacy\, index_{i(j)}\) . These are similar to those presented in Table 2 and indicate a strong association between beguinages and gender equality. Moreover, similar albeit weaker results hold for the year 1880.

Adding a set of demographic controls does not alter the results. In particular, introducing the number of men and women, marriage rate, sex ratio, the percentage of domestic and international migrants for each gender and an indicator variable for the 10% most populous municipalities as regressors provides similar conclusions. However, we note that these variables may depend on the presence of beguinages and hence we prefer not to use them.

Appendix F reproduces the same analysis aggregating the data at the canton level. Nevertheless, we prefer a finer level of aggregation, the municipality, because the former level of aggregation is more affected by spatial autocorrelation.

Table 19 in the Appendix exhibits these results.

As mentioned below, the results presented in Table 7 also suggest that role modelling is of secondary importance in the spread of gender egalitarianism.

The census provides relatively finely-grained categories. We use the broadest set, comprising: construction, wood, ceramic, clothing, leather, metal, textile, food, books, chemical, tobacco, transport, quarries, precision industries, paper, glass and mining.

Using a less precise measure, the number of steam engines per capita before 1850 from van Neck ( 1979 ), provides similar results.

Controlling for income or industry does not affect the qualitative nature of the results throughout the paper.

These regressions consider female labour force participation in agriculture, the industry and in both sectors combined. Regressions include the same set of regressors as in Column 2) of Table 4 . Similarly, beguinages do not affect the share of women in the industry relative to men’s, alleviating the concern of a gender specialisation in manufacturing brought about by the importance of crafts within beguinages.

This level of aggregation presents autocorrelation problems, although the results indicate a positive association between the presence of beguine communities and gender equality.

We are grateful to Rafael Costa for sharing the data. Costa ( 2014 ) illustrates the source of data in more detail.

The data source does not allow us to distinguish between first marriage and subsequent marriages because of widowhood. Thus, we abstain from assumptions on second marriages and focus on the age groups more likely to marry for the first time.

The majority of these documents simply transposed privileges already bestowed on other municipalities, effectively copying them. In most cases, Belgian municipalities celebrated their independence by erecting a belfry : a monumental, fortified building that served as a court, prison, archive and treasure chamber and doubled as watch and bell tower. Eastern cities under the control of the Prince-Bishop of Liège constructed, instead, small, decorated columns named perron . Interestingly, when the city of Liège capitulated in 1467 its perron was dismantled and moved to Bruges for ten years. The peace treaty remarked that “the Duke wanted nothing left standing from the ancient Liège constitution, nor from public liberties, the legacy of a distant past”.

This is the case of Herentals, Hoogstraten and Landen.

Ath, Geraardsbergen, Maaseik, Vilvoorde, Stokkem and Zoutleeuw received charters for being border posts against powerful regional rivals.

Joan and Margaret II, Countesses of Flanders, Henry I, Duke of Brabant, and Philip I, Count of Flanders, were among the group of nobles who promoted these reforms. Their reformation spirit benefited the cities of Antwerp, Damme, Eeklo, Landen, Oostende and Roeselare.

Bruges and Kortrijk were involved in a local conflict confronting Thierry of Alsace and William Clito. The Lord of Ghent delegated the resolution of internal turmoil to the citizens by issuing a charter. Phillip II of France bought off Tournai’s inhabitants by offering them a municipal charter. As an example of a more peculiar motivation, the Prince-Bishop of Liège granted Huy the first Belgian charter to reward the city for its involvement in the reconstruction of the cathedral. Abbot Lèonius interceded with Thierry, Count of Flanders and a friend of his, to grant a municipal charter to his vassals of Poperinge.

These are: Aalst, Aarschot, Antwerp, Ath, Beringen, Borgloon, Brugge, Bruxelles, Damme, Deinze, Dendermonde, Diest, Diksmuide, Eeklo, Ghent, Geraardsbergen, Gistel, Halen, Halle, Harelbeke, Hasselt, Herentals, Hoogstraten, Huy, Kortrijk, Landen, Leuven, Lier, Maaseik, Ninove, Oostende, Oudenaarde, Poperinge, Roeselare, Sint-Truiden, Soignies, Stokkem, Thurnhout, Tournai, Vilvoorde, Ypres and Zoutleeuw.

We use data from Cuvelier ( 1912 ) on the municipal size in 1438 and compute the population growth rate between this date and 1886. Unfortunately, geographical coverage is limited to the historical province of Brabant.

The underlying idea is that, within each group, attitudes towards women would be similar. In the second case, the low number of observations impedes the exercise. We circumvent this limitation by showing that the effect of municipal charters is only significant at the 10% level for towns up to five kilometres away from a beguinage. Similarly, among municipalities located more than five kilometres from a beguinage, municipal charters do not exert any effect on literacy equality measures.

Moreover, we argue that, if anything, municipal charters would strengthen the men’s role as they are appointed officials in the new positions.

Alternatively, it is possible to use Wooldridge’s procedure 21.1 that correctly accounts for the non-linearity of the first-stage when the independent variable of interest is \(beguinage_{i}\) . However, the first-stage, probit regression, does not converge and hence we are unable to report the results from such estimation.

Reasons considered include charters bestowed upon newly founded cities, conflict, and other miscellaneous instances. The result of this more demanding specification validates our previous findings. However, the estimated coefficient becomes less precise because the instrument is able to predict fewer beguine communities. These results are not reported but are available upon request.

Cloistered orders include the Annoncides, Carthusian, Colettine, Dominicans and Trappists.

Comparing the coefficient on beguinages and monasteries, the effect appears not to be statistically different. The p-values associated to an equality test exceed the 10% threshold. In Column 3), we compare beguinages to having one open monastery.

Analysing the overall effect of monasteries on gender equality is beyond the scope of this paper. Nonetheless, it should be noted that nowadays similar networks of lay women leaving their families to find mutual protection and support in other women are present in a few developing societies. These groups are described in Appendix A .

In particular, 73 towns had a feminine monastery. Among these, 17 had also a masculine community, out of a total of 60 towns with masculine monasteries.

The unknown category arises whenever, in a given town, there is one monastery for which its gender is missing. Therefore, such cases may coexist with masculine or feminine monasteries and beguinages. Removing this category from the regressions provides similar results.

The independent variable, in this case, is the time since foundation. We use it to be able to include in the regressions the municipalities that never had a beguinage.

Further, some municipalities present gaps in the marriage series. Unfortunately, we ignore the nature of these gaps: lack of marriages or missing data. We treat all gaps of less than ten consecutive years as representing no marriages, and the remaining as missing data. Using a different bandwidth provides similar results.

Due to the limited sample, regressions employ arrondissement fixed-effects. Nonetheless, using the more restrictive canton fixed-effects provides qualitatively similar results.

For instance, barren and old women who do not have sons to inherit their property. This holds also for the women whose daughters have moved away to their husbands’ villages: the latter cannot take over property in the line of succession.

A man is typically selected from the clan of the old woman for reproduction purposes with the young one.

Other outcomes were taken into consideration but offer more nuanced interpretations. First, the share of female graduates in the population does not reflect female agency at the local level since students tend to move out of their town of origin to pursue tertiary education or a more attractive labour market. Similarly, the local presence of female associations has to be discarded, as most entities are headquartered in Brussels and a few other large cities. Lastly, the gender gap in labour market outcomes might be listed among the dimensions worth investigating. Leveraging 2017 data on female labour force participation rates made available by the Walloon Institute for Evaluation, Foresight and Statistics, we estimated a negative coefficient, indicating an even longer-lasting imprint of beguinages on gender norms. One would expect equal involvement in the labour force as an indication of gender parity. However, from a theoretical perspective, it is possible that better conditions for women translate into lower levels of participation in the job market: Grossbard-Shechtman ( 1984 ) and Chiappori et al. ( 2002 ). More recently, several empirical studies have found support for this theory (Angrist ( 2002 ), Amuedo-Dorantes and Grossbard ( 2007 ), Negrusa and Oreffice ( 2008 ), Oreffice ( 2011 )). However, proper evaluation of female labour force participation would encompass a thorough modelling of leisure time, wage rates, bargaining within the couple, sex-ratios, and labour market conditions (see for instance Grosjean and Khattar ( 2017 )), which is beyond the scope of this study.

Before turning to the analysis, it is important to highlight that between 1866 and today, Belgium has undergone a process of administrative simplification at the local level. This has reduced the total number of municipalities through mergers and fusions. Consequently, the number of observations drops to about 581 for the year 2019.

Actually 75%, temporary quotas set for the first elections after the adoption of the law; from 1999 onward the 67% quotas was applicable. In the event of non-compliance, the authorities would not accept the list.

Capital status refers to a town being the capital of a province, district or region.

Further adding controls for aggregate educational achievement at town level provides similar results.

In this sense, the coefficient on beguinages decreases by 1/3 of its original during 1975 and becomes insignificant in 1976. These results are not reported in the paper because they mix the stock and the flow of marriages, and also the possibility of divorce affects the marriage market and the bargaining power of each gender. Furthermore, the data for 1976 is incomplete.

The municipalities that had an ongoing beguinage in 1866 are, with the closing year between brackets: Aalst (1953), Diksmuide (1914), Hasselt (1886), Herenthals (2001),Hoogstraten (1972), Lier (1970), Momalle (1899), Nieuwpoort (1914) and Turnhout (1994).

Beguinages appear as not significant in Columns 5) and 6) where the control group consists mainly of the southern part of Belgium and few other clusters of villages. However, they are all in cantons without beguinages, and hence the canton fixed effects absorb the effect of beguinages.

This ensures that lack of predictive power for these random beguinages is not due to them being placed in small towns. Such concern is relevant, as we are only generating 70 beguinages.

Running the same regression without considering the presence of beguinage as a regressor yields a positive and significant effect on municipal charters. Since the addition of beguinages renders the former insignificant, the effect is likely to operate through beguinages.

For comparability between the coefficients, the value of the coefficient has been scaled according to the OLS results.

Many aspects are typically encompassed in the notion of marital surplus: children and other household public goods, but also other psychological and sociological amenities, as self-realisation and social recognition.

A Type I Pareto distribution with value 2 for the shape parameter allows obtaining closed-form solutions.

We assume \(\alpha =2\) and \(\mu _{0} < 2*(y-u_{f})\) . The latter is a technical condition to have a non-zero denominator for the expected average of the truncated distribution.

More in detail, the condition on \(\mu _{0}\) reads \(\mu _{0}>\frac{1}{2}(u_{f}-y)(\beta -\sqrt{\beta (8+\beta )})\) . This is not particularly restrictive considering medieval gender norms according to which husbands were in charge of household administration and were considered the legal guardians of their wives.

The speed of convergence to the steady-state accelerates with \(\beta\) . In that sense, higher bargaining power for men increases the speed with which the share of egotistic men is eroded over time.

The limit case of an everlasting rise in women’s outside options implies convergence towards a different steady-state.

A possible extension of the model could consider that men’s bargaining power decreases with the female’s outside option. This would produce a set of different steady-states whose exact value would depend on beguinage’s duration, assuming it closes at some point in time.

In that sense, the distribution of men types has a clear impact on the speed at which more egoistic men appear in society.

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Annalisa Frigo

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Èric Roca Fernández

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We thank David de la Croix, Matteo Cervellati, Oded Galor, Marc Goñi, Fabio Mariani, Felipe Valencia Caicedo, and all the participants to seminars at Brown University, Université catholique de Louvain, Université du Luxembourg, the Indian Statistical Institute Delhi, Syddansk Universitet and Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi for precious comments and suggestions. Finally, we thank the editor and three anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions, which have greatly improved the paper. Annalisa Frigo acknowledges the financial support from the Belgian French-speaking Community (convention ARC \(\hbox {n}^{\circ }\) 15/19-063 on “Family Transformations: Incentives and Norms”). Èric Roca Fernández acknowledges the support received from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche of the French government through the program “ Investissements d’avenir " (ANR-10-LABX-14-01) This work was also supported by French National Research Agency Grant ANR-17-EURE-0020.

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Despite the fact that beguinages are indeed a phenomenon unique to the cities of the Low Countries, in the recent past we can observe other large, female-only prime examples of lay efforts to construct artificial families and communities within an urban setting (Lynch ( 2003 )). Nowadays, there exist other institutions resembling beguinal social customs: they are collective arrangements formed by groups of women in order to overcome certain common problems by setting rules regarding membership and the use of the resources and services the group owns collectively. Another key feature is the adoption of de facto celibacy beyond apparent religious concerns. In the following paragraphs we describe two suggestive illustrations of how encouraging women to be independent and in a safe community might be conducive to a widespread culture of gender equality.

One of these institutions is called Zishunu: an ancient custom that originated from indigenous groups in southwestern China and consists of a group of women called Sworn Spinsters . Zishunu literally means self-combed women and depicts the local customs of girls forming sisterhoods who ritually pinned up their hair and openly took elaborate vows not to marry and to remain childless. Evidence of such practices can be found in local publications and prospered well into the end of the 19th century, when almost all of them worked in silk reeling factories and, from the 1930s, as domestic servants in Hong Kong and Singapore. Their vow of celibacy seems unrelated to religious motives and rather represents a commitment device of high-intensity labour supply. This signalling device made their employers invest more in their human capital and match them to more important working positions (Fong et al. ( 2018 )).

The second instance is one of women seeking the solidarity and protection of other women to escape misogynistic marriages. This is the case of a community in Tanzania that has embraced an age-old tradition of heterosexual women marrying women. In fact, in the Kurya community in Tarime District of the Mara region in northern Tanzania, the so-called Nyumba Nthobu tribal law is used by women who are not able to inherit property due to patriarchal cultural constraints. Footnote 71 In some cases, Nyumba Ntobhu can be a polygamous marriage, as the older woman marries two younger women. This custom enables them to claim the children born by the other woman as their own Footnote 72 and is a way of providing security for their old age. Finally, this custom is also used as an escape for child marriage, female genital mutilation, and domestic violence. Even in this circumstance, the marriage between the two women is justified by the bride price paid before marriage, since there is no intimate relationship between the two women.

Modern day outcomes

This section extends the temporal dimension of the main analysis up to the present day using two alternative sets of outcomes: women’s representation in local politics (in 2019) and divorces (in 1974). Footnote 73 The first outcome reflects local attitudes towards female agency —local residents elect the composition of the town hall— while the second indicates women’s individual exercise of their autonomy as they decide on marital continuation.

Political Representation Footnote 74 Gender quotas targeting elected political offices were first adopted in 1994 and applied on the occasion of the 1994 European and local elections. The law stipulated that electoral lists must not comprise more than 67% of candidates of the same sex. Footnote 75

In 2002, new gender-quota acts were adopted, compelling parties to put forward an equal number of female and male candidates in the ballot, including among the top two positions on each list, starting from the municipal election of 2006. The Flemish region fully complied with the gender-quotas in the following election, i.e. in 2012.

The introduction of the aforementioned quotas prevents analysing female representativeness in municipal councils. However, it is still possible to relate the historical presence of beguine communities to the election of a female mayor: the mayor typically occupies the top position of the most-voted electoral party. Therefore, the gender of the mayor retains information on local preferences towards women. In particular, political competition pushes parties to elect the most viable candidate to run for mayor and are, thus, unlikely to present a woman in municipalities where gender equality is lower. Finally, the choice over a mayor indicates the preferences of the local population and their view of the value of women as political leaders.

