sample research about gender equality

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

Paola belingheri.

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

Filippo Chiarello

Andrea fronzetti colladon.

2 Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

3 Department of Management, Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland

Paola Rovelli

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

Associated Data

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ).

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.

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

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).

Funding Statement

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.

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Want to fight gender inequality? A review of data from 118 countries shows that development aid works

Professor of Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth

Disclosure statement

Bedassa Tadesse 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.

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Gender inequality isn’t just unfair — it’s also a drag on the world economy. Giving women the same economic opportunities as men would add about US$12 trillion to global gross domestic product by 2025, one analysis found. That’s an 11% boost.

The link between women’s empowerment and economic growth is well established. When women are economically empowered, they invest more in their families, creating a cycle of positive outcomes that spans generations . Women’s participation in the workforce leads to greater productivity and brings diverse perspectives that enhance decision-making and drive innovation .

Recognizing these benefits, governments and nongovernmental organizations have increasingly directed aid — funds provided to developing countries to foster economic growth — toward promoting women’s empowerment.

As an economist who studies development , I wanted to know: Does all that money really make a difference? So, in a recent study , my colleagues and I analyzed the impact of gender-related aid on gender inequality using data from 118 countries over a 13-year period, from 2009 to 2022.

What we found was uplifting: Gender-related aid reduced inequality in most countries we studied.

We looked at two types of gender-related aid. The first is funding for projects that tie gender into larger economic goals. Development experts call this “ significant gender-related aid .” There’s also aid funding that narrowly and explicitly targets gender equality. Experts call this “principal gender-related aid.”

We found that the first approach consistently and significantly reduced gender inequality in 115 out of 118 countries we studied. The latter approach had statistically significant effects in 85 countries. It also appeared to be much more effective when paired with the first approach.

Our findings strongly suggest that integrating gender-related aid into broader development efforts is crucial for promoting gender equality. Gender and development are intricately intertwined, a fact often overlooked. Recognizing this connection is crucial for achieving sustainable and inclusive growth.

Women’s empowerment success stories

That might all sound pretty abstract, but our research shows that the world has made progress in real people’s lives over the past decades. Cases from several countries show just how much progress is possible:

Rwanda: Following the 1994 genocide, Rwanda made a concerted effort to rebuild its society with gender equality at its core. Today, women hold 61% of parliamentary seats , the highest percentage in the world . This remarkable achievement is in part a direct result of gender-focused policies and significant investments in women’s political empowerment. Rwanda’s progress illustrates how political will and dedicated gender-related aid can transform a society .

Bangladesh: Despite traditional gender roles, Bangladesh has made significant strides in gender equality , particularly in education and economic participation . Through targeted programs like the Female Secondary School Stipend Program and microfinance initiatives by organizations like the Grameen Bank, Bangladesh has seen substantial improvements in girls’ education and women’s economic empowerment. These initiatives have contributed to a decline in gender disparities and have spurred economic growth.

Ethiopia: In recent decades, Ethiopia has invested heavily in education , particularly for girls. Programs aimed at increasing school enrollment and reducing dropout rates among girls have led to improved literacy rates and better health outcomes. These educational advancements have empowered women economically and socially, reducing gender inequality .

Despite progress made, these achievements aren’t set in stone. Instability can rapidly undo years of progress. Recent policy backsliding in Afghanistan , Brazil and the United States shows the need for vigilance.

Empowering women empowers men, too

Discussions about the importance of reducing gender inequality often revolve around the direct benefits to women and girls. But everyone, including men, stands to win in a more gender-equal society.

First, women’s economic empowerment leads to stronger economies , which benefits everyone. Research shows that gender equality promotes healthier relationships, reduces violence and fosters more cohesive and supportive communities . Similarly, workplaces prioritizing gender equality tend to have better team dynamics, higher employee satisfaction and increased productivity . These are gains for everyone, regardless of gender.

And gender equality has distinct benefits for men. This is because it alleviates the pressures associated with traditional masculinity , which can lead to better mental health. For example, in more gender-equal societies, men report being happier with life and less stressed and depressed .

This shows that the benefits of gender equality aren’t limited to women and girls; they extend to all members of society. Everyone has a stake in helping progress move along.

Research-backed best practices

Governments and aid professionals should follow five steps for success to safeguard the advances made in gender equality and continue progressing:

1. Keep the aid flowing: Continued financial and technical support for gender equality initiatives is vital. Our research suggests policymakers should focus on integrating gender considerations into all development projects.

2. Engage everyone: Involving men and boys in gender equality efforts helps to challenge and change harmful gender norms, fostering a more inclusive society.

3. Tailor strategies: Although aid has an effect across the board, gender equality initiatives must consider each country’s unique sociopolitical and cultural contexts. Tailoring strategies to fit these contexts ensures that interventions are relevant and practical .

4. Strengthen institutions: Effective institutions and governance are crucial for successfully implementing and sustaining gender equality initiatives. Efforts to improve governance and reduce corruption will enhance the impact of aid

5. Promote education: Schools are a powerful tool for promoting gender equality. Investing in educational programs that empower women and girls and raise awareness about gender issues is essential for long-term change .

Gender equality is a cornerstone of a just and prosperous society. The benefits of empowering women extend far beyond the immediate recipients of gender-related aid, fostering economic growth, political stability and social cohesion. Our research shows that efforts to empower women really do pay off — literally and otherwise.

• Foreign aid
• Economic development
• Gender equality
• Development aid
• Development economics
• Development assistance
• Women's empowerment

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A new generation: 25 years of efforts for gender equality in education

2020 Gender Report

Credit: Johanna de Tessières / HI

KEY MESSAGES

Over the past 25 years, girls’ access to education has dramatically improved, closing a four percentage point gap in enrolment ratios. In addition, girls have reached or overtaken boys in terms of learning outcomes in reading and mathematics.

However, girls, particularly those with intersecting disadvantages in terms of poverty or disability, still face the worst forms of acute exclusion in the world’s poorest countries.

Education is a critical lever for women’s rights. A focus on education, particularly that of girls, can break the cycle of disadvantage between generations, as children tend to acquire more education than their parents. At the same time, the extent to which parental education determines children’s education, while declining slowly, is still high,which calls for interventions to prevent inequality from persisting.

Gender equality in education cannot be achieved by the education sector alone.Residual negative gender norms in society bring gender bias in education, influencing teachers’ attitudes, subject and career choices, and affect women’s opportunities later in life.

Countries need to focus on making schools more inclusive for all students, whatever their background, ability or identity. This requires better sanitation facilities in schools,greater attention to school-related gender-based violence, including online, and policies encouraging pregnant girls to go back to school. The message of inclusion resonates strongly at a time when COVID-19 has exacerbated inequality.

Inside the Report

• Introduction
• Laws and Policies
• Partnerships

Key findings

There has been a generational leap in access to education for girls over the past 25 years.„.

• Since 1995, the number of girls enrolled in primary and secondary school has risen by 180 million.„
• Globally, equal numbers of girls and boys were enrolled in primary and secondary education in 2018, whereas in 1995 around 90 girls were enrolled for every 100 boys; significant increases in Southern Asia, and India in particular, drove this growth.„
• Female enrolment tripled in tertiary education; at the country level, gender disparity at men’s expense exists in 74% of the countries with data.„
• Between 1995 and 2018, the percentage of countries with gender parity in education rose from 56% to 65% in primary, from 45% to 51% in lower secondary and from 13% to 24% in upper secondary education.„
• Among the 56 countries with data for 2000–18, primary completion rates improved faster for girls than boys. In one-third of the 86 countries with 2013–18 data, girls were more likely to complete primary school than boys.

Girls’ learning outcomes are improving faster than boys’, but new gender gaps are developing in digital literacy skills and a majority of illiterate adults are still women.„

• Girls’ advantage over boys in reading widened in more than half of the 38 countries and territories that took part in PISA in both 2000 and 2018. Girls now perform as well as boys in mathematics in over half of countries and do better than boys in one-quarter of countries.„
• Disparity in ICT skills is emerging. Among 10 low- and middle-income countries with detailed data, women are less likely to have used a basic arithmetic formula in a spreadsheet in the 7 poorest countries, while parity exists in the 3 richest countries.„
• The share of women among illiterate youth has decreased since around 2005, especially in Eastern and South-eastern Asia. But the share of illiterate adult women has remained constant for the past 20 years at around 63%. And in 2018, fewer than 80 adult women were literate for every 100 adult men in 12 countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite progress, girls continue to face the worst forms of exclusion.„

• Globally, three-quarters of children of primary school age who may never set foot in school are girls.„In 2018, fewer than 90 girls were enrolled for every 100 boys in 7 countries in primary, 14 countries in lower secondary and 23 countries in upper secondary education.„
• Fewer than 80 girls for every 100 boys completed primary in 4 countries, lower secondary in 15 countries and upper secondary in 22 countries.

Gender interacts with other disadvantages to exacerbate exclusion from education.„

• In at least 20 countries, hardly any poor, rural young woman complete upper secondary school.„
• In 24 countries participating in PISA 2018, over 70% of poor boys did not achieve the minimum reading proficiency level.„
• The most disadvantaged women are further left behind in terms of literacy skills. In 59 countries, women aged 15 to 49 from the poorest households are 4 times more likely to be illiterate than those from the richest households.„
• Women with disabilities tend to be particularly disadvantaged. In Mozambique, 49% of men with disabilities can read and write, compared with 17% of women with disabilities.

Some subjects are still male-dominated, which affects equality in work and adult learning opportunities.„

• Globally, the share of females in TVET enrolment declined from 45% in 1995 to 42% in 2018.
• Globally, the percentage of females studying engineering, manufacturing and construction or ICT is below 25% in over two-thirds of countries.„
• Gender segregation by field of study constrains girls’ choice of career. In OECD countries only 14% of girls who were top performers in science or mathematics expected to work in science and engineering, compared with 26% of top-performing boys. Women account for less than 1% of the applicant pool for technical jobs in artificial intelligence and data science in Silicon Valley.„
• Previous learning experience, personal disposition towards learning, life circumstances and structural barriers all have an impact on whether adults participate in education. Women in European countries are almost twice as likely as men not to participate in adult education for family-related reasons.

Policy interventions can reduce the chance of education disadvantage being passed to the next generation.„

• The gender gap in the share of children who have attained a higher education level than their parents – absolute intergenerational mobility – decreased for each 10-year cohort born from the 1940s to the 1980s. Globally, a slightly higher percentage of daughters (52%) than sons (51%) had higher education levels than their parents in the 1980s cohort, although mobility is still lower for girls in low- and lower-middle income countries.
• Children’s education relies less and less on the education of their parents – relative intergenerational mobility – although girls’ years of schooling are still more aligned to their parents’ than boys’, and particularly to that of their mothers.„
• Girls are more influenced by their mothers’ than their fathers’ education in low- and middle-income countries. In the cohort of girls born in the 1980s, an extra year of maternal education leads to seven extra months of education in low-income countries.„
• Policy interventions can reduce the extent to which education disadvantage is passed on to the next generation. Potentially successful interventions include quotas in tertiary enrolment for vulnerable groups, scholarships and cash transfers, and removal of user fees in primary education. The correlation between mothers’ education and their children’s fell by 12.5% when user fees were lifted.

Increasing numbers of laws and policies promotes gender equality in education on paper, but still often fails in practice.„

• Globally, 105 countries have ratified the 1960 UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in Education and 23 have signed since 1995.„
• Education ministries have sponsored laws promoting gender equality in 50% of countries and policies to that effect in 42%. About 46% of countries have legislation and 58% policies promoting gender equality in education under other ministries’ leadership.

Strong political commitment has reduced early pregnancy rates and provided education for pregnant girls and young parents.„

• The prevalence of early pregnancy fell by one-third between 1995 and 2020, from some 60 to 40 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19. „The share of women aged 20 to 24 who married before age 18, a factor contributing to early pregnancy, fell from 25% in 1995 to 20% in 2013–19.
• „In Argentina, a holistic approach combining two laws, flexible learning programmes, nurseries in schools, re-entry programmes for vulnerable children and non-formal alternative secondary education programmes has helped protect pregnant girls’ and young parents’ right to education; meanwhile the adolescent fertility rate fell from 61 in 1995 to 49 in 2018.
• Activism and accountability mechanisms can help protect pregnant girls’ right to go to school. In Sierra Leone, official policy in 2015 banned pregnant girls from school. In 2019, after several years of activism, the ban was ruled discriminatory by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States and was lifted.„
• Multisectoral cooperation and ties between government departments help address the intersecting needs of many girls and young women of child-bearing age. In the United Kingdom, measures to address these needs included a protective legal framework, a teenage pregnancy unit and strategy, better childcare, awareness-raising programmes, advocacy aimed at young men, and support from the non-government sector. These measures helped reduce the number of conceptions per 1,000 15- to 17-year-olds from 42 to 18 between 1995 and 2017.

The prevalence of early pregnancy can be linked to lack of access to sexual and reproductive health education.„

• Ambiguous language in laws and weak accountability in enforcement can enable schools to avoid teaching comprehensive sexuality education. Argentina made the subject compulsory in 2006, but only 16 out of 23 provinces adhered to the policy or passed their own legislation on the subject, likely because of opposition among religious schools.
• „In Sierra Leone, the number of married and sexually active 15- to 19-year-old women using contraception doubled from 10% to 20% between 2008 and 2013, but dropped to just 14% in 2019, possibly due to a 2008 decision to end comprehensive sexuality education in schools.„
• Clear guidance on sexuality education can help. In the United Kingdom, relationship and sex education was made compulsory in all secondary schools from 2019. Guides were published to help schools inform and work with parents to overcome resistance.

