This thesis examines to what extent there are generational differences in gender gaps in political behaviour and attitudes, and what explains this generational variation. Generations differ considerably on factors such as women's role in the family and the workplace, gender inequality, and formative experiences, and I argue this leads to different gender gaps for different generations. I examine such generational variation in gender gaps in vote choice, left-right self-placement, attitudes towards spending and redistribution, and attitudes towards gender-egalitarianism. Broad cross-national trends in Europe and Canada are identified, as well as country-specific patterns using Britain and the US as case studies. This thesis finds that generally, in the countries studied, men are more left-wing than women in older birth cohorts, whilst women are more left-wing than men in younger birth cohorts. This 'gender-generation gap' is produced through processes of modernisation, especially secularisation. In addition to this broad trend, the political context or zeitgeist during a generation's formative years produces gender gaps in both vote choice and attitudes that differ between generations according to this socialisation experience. The influences of modernisation and such political socialisation interact to create complex patterns of generational variation in political gender gaps that differ across political contexts. For example, in the British case, women of younger cohorts are not more left-wing in their vote choice than men. These results suggest that we should focus on gender gaps at the level of generational subgroups in order to fully understand political differences between men and women. Furthermore, they predict that gradually, the gender gap where women are more left-wing than men will grow over time through generational replacement. However, they also indicate that this will not occur in all contexts, and that more work needs to be done to understand how the political context shapes gender gaps.

Most educational studies highlight the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Female students' interest and success in STEM are behind their male peers, especially in chemistry and physics classes. Females are less likely to pursue a STEM field in college. In addition, few women want to be scientists and engineers. The gender gap in STEM may be a result of traditional science teaching methods. Female students' expectations are not met, and as a result, their science interest decreases in these classrooms, as well as not pursuing STEM careers in specific chemistry, engineering, and physics. There is an increase in research and curriculum reform movements containing socioscientific issues (SSI) extending worldwide. SSI provides an opportunity to engage students in critical thinking. SSI-based science classrooms are based on real-world problems like climate change, genetic modification, and vaccination. Integrating SSI into science classrooms as a revolutionary method might renew the practices of our traditional science classrooms. However, few SSI-based educational research studies have focused on the gender gap issue. This dissertation investigated 216 middle and high school students' experiences in SSI-based classrooms with a mixed-methods approach. I investigated Model-Evidence Link diagram's effectiveness on the shiftiest in students' plausibility toward scientific model and scientific knowledge gaining in the quantitative part. I examined their experiences in SSI-based classrooms with the open-ended question survey in the qualitative part. SSI-based science activities provided gender equity conditions in science classrooms. Both genders evaluated the scientific model as more plausible by eliminating the alternative model as less plausible, and they gained scientific knowledge about Climate Change and Wetlands. The MEL diagram seemed more effective for the students' positive plausibility shifts toward the scientifically accepted model. Also, both genders had positive experiences in SSI-based classrooms in general. However, female students did not want to continue a STEM career except biomedical sciences. MEL design can be renewed by adding some initial and interval short activities and using some SSI topic-related posters and objects to prepare students for critical thinking and keep them more engaged during the activities. Also, adding student interviews and live recording the student discussions might give an understanding of the collaboration and student experiences in the SSI-based classrooms. / Math & Science Education

Sweden has made enormous progress when it comes to gender equality hence its ranking as first among other states with a score of 83.9 percent. Despite all the progress, there are still challenges that create a huge gender gap in gender-based professions where some professions are considered male whereas others are termed female. It is obvious that gender segregation still prevails in occupations that are traditionally gendered. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers within the construction industry that are maintaining the gender gap and frustrating Sweden's efforts to steer towards a complete gender equality. The study was analysed based on three theories, glass ceiling (Blackwell ,2017), gender theory (Connell (1996) Simone de Beauvoir, 1949) and gender system (Yvonne Hirdman, 1988) as the main theory. Seven interviews with five women in the construction industry were conducted. Discrimination in working hours, pay gap, sexual harassment, lack of role models are some of the barriers that this report highlights. The findings show that the gender gap is generated by macho culture, male superiority and firmly ingrained masculine norms as well as beliefs.

India is becoming an important country in economic scene worldwide and will be the most populated country by 2050. With its fast-economic development, women’s place in society does not evolve at the same speed. The aim of this paper is to investigate the presence of gender inequalities in the accession to managerial occupation in the Indian labor market. A lot of studies have been conducted in European and North American countries, but there is not much about Asian countries. For this study, we used data from 2011 and find evidence of gender discrimination against women in their accession to managerial occupations and in terms of remuneration. This paper adds more literature about the gender gap in the Indian labor market and offers some tracks to solve India inequality issues on the labor market. Also, limitations regarding our work will be discussed.