We use the information on the mayors serving in 2019 to infer the long-run effect of beguinages on gender equality in politics. Mayors active in 2019 came to power after the 2018 municipal elections. The sorting of political lists and the outcome of the elections also hinges on several local-level characteristics we control for. These are the number of running electoral lists and the number of seats to be distributed to account for political competition; log-area and capital status Footnote 76 to control for the importance and salience of a town; and the share of votes for each political party representing electoral preferences at the town level. Further, all regressions feature demographic controls: population and unemployment and activity rates. Finally, as in the baseline regressions, we control for latitude, longitude and for the presence of masculine and feminine monasteries. All regressions include arrondissement fixed-effect.

Table 10 presents, in Column 1), the long-run effect of beguine communities on gender equality, when we measure it by the election of women as mayors. This specification suggests a rather long-lasting effect of beguine communities: municipalities that had a beguinage are 10 percentage points more likely to elect a woman as mayor, although the association is only relevant at the 10% level. Compared to a baseline of 15.6%, the increase is substantial. Footnote 77

Divorce A second dimension that reflects women’s agency is their willingness and ability to exit a marriage. Starting in 1974, Belgium reformed its divorce law and included the possibility to file for unilateral divorce. We have gathered data from the Belgian archived inventories of “Mouvement de la Population” for the year 1974. Crucially, this year predates Michel’s town merging plan which reduced the number of Belgian towns from 2359 to 596, allowing us to retain the sample we used throughout the paper. The record lists the number of divorce filings during the year and distinguishes between those initiated by the husband, the wife, and the cases where both partners sought to terminate their marriage. Following from our previous results and considering that beguinages contributed to female agency, the number of wives divorcing unilaterally as soon as this is lawful can be considered a signal of female autonomy. Furthermore, we use the information on male-initiated divorces as a placebo test.

Columns 2) and 3) of Table 10 presents the results for this exercise, focusing on wife- and husband-initiated divorces, respectively. The magnitude on divorces is large: the presence of a former beguinage raises the number of divorces by 0.31 on average, and the mean value of wife-initiated divorces is 1.31. Moreover, the association is only valid for divorces filed by women but not for men, which is compatible with the strengthening of women’s bargaining position we postulate. Lastly, we note that the impact of beguinages on divorces is likely to fade over time: as we discuss in Sect. 5 marriages in towns with a beguinage should be less numerous but of better quality, this is, less likely to dissolve. However, bad marriages still existed in municipalities that hosted a beguinage, and these accumulated over time, albeit at a slower pace. Therefore, it is telling that, on the first occasion women had to break such marriages —this is, in 1974—, they opted for that possibility with higher intensity in towns where gender equality was higher. After this initial surge, divorces —especially in towns with a beguinage— shall come from the pool of newly formed couples, and these are of better quality in towns with a beguinage. Thus, the importance of beguinages on divorces should be decreasing with time. Footnote 78

Additional results

This Section reports a series of additional estimates corroborating our main findings, relying on both the OLS and the instrumented specification.

Baseline Results As mentioned in the main Section, we proxy gender equality using alternative variables measuring gender differences in literacy levels. Tables 11 and 12 follow the same structure of Table 2 with \(female\, literacy\, share_{i(j)}\) and \(female\, literacy\, index_{i(j)}\) measuring gender equality, respectively. Considered together, these results indicate a strong correlation between the presence of beguinages and gender equality.

The baseline results also extend to the next census, carried out in 1880, although the results are weaker, as Table 13 indicates. Part of the decrease in the explanatory power of beguinages may be due to education becoming free in 1842: as more children benefited from it and older generations died, we expect a smaller average impact on the overall population subjected to the census of 1880.

Table 14 introduces in Column 1) a new independent variable, \(intensity_{i(j)}\) that combines features of \(beguinage_{i(j)}\) and \(exposure_{i(j)}\) . This variable consists of a five-level index formally defined as follows:

The results suggest a positive association between the presence of beguinages and gender equality, in line with our previous estimates. Moreover, the effect of beguine communities is larger for intermediate levels of beguinage presence. Column 2) of Table 14 proposes a modified version of the variable \(exposure_{i(j)}\) . This alternative specification considers the total number of years during which at least one beguine community was present in a municipality, but does not aggregate the values for those overlapping in time. Taken together, using alternative outcomes and independent variables gives more credence to the association between female-only communities and gender equality.

In addition, since few municipalities had an operating beguinage in 1886, Panel A) of Table 15 disentangles its effects from the cultural legacy lingering from dismantled communities. We do so by excluding from the sample municipalities that had an operating beguinage in 1866. This removes 10 municipalities from the baseline sample. Footnote 79 Results indicate that the cultural imprint left by beguine communities shaped the perception of women. In general, these results are indistinguishable from the main specification.

In Panel B), municipal charters, the instrument used in IV regressions, are included as an additional covariate. Municipal charters granted towns the possibility of establishing a market and guilds and conveyed other benefits. Moreover, they indicated relatively prosperous towns. More broadly, the administrative decentralisation brought about by municipal charters introduced self-management and could have impacted social capital, leading to more gender equality. Results evidence that beguine communities boosted gender equality beyond any possible effect introduced by changes in the local administration.

In line with the previous robustness tests, Table 16 illustrates the role of feminine monasteries on gender equality. It follows Table 7 , where we change the dependent variable. In Columns 1) to 4), we employ \(Fem. lit. share_{i(j)}\) while the remaining use \(Fem. lit. index_{i(j)}\) . In general, our results do not change: access to alternatives increases gender equality, more so for beguinages compared to feminine monasteries.

Table 17 categorises municipalities according to the type of communities each hosted: exclusively masculine, exclusively feminine (including beguinages), mixed and unknown. Footnote 80 By isolating masculine communities, it clearly shows that these had no effect on any of our measures of gender equality, foreclosing the possibility that results arise from nuns and monks teaching girls and boys, respectively.

Finally, we acknowledge that violations of the stable unit treatment value assumption are likely: towns located in the vicinity of a beguinage could have received a partial treatment. In that sense, Table 18 removes all towns located 5 km, 10 km and 20 km away from a beguinage from the sample in Columns 1) and 2), 3) and 4), and 5) and 6), respectively. As the results reveal, our previous findings relating beguine communities and gender equality hold. Footnote 81 Moreover, the coefficients are indistinguishable from those displayed in Columns 7) and 8) of Table 2 , reducing this particular concern.

Location Endogeneity Table 19 reproduces Table 3 adding beguinage fixed-effects and clustering the standard errors at this level. This table, as its analogous before, only considers municipalities located at most at three cut-off distances from the closest beguinage: 5 km, 10 km and 20 km, in Columns 1)–2), 3)–4) and 5)–6), respectively. Further, we also introduce distance to the closest beguinage and \(IDW_{i(j)}\) as regressors in Columns 7)–9). It corroborates the previous findings.

Next, we address the possibility that linguistic barriers impeded women from joining close-by beguinages due to language differences. In particular, we modify the IDW measure assuming disconnected municipal networks across linguistic borders. Table 20 presents the outcome of this exercise. In general, the results we obtain under these alternative specifications are qualitatively equivalent to our baseline results, indicating a more gender equal society among municipalities more connected or directly exposed to beguines.

We also follow Valencia Caicedo ( 2018 ) and compare the effect of beguinages that were abandoned soon after they were established to those that remained. Table 21 presents the results of regressions including separate indicators for short- and long-lived beguinages. Column 1) considers short-lived beguinages the five with the shortest duration, Column 2) increases it to ten, Column 3) to 15 and Column 4) to 20.

The results dispel the concern that ex-ante, town-level characteristics might have guided beguinage location insofar as short-lived beguinages never appear to be significant. In other words, assuming that beguines selected their location based on the attitudes of local residents towards women, one would expect locations where beguinages were short-lived and those where beguine communities endured longer to display very similar gender norms. Hence, if our previous estimates captured only a pre-existing gender-equality differential across municipalities, short-lived beguinages should be systematically related to gender equality.

The previous conclusions, however, could be partially attributed to the low number of observations in the short-lived category, making the coefficients highly imprecise. We tackle this issue by running the same regression as before, but imposing that the number of long-lived beguinages equals the number of short-lived ones. In particular, we randomly draw a sub-sample of long-lived beguinages with the previous condition and we repeat the process one hundred times. The remaining beguinages are kept and the equation we estimate includes a separate coefficient for them. Figure 3 summarises the findings. As before, we focus on the five, ten, 15 and 20 shortest-lived beguinages. The figure reports, for each case, the p-value of each regression on the horizontal axis. The overlaid dots represent the average corresponding coefficient —values are displayed on the right-hand side, vertical axis. All in all, Table 21 and Fig. 3 suggest that beguines did not select places that held very different attitudes regarding gender equality.

Beguinages and gender equality: Short-lived beguinages, II.Note: This figure represents, on the horizontal axis, the p-value corresponding to the coefficient on \(beguinage_{i(j)}\) . Each regression fixes the number the short-lived beguinages, and we randomly draw the same number of long-lived beguinages. The remaining beguinages are included separately in the regressions. Figure 3 a and b consider five beguinages; Fig. 3 c and d increase the number to ten beguinages, 3 e and 3 f to 15 and 3 g and 3 h consider 20 short- and long-lived beguinages.

Finally, we rule out the possibility that our results are due to chance. In particular, we generate 70 random beguinages and attribute them among the ten percent most populous municipalities. Footnote 82 We then regress the \(female\, literacy\, index_{i(j}\) on them, replicating the results of Column 7) in Table 2 . We repeat the procedure one hundred times. Fig. 4 presents the distribution of the coefficients associated to the random beguinages. In general, these are indistinguishable from zero, and in all cases the coefficient corresponding to the real beguinages —depicted by the vertical line— is larger than the (absolute) value of the random ones.

Random beguinages. Note: This figure displays the coefficient associated to randomly generated beguinages when regressions follow our baseline procedure. The vertical line represents the coefficient estimated from actual beguinages as in Column 7) of Table 2 .

IV Results Table 22 presents some evidence regarding the nil effect of municipal charters on gender equality among towns that had arguably similar attitudes toward women. First, Column 1) indicates that, among towns that never had a beguinage, that is, those a priori possibly more hostile towards beguines’ lifestyle, having a municipal charter did not impact subsequent levels of gender equality. Ideally, we would run an equivalent regression for towns with a beguinage, but the low number of observations in that category prevents the exercise. Instead, as a proxy, Column 2) considers all towns less than five kilometers away from a beguinage as being more gender-egalitarian and computes the effect of municipal charters among them. For completeness, Column 3) considers only towns located more than five kilometers away from a beguinage. These municipalities should have had similarly low values of female agency. Arguably, if beguines self-selected towns because they were more tolerant towards their lifestyle, attitudes toward women should be similar within each sub-sample. Finally, Column 4) simultaneously introduces municipal charters and beguinages while considering the whole sample. As it is clear, the presence of beguinages reinforces gender equality. However, the coefficient associated to municipal charters is not significant, which gives additional credence to our instrumentation. Footnote 83

Propensity score matching

In order to identify the effect of the presence of beguine communities on gender-related outcomes while reducing the bias due to confounding variables, we implement a propensity score matching strategy. Ideally, treated and control municipalities should be matched using some pre-beguinage characteristics on attitudes towards women at the municipal level. Unfortunately, this information is not available. Instead, municipalities are matched on exogenous covariates thus mitigating concerns about the threat to identification posed by unobservables. These are latitude and longitude, distance to the sea and to rivers, caloric yields and soil types. Additional predictors include the distance to Leuven and to large cities (defined in 1300) and the presence of monasteries at the municipal level to consider the regional organisation of power and wealth concentration, together with region fixed effects.

Table 23 displays the positive relationship between the historical presence of beguine communities and gender equality obtained with this alternative estimation approach. Panel A) matches municipalities based on propensity scores, while Panel B) employs the nearest neighbour. It establishes that beguine presence at the local level left a great imprint on gender equality, still measurable in the 19th century. In general, the magnitude of coefficients is slightly larger than the one of the baseline OLS specification presented in Column 7) of Table 2 .

Spatial autocorrelation and selection on unobservables

Common concerns in applied work about persistence are related to spatial autocorrelation and selection on unobservables. This section presents evidence to address them. For the former sort, we closely follow the tests proposed by Kelly ( 2019 ), while for the latter we rely on Oster ( 2019 ).

Regarding spatial autocorrelation, we first conduct a Moran’s I test on the residuals of our baseline regression, when the main variable is \(beguinage_{i(j)}\) . Table 24 presents the results, indicating that our residuals are free from spatial autocorrelation when the unit of observation is the municipality as in Columns 1) and 2).

Second, we generate spatially correlated random noise and use it both as a regressor and outcome variable. Following Colella et al. ( 2019 , Footnote 9), we run one thousand regressions using randomly generated, but spatially correlated, noise. As the main regressor, random noise is significant at a rate that doubles the accepted significance thresholds. It appears that at the 10% significance level randomly generated noise is a significant predictor 17.2% of the time; at the 5% significance level we find it to be significant 10.5% of the time; and finally, at the 1% level the random noise is significant about 4.8% of the cases. Although ideally we should have obtained figures below each threshold, our results seem to outperform those analysed by Kelly ( 2019 ). In any case, the average value of the coefficient associated with the random noise is virtually zero, which is clearly lower than what is reported in our baseline regressions.

Next, we set random noise as outcome variable and we assess whether \(beguinage_{i(j)}\) and \(exposure_{i(j)}\) are capable of explaining it. In this case, our main regressors are significant only in a handful of cases: \(beguinage_{i(j)}\) is significant only in 4.7%, 1.8% and 0.2% of the cases at the 10%, 5% and 1%, respectively. Figures for \(exposure_{i(j)}\) are similar, topping at 6.6%, 3.0% and 0.02%.

Finally, we assess the possibility of selection on unobservables following Oster ( 2019 ). In particular, we analyse the value of our two main coefficients of interest assuming an equal selection on unobservables as on observables. In Fig. 5 results are presented for multiple levels of \(R^2\) . Footnote 84 For \(R^2\) increases up to 30% of those of the OLS regressions, selection on unobservables should be larger than selection on observables to reduce our coefficients to zero. Therefore, we are confident that our results do not suffer from this issue, especially when we use \(beguinage_{i(j)}\) as the main regressor.

Selection on unobservables. Note: This figure applies the procedure described in Oster ( 2019 ) to compute the degree of selection on unobservables required to drive the coefficient of interest down to zero assuming a given maximum potential \(R^{2}\) . The vertical axis represents the required degree of selection on unobservables with respect to selection on observables while the horizontal axis represents maximum assumed levels for the \(R^{2}\)

Analysis at the Canton level

Throughout the paper, the municipality is the unit of observation for the empirical analysis. However, even if the magnitude of the estimated effect is relatively large, the statistical power is affected by the fact that only 70 municipalities ever had a beguine community. For this reason, we redo the analysis at the canton level, i.e. the administrative level immediately superior to municipalities. At this level of aggregation, the number of observations shrinks from 2549 to 190. Of these 190 cantons, 61 hosted a beguine community, which corresponds to approximately one third of them.

In what follows, we replicate the main results we obtained previously. In general, working at the canton level yields similar results. It should be noted that, contrary to our baseline sample, this level of aggregation might be subject to spatial correlation in outcomes (as mentioned in Appendix E ), see Columns 3) and 4) of Table 24 .

First, Table 25 documents a persistent effect of beguine communities on gender equality, as captured by the literacy equality index. In this case, we cluster the standard errors at the arrondissement level and we also provide Conley standard errors with a bandwidth of 100 km. In the most comprehensive specification, a beguinage raises gender equality by 5.6 percentage points, which represents around 6.5% of its average value.

Similarly, we repeat the same analysis using modern-day municipal borders. Belgium underwent a process of administrative simplification, merging many previously independent towns in larger municipalites. Still, there are more towns today than cantons in the 19th century, and this exercise represents a compromise between the most disaggregated level (municipalities) and the higher level cantons represented. Table 26 presents the results, which follow the same pattern observed before, that is, a positive and significant association between the former presence of a beguinage in a town and the subsequent higher level of gender equality.