Gender-responsive school counselling could improve gender balance in subject choices.

• „Counsellors often promote gender stereotypes, which affect students’ education and career choices. A survey of secondary school counsellors in the US state of Wisconsin found that, even though school counsellors believed female students were more likely to succeed in mathematics than males, they were less likely to recommend mathematics over English to female students.„
• Clear gender-responsive strategies are needed to redress the balance. Botswana has a comprehensive guidance and counselling programme and a Gender Reference Committee but lacks an overall framework on ways to help girls and women who wish to pursue TVET and STEM subjects.„
• A lack of gender-specific measures in counselling and career advice at the state level in Germany means the increase of the share of girls in STEM subjects between 1999 and 2017 is more likely related to an online information hub on STEM for girls and collaboration between ministries of women, youth, labour and social affairs.„
• National strategies on TVET and STEM in the United Arab Emirates make no reference to gender or gender-responsive counselling practices and women are still under-represented in these fields of study.

Countries still produce textbooks with gender-based stereotypes and limited references to women and girls.„

• The share of females in secondary school English language textbook text and images was 44% in Malaysia and Indonesia, 37% in Bangladesh and 24% in Punjab province, Pakistan.„
• Partnerships and participatory processes at all phases of textbook development and delivery need to be in place for successful reform.
• „In Comoros, textbooks still contain gender stereotypes, partly because textbook developers have not received training or sensitization.„
• Ethiopia has shown commitment to gender equality in education, including through textbook revision. Yet stereotypes remain, which can be attributed to women being excluded from textbook review and development, lack of training on processes, and insufficient commitment from authorities in challenging discriminatory norms.„
• Nepal has made materials more gender-sensitive by introducing guidance for gender-responsive learning materials and a gender expert to review content, as well as gender audits and formal reviews of all materials every five years, although some of these measures have not been fully implemented.„
• In Europe, 23 out of 49 countries do not address sexual orientation and gender identity explicitly in their curricula.

Gender inequality exists in teacher recruitment and promotion to leadership, and more gender-sensitive teacher education is needed.„

• Women make up 94% of teachers in pre-primary, 66% of teachers in primary, 54% in secondary and 43% in tertiary education.„
• There is a glass ceiling for women trying to attain leadership positions. In a case study of schools in Brasilia, Brazil, 75% had only male candidates for school leadership positions. For the past 25 years, all federal education ministers have been men. In Bulgaria, just 5 of 96 education ministers in 140 years have been women.„
• Teachers still expect girls and boys to have different academic abilities, which affects academic outcomes. In Italy, girls assigned to teachers with implicit gender bias underperformed in mathematics and chose less demanding secondary schools, following teachers’ recommendations.

Millions of schools are not inclusive, often due to poor infrastructure and unsafe learning environments.„

• Globally, over a fifth of primary schools had no single-sex basic sanitation facilities in 2018. Some 335 million girls attend primary and secondary schools lacking facilities essential for menstrual hygiene.„
• Even when single-sex sanitation facilities exist, they may not be accessible to all students: less than 1 in 10 schools with improved sanitation had accessible facilities for students with disabilities in El Salvador, Fiji, Tajikistan, the United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen.

School-related gender-based violence impedes inclusive education of good quality.„

• Girls are more likely to experience verbal and sexual harassment, abuse and violence, while boys are more often subject to physical violence.„
• Violence is often directed at those whose gender expression does not fit binary gender norms. In the United Kingdom, 45% of lesbian, gay and bisexual students and 64% of transgender students were bullied in schools.„
• The rapid advancement of technology has increased risks of threats, intimidation and harassment. In European Union countries, one in five 18- to 29-year-olds reported having experienced cyber-harassment.

Change in education will not happen until unequal gender norms in society are stamped out.„

• Gender discrimination was considered the most important global problem by 8% of adults in the latest World Values Survey. A return to traditional values is an increasing threat to women’s rights. The proportion of people with moderate and intense bias against gender equality increased between 2005–09 and 2010–14 in 15 of 31 countries surveyed.„
• Attitudes towards female foeticide have not improved with education. In urban India, the male to female child sex ratio is inversely associated with female education.„
• Gender discrimination is a threat to inclusive education. In 11 former republics of the Soviet Union and in Mongolia, the level of discrimination in social institutions is 24%, on average, which has reduced women’s average years of schooling by 16%.„
• Parents’ gender stereotypes can stand in the way of inclusion. In Sokoto, Nigeria, some parents believe access to secondary school would prevent girls from marrying. In Fiji, parents expect boys to assist with cash crop farming, which can lead them to disengage with school.

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Promoting Gender Equality: A Systematic Review of Interventions

• Open access
• Published: 01 September 2022
• Volume 35 , pages 318–343, ( 2022 )

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• Michaela Guthridge   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5157-9839 1 , 3 ,
• Maggie Kirkman 2 ,
• Tania Penovic 4 , 5 &
• Melita J. Giummarra 1 , 5  

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More than four decades have passed since the United Nation’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted. Now is an opportune time to consider whether the interventions seeking to realise CEDAW’s aspirations have brought us closer to achieving gender equality. This systematic review aimed to identify and synthesise evidence for the effectiveness of social justice, cognitive, or behaviour-change interventions that sought to reduce gender inequality, gender bias, or discrimination against women or girls. Interventions could be implemented in any context, with any mode of delivery and duration, if they measured gender equity or discrimination outcomes, and were published in English in peer-reviewed journals. Papers on violence against women and sexuality were not eligible. Seventy-eight papers reporting qualitative (n = 36), quantitative (n = 23), and multi-methods (n = 19) research projects met the eligibility criteria after screening 7,832 citations identified from psycINFO, ProQuest, Scopus searches, reference lists and expert recommendations. Findings were synthesised narratively. Improved gender inclusion was the most frequently reported change (n = 39), particularly for education and media interventions. Fifty percent of interventions measuring social change in gender equality did not achieve beneficial effects. Most gender mainstreaming interventions had only partial beneficial effects on outcomes, calling into question their efficacy in practice. Twenty-eight interventions used education and awareness-raising strategies, which also predominantly had only partial beneficial effects. Overall research quality was low to moderate, and the key findings created doubt that interventions to date have achieved meaningful change. Interventions may not have achieved macrolevel change because they did not explicitly address meso and micro change. We conclude with a summary of the evidence for key determinants of the promotion of gender equality, including a call to address men’s emotional responses (micro) in the process of achieving gender equality (micro/meso/macrolevels).

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Introduction

The adoption of CEDAW was a remarkable achievement in the history of the women’s movement. Its ultimate aim was to catalyse social transformation that transcends cursory legislative reform (Facio & Morgan, 2009 ). Article 3 of CEDAW promotes this social transformation, calling for state parties to ‘take all appropriate measures’ to achieve gender equality. In practice this has included, but has not been limited to, gender-blind strategies, awareness raising, litigation, international advocacy, art and social media activism, and gender mainstreaming (see Table 1 for definition).

The Global Gender Gap Index 2022 benchmarks 146 countries on the evolution of gender-based gaps in economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment (World Economic Forum, 2022 ). Although the Index measures gender parity (defined in Table 1 ) rather than substantive equality, it is a useful tool for analysing progression and regression. With scores depicting the distance to parity on a scale of zero to one hundred, the 2022 Report found the average distance completed to parity was 68 per cent. With the present trajectory, it will take 132 years to close the gender gap and 151 years to achieve equal economic participation and opportunity (World Economic Forum, 2022 ). Moreover, these estimates are predicted to worsen as the world faces crises in politics, economics, health, food, and the environment. Now more than ever we must assess our successes and failures in attempting to reduce gender inequality and discrimination.

The aim of this systematic review was to identify and synthesise evidence of the effectiveness of social justice interventions that sought to reduce gender inequality, gender bias, or discrimination against women and girls. Because recent systematic reviews have examined the effectiveness of interventions targeting violence against women and sexuality (e.g. Karakurt et al., 2019 ; Bourey et al., 2015 ; Yakubovich et al., 2018 ) we did not include these types of interventions. We were unable, however, to identify systematic reviews examining other interventions targeting gender equality. Therefore, this review focused on interventions that sought to achieve gender equality in any political, social, cultural or economic context, except violence against women and sexuality.

Theoretical Framework

The truism ‘context matters’ is pertinent to this systematic review. According to contextual social psychology, effects brought about at a microlevel are modified by the mesolevel and macrolevel, and vice versa (Pettigrew, 2021 ). In this review, microlevel variables include individual characteristics, including biology, beliefs, behaviours, values, and emotions, such as empathy and resentment. Mesolevel contextual factors include interpersonal interactions in family, work, and school etc. (e.g. gender segregation), and macrolevel context includes broader social and cultural norms, including religion and politics. Social norms in this context are “rules of action shared by people in a given society or group; they define what is considered normal and acceptable behaviour for the members of that group” (Cislaghi & Heise, 2020 , p. 409). In this sense, social norms exist within the mind, while gender norms exist outside it, and both are produced and reproduced through social interaction. In contextual social psychology, beliefs are embedded in institutions that affect our relational behaviours. While there are psychological causes of macrophenomena (Pettigrew, 2021 ), these phenomena (such as patriarchy) also influence individual affect. For example, affirmative action laws (macro) should increase contact between genders (meso), which in turn should reduce individual prejudice (micro). While this is a top down example, it also works from the bottom up, whereby micro behaviours can affect macrophenomena. In this context, prejudice against women and girls is a “multilevel syndrome” (Pettigrew, 2021 , p. 74).

“Systems thinking” also recognises the intersection between problems and processes from local to global levels (Arnold & Wade, 2015 ). Systems thinking is a complex interplay of a multitude of constantly evolving factors (Banerjee & Lowalekar, 2021 ). According to systems thinking, gender equality will be realised when interventions at the micro, meso and macrolevel are configured holistically, rather than individualistically. Interventions at any level need to consider and accommodate the role of processes and factors that may support or hinder the effectiveness of the intervention to yield population benefits. The different contextual levels that impact on gender inequality may be successfully tackled by feminist movements, but integrating the interventions pluralistically rather than monistically remains elusive as feminist movements appear to continue to work in silos. In undertaking strategies across different contexts, however, we are more likely to achieve substantive equality. But we need to address this complexity in the three contextual levels (micro, meso, macro) in order to predict, modify and eliminate discrimination against women and girls. These theoretical frameworks are used throughout this review to aid the synthesis of the evidence and identification of implications for practice.

Review Design

The Sample, Phenomena of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type (SPIDER) tool was used to design the review (Cooke et al., 2012 ). SPIDER is appropriate for systematic reviews of quantitative, qualitative, and multi-methods research. We use the term multi method rather than mixed method because mixed method studies could be considered to have used multiple methods of data collection/analysis, but not all multi-methods studies follow “mixed methods” procedures as they do not always provide an integrated synthesis of findings across the methods used (Creswell, 2009 ). The search terms are documented in Supplementary Tables 1 and 2. The review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (Page et al., 2021 ). Rapid review methods were used for citation screening and data extraction (Plüddemann et al., 2018 ). Papers were eligible according to the criteria defined below.

The sample could include people of any age, race, or gender in local, global, or transboundary intervention contexts. The phenomena of interest included any social justice, cognitive or behaviour-change interventions that sought to reduce gender inequality, gender bias, or discrimination against women, with any mode of delivery and duration. Interventions could be any type of program (e.g. behaviour change), policy (e.g. gender mainstreaming), process (e.g. awareness raising) or experimental condition that aimed to influence gender-focused outcomes. An intervention was categorised as achieving its aim (e.g., having a beneficial effect on gender equality or reducing discrimination), partially achieving its aim, not achieving its aim according to the assessment in the paper (i.e. if the analyses in the respective paper found that the intervention did not work), or having a harmful effect (i.e. resulting in increased discrimination or inequality).

The intervention being investigated could have been administered by any party, including expert advocates, government or non-government organisations (NGOs), social justice enterprises, or academic researchers. The research design did not need to include a comparator or control group, but must have incorporated a between-groups or pre-post comparison, or retrospective assessment of the impact, feasibility or acceptability of the intervention or program. The primary outcome for evaluation was any measure of actual or perceived level of, or change in, gender (in)equality, gender bias, or discrimination against women or girls. Secondary outcomes were the perceived level of inclusion, solidarity, awareness, empowerment, or equity. The research methods could include qualitative, quantitative, and mixed- or multi-methods. Eligible papers were published in peer-reviewed journals in English from 1990 to 2022. Whilst CEDAW was adopted in 1979, this timeframe was selected to ensure contemporaneity. A protocol for the review was developed a priori, but not registered.