Programming is a valuable skill in the labor market, making the underrepresentation of women in computing an increasingly important issue. Online question and answer platforms serve a dual purpose in this field: they form a body of knowledge useful as a reference and learning tool, and they provide opportunities for individuals to demonstrate credible, verifi- able expertise. Issues, such as male-oriented site design or overrepresentation of men among the site's elite may therefore compound the issue of women's underrepresentation in IT. In this paper we audit the differences in behavior and outcomes between men and women on Stack Overflow, the most popular of these Q&A sites. We observe significant differences in how men and women participate in the platform and how successful they are. For example, the average woman has roughly half of the reputation points, the primary measure of success on the site, of the average man. Using an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, an econometric technique commonly applied to analyze differences in wages between groups, we find that most of the gap in success between men and women can be explained by differences in their activity on the site and differences in how these activities are rewarded. Specifically, 1) men give more answers than women and 2) are rewarded more for their answers on aver age, even when controlling for possible confounders such as tenure or buy-in to the site. Women ask more questions and gain more reward per question. We conclude with a hypo thetical redesign of the site's scoring system based on these behavioral differences, cutting the reputation gap in half.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Christy D. Craft / The purpose of this study was to explore how one woman negotiated an educational and professional path that led to leadership within the advertising industry’s creative departments, where most of the leadership positions are held by men. This qualitative study was conducted using purposeful sampling, as the single participant represented a truly unique situation in that she held the title of Executive Creative Director at a top advertising agency by the age of 33. Through The 3% Movement, it was identified that less than 12% of advertising’s creative directors are women (2017), and it was this stark gender gap that served as the impetus for exploring this woman’s experiences. A case study design was used to explore her experiences throughout childhood, higher education, professional school, and finally as a professional, in order to understand her path in a deep and meaningful manner. The theoretical framework for this study was based on a feminist perspective using social role theory (Eagly, 1997). A participant-created childhood timeline, three in-depth interviews, two writing responses, and a photo and object elicitation session served as the primary sources of data. The data were analyzed and coded using in-vivo and descriptive coding, as well as pattern-finding, over two cycles of coding and analysis (Saldaña, 2016). The data were used to answer the study’s two overarching research questions, and the following three themes were identified: 1) the power of a woman’s influence; 2) developing passion for leadership and creativity; and 3) promoting a strong work-life balance. The findings indicate that women must have support systems in place in order to successfully manage life as mothers and creative directors. Recognizing one’s own leadership and creative skills, and constantly working to provide the best team environment, were also recognized as key to moving forward in leadership positions within advertising’s creative departments. Agencies must establish policies and procedures to support both men and women as they manage a work-life balance, and it is even more important for leaders to set a positive example for those working around them. Finally, educating everyone holding authority within creative departments about the gender gap can increase awareness and provide the knowledge needed to support women. The findings of this study have implications for a variety of entities impacting women and their creative careers, from faculty and those involved with co-curricular activities in both high school and in higher education, those pursuing post-graduate advertising portfolio school, and those creative directors and agencies that do not reflect the goals of The 3% Movement in reducing the gender gap. Recommendations for future research include additional case studies exploring women creative directors and their paths to leadership, analyses of agencies’ policies and procedures impacting women, promotional processes of advertising’s creative departments, and further cross-case analyses of both women creative directors and various agencies representing different stages of diversity within the creative departments.

The matter of a gender gap in electoral participation is a fact in many parts of the world but has mostly been investigated by, and studied within, the Global North. In spite of this, scholars have not reached an undisputed conclusion for why this is. Scholars have argued for the importance of studying the institutions and systems composing voting in order to explain electoral participation, especially since the form and degree of direct influence of voters are differing within different electoral systems. Relying on the rational voter hypothesis in combination with feminist theory this thesis suggests that women have different experiences of civic duty and influence, and therefore participate in elections to a lesser extent than men. The main results suggest that presidentialism, to an extent which is neither statistically nor practically significant, decrease women’s electoral participation while majoritarian electoral rules seem to have an even smaller, but similar, effect. Testing electoral systems’ effect on the gender gap, statistically significant results points to the fact that presidentialism increases the gender gap in electoral participation. Majoritarian electoral rules do too increase the gender gap, but to a more restricted extent. This thesis concludes that electoral systems do have a gendered effect on electoral participation and that these effects need to be further investigated by future research.