When we instrument the presence of beguinages using municipal charters, the results suggest again that the presence of these female-only communities was conducive to higher levels of gender equality. Table 27 presents these results, together with the coefficient of municipal charters in the first-stage regression, which is significant. Moreover, the F-stat is above the generally accepted threshold.

In line with the previous evidence, we find that the presence of beguine communities is associated to increased levels of gender equality during the mid-19th century. Besides, the magnitude of the coefficient increases, indicating a possible negative selection in the OLS specification. Finally, conducting robustness checks akin to those presented at the municipal level yields, in general, a similar result: we find a positive association between beguinages and gender equality. These additional results are available upon request.

Lastly, Broderick et al. ( 2020 ) caution about results’ sensibility to the removal of few observations. Considering that, overall, less than 3% of the towns ever had a beguinage, we repeat the analysis at the canton level but dropping one canton at a time. Figure 6 presents the results: the estimated effect of beguinages is extremely stable.

Robustness to dropping one canton at a time. Note: This figure presents the results of regressions akin to those in Column 7) of Table 25 but dropping one canton at a time. Dark dots indicate the coefficient on beguinages, and the shades of grey represent the 1%, 5% and 10% confidence intervals. The red line denotes the baseline coefficient on beguinages

A model of cultural transmission

So far, our research unveiled an enduring relationship between beguine communities and gender equality. Possible explanations include role-modelling effects, increased female bargaining power, and beguines lifting girls’ literacy rates as teachers. However, the previous sections evince that neither role-modelling nor beguinal teaching efforts caused the increase in gender equality we measure.

Consequently, we propose a theoretical model to explain our results emphasising girls’ bargaining power as the relevant mechanism at play. It illustrates how beguinages triggered a shift in values that could spread beyond the beguinal population itself, influencing gender outcomes for centuries. We believe this captures the essence of what beguinages offered to young girls, while other potential mechanisms are left unexplored.

In this framework, cultural change in gender roles operates through the marriage market. We consider a population of men —denoted by m — and women — f — in equal number who randomly meet in the local marriage market. Before getting married, they bargain non-cooperatively over the share of the constant marital surplus generated by a union, denoted by y . Footnote 85 Let \(s^{m,f}_{t} \in (0, 1)\) be the couple-specific share men appropriate and \(t=1,2,..\) denote the time period. Agents will agree to the wedding if they enjoy their share of marital surplus more than their life as single.

Individuals are characterised by their outside option in case they do not marry. Women f are assumed to be homogeneous in their outside option \(u_{f} \in (0,y)\) and we posit that heterogeneous men m follow a Type I Pareto distribution with scale parameter \(x_{t}\) and shape parameter \(\alpha = 2\) such that \(u_{m,t} \sim Pareto_{I}(x_{t}, 2)\) . Footnote 86 The initial average type of men is: \(\mu _{0}=\frac{\alpha x_{0}}{\alpha -1}\) .

The potential couples’ negotiation problem follows Nash’s bargaining:

where \(\beta \in (0, 1)\) denotes men’s bargaining power and is assumed to be constant.

At the optimum, men who marry enjoy the share \({s^{m,f}_{t}}^{\star }=\frac{u_{m,t}(1-\beta )+\beta (y-u_{f})}{y}\) , which is decreasing in \(u_{f}\) . Matched individuals for which \(u_{m,t}+u_{f}>y\) cannot agree on a sharing rule. Consequently, men at the right tail of the distribution will stay single. Both very demanding men and women matched with them are better off if they do not marry.

Each married couple has one daughter and one son. To obtain a tractable model, daughters inherit the constant type \(u_{f}\) of their mothers while sons are horizontally socialised. In particular, sons’ type follows a Type I Pareto distribution with \(\alpha =2\) and the average son type equals the average share of surplus that married men obtain in the bargaining process. In other words, following Bisin and Verdier ( 2001 ), a son observes married couples to infer the minimum amount he should demand in the bargaining process. This average equals:

Since the average of a Type I Pareto distribution is given by \(\frac{\alpha x}{1-\alpha }\) we can rewrite the previous expression in terms of \(\mu _{t}\) Footnote 87 :

Equation 9 describes the dynamic evolution of \(\mu\) over generations. For sufficiently large values of the initial \(\mu _{0}\) , \(\mu _{t+1} < \mu _{t} \forall t\) . Footnote 88

In order to study the long-term evolution of gender norms, we focus on the change of men’s values over generations, as captured by \(\mu\) . We analyse the unique, asymptotically steady-state level of \(\mu _{t}\) given by: Footnote 89

Starting with this model, we show that a temporary shift in women’s outside options —brought about by the opening of a beguinage— has long-lasting effects that exceed the lifespan of the shock. We maintain that becoming a beguine was a competing alternative to marriage that broadened girls’ choice-set. Footnote 90

Suppose that women in municipalities with a beguinage enjoyed an increased outside options ( \(u^{beguinage}_{f}>u_{f}\) ) and could bargain a better status within the couple if married. In this scenario, a larger share of selfish men will remain single, leading to a selection of values in the married population and to a lower steady-state level of \(\mu\) in the long run. In particular, as long as women enjoy the enlarged set of outside options, the steady-state level on \(\mu\) is reduced: \(\mu _{beguinage}^{\star } < \mu ^{\star }\) . Footnote 91

Having established the previous result, we now turn to the dynamics when a beguinage is operative for a limited time. Figure 7 illustrates the evolution of the average attitude of men over time under two different scenarios for one particular parametrisation: a no-beguinage case (dashed line) and a case in which a beguinage is founded in a municipality and dissolves after some time (solid line). After the closure of the beguinage, women face the baseline outside option \(u_{f}\) . The exact timing of the events hinges on the parametrisation and the distribution of men. However, we are interested in describing the general trends and are not concerned with the precise length of each phase.

Evolution over time Note: This Figure displays the evolution of the average attitude of men under two different scenarios: a no-beguinage case (dashed line) and a case in which a beguinage is founded (solid line). assumes \(\beta =0.65\) and \(x=5\) for both cases and \(u^{beguinage}_f = 1.2 > u_{f} = 1.\) The beguinage is operative for three periods

As is clear from the dynamics, while the beguinage operates, the values converge to a different, lower steady-state, as anticipated by the long-run analysis before. After the closure of the beguinage, the value of the outside option for women is reset to \(u_{f}\) and the dynamics return to the old steady-state. However, the pool of available men is still biased towards more gender-egalitarian attitudes due to the selection process happening during the existence of the beguinage. Only as new men are born does the pool return to the original distribution featuring all types of men. Footnote 92 Therefore, the presence of a beguinage results in less male-egotistic values in society for some periods of time.

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Frigo, A., Roca Fernández, È. Roots of gender equality: the persistent effect of beguinages on attitudes toward women. J Econ Growth 27 , 91–148 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-021-09198-7

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Research Article

Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator

Contributed equally to this work with: Paola Belingheri, Filippo Chiarello, Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, Paola Rovelli

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Energia, dei Sistemi, del Territorio e delle Costruzioni, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Largo L. Lazzarino, Pisa, Italy

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, Department of Management, Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Faculty of Economics and Management, Centre for Family Business Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy

• Paola Belingheri, 
• Filippo Chiarello, 
• Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, 
• Paola Rovelli

• Published: September 21, 2021
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474
• Reader Comments

9 Nov 2021: The PLOS ONE Staff (2021) Correction: Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator. PLOS ONE 16(11): e0259930. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259930 View correction

Gender equality is a major problem that places women at a disadvantage thereby stymieing economic growth and societal advancement. In the last two decades, extensive research has been conducted on gender related issues, studying both their antecedents and consequences. However, existing literature reviews fail to provide a comprehensive and clear picture of what has been studied so far, which could guide scholars in their future research. Our paper offers a scoping review of a large portion of the research that has been published over the last 22 years, on gender equality and related issues, with a specific focus on business and economics studies. Combining innovative methods drawn from both network analysis and text mining, we provide a synthesis of 15,465 scientific articles. We identify 27 main research topics, we measure their relevance from a semantic point of view and the relationships among them, highlighting the importance of each topic in the overall gender discourse. We find that prominent research topics mostly relate to women in the workforce–e.g., concerning compensation, role, education, decision-making and career progression. However, some of them are losing momentum, and some other research trends–for example related to female entrepreneurship, leadership and participation in the board of directors–are on the rise. Besides introducing a novel methodology to review broad literature streams, our paper offers a map of the main gender-research trends and presents the most popular and the emerging themes, as well as their intersections, outlining important avenues for future research.

Citation: Belingheri P, Chiarello F, Fronzetti Colladon A, Rovelli P (2021) Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0256474. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474

Editor: Elisa Ughetto, Politecnico di Torino, ITALY

Received: June 25, 2021; Accepted: August 6, 2021; Published: September 21, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Belingheri et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its supporting information files. The only exception is the text of the abstracts (over 15,000) that we have downloaded from Scopus. These abstracts can be retrieved from Scopus, but we do not have permission to redistribute them.

Funding: P.B and F.C.: Grant of the Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Construction of the University of Pisa (DESTEC) for the project “Measuring Gender Bias with Semantic Analysis: The Development of an Assessment Tool and its Application in the European Space Industry. P.B., F.C., A.F.C., P.R.: Grant of the Italian Association of Management Engineering (AiIG), “Misure di sostegno ai soci giovani AiIG” 2020, for the project “Gender Equality Through Data Intelligence (GEDI)”. F.C.: EU project ASSETs+ Project (Alliance for Strategic Skills addressing Emerging Technologies in Defence) EAC/A03/2018 - Erasmus+ programme, Sector Skills Alliances, Lot 3: Sector Skills Alliance for implementing a new strategic approach (Blueprint) to sectoral cooperation on skills G.A. NUMBER: 612678-EPP-1-2019-1-IT-EPPKA2-SSA-B.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The persistent gender inequalities that currently exist across the developed and developing world are receiving increasing attention from economists, policymakers, and the general public [e.g., 1 – 3 ]. Economic studies have indicated that women’s education and entry into the workforce contributes to social and economic well-being [e.g., 4 , 5 ], while their exclusion from the labor market and from managerial positions has an impact on overall labor productivity and income per capita [ 6 , 7 ]. The United Nations selected gender equality, with an emphasis on female education, as part of the Millennium Development Goals [ 8 ], and gender equality at-large as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030 [ 9 ]. These latter objectives involve not only developing nations, but rather all countries, to achieve economic, social and environmental well-being.

As is the case with many SDGs, gender equality is still far from being achieved and persists across education, access to opportunities, or presence in decision-making positions [ 7 , 10 , 11 ]. As we enter the last decade for the SDGs’ implementation, and while we are battling a global health pandemic, effective and efficient action becomes paramount to reach this ambitious goal.

Scholars have dedicated a massive effort towards understanding gender equality, its determinants, its consequences for women and society, and the appropriate actions and policies to advance women’s equality. Many topics have been covered, ranging from women’s education and human capital [ 12 , 13 ] and their role in society [e.g., 14 , 15 ], to their appointment in firms’ top ranked positions [e.g., 16 , 17 ] and performance implications [e.g., 18 , 19 ]. Despite some attempts, extant literature reviews provide a narrow view on these issues, restricted to specific topics–e.g., female students’ presence in STEM fields [ 20 ], educational gender inequality [ 5 ], the gender pay gap [ 21 ], the glass ceiling effect [ 22 ], leadership [ 23 ], entrepreneurship [ 24 ], women’s presence on the board of directors [ 25 , 26 ], diversity management [ 27 ], gender stereotypes in advertisement [ 28 ], or specific professions [ 29 ]. A comprehensive view on gender-related research, taking stock of key findings and under-studied topics is thus lacking.

Extant literature has also highlighted that gender issues, and their economic and social ramifications, are complex topics that involve a large number of possible antecedents and outcomes [ 7 ]. Indeed, gender equality actions are most effective when implemented in unison with other SDGs (e.g., with SDG 8, see [ 30 ]) in a synergetic perspective [ 10 ]. Many bodies of literature (e.g., business, economics, development studies, sociology and psychology) approach the problem of achieving gender equality from different perspectives–often addressing specific and narrow aspects. This sometimes leads to a lack of clarity about how different issues, circumstances, and solutions may be related in precipitating or mitigating gender inequality or its effects. As the number of papers grows at an increasing pace, this issue is exacerbated and there is a need to step back and survey the body of gender equality literature as a whole. There is also a need to examine synergies between different topics and approaches, as well as gaps in our understanding of how different problems and solutions work together. Considering the important topic of women’s economic and social empowerment, this paper aims to fill this gap by answering the following research question: what are the most relevant findings in the literature on gender equality and how do they relate to each other ?

To do so, we conduct a scoping review [ 31 ], providing a synthesis of 15,465 articles dealing with gender equity related issues published in the last twenty-two years, covering both the periods of the MDGs and the SDGs (i.e., 2000 to mid 2021) in all the journals indexed in the Academic Journal Guide’s 2018 ranking of business and economics journals. Given the huge amount of research conducted on the topic, we adopt an innovative methodology, which relies on social network analysis and text mining. These techniques are increasingly adopted when surveying large bodies of text. Recently, they were applied to perform analysis of online gender communication differences [ 32 ] and gender behaviors in online technology communities [ 33 ], to identify and classify sexual harassment instances in academia [ 34 ], and to evaluate the gender inclusivity of disaster management policies [ 35 ].

Applied to the title, abstracts and keywords of the articles in our sample, this methodology allows us to identify a set of 27 recurrent topics within which we automatically classify the papers. Introducing additional novelty, by means of the Semantic Brand Score (SBS) indicator [ 36 ] and the SBS BI app [ 37 ], we assess the importance of each topic in the overall gender equality discourse and its relationships with the other topics, as well as trends over time, with a more accurate description than that offered by traditional literature reviews relying solely on the number of papers presented in each topic.

This methodology, applied to gender equality research spanning the past twenty-two years, enables two key contributions. First, we extract the main message that each document is conveying and how this is connected to other themes in literature, providing a rich picture of the topics that are at the center of the discourse, as well as of the emerging topics. Second, by examining the semantic relationship between topics and how tightly their discourses are linked, we can identify the key relationships and connections between different topics. This semi-automatic methodology is also highly reproducible with minimum effort.

This literature review is organized as follows. In the next section, we present how we selected relevant papers and how we analyzed them through text mining and social network analysis. We then illustrate the importance of 27 selected research topics, measured by means of the SBS indicator. In the results section, we present an overview of the literature based on the SBS results–followed by an in-depth narrative analysis of the top 10 topics (i.e., those with the highest SBS) and their connections. Subsequently, we highlight a series of under-studied connections between the topics where there is potential for future research. Through this analysis, we build a map of the main gender-research trends in the last twenty-two years–presenting the most popular themes. We conclude by highlighting key areas on which research should focused in the future.

Our aim is to map a broad topic, gender equality research, that has been approached through a host of different angles and through different disciplines. Scoping reviews are the most appropriate as they provide the freedom to map different themes and identify literature gaps, thereby guiding the recommendation of new research agendas [ 38 ].

Several practical approaches have been proposed to identify and assess the underlying topics of a specific field using big data [ 39 – 41 ], but many of them fail without proper paper retrieval and text preprocessing. This is specifically true for a research field such as the gender-related one, which comprises the work of scholars from different backgrounds. In this section, we illustrate a novel approach for the analysis of scientific (gender-related) papers that relies on methods and tools of social network analysis and text mining. Our procedure has four main steps: (1) data collection, (2) text preprocessing, (3) keywords extraction and classification, and (4) evaluation of semantic importance and image.