Search Strategy and Eligibility Screening

As this was a review of research across multiple disciplines, three databases were used: Scopus, ProQuest, and psycINFO, in addition to reviewing reference lists and recommendations by experts. Search terms were adapted to each database. After screening the first search results it was evident that the terms were not broad enough, so a second search including additional terms was undertaken (see Supplementary Tables 1 and 2 for terms of both search strategies). All search results were uploaded to Covidence for eligibility screening and duplicate removal by reviewer one. Using Abstrackr, a second author screened a minimum of 10 percent of citations, consistent with rapid review methods (Plüddemann et al., 2018 ), or until < 50 percent of citations were predicted to be relevant. Abstrackr is a machine-learning program that generates predictions of the likely relevance of records based on judgements made by the reviewer (Wallace et al., 2012 ), which has been found to have excellent sensitivity and to generate significant workload savings (Giummarra et al., 2020 ). After titles and abstracts were screened, full text articles were assessed against the eligibility criteria, noting reasons for exclusion. Both reviewers met to discuss any conflicts; if consensus could not be reached a third author was consulted. The authors included experts in gender equality who provided significant input into the search strategy, identification of relevant literature, and synthesis.

Quality Assessment

The quality of research was assessed by the first author using a standard method (Kmet et al., 2004 ) with the added criterion of whether papers reported approval by a formally constituted human research ethics committee. Supplementary Tables 3–5 specify the quality criteria. Overall quality was classified as poor (studies meeting < 0.50 criteria), adequate (0.50–0.69), good (0.70–0.80), or strong (> 0.80) consistent with previous studies (Parsons et al., 2017 ).

Data Extraction and Synthesis

Data were extracted in three categories: The authors and publication year of the paper ; research aims, theoretical approach, methods, sample size, eligibility criteria, and sample characteristics; and, the intervention , aim, type, sector, geographic region, description, duration, targeted outcomes, effects, and short- and long-term impacts. Figures to summarise the proportion of studies from different geographic regions were generated using www.sankeymatic.com/build/ . Ten percent of the full-text articles were randomly selected, stratified by research method, for independent data extraction by a second author, consistent with rapid review methods (Plüddemann et al., 2018 ). The data extracted from both reviewers was cross-checked for accuracy and completeness. Sources of heterogeneity were noted, particularly variation in study samples, settings, contexts and intervention designs or aims. Given the heterogeneity of the interventions and the research, meta-analysis and meta-synthesis were not appropriate. Therefore, the findings were thematically synthesised according to intervention sector (e.g. education, employment etc.) and context (i.e., micro, meso and macro levels).

A total of 7,832 records were screened for eligibility with the last search conducted on 18 July 2022 (Fig.  1 ). Seventy-eight papers, each reporting a single intervention and using qualitative (n = 36), multi (19), or quantitative (23) methods, met the inclusion criteria. The characteristics of qualitative, quantitative, and multi-methods studies are summarised in Supplementary Tables 6, 7, and 8, respectively. The intervention effects for each study are summarised in Supplementary Tables 9 and 10.

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocol (PRISMA) Flow Diagram

Five interventions were at the microlevel, 37 were at the mesolevel, and 17 were at the macrolevel. The final 19 interventions straddled micro-meso, meso-macro, or micro–macro. No intervention covered all three levels or took a systems thinking approach.

The overall quality of each paper is detailed in Supplementary Tables 6–8, and ratings for each quality domain are in Supplementary Tables 3–5. Studies using quantitative methods (range 0.58–1.00; median = 0.92, Q1 = 0.82, Q3 = 1.00) had significantly higher quality than qualitative (range 0.41–0.91; median = 0.73, Q1 = 0.67, Q3 = 0.79; χ2(1) = 13.71, p  < 0.001) and multi-method studies (range 0.48–0.94; median = 0.76, Q1 = 0.63, Q3 = 0.82; χ2(1) = 21.96, p  < 0.001). There was no difference in the quality of qualitative and multi-methods studies ( p  = 0.97).

All quantitative studies articulated the research question and reported the results adequately. Randomisation and blinding were used in most studies. While estimates of variance and controlling for confounding were not consistently reported, 18 studies using quantitative methods were considered to be strong quality, and seven had a perfect score.

In reports of qualitative studies, the study design, context, and conclusion were generally addressed well. However, only six studies used verification processes (see Table 1 for definition). No qualitative study received a perfect score; 20 studies were considered to be good quality.

For multi-method studies, the objective, context, data collection, analysis, and conclusion were generally reported well. Blinding was not applicable, and estimates of variance and control of confounding were generally not reported. No multi-method study received a perfect score although the quality of six of multi-methods papers was assessed as good.

Corresponding authors were contacted to confirm ethics approval; authors of two papers confirmed that the study did not receive ethics approval, and authors from 16 studies did not respond or confirm whether they had ethics approval. The omission of evidence of ethical approval is concerning and should be addressed in all future research with humans. The 18 studies with respect to which we either could not confirm ethics approval or did not receive ethics approval were all published in highly ranked journals. Furthermore, it was not, in general, clear in the majority of papers which agency or organisation conducted the intervention or undertook the study (e.g. government agency, NGO, academic researchers) making it difficult to assess reflexivity, and the prospect of future implementation.

Included Interventions

Intervention sectors.

Interventions were implemented and evaluated in various sectors: education (26 interventions); politics (10); employment (8); information, communications, and technology (6); legal (5); economics (6); health (3); sustainable development and land rights (3); sport (3); and women’s and girls’ rights (2). Interventions in the areas of conflict and of water, sanitation, and hygiene were reported in one paper each.

Intervention Settings

Interventions were set evenly throughout the Global South (35 papers) and the Global North (39 papers). Interventions were evaluated in Africa (15), Europe (12), North America (19), Asia (10), Latin America (6), the Middle East and North Africa (4), the United Kingdom (6), and the Pacific (4). Just under half of the Global South interventions were conducted in rural settings (16/35), whereas Global North interventions tended to be urban (22/39) (Fig.  2 ).

Settings for interventions in Global North and South Countries

Research Participant Characteristics

Twenty-seven interventions included both women and men as participants, 30 included only women, and one intervention included only men. Thirteen studies did not report the gender of the sample, and in seven studies gender of the sample or population was not applicable (e.g. intervention sought to affect a broad population approach irrespective of gender, such as a new law that applied to the whole population in order to improve gender equality, or a collective political party that sought to influence gender issues in parliament). Thirty papers did not report other participant demographic characteristics. Where sample characteristics were reported, participants were 10–80 years of age, with education level ranging from none to post-graduate.

Study Characteristics

All papers but one (Devasia, 1998 ) were published after 2005. Most papers reported data gathered across years, with twelve interventions taking place over hours or weeks. The timeframe did not appear to be associated with whether or not the intervention had a significant beneficial effect on the aims of the intervention. For example, McGregor and Davies’ ( 2019 ) two year study of the effects of a pay equity campaign achieved its aim (legislation was enacted), but Hayhurst’s ( 2014 ) girls’ entrepreneurship study that ran for several years had harmful effects (girls income was taken by men). Similarly, Zawadzki et al., ( 2012 ) board game intervention that takes 60–90 min achieved its aims but Krishnan et al. ( 2014 ) conditional cash transfer study over a month had no effect on social change.

In the qualitative and multi-method studies, theoretical frameworks were rarely reported. The few papers that did report theoretical frameworks used feminist standpoint theory, post-structuralist feminist theory, or social constructivist theory. Qualitative data collection methods were diverse: interviews (41 studies), focus groups (19), document analysis (18), observations (15), case studies (2), and visual techniques (e.g. PhotoVoice) (2). Quantitative and multi-method studies predominantly used surveys and questionnaires (22), with one study each using of the following tools: Gender Equitable Men’s Scale (Gottert et al., 2016 ), the Knowledge of Gender Equity Scale, the Empathy Questionnaire (Spreng et al., 2009 ), the Feminist Identity Scale (Rickard, 1989 ), and the Gender Related System Justification scale (Jost & Kay, 2003 ).

Few interventions aimed to achieve gender equality per se. Rather, they aimed to achieve components of gender equality (see Table 1 for definition), which ranged from gender neutrality through to striving towards a feminist revolution. Overall aims included greater awareness, inclusion, empowerment, parity, equity, and substantive equality (Supplementary Tables 6–8, column 3). The evaluation of whether interventions achieved their aims was usually assessed through surveying participants. The most common aim was to enhance “empowerment” (n = 18), which was generally not clearly defined. The interventions had various levels of effectiveness, with 37 studies having a significant beneficial effect on the aim of the intervention (i.e., they achieved their aims); 31 having a partial beneficial impact on the aim of the intervention; four studies having no beneficial or harmful impact on the aim of the intervention; and six studies having a harmful effect on the aim of the intervention (e.g., the intervention led to increased discrimination, inequality, or abuse). Examples of harmful effects include the ‘Girl Effect’ program in Uganda which resulted in participants being abused or robbed of the money they had earned (Hayhurst, 2014 ), and a girls’ resiliency program in the USA that resulted in increased abuse from male peers (Brinkman et al., 2011 ).

Intervention Design and Effectiveness by Sector

Education and training interventions.

Evaluations of education and training interventions were reported in 18 papers (6 qualitative, 6 quantitative, 6 multi-methods). Education interventions covered a range contexts (3 micro-meso, 11 meso, 3 meso-macro, 1 macro). Most interventions (14) used awareness-raising workshops targeting individual change, and reported only partially achieving the aim of the interventions. Five workshops were assessed in randomised controlled trials. Two qualitative studies targeted increasing girls’ enrolment in formal education in Morocco (Eger et al., 2018 ) and India (Jain & Singh, 2017 ), both of which achieved the aims of the interventions. One qualitative study in the Democratic Republic of Congo targeted behaviour change in men only (Pierotti et al., 2018 ), which had a partial beneficial effect because men increased their willingness to contribute to household chores but maintained control over the broader gender system. This intervention was an eight-week long mesolevel men’s discussion group focused on “undoing gender” through social interaction (e.g. promoting a more equal division of labour in the household, improving intra-household relationship quality, and questioning existing gender norms).

Gender parity in schools did not signal an end to, or transformation of, gender inequities in the schools or communities studied (Ralfe, 2009 ). To bring about education policy reform, Palmén et al. ( 2020 ) found that top-down institutional commitment to gender equality was essential to create change. However, bottom-up strategies were also needed as teachers had to foster cooperative learning that encouraged working together and valuing different abilities across genders (Sánchez-Hernández et al., 2018 ). Sufficient resources, in addition to monitoring and evaluation of education initiatives, were found to be a key to intervention success (Palmén et al., 2020 ). Ultimately, social norms did not change beyond the school environment (Chisamya et al., 2012 ; Jain & Singh, 2017 ).

While interventions in traditional education contexts only partially achieved their aims, experiential learning was found to be a powerful process to deliver knowledge about gender equity in a nonthreatening way (Zawadzki et al., 2012a ). Zawadzki’s study was a mesolevel intervention that used a board game to teach participants the cumulative effect of subtle, nonconscious bias, to discuss how bias hinders women’s promotion in the workplace, and to find solutions for what can be done to reduce that bias. They found that the delivery of information was less effective when new knowledge did not promote self-efficacy or lead participants to resist perceived attempts to influence their beliefs or behaviours. Furthermore, they established that learning about gender inequity was not sufficient for knowledge retention. Rather, participants had to link the knowledge to their own experiences and be empowered to feel that they could act on that knowledge.

Awareness-raising interventions in education and training generally only partially achieved the aims of the interventions, and did not necessarily translate into behaviour change (Ralfe, 2009 ). In the strong quality (0.93) quantitative mesolevel study by Moss-Racusin et al. ( 2018 ), the Video Interventions for Diversity in STEM (VIDS) intervention was found to achieve significantly greater awareness of bias in participants compared to the non-intervention control condition; however, effects on behaviour were not assessed. This intervention presented participants with short videos about findings from gender bias research in one of three conditions. One condition illustrated findings using narratives (compelling stories), the second presented the same results using expert interviews (straightforward facts), and a hybrid condition included both narrative and expert interview videos.

A lack of awareness, knowledge, or understanding of women’s human rights was found to be a key barrier to the achievement of gender equality in education-based interventions (Murphy-Graham, 2009 ). Gervais ( 2010 ) reported that awareness-raising can have direct effects on participants by giving them confidence to speak up against violations of their rights, although they noted that this might anger violators. Similarly, education was found in some cases to enable women to negotiate power-sharing with their husbands, while other women were verbally abused and threatened because their husbands disapproved of the education program (Murphy-Graham, 2009 ). Similar to the study by Pierotti et al. ( 2018 ), Murphy-Graham ( 2009 ) sought to “undo gender” by encouraging students to rethink gender relations in their everyday lives (mesolevel). Including men together with women in education programs enabled women to gauge men’s reactions to social change in a safe environment (Cislaghi et al., 2019 ). Potential harmful effects of interventions are further summarised under the ‘The problem of hostile affect’ header below.

STEM Education

Among education interventions were a subset of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) education interventions. These specifically targeted secondary school girls as a pathway to tertiary STEM education, and were reported in eight papers (1 qualitative, 3 quantitative, 4 multi methods). The design of interventions varied from science clubs, outreach programs, after school sessions, residential camps and immersion days. Archer et al. ( 2014 ), however, took a multipronged approach. Their intervention included school excursions, visits from STEM Ambassadors and a researcher-in-residence, a STEM ‘speed networking’ event, and participation in a series of teacher-led sessions for girls aged 13–14 years. Despite this significant investment, the intervention did not significantly change students’ aspirations of studying science, although it did appear to have a beneficial effect on broadening students’ understanding of the range of science jobs.