Könsfördelningen är ojämn i ledarpositioner då endast fyra av tio chefer är en kvinna. Det beror på bland annat att könsstereotyper bidrar till att män och kvinnor anses olika lämpade för en chefsroll. Studiens syfte var att undersöka universitetsstudenters upplevelse av olika ledarstilar och vilka karaktärsdrag som föredras i chefsrollen. 151 studenter läste en vinjett där en manlig, kvinnlig eller könsneutral chef hade communal eller agentic ledarstil. En trevägs-ANOVA visade att communal ledarstil upplevdes bättre än agentic ledarstil oavsett chefskön. Ett chi-två test för oberoende visade att oavsett ledarstil uppfattades könsneutrala chefen oftare som man än kvinna. Resultaten tyder på att det skett förändring i synen på en typisk ledarskapsstil, samtidigt som den stereotypa bilden av ett manligt chefskön fortfarande kan antas existera. Resultaten gick delvis i linje med tidigare forskning som visade på könsklyftan men att det har skett förändringar i moderna organisationer där kvinnligt ledarskap är oftare förekommande.

This dissertation is a collection of three empirical essays on Albania and Iran. In December of 1990, the communist system in Albania came to an abrupt end. The collapse of communism led to a number of macroeconomic reforms that, among other things, brought dramatic changes in the Albanian labor market. This study uses data from the first nationally representative household survey to examine one outcome of a decade-long transition in Albania, the earnings gap between men and women. The average gender earnings gap is calculated at 31 percent, but it is found to be as high as 50 percent in the upper parts of the distribution. The traditional Oaxaca-Blinder method and a recent method that combines quantile regression with the bootstrap are applied to decompose the gender gap into a portion attributable to differences in characteristics and a portion explained by returns to characteristics. Results show that differences in human capital characteristics do not explain any of the existing gap. Furthermore, a large proportion of the gap can be attributed to segregation in occupations and industries. Simulations of female counterfactual wages show that the gender gap is significantly reduced for the entire distribution, and disappears in the higher quantiles of the distribution when occupation and industry are controlled for. The next two essays analyze welfare and female labor force participation in post-Revolution Iran. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 and a number of subsequent macro shocks dealt a huge blow to Iran's economy. In this paper we ask the question of how families and individuals have fared through these tumultuous times. Conventional measures of change in welfare, such as average consumption or GDP per capita, do not accurately reflect the experience of individual cohorts. We utilize annual surveys of expenditures and income conducted between 1984 and 2004 and decompose changes in average earnings and expenditures into cohort, age, and period effects. The estimated period effects accurately reflect the fluctuations in the economy noticeable in the macro data, and the life cycle earnings and expenditures profiles show a typical inverted U-shape. The cohort effects, which compare the position of life cycle profiles of different cohorts, and are of most interest to us, show a rising trend for cohorts born before the 1950s (about 30 years or older at the time of the Revolution). They also indicate that younger cohorts, those born after 1965 and therefore entered adult life after the Revolution, seem to have lost out. We discuss possible reasons for the asymmetrical lifetime experience of the two sets of cohorts. We believe that the disruptions caused by the Revolution itself and the subsequent eight year war with Iraq (1980-88) may have caused lifetime losses for the cohorts who came of age in the early 1980s. The purpose of the third essay is to understand changes in the labor force participation rate of women in Iran after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Studies consistently show that like other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Iran has experienced only a modest improvement in female labor force participation rates, despite having gone through the fertility transition and significant improvements in education of women. Utilizing 21 consecutive household surveys from 1984-2004, we decompose changes in the participation rate into age, cohort, and period effects. We find some evidence that the Islamic Revolution of 1979 did indeed have a negative impact on the cohorts that were in their teens or early 20s at that time. However, viewed from a cohort perspective, the evidence shows that women born after 1965 have continuously increased their participation. This is in contrast to the evidence that has been observed by others who have compared cross-section averages over time. / Ph. D.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / In all parts of the Global South, female farmers face challenges to access productive resources and output markets in an equal manner as male farmers, which is referred to as the gender gap in agriculture. In Ghana, where cocoa is one of the major cash crops, these systematic disadvantages mean that female small-scale cocoa farmers face challenges to equally benefit from cultivating the cash crop. Even though there is agreement among researchers that quantitative differences in access to assets result from underlying social gender norms and intra-household inequalities in bargaining power, there is a research gap as to how these underlying causes affect female small-scale cocoa farmer’s agency and empowerment in private and public spheres.