Data collection

In this study, we analyze 22 years of literature on gender-related research. Following established practice for scoping reviews [ 42 ], our data collection consisted of two main steps, which we summarize here below.

Firstly, we retrieved from the Scopus database all the articles written in English that contained the term “gender” in their title, abstract or keywords and were published in a journal listed in the Academic Journal Guide 2018 ranking of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) ( https://charteredabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AJG2018-Methodology.pdf ), considering the time period from Jan 2000 to May 2021. We used this information considering that abstracts, titles and keywords represent the most informative part of a paper, while using the full-text would increase the signal-to-noise ratio for information extraction. Indeed, these textual elements already demonstrated to be reliable sources of information for the task of domain lexicon extraction [ 43 , 44 ]. We chose Scopus as source of literature because of its popularity, its update rate, and because it offers an API to ease the querying process. Indeed, while it does not allow to retrieve the full text of scientific articles, the Scopus API offers access to titles, abstracts, citation information and metadata for all its indexed scholarly journals. Moreover, we decided to focus on the journals listed in the AJG 2018 ranking because we were interested in reviewing business and economics related gender studies only. The AJG is indeed widely used by universities and business schools as a reference point for journal and research rigor and quality. This first step, executed in June 2021, returned more than 55,000 papers.

In the second step–because a look at the papers showed very sparse results, many of which were not in line with the topic of this literature review (e.g., papers dealing with health care or medical issues, where the word gender indicates the gender of the patients)–we applied further inclusion criteria to make the sample more focused on the topic of this literature review (i.e., women’s gender equality issues). Specifically, we only retained those papers mentioning, in their title and/or abstract, both gender-related keywords (e.g., daughter, female, mother) and keywords referring to bias and equality issues (e.g., equality, bias, diversity, inclusion). After text pre-processing (see next section), keywords were first identified from a frequency-weighted list of words found in the titles, abstracts and keywords in the initial list of papers, extracted through text mining (following the same approach as [ 43 ]). They were selected by two of the co-authors independently, following respectively a bottom up and a top-down approach. The bottom-up approach consisted of examining the words found in the frequency-weighted list and classifying those related to gender and equality. The top-down approach consisted in searching in the word list for notable gender and equality-related words. Table 1 reports the sets of keywords we considered, together with some examples of words that were used to search for their presence in the dataset (a full list is provided in the S1 Text ). At end of this second step, we obtained a final sample of 15,465 relevant papers.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.t001

Text processing and keyword extraction

Text preprocessing aims at structuring text into a form that can be analyzed by statistical models. In the present section, we describe the preprocessing steps we applied to paper titles and abstracts, which, as explained below, partially follow a standard text preprocessing pipeline [ 45 ]. These activities have been performed using the R package udpipe [ 46 ].

The first step is n-gram extraction (i.e., a sequence of words from a given text sample) to identify which n-grams are important in the analysis, since domain-specific lexicons are often composed by bi-grams and tri-grams [ 47 ]. Multi-word extraction is usually implemented with statistics and linguistic rules, thus using the statistical properties of n-grams or machine learning approaches [ 48 ]. However, for the present paper, we used Scopus metadata in order to have a more effective and efficient n-grams collection approach [ 49 ]. We used the keywords of each paper in order to tag n-grams with their associated keywords automatically. Using this greedy approach, it was possible to collect all the keywords listed by the authors of the papers. From this list, we extracted only keywords composed by two, three and four words, we removed all the acronyms and rare keywords (i.e., appearing in less than 1% of papers), and we clustered keywords showing a high orthographic similarity–measured using a Levenshtein distance [ 50 ] lower than 2, considering these groups of keywords as representing same concepts, but expressed with different spelling. After tagging the n-grams in the abstracts, we followed a common data preparation pipeline that consists of the following steps: (i) tokenization, that splits the text into tokens (i.e., single words and previously tagged multi-words); (ii) removal of stop-words (i.e. those words that add little meaning to the text, usually being very common and short functional words–such as “and”, “or”, or “of”); (iii) parts-of-speech tagging, that is providing information concerning the morphological role of a word and its morphosyntactic context (e.g., if the token is a determiner, the next token is a noun or an adjective with very high confidence, [ 51 ]); and (iv) lemmatization, which consists in substituting each word with its dictionary form (or lemma). The output of the latter step allows grouping together the inflected forms of a word. For example, the verbs “am”, “are”, and “is” have the shared lemma “be”, or the nouns “cat” and “cats” both share the lemma “cat”. We preferred lemmatization over stemming [ 52 ] in order to obtain more interpretable results.

In addition, we identified a further set of keywords (with respect to those listed in the “keywords” field) by applying a series of automatic words unification and removal steps, as suggested in past research [ 53 , 54 ]. We removed: sparse terms (i.e., occurring in less than 0.1% of all documents), common terms (i.e., occurring in more than 10% of all documents) and retained only nouns and adjectives. It is relevant to notice that no document was lost due to these steps. We then used the TF-IDF function [ 55 ] to produce a new list of keywords. We additionally tested other approaches for the identification and clustering of keywords–such as TextRank [ 56 ] or Latent Dirichlet Allocation [ 57 ]–without obtaining more informative results.

Classification of research topics

To guide the literature analysis, two experts met regularly to examine the sample of collected papers and to identify the main topics and trends in gender research. Initially, they conducted brainstorming sessions on the topics they expected to find, due to their knowledge of the literature. This led to an initial list of topics. Subsequently, the experts worked independently, also supported by the keywords in paper titles and abstracts extracted with the procedure described above.

Considering all this information, each expert identified and clustered relevant keywords into topics. At the end of the process, the two assignments were compared and exhibited a 92% agreement. Another meeting was held to discuss discordant cases and reach a consensus. This resulted in a list of 27 topics, briefly introduced in Table 2 and subsequently detailed in the following sections.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.t002

Evaluation of semantic importance

Working on the lemmatized corpus of the 15,465 papers included in our sample, we proceeded with the evaluation of semantic importance trends for each topic and with the analysis of their connections and prevalent textual associations. To this aim, we used the Semantic Brand Score indicator [ 36 ], calculated through the SBS BI webapp [ 37 ] that also produced a brand image report for each topic. For this study we relied on the computing resources of the ENEA/CRESCO infrastructure [ 58 ].

The Semantic Brand Score (SBS) is a measure of semantic importance that combines methods of social network analysis and text mining. It is usually applied for the analysis of (big) textual data to evaluate the importance of one or more brands, names, words, or sets of keywords [ 36 ]. Indeed, the concept of “brand” is intended in a flexible way and goes beyond products or commercial brands. In this study, we evaluate the SBS time-trends of the keywords defining the research topics discussed in the previous section. Semantic importance comprises the three dimensions of topic prevalence, diversity and connectivity. Prevalence measures how frequently a research topic is used in the discourse. The more a topic is mentioned by scientific articles, the more the research community will be aware of it, with possible increase of future studies; this construct is partly related to that of brand awareness [ 59 ]. This effect is even stronger, considering that we are analyzing the title, abstract and keywords of the papers, i.e. the parts that have the highest visibility. A very important characteristic of the SBS is that it considers the relationships among words in a text. Topic importance is not just a matter of how frequently a topic is mentioned, but also of the associations a topic has in the text. Specifically, texts are transformed into networks of co-occurring words, and relationships are studied through social network analysis [ 60 ]. This step is necessary to calculate the other two dimensions of our semantic importance indicator. Accordingly, a social network of words is generated for each time period considered in the analysis–i.e., a graph made of n nodes (words) and E edges weighted by co-occurrence frequency, with W being the set of edge weights. The keywords representing each topic were clustered into single nodes.

The construct of diversity relates to that of brand image [ 59 ], in the sense that it considers the richness and distinctiveness of textual (topic) associations. Considering the above-mentioned networks, we calculated diversity using the distinctiveness centrality metric–as in the formula presented by Fronzetti Colladon and Naldi [ 61 ].

Lastly, connectivity was measured as the weighted betweenness centrality [ 62 , 63 ] of each research topic node. We used the formula presented by Wasserman and Faust [ 60 ]. The dimension of connectivity represents the “brokerage power” of each research topic–i.e., how much it can serve as a bridge to connect other terms (and ultimately topics) in the discourse [ 36 ].

The SBS is the final composite indicator obtained by summing the standardized scores of prevalence, diversity and connectivity. Standardization was carried out considering all the words in the corpus, for each specific timeframe.

This methodology, applied to a large and heterogeneous body of text, enables to automatically identify two important sets of information that add value to the literature review. Firstly, the relevance of each topic in literature is measured through a composite indicator of semantic importance, rather than simply looking at word frequencies. This provides a much richer picture of the topics that are at the center of the discourse, as well as of the topics that are emerging in the literature. Secondly, it enables to examine the extent of the semantic relationship between topics, looking at how tightly their discourses are linked. In a field such as gender equality, where many topics are closely linked to each other and present overlaps in issues and solutions, this methodology offers a novel perspective with respect to traditional literature reviews. In addition, it ensures reproducibility over time and the possibility to semi-automatically update the analysis, as new papers become available.

Overview of main topics

In terms of descriptive textual statistics, our corpus is made of 15,465 text documents, consisting of a total of 2,685,893 lemmatized tokens (words) and 32,279 types. As a result, the type-token ratio is 1.2%. The number of hapaxes is 12,141, with a hapax-token ratio of 37.61%.

Fig 1 shows the list of 27 topics by decreasing SBS. The most researched topic is compensation , exceeding all others in prevalence, diversity, and connectivity. This means it is not only mentioned more often than other topics, but it is also connected to a greater number of other topics and is central to the discourse on gender equality. The next four topics are, in order of SBS, role , education , decision-making , and career progression . These topics, except for education , all concern women in the workforce. Between these first five topics and the following ones there is a clear drop in SBS scores. In particular, the topics that follow have a lower connectivity than the first five. They are hiring , performance , behavior , organization , and human capital . Again, except for behavior and human capital , the other three topics are purely related to women in the workforce. After another drop-off, the following topics deal prevalently with women in society. This trend highlights that research on gender in business journals has so far mainly paid attention to the conditions that women experience in business contexts, while also devoting some attention to women in society.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.g001

Fig 2 shows the SBS time series of the top 10 topics. While there has been a general increase in the number of Scopus-indexed publications in the last decade, we notice that some SBS trends remain steady, or even decrease. In particular, we observe that the main topic of the last twenty-two years, compensation , is losing momentum. Since 2016, it has been surpassed by decision-making , education and role , which may indicate that literature is increasingly attempting to identify root causes of compensation inequalities. Moreover, in the last two years, the topics of hiring , performance , and organization are experiencing the largest importance increase.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.g002

Fig 3 shows the SBS time trends of the remaining 17 topics (i.e., those not in the top 10). As we can see from the graph, there are some that maintain a steady trend–such as reputation , management , networks and governance , which also seem to have little importance. More relevant topics with average stationary trends (except for the last two years) are culture , family , and parenting . The feminine topic is among the most important here, and one of those that exhibit the larger variations over time (similarly to leadership ). On the other hand, the are some topics that, even if not among the most important, show increasing SBS trends; therefore, they could be considered as emerging topics and could become popular in the near future. These are entrepreneurship , leadership , board of directors , and sustainability . These emerging topics are also interesting to anticipate future trends in gender equality research that are conducive to overall equality in society.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.g003

In addition to the SBS score of the different topics, the network of terms they are associated to enables to gauge the extent to which their images (textual associations) overlap or differ ( Fig 4 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.g004

There is a central cluster of topics with high similarity, which are all connected with women in the workforce. The cluster includes topics such as organization , decision-making , performance , hiring , human capital , education and compensation . In addition, the topic of well-being is found within this cluster, suggesting that women’s equality in the workforce is associated to well-being considerations. The emerging topics of entrepreneurship and leadership are also closely connected with each other, possibly implying that leadership is a much-researched quality in female entrepreneurship. Topics that are relatively more distant include personality , politics , feminine , empowerment , management , board of directors , reputation , governance , parenting , masculine and network .

The following sections describe the top 10 topics and their main associations in literature (see Table 3 ), while providing a brief overview of the emerging topics.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.t003

Compensation.

The topic of compensation is related to the topics of role , hiring , education and career progression , however, also sees a very high association with the words gap and inequality . Indeed, a well-known debate in degrowth economics centers around whether and how to adequately compensate women for their childbearing, childrearing, caregiver and household work [e.g., 30 ].

Even in paid work, women continue being offered lower compensations than their male counterparts who have the same job or cover the same role [ 64 – 67 ]. This severe inequality has been widely studied by scholars over the last twenty-two years. Dealing with this topic, some specific roles have been addressed. Specifically, research highlighted differences in compensation between female and male CEOs [e.g., 68 ], top executives [e.g., 69 ], and boards’ directors [e.g., 70 ]. Scholars investigated the determinants of these gaps, such as the gender composition of the board [e.g., 71 – 73 ] or women’s individual characteristics [e.g., 71 , 74 ].

Among these individual characteristics, education plays a relevant role [ 75 ]. Education is indeed presented as the solution for women, not only to achieve top executive roles, but also to reduce wage inequality [e.g., 76 , 77 ]. Past research has highlighted education influences on gender wage gaps, specifically referring to gender differences in skills [e.g., 78 ], college majors [e.g., 79 ], and college selectivity [e.g., 80 ].

Finally, the wage gap issue is strictly interrelated with hiring –e.g., looking at whether being a mother affects hiring and compensation [e.g., 65 , 81 ] or relating compensation to unemployment [e.g., 82 ]–and career progression –for instance looking at meritocracy [ 83 , 84 ] or the characteristics of the boss for whom women work [e.g., 85 ].

The roles covered by women have been deeply investigated. Scholars have focused on the role of women in their families and the society as a whole [e.g., 14 , 15 ], and, more widely, in business contexts [e.g., 18 , 81 ]. Indeed, despite still lagging behind their male counterparts [e.g., 86 , 87 ], in the last decade there has been an increase in top ranked positions achieved by women [e.g., 88 , 89 ]. Following this phenomenon, scholars have posed greater attention towards the presence of women in the board of directors [e.g., 16 , 18 , 90 , 91 ], given the increasing pressure to appoint female directors that firms, especially listed ones, have experienced. Other scholars have focused on the presence of women covering the role of CEO [e.g., 17 , 92 ] or being part of the top management team [e.g., 93 ]. Irrespectively of the level of analysis, all these studies tried to uncover the antecedents of women’s presence among top managers [e.g., 92 , 94 ] and the consequences of having a them involved in the firm’s decision-making –e.g., on performance [e.g., 19 , 95 , 96 ], risk [e.g., 97 , 98 ], and corporate social responsibility [e.g., 99 , 100 ].

Besides studying the difficulties and discriminations faced by women in getting a job [ 81 , 101 ], and, more specifically in the hiring , appointment, or career progression to these apical roles [e.g., 70 , 83 ], the majority of research of women’s roles dealt with compensation issues. Specifically, scholars highlight the pay-gap that still exists between women and men, both in general [e.g., 64 , 65 ], as well as referring to boards’ directors [e.g., 70 , 102 ], CEOs and executives [e.g., 69 , 103 , 104 ].

Finally, other scholars focused on the behavior of women when dealing with business. In this sense, particular attention has been paid to leadership and entrepreneurial behaviors. The former quite overlaps with dealing with the roles mentioned above, but also includes aspects such as leaders being stereotyped as masculine [e.g., 105 ], the need for greater exposure to female leaders to reduce biases [e.g., 106 ], or female leaders acting as queen bees [e.g., 107 ]. Regarding entrepreneurship , scholars mainly investigated women’s entrepreneurial entry [e.g., 108 , 109 ], differences between female and male entrepreneurs in the evaluations and funding received from investors [e.g., 110 , 111 ], and their performance gap [e.g., 112 , 113 ].