All STEM education interventions were aimed at the mesolevel and were located in the urban Global North. While the long-term impact (e.g. increased enrolment of women into tertiary STEM education) were inconsistent among studies. Gorbacheva et al. ( 2014 ) found that secondary same-sex education had no influence on this objective. Alternatively, Hughes et al. ( 2013 ) found having role models was more critical than sex segregation. Finally, Lackey et al. ( 2007 ), Lang et al. ( 2015 ) and Watermeyer ( 2012 ) all established that a network of support (e.g. family, school, industry) made a positive difference to girls equality in STEM education.

Employment Interventions

Eight interventions focused on women’s employment: 4 qualitative, 2 quantitative, 2 multi-methods studies. They covered a range of contexts (1 micro/meso, 5 meso, 2 meso/macro). Three interventions addressed women’s promotion (Eriksson‐Zetterquist & Styhre, 2008 ; Grada et al., 2015 ; Smith et al., 2015 ). Two interventions evaluated microenterprise; one produced harmful effects (Hayhurst, 2014 ), and the other only partially achieved its aim (Strier, 2010 ). Hayhurst ( 2014 ) evaluated an intervention auspiced by the Nike Foundation and concluded that it had an unfair and deleterious effect by placing the burden of social change on girls. In this intervention, focusing on the mesolevel, girls were taught to be entrepreneurs to enable them to escape abuse, buy land, grow food, and work. In practice, this economic empowerment strategy led to increased abuse by men who wanted to take the girls’ money to pay their own taxes and fines. This study was good quality (0.73). Participants in the study by Strier ( 2010 ) thought that microenterprise promised self-realisation and escape from the slavery of the labour market, but they found it to be a false promise, characterising the informal sector as both a disappointment and a fraud. Overall, employment interventions led to unreliable and inconsistent outcomes.

Economic Interventions

Six interventions (1 qualitative, 2 quantitative, 3 multi-methods studies) addressed various contexts (1 micro, 1 micro/macro, 2 meso/macro, 2 macro interventions) that targeted economic empowerment. Overall, the interventions partially achieved their aims. For microfinance interventions, women benefited less than men because they were given smaller loans for less lucrative businesses (Haase, 2012 ). Krishnan et al. ( 2014 ) conducted a good quality (0.79) multi-method study of a micro–macro level intervention that provided conditional cash transfers in India, and found minimal positive effects from the implementation of this scheme to address social behaviours related to valuing girls. In this study, parents had to register the birth of their daughter in order to receive financial benefit, but this did not transform the social mindset that daughters are a burden. In another study, the size and frequency of cash transfers directly influenced outcomes: large but infrequent payments enabled investment that could facilitate economic transformation (Morton, 2019 ). Lump-sum payments also challenged stereotypes about what women could invest in, and could transform the gender asset gap. Institution of a social protection floor (e.g. welfare benefits) enhanced women’s power and control over household decision-making in financial matters and household spending in South Africa (Patel et al., 2013 ). While a social protection floor had benefits for women’s empowerment at the microlevel, it did not transform unequal and unjust gendered social relations of power at the macrolevel.

Legal Interventions

Five interventions (3 qualitative, 2 quantitative studies) in two contexts (1 meso/macro, 4 macro) reported on legal interventions. In Zartaloudis’s ( 2015 ) qualitative macrolevel study of an employment strategy in Greece and Portugal, legislation was found to have an important but not transformative effect on gender equality in employment. Three other studies found that changes in law must be accompanied by incentives and penalties in order to be effective (Kim & Kang, 2016 ; Palmén et al., 2020 ; Singh & Peng, 2010 ). While the decline in levels of discrimination was at first sharp after enacting anti-discrimination legislation, its implementation plateaued over time, calling into question the long-term sustainable effects of law reform without adequate enforcement mechanisms. In this macrolevel study by Singh and Peng ( 2010 ), the Ontario Pay Equity Act was effective because it was proactive in persuing pay equity, rather than being complaint based.

Legal opportunity and litigation were strategic choices in campaign strategies in one study, playing an important role in effecting change to prevent discriminatory pay for work typically performed by women (McGregor & Davies, 2019 ). The strong quality (0.92) macrolevel study by Mueller et al. ( 2019 ) increased access to legal services in order to improve legal knowledge in rural Tanzania. It found that, despite increased access to legal services, women still had moderate to low knowledge of marital laws, and only 2.7 percent of women would refer someone to a paralegal for problems with a widow’s assets, divorce, or marital disputes. Mueller et al. ( 2019 ) concluded that an increased investment in access to justice needed to be made through informal channels (mesolevel change) in addition to the macrolevel law reform.

Political Interventions

Ten papers (4 qualitative, 3 quantitative, 3 multi-methods studies) that covered a variety of contexts (1 micro/meso, 2 meso, 2 meso/macro, 5 macro) reported assessments of political interventions. Electing women to council increased other women’s access to councillors because women had greater heterosocial networks (i.e., comprising women and men), but did not affect men’s access to councillors (Benstead, 2019 ; Levy & Sakaiya, 2020 ). However, increasing the number of women in public office did not necessarily improve equality (McLean & Maalsen, 2017 ). For example, an evaluation of gendered outcomes of Hon. Julia Gillard’s tenure as Prime Minister of Australia saw increased gender-based denigration and vilification of her leadership (McLean & Maalsen, 2017 ).

A qualitative macro study using interviews and ethnography to explore the impact of political gender quotas in Mali (Johnson, 2019 ) found that savings groups, together with political gender quotas, were important for catalysing the first steps towards social and political transformation. In Mali, gender quota laws required political parties to field a minimum of 30 percent women candidates, and to include a woman within the first three places on a party’s candidate list. In this context, savings and credit associations developed women’s self-efficacy and increased their confidence to become political candidates (Johnson, 2019 ).

An example of discursive change based on political activism was found by Cowell-Meyers’ ( 2017 ) multi-method study examining the impact of a new feminist political party in Sweden. Near consensus by political parties that gender equality needed to be tackled through government intervention was achieved through the efforts of the small women’s rights party. However, another multi-method mesolevel study examining the effects of Transnational Advocacy Networks (TANs) in Europe found that they either ignored or subverted gender mainstreaming language (S. Lang, 2009 ). Gender mainstreaming policy interventions were found to have only partially achieved their aims, but were successful when law and policy detailed specific roles and responsibilities for action (Kim & Kang, 2016 ). Policymakers in two other studies were found to avoid the responsibility of implementation not because they opposed gender mainstreaming itself, but because they objected to being forced into it (Hwang & Wu, 2019 ; Kim & Kang, 2016 ). Therefore, the attitude of bureaucrats (microlevel) was considered to be an important factor in implementing gender equality initiatives at the macrolevel.

The strong (perfect quality score) quantitative study by Saguy and Szekeres ( 2018 ) reported on the effect on gender-based attitudes (microlevel) following exposure to the 2017 Women’s March across the US and worldwide in response to Donald Trump’s inauguration. The research found that large-scale collective action had a polarising effect on those exposed to it. Over time, men who identified more closely with their own gender increased the degree to which they justified gender inequality after exposure to the protests, suggesting a backlash reaction (mesolevel). People who were found to be positively affected by collective action were already in favour of the protesters’ cause. The backlash found for high-identifying men was explained by reactance theory (Brehm, 1966 ) whereby people become motivationally aroused by a threat to or elimination of a behavioral freedom (Brehm, 1989 ).

Barriers to Achieving Gender Equality: The Problem of Hostile Affect

No study accounted for men’s and boys’ emotions (microlevel change) as part of the aim and design of the intervention, but their significance became apparent in the results of several studies. Men and boys reported feeling hostility, resentment, fear and jealousy when social norms were challenged. Attempts at addressing gender inequality were found to threaten men’s sense of entitlement, and it was theorised that boys expected to be the centre of attention (Brinkman et al., 2011 ). In the meso study by MacPhail et al. ( 2019 ) that evaluated a men’s participation program in South Africa, participants reported equality as a zero-sum game that meant respecting women equated to disrespecting men. In that intervention, activities included intensive small group workshops, informal community dialogue through home visits, mural painting to stimulate discussions of key messages, informal theatre, soccer tournaments, and film screenings. In another study, women’s oppression was maintained by men because they feared losing control of ‘their’ women (Devasia, 1998 ). In several studies, men shared their fear of being perceived as weak or feminine in front of their peers or community (Bigler et al., 2019 ; McCarthy & Moon, 2018 ; Murphy-Graham, 2009 ; Pierotti et al., 2018 ; Singhal & Rattine-Flaherty, 2006 ). Male participants in the study by Pierotti et al. ( 2018 ) believed that allowing women to be leaders in households would disintegrate society. They believed that upholding men’s lack of accountability and position as ‘boss’ was important to maintaining the fabric of society.

In contrast, Cislaghi ( 2018 ) found that men in Senegal did not resist increased political participation of women. And a radio program in Afghanistan that addressed gender equality was found not to offend men’s cultural or religious beliefs, and ultimately succeeded in changing attitudes and behaviours towards women and girls (Sengupta et al., 2007 ). The outcome included changes in the community, such as giving permission to women to leave their home alone, to vote, to go to school, and to reject child marriage. While participants expressed increased empowerment (micro), they also acknowledged that they may have their rights, but can never make decisions pertaining to their rights (Sengupta et al., 2007 ). For example, women may have the right to vote (macro), but they cannot go to vote or decide who to vote for without male guardianship (meso). In that study, 15 h of civic education material was promoted by radio, focusing on peace, democracy, and women’s rights. At the community level, interviews and focus groups with participants revealed that there was no resistance to listening to the radio program from men or families. However, the Sengupta et al. study was not longitudinal and had a relatively small sample of 115 people (72.2% women), and the women in the study may not have been in a position that allowed them to admonish the men in their community.

It was found in one study that resistance and backlash can be ameliorated by including men and boys in the development and delivery of interventions (Sengupta et al., 2007 ). Behaviour change in men required an increase in empathy to achieve the aim of gender equality (Becker & Swim, 2011 ). Hadjipavlou ( 2006 ) and Vachhani and Pullen (2019) found that empathy was a viable alternative feminist strategy. In their qualitative study, Hwang and Wu ( 2019 ) in Taiwan found that trust-building between civil servants and advocates reduced resistance and hostility. Activists in this intervention used four strategies: (1) Giving praise and encouragement instead of criticism and blame; (2) Engaging civil servants on a personal level to create bonding; (3) Appeasing fears about being blamed by offering assistance; (4) Attempting to invoke their identification with the values of gender mainstreaming through informal educational efforts, all of which are mesolevel strategies.

Promoting Social Change to Reduce Gender Inequality

There was a wide array of types of change in different aspects of gender equality, with interventions varying in their success across settings and contexts. Table 2 summarises the types of change (e.g. legal, financial, behaviour, social) and the context (i.e., micro, meso, macro) that were identified and whether interventions aims were fully or partially achieved, or were not achieved, or had a harmful effect. Physical change, such as increased physical presence of women through inclusion or solidarity (meso) was the most consistently achieved beneficial outcome. Interventions targeting macrolevel social change, however, predominantly failed to achieve their aims or had harmful effects, reflecting how hard it is to realise social change, especially from a single, usually localised, intervention. Quotas could perhaps achieve their aim, although this finding was derived mostly from one good quality study (Johnson, 2019 ). The largest group of interventions were those implemented in education-based contexts, but these generally only partially achieved their aims, and focused mostly on physical changes (e.g., inclusion, solidarity). Most gender mainstreaming interventions did not achieved their aims.

Altogether, the findings confirm that social transformation is not automatic, easy, nor necessarily sustainable (Murphy-Graham, 2009 ). Furthermore, economic transformation is constrained if it is not supported by concurrent social transformation (Haase, 2012 ). One researcher, reporting a good quality meso-macro multi-method educational study in rural Bangladesh, claimed to have achieved social transformation (Sperandio, 2011 ). The appointment of women into roles that are traditionally occupied by men (in this case, teaching) led to widespread acceptance and normalisation of women in other non-traditional roles in a conservative village. Because the researcher did not interview or survey members of the community in which the intervention was evaluated, it is not clear whether broader social change was achieved.

It was found in several studies that dialogue was key to creating change in gender norms (Hwang & Wu, 2019 ; MacPhail et al., 2019 ; McGregor & Davies, 2019 ; Murphy-Graham, 2009 ; Sánchez-Hernández et al., 2018 ). However, Matich et al.’s ( 2019 ) qualitative study of the #freethenipple campaign and Boling’s ( 2020 ) study of the #ShePersisted campaign found that small steps bring about only small changes. For instance, in the #freethenipple campaign, women took control of how they were represented (microlevel) in order to challenge patriarchal gender norms (macrolevel). The authors noted that, despite good intentions, a hashtag cannot erase stereotyping. Pierotti et al. ( 2018 ) also found that small changes (micro) in quotidian tasks (e.g., participation in household chores) did not lead to substantive social change (macrolevel change). That is, while changes in tasks occurred with relative ease, social transformation through the cumulative effect of small steps towards egalitarianism did not occur.

In comparison, the qualitative study by McCarthy and Moon ( 2018 ) examined a women’s program in Ghana and found that changing everyday practices did matter, but becoming cognisant of the need for revolution led people to become overwhelmed and immune to change efforts. The researchers found that a key challenge in achieving social transformation was the need to bring about changes in daily interactions. For instance, one participant stated that if a person is not empowered at home, no matter how much money you give them, they are going to need more (McCarthy & Moon, 2018 ).