Education has long been recognized as key to social advancement and economic stability [ 114 ], for job progression and also a barrier to gender equality, especially in STEM-related fields. Research on education and gender equality is mostly linked with the topics of compensation , human capital , career progression , hiring , parenting and decision-making .

Education contributes to a higher human capital [ 115 ] and constitutes an investment on the part of women towards their future. In this context, literature points to the gender gap in educational attainment, and the consequences for women from a social, economic, personal and professional standpoint. Women are found to have less access to formal education and information, especially in emerging countries, which in turn may cause them to lose social and economic opportunities [e.g., 12 , 116 – 119 ]. Education in local and rural communities is also paramount to communicate the benefits of female empowerment , contributing to overall societal well-being [e.g., 120 ].

Once women access education, the image they have of the world and their place in society (i.e., habitus) affects their education performance [ 13 ] and is passed on to their children. These situations reinforce gender stereotypes, which become self-fulfilling prophecies that may negatively affect female students’ performance by lowering their confidence and heightening their anxiety [ 121 , 122 ]. Besides formal education, also the information that women are exposed to on a daily basis contributes to their human capital . Digital inequalities, for instance, stems from men spending more time online and acquiring higher digital skills than women [ 123 ].

Education is also a factor that should boost employability of candidates and thus hiring , career progression and compensation , however the relationship between these factors is not straightforward [ 115 ]. First, educational choices ( decision-making ) are influenced by variables such as self-efficacy and the presence of barriers, irrespectively of the career opportunities they offer, especially in STEM [ 124 ]. This brings additional difficulties to women’s enrollment and persistence in scientific and technical fields of study due to stereotypes and biases [ 125 , 126 ]. Moreover, access to education does not automatically translate into job opportunities for women and minority groups [ 127 , 128 ] or into female access to managerial positions [ 129 ].

Finally, parenting is reported as an antecedent of education [e.g., 130 ], with much of the literature focusing on the role of parents’ education on the opportunities afforded to children to enroll in education [ 131 – 134 ] and the role of parenting in their offspring’s perception of study fields and attitudes towards learning [ 135 – 138 ]. Parental education is also a predictor of the other related topics, namely human capital and compensation [ 139 ].

Decision-making.

This literature mainly points to the fact that women are thought to make decisions differently than men. Women have indeed different priorities, such as they care more about people’s well-being, working with people or helping others, rather than maximizing their personal (or their firm’s) gain [ 140 ]. In other words, women typically present more communal than agentic behaviors, which are instead more frequent among men [ 141 ]. These different attitude, behavior and preferences in turn affect the decisions they make [e.g., 142 ] and the decision-making of the firm in which they work [e.g., 143 ].

At the individual level, gender affects, for instance, career aspirations [e.g., 144 ] and choices [e.g., 142 , 145 ], or the decision of creating a venture [e.g., 108 , 109 , 146 ]. Moreover, in everyday life, women and men make different decisions regarding partners [e.g., 147 ], childcare [e.g., 148 ], education [e.g., 149 ], attention to the environment [e.g., 150 ] and politics [e.g., 151 ].

At the firm level, scholars highlighted, for example, how the presence of women in the board affects corporate decisions [e.g., 152 , 153 ], that female CEOs are more conservative in accounting decisions [e.g., 154 ], or that female CFOs tend to make more conservative decisions regarding the firm’s financial reporting [e.g., 155 ]. Nevertheless, firm level research also investigated decisions that, influenced by gender bias, affect women, such as those pertaining hiring [e.g., 156 , 157 ], compensation [e.g., 73 , 158 ], or the empowerment of women once appointed [ 159 ].

Career progression.

Once women have entered the workforce, the key aspect to achieve gender equality becomes career progression , including efforts toward overcoming the glass ceiling. Indeed, according to the SBS analysis, career progression is highly related to words such as work, social issues and equality. The topic with which it has the highest semantic overlap is role , followed by decision-making , hiring , education , compensation , leadership , human capital , and family .

Career progression implies an advancement in the hierarchical ladder of the firm, assigning managerial roles to women. Coherently, much of the literature has focused on identifying rationales for a greater female participation in the top management team and board of directors [e.g., 95 ] as well as the best criteria to ensure that the decision-makers promote the most valuable employees irrespectively of their individual characteristics, such as gender [e.g., 84 ]. The link between career progression , role and compensation is often provided in practice by performance appraisal exercises, frequently rooted in a culture of meritocracy that guides bonuses, salary increases and promotions. However, performance appraisals can actually mask gender-biased decisions where women are held to higher standards than their male colleagues [e.g., 83 , 84 , 95 , 160 , 161 ]. Women often have less opportunities to gain leadership experience and are less visible than their male colleagues, which constitute barriers to career advancement [e.g., 162 ]. Therefore, transparency and accountability, together with procedures that discourage discretionary choices, are paramount to achieve a fair career progression [e.g., 84 ], together with the relaxation of strict job boundaries in favor of cross-functional and self-directed tasks [e.g., 163 ].

In addition, a series of stereotypes about the type of leadership characteristics that are required for top management positions, which fit better with typical male and agentic attributes, are another key barrier to career advancement for women [e.g., 92 , 160 ].

Hiring is the entrance gateway for women into the workforce. Therefore, it is related to other workforce topics such as compensation , role , career progression , decision-making , human capital , performance , organization and education .

A first stream of literature focuses on the process leading up to candidates’ job applications, demonstrating that bias exists before positions are even opened, and it is perpetuated both by men and women through networking and gatekeeping practices [e.g., 164 , 165 ].

The hiring process itself is also subject to biases [ 166 ], for example gender-congruity bias that leads to men being preferred candidates in male-dominated sectors [e.g., 167 ], women being hired in positions with higher risk of failure [e.g., 168 ] and limited transparency and accountability afforded by written processes and procedures [e.g., 164 ] that all contribute to ascriptive inequality. In addition, providing incentives for evaluators to hire women may actually work to this end; however, this is not the case when supporting female candidates endangers higher-ranking male ones [ 169 ].

Another interesting perspective, instead, looks at top management teams’ composition and the effects on hiring practices, indicating that firms with more women in top management are less likely to lay off staff [e.g., 152 ].

Performance.

Several scholars posed their attention towards women’s performance, its consequences [e.g., 170 , 171 ] and the implications of having women in decision-making positions [e.g., 18 , 19 ].

At the individual level, research focused on differences in educational and academic performance between women and men, especially referring to the gender gap in STEM fields [e.g., 171 ]. The presence of stereotype threats–that is the expectation that the members of a social group (e.g., women) “must deal with the possibility of being judged or treated stereotypically, or of doing something that would confirm the stereotype” [ 172 ]–affects women’s interested in STEM [e.g., 173 ], as well as their cognitive ability tests, penalizing them [e.g., 174 ]. A stronger gender identification enhances this gap [e.g., 175 ], whereas mentoring and role models can be used as solutions to this problem [e.g., 121 ]. Despite the negative effect of stereotype threats on girls’ performance [ 176 ], female and male students perform equally in mathematics and related subjects [e.g., 177 ]. Moreover, while individuals’ performance at school and university generally affects their achievements and the field in which they end up working, evidence reveals that performance in math or other scientific subjects does not explain why fewer women enter STEM working fields; rather this gap depends on other aspects, such as culture, past working experiences, or self-efficacy [e.g., 170 ]. Finally, scholars have highlighted the penalization that women face for their positive performance, for instance when they succeed in traditionally male areas [e.g., 178 ]. This penalization is explained by the violation of gender-stereotypic prescriptions [e.g., 179 , 180 ], that is having women well performing in agentic areas, which are typical associated to men. Performance penalization can thus be overcome by clearly conveying communal characteristics and behaviors [ 178 ].

Evidence has been provided on how the involvement of women in boards of directors and decision-making positions affects firms’ performance. Nevertheless, results are mixed, with some studies showing positive effects on financial [ 19 , 181 , 182 ] and corporate social performance [ 99 , 182 , 183 ]. Other studies maintain a negative association [e.g., 18 ], and other again mixed [e.g., 184 ] or non-significant association [e.g., 185 ]. Also with respect to the presence of a female CEO, mixed results emerged so far, with some researches demonstrating a positive effect on firm’s performance [e.g., 96 , 186 ], while other obtaining only a limited evidence of this relationship [e.g., 103 ] or a negative one [e.g., 187 ].

Finally, some studies have investigated whether and how women’s performance affects their hiring [e.g., 101 ] and career progression [e.g., 83 , 160 ]. For instance, academic performance leads to different returns in hiring for women and men. Specifically, high-achieving men are called back significantly more often than high-achieving women, which are penalized when they have a major in mathematics; this result depends on employers’ gendered standards for applicants [e.g., 101 ]. Once appointed, performance ratings are more strongly related to promotions for women than men, and promoted women typically show higher past performance ratings than those of promoted men. This suggesting that women are subject to stricter standards for promotion [e.g., 160 ].

Behavioral aspects related to gender follow two main streams of literature. The first examines female personality and behavior in the workplace, and their alignment with cultural expectations or stereotypes [e.g., 188 ] as well as their impacts on equality. There is a common bias that depicts women as less agentic than males. Certain characteristics, such as those more congruent with male behaviors–e.g., self-promotion [e.g., 189 ], negotiation skills [e.g., 190 ] and general agentic behavior [e.g., 191 ]–, are less accepted in women. However, characteristics such as individualism in women have been found to promote greater gender equality in society [ 192 ]. In addition, behaviors such as display of emotions [e.g., 193 ], which are stereotypically female, work against women’s acceptance in the workplace, requiring women to carefully moderate their behavior to avoid exclusion. A counter-intuitive result is that women and minorities, which are more marginalized in the workplace, tend to be better problem-solvers in innovation competitions due to their different knowledge bases [ 194 ].

The other side of the coin is examined in a parallel literature stream on behavior towards women in the workplace. As a result of biases, prejudices and stereotypes, women may experience adverse behavior from their colleagues, such as incivility and harassment, which undermine their well-being [e.g., 195 , 196 ]. Biases that go beyond gender, such as for overweight people, are also more strongly applied to women [ 197 ].

Organization.

The role of women and gender bias in organizations has been studied from different perspectives, which mirror those presented in detail in the following sections. Specifically, most research highlighted the stereotypical view of leaders [e.g., 105 ] and the roles played by women within firms, for instance referring to presence in the board of directors [e.g., 18 , 90 , 91 ], appointment as CEOs [e.g., 16 ], or top executives [e.g., 93 ].

Scholars have investigated antecedents and consequences of the presence of women in these apical roles. On the one side they looked at hiring and career progression [e.g., 83 , 92 , 160 , 168 , 198 ], finding women typically disadvantaged with respect to their male counterparts. On the other side, they studied women’s leadership styles and influence on the firm’s decision-making [e.g., 152 , 154 , 155 , 199 ], with implications for performance [e.g., 18 , 19 , 96 ].

Human capital.

Human capital is a transverse topic that touches upon many different aspects of female gender equality. As such, it has the most associations with other topics, starting with education as mentioned above, with career-related topics such as role , decision-making , hiring , career progression , performance , compensation , leadership and organization . Another topic with which there is a close connection is behavior . In general, human capital is approached both from the education standpoint but also from the perspective of social capital.

The behavioral aspect in human capital comprises research related to gender differences for example in cultural and religious beliefs that influence women’s attitudes and perceptions towards STEM subjects [ 142 , 200 – 202 ], towards employment [ 203 ] or towards environmental issues [ 150 , 204 ]. These cultural differences also emerge in the context of globalization which may accelerate gender equality in the workforce [ 205 , 206 ]. Gender differences also appear in behaviors such as motivation [ 207 ], and in negotiation [ 190 ], and have repercussions on women’s decision-making related to their careers. The so-called gender equality paradox sees women in countries with lower gender equality more likely to pursue studies and careers in STEM fields, whereas the gap in STEM enrollment widens as countries achieve greater equality in society [ 171 ].

Career progression is modeled by literature as a choice-process where personal preferences, culture and decision-making affect the chosen path and the outcomes. Some literature highlights how women tend to self-select into different professions than men, often due to stereotypes rather than actual ability to perform in these professions [ 142 , 144 ]. These stereotypes also affect the perceptions of female performance or the amount of human capital required to equal male performance [ 110 , 193 , 208 ], particularly for mothers [ 81 ]. It is therefore often assumed that women are better suited to less visible and less leadership -oriented roles [ 209 ]. Women also express differing preferences towards work-family balance, which affect whether and how they pursue human capital gains [ 210 ], and ultimately their career progression and salary .

On the other hand, men are often unaware of gendered processes and behaviors that they carry forward in their interactions and decision-making [ 211 , 212 ]. Therefore, initiatives aimed at increasing managers’ human capital –by raising awareness of gender disparities in their organizations and engaging them in diversity promotion–are essential steps to counter gender bias and segregation [ 213 ].

Emerging topics: Leadership and entrepreneurship

Among the emerging topics, the most pervasive one is women reaching leadership positions in the workforce and in society. This is still a rare occurrence for two main types of factors, on the one hand, bias and discrimination make it harder for women to access leadership positions [e.g., 214 – 216 ], on the other hand, the competitive nature and high pressure associated with leadership positions, coupled with the lack of women currently represented, reduce women’s desire to achieve them [e.g., 209 , 217 ]. Women are more effective leaders when they have access to education, resources and a diverse environment with representation [e.g., 218 , 219 ].

One sector where there is potential for women to carve out a leadership role is entrepreneurship . Although at the start of the millennium the discourse on entrepreneurship was found to be “discriminatory, gender-biased, ethnocentrically determined and ideologically controlled” [ 220 ], an increasing body of literature is studying how to stimulate female entrepreneurship as an alternative pathway to wealth, leadership and empowerment [e.g., 221 ]. Many barriers exist for women to access entrepreneurship, including the institutional and legal environment, social and cultural factors, access to knowledge and resources, and individual behavior [e.g., 222 , 223 ]. Education has been found to raise women’s entrepreneurial intentions [e.g., 224 ], although this effect is smaller than for men [e.g., 109 ]. In addition, increasing self-efficacy and risk-taking behavior constitute important success factors [e.g., 225 ].

Finally, the topic of sustainability is worth mentioning, as it is the primary objective of the SDGs and is closely associated with societal well-being. As society grapples with the effects of climate change and increasing depletion of natural resources, a narrative has emerged on women and their greater link to the environment [ 226 ]. Studies in developed countries have found some support for women leaders’ attention to sustainability issues in firms [e.g., 227 – 229 ], and smaller resource consumption by women [ 230 ]. At the same time, women will likely be more affected by the consequences of climate change [e.g., 230 ] but often lack the decision-making power to influence local decision-making on resource management and environmental policies [e.g., 231 ].

Research gaps and conclusions

Research on gender equality has advanced rapidly in the past decades, with a steady increase in publications, both in mainstream topics related to women in education and the workforce, and in emerging topics. Through a novel approach combining methods of text mining and social network analysis, we examined a comprehensive body of literature comprising 15,465 papers published between 2000 and mid 2021 on topics related to gender equality. We identified a set of 27 topics addressed by the literature and examined their connections.

At the highest level of abstraction, it is worth noting that papers abound on the identification of issues related to gender inequalities and imbalances in the workforce and in society. Literature has thoroughly examined the (unconscious) biases, barriers, stereotypes, and discriminatory behaviors that women are facing as a result of their gender. Instead, there are much fewer papers that discuss or demonstrate effective solutions to overcome gender bias [e.g., 121 , 143 , 145 , 163 , 194 , 213 , 232 ]. This is partly due to the relative ease in studying the status quo, as opposed to studying changes in the status quo. However, we observed a shift in the more recent years towards solution seeking in this domain, which we strongly encourage future researchers to focus on. In the future, we may focus on collecting and mapping pro-active contributions to gender studies, using additional Natural Language Processing techniques, able to measure the sentiment of scientific papers [ 43 ].

All of the mainstream topics identified in our literature review are closely related, and there is a wealth of insights looking at the intersection between issues such as education and career progression or human capital and role . However, emerging topics are worthy of being furtherly explored. It would be interesting to see more work on the topic of female entrepreneurship , exploring aspects such as education , personality , governance , management and leadership . For instance, how can education support female entrepreneurship? How can self-efficacy and risk-taking behaviors be taught or enhanced? What are the differences in managerial and governance styles of female entrepreneurs? Which personality traits are associated with successful entrepreneurs? Which traits are preferred by venture capitalists and funding bodies?

The emerging topic of sustainability also deserves further attention, as our society struggles with climate change and its consequences. It would be interesting to see more research on the intersection between sustainability and entrepreneurship , looking at how female entrepreneurs are tackling sustainability issues, examining both their business models and their company governance . In addition, scholars are suggested to dig deeper into the relationship between family values and behaviors.

Moreover, it would be relevant to understand how women’s networks (social capital), or the composition and structure of social networks involving both women and men, enable them to increase their remuneration and reach top corporate positions, participate in key decision-making bodies, and have a voice in communities. Furthermore, the achievement of gender equality might significantly change firm networks and ecosystems, with important implications for their performance and survival.

Similarly, research at the nexus of (corporate) governance , career progression , compensation and female empowerment could yield useful insights–for example discussing how enterprises, institutions and countries are managed and the impact for women and other minorities. Are there specific governance structures that favor diversity and inclusion?

Lastly, we foresee an emerging stream of research pertaining how the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged women, especially in the workforce, by making gender biases more evident.

For our analysis, we considered a set of 15,465 articles downloaded from the Scopus database (which is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature). As we were interested in reviewing business and economics related gender studies, we only considered those papers published in journals listed in the Academic Journal Guide (AJG) 2018 ranking of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS). All the journals listed in this ranking are also indexed by Scopus. Therefore, looking at a single database (i.e., Scopus) should not be considered a limitation of our study. However, future research could consider different databases and inclusion criteria.

With our literature review, we offer researchers a comprehensive map of major gender-related research trends over the past twenty-two years. This can serve as a lens to look to the future, contributing to the achievement of SDG5. Researchers may use our study as a starting point to identify key themes addressed in the literature. In addition, our methodological approach–based on the use of the Semantic Brand Score and its webapp–could support scholars interested in reviewing other areas of research.

Supporting information

S1 text. keywords used for paper selection..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.s001

Acknowledgments

The computing resources and the related technical support used for this work have been provided by CRESCO/ENEAGRID High Performance Computing infrastructure and its staff. CRESCO/ENEAGRID High Performance Computing infrastructure is funded by ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development and by Italian and European research programmes (see http://www.cresco.enea.it/english for information).

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Journal of Population Sciences

• Original Article
• Open access
• Published: 04 August 2021

Three dimensions of the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions

• Trude Lappegård 1 ,
• Gerda Neyer 2 &
• Daniele Vignoli 3  

Genus volume  77 , Article number:  15 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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The relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions is highly debated among social scientists. We emphasize the need for a multidimensional theoretical and empirical approach to extend the two-step behavioral gender revolution approach to a three-step attitudinal gender revolution approach distinguishing between gender roles in the public sphere, mothers’ role in the family, and fathers’ role in the family. Using the Generations and Gender Survey of eight European countries, we demonstrate the usefulness of such an approach. Gender equal attitudes related to the public sphere are more widespread than those concerning mothers’ or fathers’ roles in the family. Our results show that the association between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions varies—in terms of significance and magnitude—according to the dimension considered (gender roles in the public sphere, mothers’ and fathers’ role in the family), gender, parity, and country. We conclude that without a clear concept of and empirical distinction between the various elements of the gender role attitudes/fertility nexus, scientific investigations will continue to send conflicting messages.

Introduction

One of the most fundamental social changes in industrialized countries since the middle of the twentieth century has been the shift toward greater gender equality in attitudes concerning women’s and men’s roles in both society and the family. The focus has mainly been on women (e.g., Brewster & Padavic, 2000 ; Inglehart & Norris, 2003 ; Jansen & Liefbroer, 2006 ; Lesthaeghe, 1995 ; Scott, 2008 ; Testa, 2007 ; Thornton & Young-DeMarco, 2001 ; van Egmond et al., 2010 ). Gender equal attitudes have not spread equally across all social groups and developed Western societies. In general, women hold more egalitarian attitudes than do men (Brewster & Padavic, 2000 ; Ciabattari, 2001 ; Davis & Robinson, 1991 ; Kane & Sanchez, 1994 ; Scott, 2008 ), and across Europe and the USA, countries vary greatly in the extent to which gender equality has become socially accepted (Inglehart & Norris, 2003 ).

In family demographic research, gender and gender equality have become important features in understanding low fertility. However, the way in which gender equality relates to fertility is contested, and empirical findings vary depending on which indicator is used, whether women or men are studied, and which parity is considered (Neyer et al., 2013 ). People’s views of women’s and men’s roles in society and the family are part of this puzzle. The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions.

Gender role attitudes Footnote 1 are different from gender behavior, but they are important for understanding intentions and actual behaviors (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1973 ). Gender role attitudes reflect what a person or a society in general conceives to be the appropriate, expected, and preferred behavior, while gender behavior is what people actually do. People have different expectations about how women and men should behave in both society and the family, which are assumed to influence their desire for children. However, empirical findings on the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility are ambiguous (Goldscheider et al., 2010 ; Kaufman, 2000 ; Miettinen et al., 2011 ;Philipov, 2008 ; Puur et al., 2008 ; Westoff & Higgins, 2009 ).

Using data from the USA and focusing on gender roles in the family, Kaufman ( 2000 ) finds that men with egalitarian attitudes are more likely to intend to have a child, while the opposite is the case among women. Using the same data, Torr and Short ( 2004 ) find no significant relationship between egalitarian gender ideology and the likelihood of a second birth. In Europe, several studies using the same data come to different conclusions (Philipov, 2008 ; Puur et al., 2008 ; Westoff & Higgins, 2009 ). Focusing on women’s gender roles in 10 European countries, Philipov ( 2008 ) finds no link between gender attitudes and intentions to have a subsequent child. First-birth intentions and gender role attitudes correlate in some countries, but not in others. In addition, women with egalitarian attitudes have less intention to become parents, while the reverse holds for men (Philipov, 2008 ). Focusing on men’s gender roles, Puur et al. ( 2008 ) find a positive relationship between men’s egalitarian attitudes and fertility aspirations, while Westoff and Higgins ( 2009 ) focus on more general gender roles and find a negative relationship. Combining a wide range of items on the gender role expectations of women and men into one measure, Miettinen et al. ( 2011 ) find a U-shaped relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions among men in Finland. Both the most egalitarian and the most traditional men appear to be most eager to become fathers, while the impact of gender attitudes is smaller and more ambiguous among women.

At first sight, the lack of uniform findings on the relationship between individual gender role attitudes and fertility is puzzling. Demographers mainly assume that gender equality boosts fertility (McDonald, 2000 ); thus, they also assume that gender egalitarian attitudes stimulate fertility intentions. Yet, the literature clearly indicates that empirical differences in prior findings may be related to the use of different measures of gender ideology (Arpino et al., 2015 ; Goldscheider et al., 2010 ; Miettinen et al., 2011 ). We argue that a concept of gender role attitudes that follows only the dimension of traditional versus egalitarian is insufficient to capture the links between gender attitudes and fertility intentions. Gender role attitudes may concern roles in the family or public sphere, target women’s or men’s roles, and vary across countries.

We give three reasons why these distinctions are necessary. First, gender is a structuring element of all relationships in societies (Scott, 1986 ). As such, gender roles are found in different areas of life. Therefore, we need to distinguish between the expected positions of women and men in the public sphere and those in the family. Second, the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions may differ between women and men because gender equality influences their lives differently. Most studies on the relationship between gender equality and fertility focus on women. The omission of men may give a distorted picture of the association between gender equality and fertility (Watkins 1993 ). We need to acknowledge this and investigate the relationship between gender-role attitudes and fertility intentions for both women and men. Third, this relationship may vary across countries. Countries vary regarding the prevalence of traditional or egalitarian attitudes toward women’s and men’s roles in the public and private spheres (Sjöberg, 2010 ), but also by factual gender equality (Evertsson, 2014 ) as well as the extent of support for gender equality by the welfare state. A cross-national perspective is needed to gain a better understanding of the association between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions and to examine the linkage across countries.

As demographic research puts greater emphasis on investigating the relationship between gender equality and fertility, a theoretical framework is required that takes these different dimensions of gender ideology into account. This implies a need to distinguish between gender role attitudes related to the public and private spheres and to women’s and men’s gender roles, and to account for country differences in these gender role attitudes.

Theoretical framework to link gender role attitudes and fertility

Throughout modern societies, there has been a long-term trend toward greater gender equality. However, the move from gender-segregated roles for women and men to more gender-equal roles has not been uniform (England, 2010 ), but rather, a gender revolution in two steps (Goldscheider et al., 2015 ). That is, the movement toward gender equality starts with women taking part in politics, employment, and education, followed by men becoming more involved in family matters (Goldscheider et al., 2015 ). The two-step gender revolution therefore targets women and men in different ways. The first step mainly concerns women and their participation outside the home, and the second mainly concerns men and their participation in family work. Researchers in general agree that the first step lowers fertility because employment and/or public engagement put a “double burden” on women if there is no concomitant change in men’s family behavior (Goldscheider et al., 2015 ; McDonald, 2000 ).

The second step of the gender revolution, namely men’s participation in household work and care, is expected to lead to a more gender-symmetric arrangement of family responsibilities; researchers argue that this supports fertility decisions (Goldscheider et al., 2010 ; McDonald, 2000 ). Although most industrialized countries follow this two-step movement toward gender equality, there are large variations in the process between them. The Nordic countries are often described as forerunners in the process of gaining gender equality. The countries of Southern Europe lag behind in women’s integration into the public sphere, as well as in men’s participation in family work. The continental Western European countries lie between these two country groups, with the German-speaking countries being more gender-conservative and France more gender egalitarian. With their focus on the full employment of both women and men, the former communist Eastern European countries had once been far ahead of the West in accomplishing the first step of the gender revolution; however, gender equality in the family had hardly been an issue. Since the fall of communism, these countries have experienced a backlash in terms of women’s participation in the public sphere (Funk & Müller, 1993 ; Gal and Kligman 2000a , 2000b ; Szelewa & Polakowski, 2008 ; Saxenberg, 2014 ), no substantial changes have been made toward greater gender equality in the private sphere. Despite some progress, no countries—not even the Nordics—have achieved complete gender equality in either sphere, and many countries have not entered the second stage of the gender revolution to an extent that would herald changes in men’s roles in the family.

The long-term consequences of the shift toward greater gender equality are difficult to anticipate (Oláh et al., 2021 ). On the one hand, Sullivan et al. ( 2014 ) conclude that institutions and social norms will progressively adapt to the changing roles of men and women, so that work–family conflicts will no longer inhibit fertility in the long term. On the other hand, Okun and Raz-Yurovich ( 2019 ) suggest that as men contribute more to the domestic sphere, couples’ fertility may not increase to the extent predicted by gender theories of family change. After all, as men take on more domestic responsibilities, they may, like women, experience role incompatibility and therefore be less willing to agree on at least one more child.

From the above discussion, two questions emerge regarding the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions. First, how do changes in the development of gender behavior relate to the development of gender role attitudes? And second, how does the relationship between factual and attitudinal development relate to fertility (intentions)?

Three steps of changes in gender role attitudes

Concerning the first question, some evidence has been presented that the change in gender role attitudes toward greater equality also follows a stepwise process. The behavioral change in gender roles follows a two-step process that distinguishes between gender equality in the public and private spheres, or that within the family. We anticipate that attitudes toward women’s and men’s roles in the family differ and will follow a three-step process, whereby they will change at different paces, because there are divergent expectations about women’s and men’s behavior. Women are expected to devote their lives to caring for their children, whereas men are expected to be breadwinners. Consequently, attitudinal changes regarding women’s and men’s roles in the family require changes in opposite directions. Because changes in attitudes toward women’s roles in the family are closely linked to changes in attitudes toward their role in the public sphere, we assume these changes will precede those concerning men’s family roles. Moreover, the availability of public childcare services and household assistance from outside the family may delay changes in attitudes toward paternal roles. Footnote 2

As with the behavioral change concerning gender, we assume that attitudinal change starts with the gradual acceptance of women in the public sphere, followed by a change in attitudes toward women’s roles in the family, in particular, by a change in the view that mothers should be the sole carers for children. In a third step, attitudes toward fathers’ roles in the family change: fathers’ as carers of children and practitioners of equal parenting receive greater acceptance.

Attitudinal change may be explained by both exposure and interests. Attitudes may be seen as being formed during childhood in relation to the historical and cultural context of the time. According to this view, gender-role attitudes remain reasonably stable over the life course, shaping subsequent beliefs and preferences (Blunsdon & Reed, 2005 ; Brewster & Padavic, 2000 ; Brooks & Bolzendahl, 2004 ; van Egmond et al., 2010 ). Gender role attitudes may also be seen as subject to change over the life course, and in particular, at key stages (van Egmond et al., 2010 ). Using data from the USA, Brooks and Bolzendahl ( 2004 ) find support for both arguments. They find that changes in gender attitudes are mainly driven by cohort replacement, but that some changes are due to social structural factors. Bolzendahl and Myers ( 2004 ) argue that exposure to new and progressive ideas about gender relations may lead to more favorable attitudes toward gender equality. They see the continued experience of new gender roles in society altering gender attitudes. The participation of women in the public sphere was accepted earlier than gender changes in the family because the increasing proportion of women in education, employment, politics, and other public institutions made it difficult to maintain traditional attitudes of their roles in society. Consequently, throughout Europe, there is a strong consensus that both women and men should contribute to the household income, while there are also strong views that mothers should be the primary caregivers and that children suffer if their mothers work (Testa, 2007 ). There are also signs of an emerging trend toward the third stage of the gender revolution among younger cohorts, in that many young Europeans believe that family life suffers if men concentrate too much on their work (Testa, 2007 ).

There are good reasons to believe that women have more interest in promoting gender equality and therefore hold more gender-equal attitudes than do men. Overall, women gain more from equal access to public institutions and from men’s equal participation in care and domestic work. For men, greater gender equality entails more family obligations and more work at home, so they cling to attitudes favoring gender segregation in the private sphere longer than do women.

Gender role attitudes and fertility intentions

The second question concerns the relationship between changes in gender role attitudes and fertility intentions. We may regard people’s decisions about childbearing as responses to the stages of changes in gender roles. In (traditional) gendered societies, where gender attitudes assign clear public and familial roles to women and men, fertility and intentions are high. Footnote 3 During the first stage of the attitudinal changes, when women’s participation in public life becomes widely accepted, but expectations about parental roles remain largely untouched, fertility is expected to fall, and fertility intentions are therefore low (Goldscheider et al., 2015 ; McDonald, 2000 ). Such a situation may lead to an unclear and ambiguous situation concerning gender roles (Sjöberg, 2010 ). For instance, women may feel torn between favoring female employment and career advancement on the one hand and devoting themselves to their children on the other (Sjöberg, 2010 ). Research has shown that women who perceive a conflict between their roles as a worker and a mother tend to prefer fewer children (Testa, 2007 ). Likewise, women prefer smaller families in countries where perceptions of such a conflict are stronger. It is argued that women in countries with a wider gap in attitudes toward gender roles may “feel their family tasks as a threat for their working career or they perceive their working career would keep them from being a good mother” (Testa, 2007 ): 376.