All genders need to participate to achieve a re-socialisation (Brinkman et al., 2011 ). Sengupta et al. ( 2007 ) concluded that their radio program would have alienated men if it had targeted only women. By including all genders, potential resistance to change can be neutralised (Devasia, 1998 ). In summary, social transformation is possible, but transformation is not likely to be universal or successful across all contexts (Sánchez-Hernández et al., 2018 ), particularly from any single monistic intervention. Holistic responses that take account of system thinking may create the change needed.

Overall, despite concerted effort, it seems that in the past thirty years we have not uncovered the keys to social change in order to enhance gender equality and non-discrimination against girls and women. Perhaps the reviewed interventions did not achieve macrolevel change because they did not simultaneously and explicitly address meso and micro change. Whilst CEDAW seeks the ‘elimination of all forms of discrimination’, achievement of that aim is far from complete, although it is not surprising that no single intervention could catalyse social change that achieves CEDAW’s objective. This review demonstrates that it will take time and a variety of endeavours to achieve gender equality.

To summarise the substantive lessons from this systematic review, we offer the following distillation as a summary of the findings to date. This distillation includes definitive statements that should be viewed only in the context of this review and may not generalise across all efforts towards gender equality in all societies.

What is Ineffective in Promoting Gender Equality

Small changes do not lead to big changes. Small concessions are granted to maintain peace, while big changes are often denied to maintain power.

Men and boys can feel the micro effects of fear, hostility, resentment, and jealousy when meso-macro gendered social norms are challenged.

Increased confidence, agency, empowerment, or individual leadership (micro) is not sufficient to promote the structural changes required to increase gender equality (macro).

A lack of change in mindsets (micro) and poor enforcement can mean that laws (macro) are not realised or have little effect at the community level (meso).

The overall focus on women ignores the real problem, and the need to engage with all members of society.

Education and awareness-raising may establish the right to education but do not necessarily create gender equality.

Raising awareness alone does not translate into behaviour change (meso to micro).

Transnational advocacy networks are not effective.

Protests in western democracies can have a polarising and backlash effect.

Gender mainstreaming efforts generally fail to achieve positive outcomes.

Economic transformation does not automatically lead to social transformation.

What is Effective in Promoting Gender Equality

Eliciting positive affect in interventions garners positive outcomes.

Empathy is a viable feminist strategy, although evidence is limited.

All genders need to participate in re-socialisation of gender norms.

Dialogue is a key to success.

A large number of women must behave differently for new behaviours to be accepted (micro to meso).

Experiential learning is a powerful way to embed knowledge about gender equity in a nonthreatening, lasting way.

Investment in access to justice must include informal channels of the justice system.

Social transformation can be achieved in households through daily interactions (meso to macro).

Enabling environments (macro) are more effective than individual empowerment (micro), but should include top-down and bottom-up approaches.

Quotas are effective.

Laws must be proactive as well as reactive or complaint based.

The contextual levels of analysis developed by Pettigrew ( 2021 ) has also been adapted from these lists into Fig. 3 . These distillations challenge our thinking about how to achieve gender equality and therefore require greater discussion amongst feminist activists, advocates, and the general population for ecological validation. The key findings of this review have implications for policy and practice because they call into question the type of change sought by feminist movements, the type of intervention used to achieve that change, and whether that intervention is likely to be effective in practice. Overall, this review gives pause for thought. We hope it will inform future decisions about how to achieve gender equality.

Contextual levels of analysis for this review, adapted from Pettigrew ( 2021 )

Strengths and Limitations

Our broad inclusion criteria identified relevant interventions across a range of political, economic, social and cultural contexts, published over a thirty year period. Consistent with the recommendations by Garritty et al. ( 2021 ) we used rapid review methods; this may have led to the omission of some eligible studies. However, the use of a machine learning approach by reviewer two to rapidly screen a sample of the records predicted to be most relevant helped to limit the omission of relevant studies. Moreover, our restriction of literature to 1990 onwards may have omitted some studies conducted since the adoption of CEDAW in 1979. Given that only one study was published from 1990–2000, however, it is unlikely that this restricted timeframe had a significant impact on the review. Excluding papers not published in English is a limitation, and may have led to the omission of studies in some settings. We urge those who have non-peer-reviewed evaluations to submit them to peer-reviewed journals for future inclusion in reviews like the present one. The results of the large number of studies included in the review are difficult to generalise given the heterogenous study methods, intervention designs, populations, and settings. Because of a lack of reflexivity in most qualitative and multi-method studies, it is impossible to discern (for example) whether research undertaken in the Global South was conducted by Global North researchers. Moreover, there was no evidence of the ethical conduct of 16 studies and two studies did not have ethics approval. Together, these limitations may indicate potential problems with informed consent and implicit racial or other biases, although none were explicitly identifiable. There was insufficient evidence to assess whether and how culture played a part in attempts to achieve gender equality. Furthermore, while 86 percent of interventions predominantly or partially achieved their aims, this may inflate the effectiveness of such interventions because of reporting biases that favour publication of positive results (Sengupta et al., 2007 ; Sperandio, 2011 ).

This review has taken stock of successes and failures in seeking to promote gender equality. The findings reveal that undue reliance has been placed on the presumed efficacy of awareness raising, and that the race to achieve gender parity has not yet catalysed the desired social transformation. Entrepreneur programs can be exploitative, and legal actions have had limited effects, potentially failing because of men’s feelings about change. This review has shown that men can be fearful, resentful, jealous, and angry towards acts that disrupt the status quo . Until we adequately address these emotions and biases, the change that women (and potentially all genders) want, and the equality we all need will not be realised. Social context and systems thinking have shown us the importance of holism when tackling systemic discrimination. In this context, to be fully human is to be emotionally fulfilled. Ergo , human rights will be realised when there is dignity, humanity and positive emotionality among genders. Only then is the promise of CEDAW likely to be fulfilled.

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

Affiliations.

• 1 Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Energia, dei Sistemi, del Territorio e delle Costruzioni, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Largo L. Lazzarino, Pisa, Italy.
• 2 Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
• 3 Department of Management, Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland.
• 4 Faculty of Economics and Management, Centre for Family Business Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy.
• PMID: 34547029
• PMCID: PMC8454943
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256474
• Correction: Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator. PLOS ONE Staff. PLOS ONE Staff. PLoS One. 2021 Nov 9;16(11):e0259930. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259930. eCollection 2021. PLoS One. 2021. PMID: 34752495 Free PMC article.

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.

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The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Fig 1. Topic importance (SBS).

Fig 2. SBS time series of the…

Fig 2. SBS time series of the top 10 topics.

Fig 3. SBS time series of the…

Fig 3. SBS time series of the other topics.

Fig 4. Topic similarity.

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• 06 September 2023

Gender equality: the route to a better world

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The Mosuo people of China include sub-communities in which inheritance passes down either the male or the female line. Credit: TPG/Getty

The fight for global gender equality is nowhere close to being won. Take education: in 87 countries, less than half of women and girls complete secondary schooling, according to 2023 data. Afghanistan’s Taliban continues to ban women and girls from secondary schools and universities . Or take reproductive health: abortion rights have been curtailed in 22 US states since the Supreme Court struck down federal protections, depriving women and girls of autonomy and restricting access to sexual and reproductive health care .

SDG 5, whose stated aim is to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, is the fifth of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, all of which Nature is examining in a series of editorials. SDG 5 includes targets for ending discrimination and violence against women and girls in both public and private spheres, eradicating child marriage and female genital mutilation, ensuring sexual and reproductive rights, achieving equal representation of women in leadership positions and granting equal rights to economic resources. Globally, the goal is not on track to being achieved, and just a handful of countries have hit all the targets.

How the world should oppose the Taliban’s war on women and girls

In July, the UN introduced two new indices (see go.nature.com/3eus9ue ), the Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) and the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI). The WEI measures women’s ability and freedoms to make their own choices; the GGPI describes the gap between women and men in areas such as health, education, inclusion and decision making. The indices reveal, depressingly, that even achieving a small gender gap does not automatically translate to high levels of women’s empowerment: 114 countries feature in both indices, but countries that do well on both scores cover fewer than 1% of all girls and women.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse, with women bearing the highest burden of extra unpaid childcare when schools needed to close, and subjected to intensified domestic violence. Although child marriages declined from 21% of all marriages in 2016 to 19% in 2022, the pandemic threatened even this incremental progress, pushing up to 10 million more girls into risk of child marriage over the next decade, in addition to the 100 million girls who were at risk before the pandemic.

Of the 14 indicators for SDG 5, only one or two are close to being met by the 2030 deadline. As of 1 January 2023, women occupied 35.4% of seats in local-government assemblies, an increase from 33.9% in 2020 (the target is gender parity by 2030). In 115 countries for which data were available, around three-quarters, on average, of the necessary laws guaranteeing full and equal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights had been enacted. But the UN estimates that worldwide, only 57% of women who are married or in a union make their own decisions regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Systemic discrimination against girls and women by men, in many contexts, remains a colossal barrier to achieving gender equality. But patriarchy is not some “natural order of things” , argues Ruth Mace, an anthropologist at University College London. Hundreds of women-centred societies exist around the world. As the science writer Angela Saini describes in her latest book, The Patriarchs , these are often not the polar opposite of male-dominated systems, but societies in which men and women share decision making .

After Roe v. Wade: dwindling US abortion access is harming health a year later

One example comes from the Mosuo people in China, who have both ‘matrilineal’ and ‘patrilineal’ communities, with rights such as inheritance passing down either the male or female line. Researchers compared outcomes for inflammation and hypertension in men and women in these communities, and found that women in matrilineal societies, in which they have greater autonomy and control over resources, experienced better health outcomes. The researchers found no significant negative effect of matriliny on health outcomes for men ( A.  Z. Reynolds et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117 , 30324–30327; 2020 ).

When it comes to the SDGs, evidence is emerging that a more gender-equal approach to politics and power benefits many goals. In a study published in May, Nobue Amanuma, deputy director of the Integrated Sustainability Centre at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Hayama, Japan, and two of her colleagues tested whether countries with more women legislators, and more younger legislators, are performing better in the SDGs ( N. Amanuma et al. Environ. Res. Lett. 18 , 054018; 2023 ). They found it was so, with the effect more marked for socio-economic goals such as ending poverty and hunger, than for environmental ones such as climate action or preserving life on land. The researchers recommend further qualitative and quantitative studies to better understand the reasons.

The reality that gender equality leads to better outcomes across other SDGs is not factored, however, into most of the goals themselves. Of the 230 unique indicators of the SDGs, 51 explicitly reference women, girls, gender or sex, including the 14 indicators in SDG 5. But there is not enough collaboration between organizations responsible for the different SDGs to ensure that sex and gender are taken into account. The indicator for the sanitation target (SDG 6) does not include data disaggregated by sex or gender ( Nature 620 , 7; 2023 ). Unless we have this knowledge, it will be hard to track improvements in this and other SDGs.

The road to a gender-equal world is long, and women’s power and freedom to make choices is still very constrained. But the evidence from science is getting stronger: distributing power between genders creates the kind of world we all need and want to be living in.

Nature 621 , 8 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02745-9

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What does gender equality look like today?

Date: Wednesday, 6 October 2021

Progress towards gender equality is looking bleak. But it doesn’t need to.

A new global analysis of progress on gender equality and women’s rights shows women and girls remain disproportionately affected by the socioeconomic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, struggling with disproportionately high job and livelihood losses, education disruptions and increased burdens of unpaid care work. Women’s health services, poorly funded even before the pandemic, faced major disruptions, undermining women’s sexual and reproductive health. And despite women’s central role in responding to COVID-19, including as front-line health workers, they are still largely bypassed for leadership positions they deserve.

UN Women’s latest report, together with UN DESA, Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2021 presents the latest data on gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The report highlights the progress made since 2015 but also the continued alarm over the COVID-19 pandemic, its immediate effect on women’s well-being and the threat it poses to future generations.

We’re breaking down some of the findings from the report, and calling for the action needed to accelerate progress.

The pandemic is making matters worse

One and a half years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, the toll on the poorest and most vulnerable people remains devastating and disproportionate. The combined impact of conflict, extreme weather events and COVID-19 has deprived women and girls of even basic needs such as food security. Without urgent action to stem rising poverty, hunger and inequality, especially in countries affected by conflict and other acute forms of crisis, millions will continue to suffer.

A global goal by global goal reality check:

Goal 1. Poverty

In 2021, extreme poverty is on the rise and progress towards its elimination has reversed. An estimated 435 million women and girls globally are living in extreme poverty.

And yet we can change this .

Over 150 million women and girls could emerge from poverty by 2030 if governments implement a comprehensive strategy to improve access to education and family planning, achieve equal wages and extend social transfers.

Goal 2. Zero hunger

The global gender gap in food security has risen dramatically during the pandemic, with more women and girls going hungry. Women’s food insecurity levels were 10 per cent higher than men’s in 2020, compared with 6 per cent higher in 2019.

This trend can be reversed , including by supporting women small-scale producers, who typically earn far less than men, through increased funding, training and land rights reforms.

Goal 3. Good health and well-being

Disruptions in essential health services due to COVID-19 are taking a tragic toll on women and girls. In the first year of the pandemic, there were an estimated 1.4 million additional unintended pregnancies in lower and middle-income countries.

We need to do better .