A similar ambivalence may depress fertility intentions during the second and third stages of the change in gender role attitudes when the view that women should bear sole responsibility for family matters erodes, and demands on men to share family responsibilities increase. This may lead to divergent and inconsistent attitudes toward gender roles and to an ambivalent assessment of one’s own or one’s partner’s roles. For example, young men may expect their partner to combine earning with caregiving (and housekeeping), while young women may want a good provider as well as a partner who is an involved father with whom they can share housework (Goldscheider et al., 2010 ; Testa, 2007 ). Research indicates that such discrepancies between assigned gender roles are likely to lead to disjunction between attitudes and actual behavior and to dissatisfaction with the situation (Kjeldstad & Lappegård, 2014 ). Both are found to hamper fertility intentions (Goldscheider et al., 2013 ; Neyer et al., 2013 ). Fertility intentions are expected to rise only when the last stage of the gender revolution is reached and support for equality in women’s and men’s roles in the family correspond to greater involvement in family matters by men (for fertility as a whole, see also McDonald, 2000 and Goldscheider et al., 2015 ).

Gender roles in the public sphere and fertility intentions

Attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere particularly relate to the expected behavior of men and women in education, the labor market, and political institutions. The relationship between these attitudes toward gender roles and fertility intentions may follow two lines of argument: preferences and gender equality. First, decisions about fertility reflect women’s views about their role in society (Nock, 1987 ), meaning that preferences for motherhood and work life are reflected in their attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere. According to Nock ( 1987 ), motherhood can be seen as central to traditional women’s lives and identity, while for egalitarian women, it is only one part. In general, we may expect women with egalitarian attitudes to have stronger preferences for work life, and therefore less desire for children. Second, gender equality in the public sphere is mainly about the entry of women through education, labor force participation, and political engagement. This expansion of the women’s realm beyond the home increases their workload as long as all household and care work remains their sole responsibility (Goldscheider et al., 2015 ). In addition, because no society has reached gender equality in the public sphere, compared with men, women usually need to put more effort into their public engagement to be treated equally. The outcome of this imbalance is pressure on families that reduces the desire for children more for women than for men. One could argue that men’s attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere do not suppress their fertility intentions as long as women fulfill all domestic duties. However, women’s public participation increases the competition for men and puts demands on them to contribute (more and equally) to family work. From their partners, men may also become aware of the pressure on women to achieve equality in the public sphere and/or to manage the dual burden of work and care. From such arguments, we formulate our first hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: Women and men with egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere are less likely to have positive fertility intentions than are those with more traditional attitudes.

As long as the gender revolution is incomplete, there is a gap between gender equality in the public and private spheres. As mentioned above, the process of changing gender roles has not followed the same trajectory in all countries, and the process toward more gender equality in the private sphere has not proceeded at the same pace as that in the public sphere. This means that the countries that have progressed further toward public gender equality may face a larger disparity. This leads us to our second hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2: There is a negative relationship between egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere and fertility intentions that is stronger in countries with larger disparities between public and private gender equality.

Mothers’ role in the family and fertility intentions

In most countries, egalitarian gender roles in the family are still an unfulfilled promise, and this affects women more than men. Kaufman ( 2000 ) argues that women who believe in an equal division of housework and childcare may face a different reality compared with women who regard family work as their sole duty. Women with gender-equal attitudes who lack support from their partner and/or regard the division of housework and caring as unequal, unfair, or unjust may reduce their childbearing intention and abstain from further children (Goldscheider et al., 2013 ; Kaufman, 2000 ; Neyer et al., 2013 ). This association has proved to be stronger for mothers than for childless women (Goldscheider et al., 2013 ; Neyer et al., 2013 ). We expect men with nontraditional attitudes toward mothers’ family roles to be less inclined than traditionalists to want a(nother) child. This is because those who believe that family work is not women’s sole responsibility perform (or are more under pressure to perform) a larger share of the family chores. However, because it is still women who do the lion’s share of domestic work, the negative association between a belief in domestic equality for mothers and fertility intentions may be stronger among women than among men. Therefore, we have formulated the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3: Women and men with egalitarian attitudes toward mothers’ roles in the family are less likely to express positive fertility intentions than are those with more traditional attitudes.

Following the same line of argument as that for attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere, we assume that the negative association between egalitarian attitudes toward mothers’ domestic roles and fertility intentions is stronger in countries with greater disparities in equality between the public and private spheres. In addition, in countries where the attitudes toward the traditional role of mothers have sufficiently eroded, there might be greater dissonance between women’s and men’s attitudes regarding equality in family work and their behavior. This may create conflicts, which weaken fertility intentions. By contrast, if mothers’ family roles go largely unchallenged and men are unaffected by ongoing changes, we may expect little or no association between men’s attitudes toward mothers’ domestic roles and their fertility intentions. This leads us to our fourth hypothesis:

Hypothesis 4: There is a negative relationship between egalitarian attitudes toward mothers’ roles in the family and fertility intentions that is stronger in countries with greater disparities in gender equality between the public and private spheres.

Fathers’ role in the family and fertility intentions

Attitudes toward fathers’ roles in the family concern the expected behavior of men. In a traditional family with a male breadwinner, the active parenting tasks are carried out by the mother; active fathering may be seen as undermining male identity (Puur et al., 2008 ), and the gender segregation of public and private work as the “natural” way of completing the family (Kaufman, 2000 ). As societies move away from the male breadwinner model, fathering becomes more related to expectations about childcare and equal parenting. Modern fatherhood entails more family obligations for men and more investment of time and energy in their offspring (Puur et al., 2008 ). This may reduce men’s fertility intentions, and in particular, their intentions of having additional children. Footnote 4 For women, on the other hand, holding gender-equal attitudes toward the paternal role means that they want a partner who is an involved father and shares the housework. Because gender-equal active fatherhood remains relatively uncommon, such expectations may curb fertility intentions. In addition, the movement toward gender-equal parenthood has led to a redistribution of parental rights, and in turn, to uncertainty over child custody in cases of parental separation. This uncertainty may reduce fertility intentions. Therefore, we have formulated the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 5: Women and men with egalitarian attitudes toward the father’s role in the family are less likely to have positive fertility intentions than are those with more traditional attitudes.

The relationship between attitudes toward fathers’ domestic roles and fertility intentions may be strongly linked to a country’s progress in the gender revolution. Changes in fathers’ roles constitute the last step in the three-step process. Therefore, we expect gender-equal attitudes toward the father’s role in the family to be least prevalent in all countries, and believe that no country has reached a gender egalitarian status with active fatherhood as the norm. We thus expect that across all countries, gender-equal attitudes toward fatherhood are associated with lower fertility intentions. Because the demands on fathers to be active are greater in countries that have moved further toward gender-equal roles, we expect fertility intentions to be lower compared with countries where traditional views of fatherhood have largely remained unchallenged. This leads us to the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 6: The negative relationship between attitudes toward the father’s role in the family and fertility intentions is stronger in countries with a greater discrepancy in gender equality between the public and private spheres.

We expect this relationship to hold for both men and women, but to be stronger among men than among women.

Empirical analysis of the relationship between gender attitudes and fertility intentions

Data and methods.

We use data from the Generations and Gender Surveys (GGS) (see UNECE/PAU, 2008a ; UNECE/PAU, 2008b ; Vikat et al., 2007 ). Footnote 5 We use the first wave of the GGS from Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Romania, and Russia. Our sample comprises nonpregnant women aged 18–42 years and men aged 18–49 years at the time of the interview. We chose these age ranges because the decision to have a child outside these ranges may be influenced less by economic, private, and gender equality considerations than it would at a socially accepted childbearing age. Footnote 6 Moreover, very few of the interviewees outside these age ranges intended to have a(nother) child.

Our investigation focuses on the intention to have a child within the subsequent 3 years (based on the interview date). We concentrate on fertility intentions, but our approach is also applicable to fertility behavior. At the individual level, fertility intentions may be regarded as a suitable predictor of actual behavior (Rindfuss et al., 1988 ; Schoen et al., 1999 ; Westoff & Ryder, 1977 ), provided we specify a time period sufficiently close to the prospective behavior so that we may draw inferences from the respondent’s circumstances and viewpoints at the time of interview to her/his prospective behavior (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1973 ; Balbo & Mills, 2011 ; Billari et al., 2009 ; Quesnel-Vallée & Philip Morgan, 2003 ; Régnier-Loilier & Vignoli, 2011 ; Schoen et al., 1999 ; Thomson, 1997 ). Given this time period, positive fertility intentions—that is, intentions to have a child within the specified period—prove to be a valid predictor of actual behavior, although they sometimes overestimate actual fertility (e.g., Régnier-Loilier & Vignoli, 2011 ).

The GGS asks respondents whether they intended to have a(nother) child within the next 3 years. This is a reasonable time frame to assume that the expressed intentions do not simply mirror societal norms about the number of children one should have, but actually reflect the respondent’s reasoned decision. An overview of positive and negative fertility intentions by gender, parity, and country confirms our theoretical expectations and findings from other research: childless women are less inclined to become parents than are childless men. This gender difference persists for parents, but is less pronounced. Women and men in Eastern European countries are more likely to intend to have a first child than are their Western European counterparts. Overall, consistent with the assumption that most people want at least one child, intentions to have a child within the next 3 years are expressed by childless women and men more often than by parents (see Table 5 in Appendix ).

We use logistic regressions with intention to have a(nother) child within the next 3 years as the dependent outcome variable. Footnote 7 We estimate two sets of models. First, we look at the influence of the three dimensions of gender role attitudes—gender roles in the public sphere, mothers’ role in the family, and fathers’ role in the family—on women’s and men’s childbearing intentions separately, differentiating between intentions to have a first child and subsequent children. Thus, we recognize that attitudes toward gender-equal roles may change once women and men become parents (Neyer et al., 2013 ). Second, we estimate the influence of the three dimensions of gender role attitudes on women’s and men’s intention to have a(nother) child, differentiated by country. In this way, we recognize that countries are at different stages of the gender revolution. We could not simultaneously stratify the analysis by gender, country, and parity because the resulting samples were too small.

In the sample, we include respondents who are in a relationship (living apart together, cohabiting, or married) and those who are not in a relationship. Footnote 8 We control for their partnership status, age, educational attainment, and employment status, as well as their partner’s educational attainment and employment status. In the models of parents and the models with all parities, we control for the number of children. In the models with all countries, we control for country of residence and adjust the estimates for intracluster (i.e., country) correlations. Age is coded as either above or below 30 years (up to the specified maximum age for each gender). We followed the International Standard Classification of Education classification to group educational attainment according to three standard levels: basic education, secondary and upper secondary education, and post-secondary and tertiary education. For employment status, we distinguish according to whether the respondents and/or their partners are employed.

Three dimensions of gender ideology

The GGS offers three items that represent each of the gender role attitudes that are the focus of this study. First, attitudes toward gender equality in the public sphere are measured by agreement with the following statement: “On the whole, men make better political leaders than do women.” This is a clear statement about the expected positioning of women and men in the public sphere.

Second, attitudes toward gender equality in the private sphere are divided into those concerning mothers’ and fathers’ roles in the family. Attitudes toward mothers’ roles are measured via the statement: “A preschool child is likely to suffer if his/her mother works.” This item concerns gender assumptions about caregiving in the family as well as about the acceptance of mothers as breadwinners. It also indicates whether women’s participation in the public sphere is accompanied by a shift in gender expectations regarding domestic responsibilities.

Third, attitudes toward the father’s role in the family are measured using the item, “If the parents divorce, it is better for the child to stay with the mother than with the father.” This item addresses fathering, specifically whether the respondent considers a father to be equally well suited as a mother to care for a child. It also addresses men’s rights as fathers and thus the respondent’s acceptance of equal rights in parenting.

For each statement, the respondent could choose ‘strongly agree,’ ‘agree,’ ‘neither agree nor disagree,’ ‘disagree,’ or ‘strongly disagree’. We classified the answers as “traditional gender attitudes” (‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’), “intermediate” (‘neither agree nor disagree’), and “egalitarian” (‘disagree’ and ‘strongly disagree’).

The distribution of attitudes toward the three gender role items varies by country and gender (Figs. 1 and 2 ). Three issues are especially noteworthy. First, there are generally more egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles in the public than in the private sphere. For instance, 71% of women in Germany have egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere, while 49% have egalitarian attitudes toward a mother’s role in the family. This is not surprising, given that in all countries, the trend toward greater gender equality first affected gender relationships in the public sphere. This generally increased gender equality more in the public than in the private sphere. Second, women are generally more egalitarian than men, except with regard to fathers’ roles. For instance, 45% of women in Bulgaria, but only 19% of men, have egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere. More women express gender-equal attitudes toward mothers’ than toward fathers’ domestic roles. For example, in Austria, 43% of women, but only 20% of fathers, support equality for mothers. By contrast, men’s gender-equal attitudes toward mothers’ and fathers’ roles differ little (except in Romania and Hungary). Third, men and women in Western European countries have more egalitarian attitudes than do those in Eastern European countries. For instance, 59% of men in France hold egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere, whereas only 18% of men in Russia state a similar opinion; likewise, 66% of women in Norway hold egalitarian attitudes toward mothers’ family roles, compared with only 9% of women in Hungary. All these variations support our claim that the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions needs to be investigated along several dimensions.

Gender ideology by country. Men. Percent. Note: To measure attitudes towards “Mother’s role in the family”, we use the statement: “A pre-school child is likely to suffer if his/her mother works”. The attitudes are classified as either “traditional gender attitudes” (‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’), “intermediate” (‘neither agree nor disagree’) and “egalitarian” (‘disagree’, and ‘strongly disagree’)

Gender ideology by country. Women. Percent. Note: To measure attitudes towards “Mother’s role in the family”, we use the statement: “A pre-school child is likely to suffer if his/her mother works”. The attitudes are classified as either “traditional gender attitudes” (‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’), “intermediate” (‘neither agree nor disagree’) and “egalitarian” (‘disagree’, and ‘strongly disagree’)

The estimates of the logistic regression models in which the outcome variable is the intention to have a child within the next 3 years are presented in Tables 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 . Table 1 shows the estimates for all countries pooled, but separated by parity, and Tables 2 , 3 , and 4 show separate estimates for each country.

We start with the relationship between attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere, i.e., “On the whole, men make better political leaders than do women” and fertility intentions. For men, there are no statistically significant differences in the relationship between attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere and fertility intentions, either among childless men or among fathers. For women, there are relevant differences among both childless women and mothers, i.e., women with egalitarian attitudes are less likely than women with traditional attitudes to consider having a child within the next 3 years. The difference between those with egalitarian and traditional attitudes is slightly more pronounced among the childless than among mothers. Overall, this finding confirms the need to investigate the childbearing decisions of women, men, and levels of parity separately (e.g., Neyer et al., 2013 ), because gender role attitudes play out differently for each. Hypothesis 1 stated that women and men with egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere are less likely than those with more traditional attitudes to want a child within the next few years. This hypothesis holds for women, but not for men. From a theoretical perspective, we argue that egalitarian gender roles in the public sphere have no direct consequences for men, but may operate indirectly through their partners. This means that there are more likely to be differences in fertility intentions among women than among men according to their attitudes toward public gender roles. The estimates from our models support this assumption and suggest that among men, attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere do not affect their decisions about childbearing.