Response to the pandemic must include prioritizing sexual and reproductive health services, ensuring they continue to operate safely now and after the pandemic is long over. In addition, more support is needed to ensure life-saving personal protection equipment, tests, oxygen and especially vaccines are available in rich and poor countries alike as well as to vulnerable population within countries.

Goal 4. Quality education

A year and a half into the pandemic, schools remain partially or fully closed in 42 per cent of the world’s countries and territories. School closures spell lost opportunities for girls and an increased risk of violence, exploitation and early marriage .

Governments can do more to protect girls education .

Measures focused specifically on supporting girls returning to school are urgently needed, including measures focused on girls from marginalized communities who are most at risk.

Goal 5. Gender equality

The pandemic has tested and even reversed progress in expanding women’s rights and opportunities. Reports of violence against women and girls, a “shadow” pandemic to COVID-19, are increasing in many parts of the world. COVID-19 is also intensifying women’s workload at home, forcing many to leave the labour force altogether.

Building forward differently and better will hinge on placing women and girls at the centre of all aspects of response and recovery, including through gender-responsive laws, policies and budgeting.

Goal 6. Clean water and sanitation

In 2018, nearly 2.3 billion people lived in water-stressed countries. Without safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and menstrual hygiene facilities, women and girls find it harder to lead safe, productive and healthy lives.

Change is possible .

Involve those most impacted in water management processes, including women. Women’s voices are often missing in water management processes. 

Goal 7. Affordable and clean energy

Increased demand for clean energy and low-carbon solutions is driving an unprecedented transformation of the energy sector. But women are being left out. Women hold only 32 per cent of renewable energy jobs.

We can do better .

Expose girls early on to STEM education, provide training and support to women entering the energy field, close the pay gap and increase women’s leadership in the energy sector.

Goal 8. Decent work and economic growth

The number of employed women declined by 54 million in 2020 and 45 million women left the labour market altogether. Women have suffered steeper job losses than men, along with increased unpaid care burdens at home.

We must do more to support women in the workforce .

Guarantee decent work for all, introduce labour laws/reforms, removing legal barriers for married women entering the workforce, support access to affordable/quality childcare.

Goal 9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure

The COVID-19 crisis has spurred striking achievements in medical research and innovation. Women’s contribution has been profound. But still only a little over a third of graduates in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics field are female.

We can take action today.

 Quotas mandating that a proportion of research grants are awarded to women-led teams or teams that include women is one concrete way to support women researchers. 

Goal 10. Reduced inequalities

Limited progress for women is being eroded by the pandemic. Women facing multiple forms of discrimination, including women and girls with disabilities, migrant women, women discriminated against because of their race/ethnicity are especially affected.

Commit to end racism and discrimination in all its forms, invest in inclusive, universal, gender responsive social protection systems that support all women. 

Goal 11. Sustainable cities and communities

Globally, more than 1 billion people live in informal settlements and slums. Women and girls, often overrepresented in these densely populated areas, suffer from lack of access to basic water and sanitation, health care and transportation.

The needs of urban poor women must be prioritized .

Increase the provision of durable and adequate housing and equitable access to land; included women in urban planning and development processes.

Goal 12. Sustainable consumption and production; Goal 13. Climate action; Goal 14. Life below water; and Goal 15. Life on land

Women activists, scientists and researchers are working hard to solve the climate crisis but often without the same platforms as men to share their knowledge and skills. Only 29 per cent of featured speakers at international ocean science conferences are women.

 And yet we can change this .

Ensure women activists, scientists and researchers have equal voice, representation and access to forums where these issues are being discussed and debated. 

Goal 16. Peace, justice and strong institutions

The lack of women in decision-making limits the reach and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergency recovery efforts. In conflict-affected countries, 18.9 per cent of parliamentary seats are held by women, much lower than the global average of 25.6 per cent.

This is unacceptable .

It's time for women to have an equal share of power and decision-making at all levels.

Goal 17. Global partnerships for the goals

There are just 9 years left to achieve the Global Goals by 2030, and gender equality cuts across all 17 of them. With COVID-19 slowing progress on women's rights, the time to act is now.

Looking ahead

As it stands today, only one indicator under the global goal for gender equality (SDG5) is ‘close to target’: proportion of seats held by women in local government. In other areas critical to women’s empowerment, equality in time spent on unpaid care and domestic work and decision making regarding sexual and reproductive health the world is far from target. Without a bold commitment to accelerate progress, the global community will fail to achieve gender equality. Building forward differently and better will require placing women and girls at the centre of all aspects of response and recovery, including through gender-responsive laws, policies and budgeting.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

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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Gender Equality & Discrimination

A majority of latinas feel pressure to support their families or to succeed at work.

Half of Latinas say the situation of Hispanic women in the U.S. is better now than it was 10 years ago, and a similar share say the situation will improve in the next 10 years. Their mixed assessments reflect gains in education and at work over the last two decades, but also stalled progress in closing wage gaps with other groups.

Half of Latinas Say Hispanic Women’s Situation Has Improved in the Past Decade and Expect More Gains

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Cultural Issues and the 2024 Election

Voters who support Biden and Trump have starkly different opinions on many issues, and these two groups are divided internally as well.

Government data shows gains in education, employment and earnings for Hispanic women, but gaps with other groups remain.

Many juggle cultural expectations and gender roles from both Latin America and the U.S., like doing housework and succeeding at work.

Women made up 47% of the U.S. civilian labor force in 2023, up from 30% in 1950 – but growth has stagnated.

For the most part, Americans don’t think a woman president would do better or worse than a man when it comes to key leadership traits or the handling of various policy areas. At the same time, the public sees differences in the way men and women running for higher office are treated by the media.

Six-in-ten U.S. adults say being a man helps a lot or a little when it comes to a person’s ability to get ahead in the U.S., compared with 14% who say it hurts

More Americans Disapprove Than Approve of Colleges Considering Race, Ethnicity in Admissions Decisions

Half of U.S. adults say they disapprove of selective colleges and universities taking prospective students’ racial and ethnic backgrounds into account when making admissions decisions. 33% approve of colleges considering race and ethnicity to increase diversity at the schools, while 16% are not sure.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace

Workplace diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, or DEI, are increasingly becoming part of national political debates. For a majority of employed U.S. adults (56%), focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing. But relatively small shares of workers place a lot of importance on diversity at their workplace.

Fewer than a third of UN member states have ever had a woman leader

Just 13 UN member countries are currently led by women; in 9 of those 13, the current leader is the country’s first woman head of government.

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The difference between the earnings of men and women has barely closed in the United States in the past two decades. This gap persists even as women today are more likely than men to have graduated from college, suggesting other factors are at play such as parenthood and other family needs.

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Frequently asked questions about gender equality

Resource date: 2005

Author: UNFPA

What is meant by gender?

The term gender refers to the economic, social and cultural attributes and opportunities associated with being male or female. In most societies, being a man or a woman is not simply a matter of different biological and physical characteristics. Men and women face different expectations about how they should dress, behave or work. Relations between men and women, whether in the family, the workplace or the public sphere, also reflect understandings of the talents, characteristics and behaviour appropriate to women and to men. Gender thus differs from sex in that it is social and cultural in nature rather than biological. Gender attributes and characteristics, encompassing, inter alia, the roles that men and women play and the expectations placed upon them, vary widely among societies and change over time. But the fact that gender attributes are socially constructed means that they are also amenable to change in ways that can make a society more just and equitable.

What is the difference between gender equity, gender equality and women’s empowerment?

Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for women’s historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Equity leads to equality. Gender equality requires equal enjoyment by women and men of socially-valued goods, opportunities, resources and rewards. Where gender inequality exists, it is generally women who are excluded or disadvantaged in relation to decision-making and access to economic and social resources. Therefore a critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives. Gender equality does not mean that men and women become the same; only that access to opportunities and life changes is neither dependent on, nor constrained by, their sex. Achieving gender equality requires women’s empowerment to ensure that decision-making at private and public levels, and access to resources are no longer weighted in men’s favour, so that both women and men can fully participate as equal partners in productive and reproductive life.

Why is it important to take gender concerns into account in programme design and implementation?

Taking gender concerns into account when designing and implementing population and development programmes therefore is important for two reasons. First, there are differences between the roles of men and women, differences that demand different approaches. Second, there is systemic inequality between men and women. Universally, there are clear patterns of women’s inferior access to resources and opportunities. Moreover, women are systematically under-represented in decision-making processes that shape their societies and their own lives. This pattern of inequality is a constraint to the progress of any society because it limits the opportunities of one-half of its population. When women are constrained from reaching their full potential, that potential is lost to society as a whole. Programme design and implementation should endeavour to address either or both of these factors.

What is gender mainstreaming?

Gender mainstreaming is a strategy for integrating gender concerns in the analysis, formulation and monitoring of policies, programmes and projects. It is therefore a means to an end, not an end in itself; a process, not a goal. The purpose of gender mainstreaming is to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women in population and development activities. This requires addressing both the condition, as well as the position, of women and men in society. Gender mainstreaming therefore aims to strengthen the legitimacy of gender equality values by addressing known gender disparities and gaps in such areas as the division of labour between men and women; access to and control over resources; access to services, information and opportunities; and distribution of power and decision-making. UNFPA has adopted the mainstreaming of gender concerns into all population and development activities as the primary means of achieving the commitments on gender equality, equity and empowerment of women stemming from the International Conference on Population and Development.

Gender mainstreaming, as a strategy, does not preclude interventions that focus only on women or only on men. In some instances, the gender analysis that precedes programme design and development reveals severe inequalities that call for an initial strategy of sex-specific interventions. However, such sex-specific interventions should still aim to reduce identified gender disparities by focusing on equality or inequity as the objective rather than on men or women as a target group. In such a context, sex-specific interventions are still important aspects of a gender mainstreaming strategy. When implemented correctly, they should not contribute to a marginalization of men in such a critical area as access to reproductive and sexual health services. Nor should they contribute to the evaporation of gains or advances already secured by women. Rather, they should consolidate such gains that are central building blocks towards gender equality.

Why is gender equality important?

Gender equality is intrinsically linked to sustainable development and is vital to the realization of human rights for all. The overall objective of gender equality is a society in which women and men enjoy the same opportunities, rights and obligations in all spheres of life. Equality between men and women exists when both sexes are able to share equally in the distribution of power and influence; have equal opportunities for financial independence through work or through setting up businesses; enjoy equal access to education and the opportunity to develop personal ambitions, interests and talents; share responsibility for the home and children and are completely free from coercion, intimidation and gender-based violence both at work and at home.

Within the context of population and development programmes, gender equality is critical because it will enable women and men to make decisions that impact more positively on their own sexual and reproductive health as well as that of their spouses and families. Decision-making with regard to such issues as age at marriage, timing of births, use of contraception, and recourse to harmful practices (such as female genital cutting) stands to be improved with the achievement of gender equality.

However it is important to acknowledge that where gender inequality exists, it is generally women who are excluded or disadvantaged in relation to decision-making and access to economic and social resources. Therefore a critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives. This would enable them to make decisions and take actions to achieve and maintain their own reproductive and sexual health. Gender equality and women’s empowerment do not mean that men and women become the same; only that access to opportunities and life changes is neither dependent on, nor constrained by, their sex.

Is gender equality a concern for men?

The achievement of gender equality implies changes for both men and women. More equitable relationships will need to be based on a redefinition of the rights and responsibilities of women and men in all spheres of life, including the family, the workplace and the society at large. It is therefore crucial not to overlook gender as an aspect of men’s social identity. This fact is, indeed, often overlooked, because the tendency is to consider male characteristics and attributes as the norm, and those of women as a variation of the norm.

But the lives of men are just as strongly influenced by gender as those of women. Societal norms and conceptions of masculinity and expectations of men as leaders, husbands or sons create demands on men and shape their behaviour. Men are too often expected to concentrate on the material needs of their families, rather than on the nurturing and caring roles assigned to women. Socialization in the family and later in schools promotes risk-taking behaviour among young men, and this is often reinforced through peer pressure and media stereotypes. So the lifestyles that men’s roles demand often result in their being more exposed to greater risks of morbidity and mortality than women. These risks include ones relating to accidents, violence and alcohol consumption.

Men also have the right to assume a more nurturing role, and opportunities for them to do so should be promoted. Equally, however, men have responsibilities in regard to child health and to their own and their partners’ sexual and reproductive health. Addressing these rights and responsibilities entails recognizing men’s specific health problems, as well as their needs and the conditions that shape them. The adoption of a gender perspective is an important first step; it reveals that there are disadvantages and costs to men accruing from patterns of gender difference. It also underscores that gender equality is concerned not only with the roles, responsibilities and needs of women and men, but also with the interrelationships between them.

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08-25-2024 WORK LIFE

Development aid helps to fight gender inequality. Here are 5 research-backed steps to take

The benefits of empowering women extend far beyond the immediate recipients of gender-related aid, fostering economic growth, political stability, and social cohesion.

[Source Photo: Pixabay ]

BY  The Conversation 4 minute read

Gender inequality isn’t just unfair—it’s also a drag on the world economy . Giving women the same economic opportunities as men would add about US$12 trillion to global gross domestic product by 2025, one analysis found. That’s an 11% boost.

The link between women’s empowerment and economic growth is well established. When women are economically empowered, they invest more in their families, creating a cycle of positive outcomes that spans generations . Women’s participation in the workforce leads to greater productivity and brings diverse perspectives that enhance decision-making and drive innovation .

Recognizing these benefits, governments and nongovernmental organizations have increasingly directed aid —funds provided to developing countries to foster economic growth—toward promoting women’s empowerment.

As an economist who studies development , I wanted to know: Does all that money really make a difference? So, in a recent study , my colleagues and I analyzed the impact of gender-related aid on gender inequality using data from 118 countries over a 13-year period, from 2009 to 2022.

What we found was uplifting: Gender-related aid reduced inequality in most countries we studied.

We looked at two types of gender-related aid. The first is funding for projects that tie gender into larger economic goals. Development experts call this “ significant gender-related aid .” There’s also aid funding that narrowly and explicitly targets gender equality. Experts call this “principal gender-related aid.”

We found that the first approach consistently and significantly reduced gender inequality in 115 out of 118 counties we studied. The latter approach had statistically significant effects in 85 countries. It also appeared to be much more effective when paired with the first approach.

Our findings strongly suggest that integrating gender-related aid into broader development efforts is crucial for promoting gender equality. Gender and development are intricately intertwined, a fact often overlooked. Recognizing this connection is crucial for achieving sustainable and inclusive growth.

Women’s empowerment success stories

That might all sound pretty abstract, but our research shows that the world has made progress in real people’s lives over the past decades. Cases from several countries show just how much progress is possible:

Rwanda: Following the 1994 genocide, Rwanda made a concerted effort to rebuild its society with gender equality at its core. Today, women hold 61% of parliamentary seats , the highest percentage in the world . This remarkable achievement is in part a direct result of gender-focused policies and significant investments in women’s political empowerment. Rwanda’s progress illustrates how political will and dedicated gender-related aid can transform a society .

Bangladesh: Despite traditional gender roles, Bangladesh has made significant strides in gender equality , particularly in education and economic participation . Through targeted programs like the Female Secondary School Stipend Program and microfinance initiatives by organizations like the Grameen Bank, Bangladesh has seen substantial improvements in girls’ education and women’s economic empowerment. These initiatives have contributed to a decline in gender disparities and have spurred economic growth.

Ethiopia: In recent decades, Ethiopia has invested heavily in education , particularly for girls. Programs aimed at increasing school enrollment and reducing dropout rates among girls have led to improved literacy rates and better health outcomes. These educational advancements have empowered women economically and socially, reducing gender inequality .

Despite progress made, these achievements aren’t set in stone. Instability can rapidly undo years of progress. Recent policy backsliding in Afghanistan , Brazil and the United States shows the need for vigilance.

Empowering women empowers men, too

Discussions about the importance of reducing gender inequality often revolve around the direct benefits to women and girls. But everyone, including men, stands to win in a more gender-equal society.

First, women’s economic empowerment leads to stronger economies , which benefits everyone. Research shows that gender equality promotes healthier relationships, reduces violence and fosters more cohesive and supportive communities . Similarly, workplaces prioritizing gender equality tend to have better team dynamics, higher employee satisfaction and increased productivity . These are gains for everyone, regardless of gender.

And gender equality has distinct benefits for men. This is because it alleviates the pressures associated with traditional masculinity , which can lead to better mental health. For example, in more gender-equal societies, men report being happier with life and less stressed and depressed .

This shows that the benefits of gender equality aren’t limited to women and girls; they extend to all members of society. Everyone has a stake in helping progress move along.

Research-backed best practices

Governments and aid professionals should follow five steps for success to safeguard the advances made in gender equality and continue progressing:

1. Keep the aid flowing: Continued financial and technical support for gender equality initiatives is vital. Our research suggests policymakers should focus on integrating gender considerations into all development projects.

2. Engage everyone: Involving men and boys in gender equality efforts helps to challenge and change harmful gender norms, fostering a more inclusive society.

3. Tailor strategies: Although aid has an effect across the board, gender equality initiatives must consider each country’s unique sociopolitical and cultural contexts. Tailoring strategies to fit these contexts ensures that interventions are relevant and practical .

4. Strengthen institutions: Effective institutions and governance are crucial for successfully implementing and sustaining gender equality initiatives. Efforts to improve governance and reduce corruption will enhance the impact of aid

5. Promote education: Schools are a powerful tool for promoting gender equality. Investing in educational programs that empower women and girls and raise awareness about gender issues is essential for long-term change .

Gender equality is a cornerstone of a just and prosperous society. The benefits of empowering women extend far beyond the immediate recipients of gender-related aid, fostering economic growth, political stability and social cohesion. Our research shows that efforts to empower women really do pay off—literally and otherwise.

Bedassa Tadesse is a professor of economics at the University of Minnesota Duluth .

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

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10 QUESTIONS ON GENDER EQUALITY IN EDUCATION

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An estimated 132 million girls are out of school around the world.

Source: UNESCO (2019)

Why are so many girls out of school globally? The barriers to girls’ education are complex, and differ from community to community. Some of the gender-specific barriers to education faced by girls include harmful social and gender norms, child marriage, conflict and instability, child labour, and the cost of education.

15 Examples of Gender Inequality in Everyday Life

Gender inequality is everywhere. According to the World Economic Forum, it could take another 131 years to achieve global gender parity. Inequality affects the treatment, rights and opportunities of women, girls and transgender and gender-diverse people the most, but everyone deals with negative effects. Crises like war, climate change and pandemics can make things worse. How does gender inequality manifest in everyday life? Here are 15 examples:

#1. Women make less money than men

The pay gap is one of the most consequential examples of everyday gender inequality. According to the UN, women make only 77 cents for every dollar men earn, even when they do comparable work. The gap widens for women who have children. Country specifics also reveal racial inequalities . In the United States, Hispanic women earned 57.5 cents for every dollar in 2022, while Black women made 69.1 cents. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimates that if progress doesn’t speed up, it could take 30 years for the US to reach pay equity.

#2. Girls are more likely to be out of school

Education access has improved over the years, but large gaps are still an issue. According to the World Bank, 88% of girls are enrolled in primary school on a global level, but 78% are enrolled in low-income countries. The gap widens in secondary school; only 31% of girls are enrolled in low-income countries compared to the 66% global average . Conflict plays a big role. Girls are 2.5 times more likely than boys to leave school during crises, which impacts their economic opportunities, safety, health and more.

#3. Women and girls are more likely to be murdered by people they know

While men are overall more likely to be murdered, women and girls are more likely to be killed by people they know. Family members or intimate partners commit around 55% of female homicides. That means every hour, more than five women or girls are murdered by someone in their family. Because it’s much harder to avoid violent family members or partners, everyday life for women and girls can be dangerous.

#4. Women and girls experience more sexual violence

For many women and girls, the threat of sexual violence is persistent. According to UN Women, 26% of women 15 years and older have endured intimate partner violence , which means their abuser is a romantic and/or sexual partner. Around 15 million girls 15-19 years old have experienced forced sex at some point. Men experience sexual violence, too; according to stats from the United States, around 24.8% of men have experienced unwanted sexual contact. The numbers show it’s much more common for women and girls. The true prevelance is unknown as sexual violence is significantly underreported.

#5. Women do more unpaid work

Life is more than paid work and play; people must cook, clean, do laundry, care for children and more. Women do most of this unpaid labor. According to Oxfam, the world’s women and girls complete more than ¾ of all unpaid work . That accounts for 12.5 billion hours of unpaid work every day. It’s worse for rural women from low-income countries. They can spend up to 14 hours a day doing unpaid care work. This limits their educational and economic opportunities.

Gender inequality can manifest in subtle ways. When I was in high school, the girls noticed that one of the male teachers only seemed to call on boys. We started an informal experiment where we raised our hands for every question. More times than not, he would always call on a boy if they had their hands up, too. While we could never prove he was sexist, we felt invisible and undervalued.

#6. Women cook more

Let’s look closer at one example of unpaid work: cooking. It’s an everyday task that takes significant planning, energy and time. According to one survey, women cook more meals than men in almost every country. In 2022, that totaled a little less than nine meals a week. Men cooked four meals a week. In places like Ethiopia, Egypt, Yemen and Nepal, women cooked eight more meals than men. Italy was the only place where men cooked more than women. The reasons vary, but cooking is typically considered a domestic and “feminine” job. Because of this stereotype, women end up saddled with extra unpaid work.

#7. Discrimination affects gender-diverse and transgender people more than their cisgender counterparts

Gender-diverse and transgender people don’t identify with the sex they were assigned at birth and/or traditional gender binaries. Gender inequality affects them, too. According to research, trans people are more than four times more likely than cis people to experience violence, including rape and sexual assault. Households with a trans person also have higher rates of property victimization. Discrimination extends into every area of life, including employment, housing and healthcare . According to the Human Rights Campaign, discrimination disproportionately affects young trans women of color.

#8. Women are sexually harassed at work more often

Work should be a safe place for everyone, but women deal with more sexual harassment. According to the International Labour Organization, young women are twice as likely as young men to experience sexual violence and harassment at work. Migrant women are especially vulnerable; they’re twice as likely as non-migrant women to report harassment. Not every industry is the same. According to the Center for American Progress, women who work in male-dominated fields, like warehousing and construction, are most likely to report harassment . Most people who experience harassment never report it, however, so harassment is happening a lot more often than we know.

#9. STEM jobs are gendered

The STEM field, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math, has been male-dominated for many years. Gender stereotyping is one of the main reasons why. Historically, most societies didn’t believe women were fit for these types of jobs. The consequences are still with us today. According to research from LinkedIn, women fill only 3 out of 10 STEM roles around the world. This represents an improvement, but at the pace of progress, it will take 90 years for women to make up half of the global STEM workforce.

#10. Caretaker jobs are gendered (and undervalued)

While women are underrepresented in STEM jobs, they perform most caretaker jobs. According to the International Labour Organization, women fill 88% of the personal care worker jobs , which include home healthcare assistants, while men fill 12%. Women also dominate the cleaning, food prep, teaching and clerical support fields. Their work tends to go unappreciated, however. According to the Economic Policy Institute, American home healthcare and childcare workers make just $13.81 and $13.51 an hour . That’s half of the average hourly wage for workers in general.

Gender equality jobs can help reduce inequality and empower women and girls.

#11. Women experience worse mental health

Everyone can experience mental health problems, but women and girls are at a higher risk. According to 2017 data, women are three times more likely than men to have common mental health issues. They’re also three times more likely to experience eating disorders and PTSD. The picture gets more complicated when it comes to suicide. While men are 2-4 times more likely to die by suicide, women are three times more likely to attempt suicide . Stigma could be one reason why. Because of gender stereotypes, men may be less likely to report mental health problems or seek help, which is another example of how inequality hurts everyone.

#12. Healthcare professionals take women less seriously

Everyone should be able to go into a doctor’s office and feel respected. Because of gender inequality, women face more challenges. Doctors often take women less seriously and quickly label health issues as “anxiety,” which results in worse healthcare. According to one study, women who went to the emergency room with severe stomach pain waited 33% longer than men with the same symptoms. Black women face even more discrimination. According to research, doctors are twice as likely to deny Black women pain medication during birth than white women.

#13. Taking paternity leave is stigmatized

Paternity leave used to be rare. The prevailing view was that women were responsible for childcare, while men needed to stay at work. Now, 63% of countries guarantee paid parental leave. Only seven countries – including the United States – do not. Even in countries where paternity leave is provided, families deal with stigma. A small 2020 study from the UK found that 73% of men believed there was a stigma to taking paternity leave, while 95% wanted workplaces to “normalize” taking paternity leave. Gendered stereotypes about parenting harm everyone and allow gender inequality to thrive.

#14. Products for women can cost more

People of all genders use products like razors, soap and lotion, but the ones designed for women often cost more. According to data from the World Economic Forum, personal care products marketed to American women can cost 13% more than the same products for men. This disparity is called “the pink tax.” While it’s not an official tax, cost differences affect accessories, clothing, dry cleaning, and other products and services. Women may pay thousands of dollars more over their lifetimes because of their gender.

#15. Men get in more car crashes (but women are more likely to be trapped)

For many people, driving a car is an everyday occurrence. Women could face some unique risks. According to a study of UK data, while men were more likely to be involved in serious crashes, women were twice as likely to be trapped after a car crash. Women also experienced more injuries to the hip and spine, while men were injured on their heads, face, chest and limbs. While the cause of this disparity isn’t obvious, it could be because crash test dummies are modeled after male bodies. Identifying the less clear reasons for gender inequality is essential to people’s health and safety.

Want to learn more about gender equality? Here’s our Gender Equality 101 article .

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

• Women’s Equality Day: 104 Years of Voting Rights and the Road Ahead

Women’s Equality Day, August 26, marks a hundred and four years since the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution removed sex as a barrier to voting—yet we have still not elected a woman President of the United States. Senator James David "JD" Vance’s now infamous critique of “childless cat ladies” offers one clue as to why. In 2021, Vance appeared on the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight and alleged that: "we are effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they've made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too." He named Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as examples.

Since this interview resurfaced, the Democratic response has focused on defending reproductive freedom and the maternal capacities of childless women. Harris' stepchildren and their biological mother came forward to champion the Presidential candidate's parenting skills. Jennifer Aniston and Harris herself underlined the importance of IVF, which Vance would ban. But Vance's criticism goes beyond reproductive choices to mobilize a longer tradition of ridiculing progressives—whatever their gender or parental status—as miserable old maids or evil old women who seek only to destroy the happiness of others.