The models were run separately for each country, and no statistically significant differences among men were found in any country. Hypothesis 2 was that there would be a negative relationship between attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere and fertility intentions that would be stronger in countries with greater disparities between gender equality in the public and private spheres than elsewhere. This hypothesis cannot be confirmed for men. For women, we find a negative relationship between egalitarian attitudes in Austria and Norway, but not in any of the other counties. Norway is the most advanced country regarding gender-equal attitudes in the public sphere; Austria lags somewhat behind the other Western European countries, but ahead of the Eastern European countries. Hypothesis 2 can thus be partly confirmed for women.

Next, we present the results for the relationship between attitudes toward the mother’s role in the family, i.e., “A pre-school child is likely to suffer if his/her mother works,” and fertility intentions. The results from the model with all countries pooled found no statistically significant association between egalitarian attitudes toward mothers’ family roles and the fertility intentions of childless men. However, a negative relationship was observed between moderate attitudes and fertility intentions among fathers. Turning to women, we find that childless women with moderate and egalitarian attitudes are less likely than women with traditional attitudes to intend to have a child, but we find no such differences among mothers. Hypothesis 3 stated that men and women holding egalitarian attitudes toward mothers’ roles in the family are less likely than men and women with more traditional attitudes to intend to have a child within the next 3 years. This hypothesis is only confirmed for childless women.

The country-specific estimates show both positive and negative relationships between egalitarian attitudes toward mothers’ family role and fertility intentions. Although the results are only statistically precise for some countries, and the significance differs between women and men, they reveal a clear East–West gradient for both women and men. In Eastern European countries, women and men with more gender-equal attitudes toward mothers’ family roles are either more inclined to consider having a child or their childbearing intentions differ little from those who adhere to gender-stereotypical views of a mother’s role (except for women in Hungary). In Western European countries, women and men who express gender-equal attitudes about mothers’ family roles are less inclined than those with traditional attitudes to consider having a child. Hypothesis 4 predicted a negative relationship between attitudes toward mothers’ role in the family and fertility intentions that would be stronger in countries with a greater disparity between gender equality in the public and private spheres. This hypothesis was partly confirmed. We did not expect any positive relationship among either men or women, and the positive relationship between egalitarian attitudes toward mothers’ domestic role and fertility intentions is somewhat surprising. Yet, we find stronger intentions among egalitarian-minded women and men, mainly in the Eastern European countries. Their previous policies of universal childcare and support for mothers may still influence the relationship between attitudes toward mothers’ family roles and fertility intentions.

Last, we present the results from the models of the relationship between attitudes toward the father’s role in the family, i.e., “If the parents divorce, it is better for the child to stay with the mother than with the father” and fertility intentions. Looking at all the countries together, we find no statistically significant differences between men’s attitudes toward the father’s family role and fertility intentions, whereas we find a positive relationship between moderate attitudes and the fertility intentions of mothers among women. In Hypothesis 5 , we predicted that women and men with egalitarian attitudes toward fathers’ roles in the family would be less likely than women and men with more traditional attitudes to intend to have a child. This hypothesis could not be confirmed.

The relationship between attitudes toward fathers’ roles and fertility intentions is somewhat different when separate models are estimated for each country. As for the attitudes toward mothers’ roles, we find both positive and negative relationships between egalitarian attitudes toward the father’s family role and fertility intentions. We find a strongly positive relationship for men in Russia and Bulgaria, as well as signs of a positive relationship among egalitarian men in the other Eastern European countries. Because egalitarian attitudes toward fathers’ roles are rare in the Eastern European countries, we assume men with such attitudes belong to a select group (see also previous footnotes). The relationship for men is negative in Austria and Norway, the two Western European countries with the lowest and highest proportions of men with egalitarian attitudes toward fathers’ roles, respectively. Among women, the pattern also shows positive (Hungary and Germany) and negative (Austria) relationships, but with no obvious link to the respective countries’ status of gender equality. Footnote 9 Hypothesis 6 predicted that a negative relationship between attitudes toward the father’s role in the family and fertility intentions would be stronger in countries with greater disparities in gender equality between the public and private spheres. This hypothesis can be partly confirmed.

The relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions is a complex issue. We analyzed the relationship between gender ideology and fertility intentions in eight European countries using data from the GGS. We considered the possibility that gender role attitudes are influenced by a person’s social and economic status, and included several covariates that are known to be related to people’s fertility intentions. Our main argument in this paper is that gender role attitudes do not constitute a unified entity and cannot be captured by a single measure.

Expanding the theoretical concept of the two-step gender revolution, we suggested that attitudinal changes toward gender equality occur in three steps. The first step concerns gender attitudes toward women in the public sphere, while the second and third concern women’s and men’s roles in the private sphere. In our approach, we assumed that these three attitudinal dimensions affect women and men differently because gender equality influences their lives differently. Furthermore, we argue that countries are at different stages of the gender revolution, so individual gender attitudes depend on the country context. Our empirical results substantiate our theoretical standpoint.

First, our findings support our assumption that the gender revolution in attitudes proceeds in three steps. Gender-equal attitudes related to the public sphere are more widespread than those concerning mothers’ and fathers’ roles in the family. We also find that attitudinal changes proceed at a different pace in different countries. The results of our analyses clearly show that the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions depends on the area of life that the gender attitude concerns. Attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere and mothers’ family roles create more variation in fertility intentions than do attitudes toward fathers’ family roles, especially among women. Egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles in the public sphere and mothers’ family roles signal preferences for women combining work and motherhood, which is generally associated with lower fertility. As long as women do the lion’s share of work at home, egalitarian attitudes toward gender equality in these areas create conflicts and are expected to be negatively associated with fertility intentions. The theoretical model predicts that fertility will increase once the father’s role in the family is viewed (and lived) with gender equality. Our results provide some support for this assumption. Although attitudes toward fathers’ family roles create somewhat little variation in fertility intentions among women and men in our sample, we find that mothers with egalitarian attitudes toward fathers’ family roles tend to be more inclined to want another child than are those who adhere to traditional views of the father’s role.

Second, we find that the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions differs between women and men. In general, gender role attitudes create more variation in women’s than in men’s fertility intentions. The lives of men and women are affected differently by gender equality, which means that the relationship between attitudes toward gender roles and fertility intentions is closer among women than among men. As predicted, egalitarian gender attitudes concerning the public sphere have no effect on men’s fertility intentions, while they reduce both childless women’s and mothers’ childbearing intentions. Attitudes toward mothers’ family roles also have different consequences for women and men. Egalitarian views of a mother’s role restrain the fertility intentions of childless women, but not those of mothers. However, among men, it is egalitarian fathers rather than childless men who tend not to want another child. This indicates that gender ideology influences women’s and men’s fertility decisions differently at different stages of their family life course. Separate models for each country also show variation in fertility intention among men with gender-equal attitudes toward mothers’ and fathers’ role in the private sphere, but no such variation concerning gender roles is seen in the public sphere. In general, men and women have more gender-equal attitudes toward roles in the public sphere than in the family. Gender roles in the public sphere concern women and men in a broader sense, and they do not usually affect their private lives directly. Attitudes toward mothers’ and fathers’ roles in the family concern preferences for different ways of organizing family life, and affect family life and women’s and men’s contributions to family work and care more directly.

Last, we find that the relationship between gender-role attitudes and fertility intentions depends on the gender context in the country. There is extensive variation in gender-role attitudes between countries. Gender-equal attitudes may mean something different in a country where the majority shares the same attitudes than in a country where only a select group has them. We did not find a negative association between egalitarian gender role attitudes and fertility intentions in any of the Eastern European countries, in contrast to Western European countries. However, in the Eastern European countries, we found examples of a positive relationship between egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles in the family and fertility intentions, while no such relationship concerning attitudes toward gender roles was observed in the public sphere. A positive relationship between attitudes toward fathers’ family roles and fertility intentions has been explained by egalitarian fathers being more family-oriented than others and thus placing more priority on family life (Duvander et al., 2010 ; Duvander & Andersson, 2006 ; Kaufman, 2000 ; Miettinen et al., 2011 ). The same argument, however, cannot be used to explain the positive relationship between attitudes toward mothers’ roles in the family and fertility intentions. Traditional mothers are expected to be more family-oriented than are egalitarian mothers, and a positive relationship may seem puzzling. To get a better understanding of this, we examined whether the relationship was the same among childless respondents and parents. We find (numbers not shown) that the positive relationship in Eastern Europe is dominated by childless people (for Russian men and Romanian women). This positive relationship may reflect the prevalent norm of having at least one child in these countries and may also be influenced by the Eastern European past, with its emphasis on state-supported and work-oriented motherhood. The positive relationship may thus be a temporary status that disappears when the first child is born, and the gender arrangements between partners become more complicated or when childbearing norms are relaxed and the dual pressure on women is not counterbalanced by public childcare support.

Our study provides more nuanced insights into existing research on attitudes toward gender roles and fertility (e.g., Aassve et al., 2015 ; Arpino et al., 2015 ; Bernardi et al., 2013 ; Kan & Hertog, 2017 ; Miettinen et al., 2015 ; Okun & Raz-Yurovich, 2019 ; Oláh et al., 2021 ; Schober, 2013a , 2013b ; Sullivan et al., 2014 ). However, given the research design that we adopted, the findings remain largely descriptive. Although the theoretical section of this article proposes potential pathways for the association between gender role attitudes and fertility (intentions), the data available did not allow us to investigate all of them in detail. We distinguished between welfare regimes, but we could not study the role of policies as such (e.g., childcare availability). The available literature suggests that the understanding of the mechanisms operating between family policies and fertility dynamics requires a different research setup, such as micro-level (quasi-) natural experiments, as well as reliable, detailed, and comparable policy data (Neyer & Andersson, 2008 ). Therefore, we deliberately abstain from formulating general or country-specific considerations regarding current or future policies. Nonetheless, this study plants a seed that will—we hope—germinate into future studies on the topic with a broader comparative ambition. To this end, it is crucial to utilize new releases of the GGS that will expand the number of countries available for comparative research compared with the relatively limited set used in this paper.

To conclude, one may contest the implementation of the selected dimensions of gender role attitudes via GGS data. One may also object that a study of this kind requires more countries to reach firm conclusions. As in the vast majority of comparative studies, the lack of statistical significance of one estimate compared with another may simply be due to different sample sizes—so this paper focuses largely on the general narrative and much less on statistical significance (see Bernardi et al., 2017 ; Hoem, 2008 ). In addition, one may argue that these dimensions and their representations are interrelated. However, our outcomes provide us with useful input, demonstrating the complexity of the link between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions. They cannot be reconciled with any notion of a simple, uniform, and unidirectional relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions. Instead, they emphasize the need for a multidimensional approach, as outlined in this paper. We question whether it is possible to determine if “gender-equal attitudes” increase or decrease fertility intentions because of the incongruities between attitudes regarding the public sphere as well as mothers’ and fathers’ roles in the private sphere between men and women and between individual and societal levels of gender equality. We further question whether the concept of a two-step gender revolution to describe behavioral changes can be applied to attitudinal changes unconditionally. We have demonstrated that attitudes toward mothers’ and fathers’ family roles do not change simultaneously; support for gender equality in fathers’ family roles lags behind such attitude changes concerning mothers’ roles. From a broader theoretical perspective, this underlines the need to consider which type of gender equality we mean when investigating the relationship between gender equality and social and individual behavior.

The study of the gender aspects of fertility research should not be undermined by recent developments that have seen declines in fertility irrespective of gender equality in countries (Vignoli et al., 2020 ; Comolli et al. 2021 ). We believe that our research provides both an empirical and a theoretical contribution to the systematic study of the influence of gender aspects on fertility. That is, we prove that the distinction between gender roles in the public sphere and mothers’ and fathers’ roles in the family is a strategy that discourages oversimplification of the complex gender-related factors in fertility (intentions). Without a clear conceptualization and empirical distinction of the various elements involved in the gender role attitudes/fertility nexus, scientific exercises will continue to send conflicting messages, contributing to a crowded and unclear body of empirical research.

Availability of data and materials

GGS data is available for all researchers.

Following the Encyclopedia of Sociology, we use gender-role attitudes, gender attitudes, gender ideology, and gender role ideology interchangeably.

This was largely the case in Eastern European countries (Saxenberg, 2014 ).

This applies, for example, to Western societies of the 1950s and early 1960s, when gender role attitudes and social policies assigned the role of the family provider to men and the roles of homemaker and child-rearer to women.

Some research has shown that families in which the father engages actively in child-rearing have higher child-bearing risks and fertility intentions than do families where the father does not (Dommermuth et al., 2015 ; Duvander et al., 2010 ; Duvander & Andersson, 2006 ; Lappegård, 2010 ; Neyer et al., 2013 ). However, this only holds if fathers do some childcare, while equal sharing seems to lower fertility and fertility intentions. It is assumed that fathers who engage in child-rearing are more family- and child-oriented, so they constitute a select group (Duvander et al., 2010 ; Duvander & Andersson, 2006 ; Kaufman, 2000 ; Miettinen et al., 2011 ).

For more information on the Generations and Gender Programme, see Vikat et al., 2007 , UNECE/PAU, 2008a , and UNECE/PAU, 2008b , as well as the homepage of UNECE/PAU ( http://www.unece.org/pau/ggp/welcome ) and the homepage of the EU GGP Design Studies for Research Infrastructure project ( http://www.ggp-i.org ).

We chose upper age limits at the approximate midpoint of the socially accepted age ranges found by Billari et al. ( 2011 ). Using the European Social Survey for 25 countries, they find considerable variation in socially accepted age limits for fertility in Europe. For men, the accepted upper age limit varies between 45.3 and 51.2 years, and for women, between 39.3 and 43.8 years. We also chose these age ranges to recognize the tendency toward fertility at higher ages, in high-order parities, or the possibilities offered by assisted reproductive technology at higher ages.

Most GGSs offer respondents four response options concerning their intention to have a child within the next 3 years: “definitely yes,” “probably yes,” “probably no,” and “definitely no”. The Norwegian GGS only offers “yes” or “no.” Therefore, we recoded all answers to these two options, collapsing the options “probably” and “definitely.”

This was done mainly to ensure sufficiently large samples for the analyses. There are content-related arguments that support or contest the strategy to pool all relationships. One may argue that the short-term intentions of those who are in a relationship are more “realistic” than the short-term intentions of those who are not. By contrast, one may argue that there is no difference between them, because 3 years is a sufficiently long time frame in which to find a partner (or make use of reproductive technology) to realize one’s childbearing intentions.

If we include the nonsignificant results in our reflections, there is a clear East–West divide. Women in Eastern European countries with gender egalitarian attitudes toward fathers’ family roles tend to be more inclined than those with traditional attitudes to have another child, whereas the opposite applies in Western European countries. This supports Hypothesis 6 , that fertility intentions are negative in countries that have moved further along in their acceptance of gender-equal roles for fathers.

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Acknowledgements

Trude Lappegård gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Norwegian Research Council. Gerda Neyer gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Riksbankens Jublieumsfond (Project P20-0517) and of the Swedish Research Council (Project DN 2020-01976) for research on fertility.

This study was funded by the Norwegian Council of research and The Swedish research council.

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Lappegård, T., Neyer, G. & Vignoli, D. Three dimensions of the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility intentions. Genus 77 , 15 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41118-021-00126-6

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Gender inequality in childhood: toward a life course perspective

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The lack of women's participation in politics/public life will be positively associated with adult gender inequality but not childhood gender inequality (66).

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