Compare Vance’s comments to how the Pittsburgh Chronicle described the first national women’s rights convention organized by abolitionists and feminists in 1850: “about ninetenths of the progressive women are old maids... and they are determined to upset everything, not in the hope of bettering their own miserable situation, but with the intention of making others... as miserable as they are themselves.” That most of the women at the convention were, in fact, married did nothing to blunt this critique. Indeed, men could also be portrayed as old women beyond their childbearing years, as when the New York Herald referred to the convention as a gathering of “old grannies, male and female.” Portraying male abolitionists in the prime of life, such as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, as “grannies” functioned to associate them with the supposed unhappiness and unattractiveness of old women. One reporter went even further and compared the “malicious disposition” of the men and women at the convention to “the old witches of Massachusetts.” This potent mix of misogyny, ageism, and anti-Black racism functioned to associate those advocating for freedom and equality with the figures of the spiteful old maid or the evil old witch, both motivated by a desire to undermine the happiness of others.

Popular culture amplified the associations between women’s rights and spiteful old maids. A comic valentine from the 1850s pictured a wrinkled woman with devil’s horns over the text: “You ugly, cross and wrinkled shrew, You advocate of women’s rights, No man on earth would live with you.” The humor magazine Yankee Notions sounded no different than the mainstream press in joking that women’s rights activists were all “either old maids, or divorced wives” who just needed “good husbands” to be happy. Ridicule, not pronatalism, was the point.

Abolitionists and women's rights activists pushed back. Some emphasized that their women leaders were happily married mothers. Newspaper editor Jane Grey Swisshelm responded to criticism of the 1850 Worcester convention by defending white antislavery activist Lucretia Mott as "a wife, a mother and a grandmother." This mattered little to conservative critics who persisted in characterizing Mott as an "old maid."

Others embraced and repurposed the slur "old maid.” Frances E. Watkins, one of the first African American women hired to travel the country as an antislavery lecturer, wrote a tongue-in-cheek letter to the Anti-Slavery Bugle in 1859 describing herself as an "old maid... going about the country meddling with the slaveholders' business." Later that year, Harper published a short story in the Anglo-African Magazine that contrasted the “bitter agony” of an abusive marriage to the contentment achieved by an “old maid” who found fulfillment as a professional writer, abolitionist, and social reformer. Watkins herself chose to marry a year later, and today, she is better known by her married name, Frances E. W. Harper. Still, for the rest of her life, she continued to promote Black women's political empowerment as vital to both personal happiness and the cause of freedom.

As supporters of Harris respond to Vance's comments, it is worth keeping in mind that there is more at stake than reproductive choices. The historical roots of this attack lie not in pronatalism but in the opposition to movements for racial and gender equality. Overcoming this opposition will require not only defending childless women—or rallying under the banner of “Cat Ladies for Kamala”—but embracing the broad movement for American freedom that conservatives have so long opposed.

Footnote:  Read more about Women’s Equality Day here .

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• Open access
• Published: 23 August 2024

Tackling gender disparities in energy research: a diagnostic tool for equality in research centres

• Sara Sánchez-López 1 ,
• Rocío Poveda-Bautista 1 ,
• Carmen Corona-Sobrino 2 ,
• Paula Otero-Hermida 1 &
• Mónica García-Melón 1  

Energy, Sustainability and Society volume  14 , Article number:  51 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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In a case study in Spain, the unequal proportion of men and women in a research organization in the energy sector is severe, and long-established dynamics that might determine differences in access to leadership positions and inequalities in research careers are evident. The gender gap in historically masculinized fields, such as energy engineering reflects more than simply the differences in male and female values and personalities. This study seeks to explore the gender gap in energy research centres and to identify barriers that potentially hinder the research careers of women. It proposes the development of a diagnostic tool, based upon indicators, to monitor and evaluate gender roles and inequalities in the management of research centres for identifying and addressing the dynamics and obstacles that hinder women's progress in the energy sector and their potential contribution to the field. This participatory multicriteria-based tool prioritizes the proposed indicators by their influence and importance in the context of energy research and applies it to the monitoring of a specific Spanish energy research centre.

The results are threefold: (i) the methodology is adaptable to different research centres; (ii) the analysis of indicators’ prioritization could lead to recommendations that should be addressed first; (iii) the diagnostic tool used in this in-depth case study of an energy research centre in Spain allowed results to be achieved in terms of gender dynamics. Two indicators stand out as the most relevant in our analysis: gender diversity in leadership positions and uncomplicated application of work–life balance measures. In this case study, the measurement of the first indicator has drawn unsatisfactory results, and the research of the latter is considered still insufficient. In conclusion, this difference becomes a vicious or negative circle for attracting and retaining more women to the research centre. Despite these results, no gender gap seems to be recognized and thus, no measures are being taken to improve the situation.

Conclusions

Comprehensive data and contextualized monitoring are necessary to effectively study and enhance the presence and participation of women in the energy science sector. This approach, combining quantitative and qualitative techniques, is suitable for any research centre that would like to monitor its gender gap, identify potential sources of inequity and address them.

Globally, the limited access to energy disproportionately affects women [ 1 ] and highlights the importance of considering gender in discussions about fair energy distribution and its role in development [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Despite this, the energy sector remains predominantly male-dominated. Not only do women face greater difficulties in accessing energy resources, but they also “continue to be an unrealized potential asset for the development of the energy sector” [ 6 ].

Women bring distinct economic and social capitals to the table [ 7 ], and lack of gender balance might not only be a matter of fairness and social justice, but could also be detrimental to innovative research. The involvement of women in the field of energy, and particularly in the context of sustainability [ 6 , 8 , 9 ], has been identified as pivotal for addressing emerging future advances, governance structures, and frameworks through which we might tackle the required issues, among others [ 10 ]. However, their participation remains limited not only to energy production, but also to the development of alternative consumption and production patterns [ 7 , 11 , 12 ]. This similarly occurs in the production of knowledge within the field where only 15.7 percent of energy scholarship authors have been women [ 13 ].

It is widely argued that one of the problems in an area like engineering or energy is the low number of women students. At a macro level, focusing on the case of Spain, where the study case is located, the proportion of women researchers in Spanish universities is 43.67% [ 14 ]. However, the main problem lies in the unequal distribution according to career progression, with only 25.6% of women reaching the highest category (full professor) and even more at the study phase. In the field of engineering, for instance, only 9% women are to be found in the highest category. In addition, only 52.4% of women have attained permanent positions in the system [ 14 ].

At the meso-level of the university institution examined, 31.98% of the staff are women [ 15 ], of which only 30% have attained permanent positions. In the area of engineering, this percentage drops to 21.39% of women researchers with permanent contracts [ 15 ]. Regarding the presence of women in public research centres in Spain, only 26.8% of women hold a permanent position working in the field of “natural resources”, which includes the energy sector [ 16 ]. This figure improves substantially in the initial categories with 57.7% of doctoral students being women [ 16 ]. Furthermore, in the case of the Spanish energy sector, only 22.2% of Spain’s scientific production on renewable energies in 2022 was led by women researchers [ 17 ].

While a significant body of literature and diverse approaches to addressing the scarcity of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are available, a notable gap in the case of the energy sector is evident [ 10 , 13 , 18 ]. The presence and participation of women in the field of energy have been studied in boards and management groups of large energy companies [ 19 ], in decision-making processes in the renewable energy sector [ 20 ] or in energy policymaking [ 12 ]. However, to the best of our knowledge, gender roles and inequalities in the management of research energy centres aimed to address the gender gap remain unexplored in the scientific literature, and our study is the first that seeks to specifically address the monitoring of energy research centres.

Monitoring the gender gap in science: contextualization and indicators used at the organizational level

In Europe, gender gap monitoring in science, research and innovation is highly directed by European Union (EU) approaches. Specifically, the Strategic Vision of the European Research Area has set as a goal for 2030 that half of all scientific personnel, in all disciplines and at all levels of the scientific system, should be women. The aim is to break the horizontal and vertical segregation that currently exists in European science, especially in historically masculinized fields like energy [ 21 ]. Thus, EU members such as Spain have advanced legislation in this area to achieve the Strategic Vision of the European Research Area.

The indicators used to monitor policies in European reports, such as She Figures and their counterpart reports in Spain, tend to focus primarily on providing numbers of men and women. Therefore, despite its relevance, they have scarce information on how gender dynamics work in scientific and innovative working environments, where personnel perform their functions and interact on a daily basis [ 22 , 23 , 24 ].

The meso-organizational level is key in the “quality of equality” which means that inclusion is not merely having women but where—in which areas, in which roles—and how are they included [ 25 ] is essential; and where—without this information, it is not possible to understand why, for instance, many women leave engineering careers or whether women or other underrepresented collectives in the discipline have a similar wellbeing status.

The organizational level includes crucial issues for equal access and quality such as staff awareness of equality measures, the distribution of tasks and responsibilities, management of projects, recognition, work culture, work–life balance culture, and use of time or personnel selection. At this level, there is a concentration of conditioning factors to accumulate merits in a markedly meritocratic science system. In this context, which is depicted as neutral and universal within the meritocratic system, it becomes clear that the system is vulnerable to gender dynamics which apparently affects objective processes such as hiring and promotion [ 26 ] or the definition of academic excellence [ 27 ].

The organizational level is crucial in science development and the lack of indicators may result from intrinsic difficulties in gender monitoring. Monitoring is usually a synonym for quantitative approaches which often tends to focus on public information like how many of each sex are to be found. On the other hand, gender dynamics are difficult to capture without perception and other qualitative indicators [ 28 ] which are more difficult to operationalize, and which often require the preparation of surveys or choosing other methods like organizing focus groups to gather primary data. However, the effort can be worthwhile considering that monitoring is not unambiguous in its use and that indicators are not equally relevant. Monitoring can be applied to control policy development, distribute funding, compare organizations, or check the advance of some implemented measures, for instance. Those purposes and the ultimate justification, such as social justice or achieving efficiency, determine institutional logics that affected the final use of monitoring and resulted in different indicator panels which also reflects a different understanding of the issue that is monitored [ 23 ].

Measuring gender at the organizational level pursues some primary goals: diagnosis and learning. However, indicators receive their significance from institutional practices [ 29 ]. Thus, contextualized monitoring through gathering secondary and primary data, both quantitative and qualitative, is crucial and it becomes essential to go beyond “counting heads” [ 30 ] to understand not only the number of women present in energy research centres, but also the dynamics that hinder the development of women’s careers in these areas, i.e. the distribution of tasks, management, projects, and recognition. In Europe, gender gap indicators are focused on policy monitoring at the national level, while the organizational level still needs to be developed, which is another challenge to be addressed [ 23 ].

Contextualization or context-sensitive monitoring implies a better understanding of different levels as the centre and the research system provides in regards to the conditions of understanding research excellence, access to positions or research funding. This requires expert integration in the monitoring process, to interpret the relevance and cross-influence of the indicators, as is given in more detail in the methods part. Thus, it is crucial to include the context where gendered energy research takes place and to provide a systemic contextualization [ 12 ].

We developed a tool based upon performance indicators to monitor and evaluate gender roles and inequalities in research centres. The tool provides feedback to the literature review and quantitative and qualitative inputs at the organizational level which is a sensible step within the overall gender and science context, with a focus on Spain in this case. This perspective also facilitates the integration of the inherent complexity of measuring relational dynamics in organizations, which contributes to the gender gap [ 31 ]. The gender gap should be understood as a multi-dimensional concept: people involved, relational dynamics [ 31 ], and organizational culture. Therefore, it should be treated as a multi-criteria problem and studied using multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM). These methods are highly appreciated for developing monitoring tools [ 22 ], for example, the work of [ 32 ] where a multi-criteria decision model is used to measure sustainable energy development efficiency [ 22 ]. See [ 33 ] for more information on MCDM.

We propose a methodology for an in-depth study of research centres investigating energy-related issues. This methodology can be adapted to develop tools to monitor and diagnose different research centres and their specific contexts.

Our proposal will make three contributions to the energy research field: first, by presenting the possible indicators at the organizational level in research centres and a methodology to prioritize them according to the centre’s needs; second, by monitoring and presenting results of a specific research centre in the energy field; and third, by including recommendations to address the gender dynamics contributing to indicate gender gaps within the monitored centre.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows: “ Methodology ” section presents the research methodology and methods employed. “ Results ” section shows the results and “ Discussion ” section discusses the implications and is divided into the case of study recommendations and general contributions to the energy field. Finally, “ Conclusions ” section summarizes the conclusions of the research.

Methodology

The proposed methodological approach of this research is presented in Fig.  1 . It is developed through two main stages: the design of the general methodology and the application to a specific energy research centre.

Methodology diagram. The stages of the methodology correspond to the sections where these tasks are described in the paper

Our diagnostic tool is developed in two stages. The first is generic and useful for any public research organization. The second is specific to a particular research centre in the energy field. In other words, we obtain generic indicators that can be used to measure any organization and we adapt them to the context and then use them to monitor and diagnose a particular Spanish Energy Research Centre.

The goal of the first is to identify all the relevant perspectives and dimensions related to the gender gap and to determine a specific list of performance indicators to monitor and evaluate gender roles and inequalities in research centres. This general methodology employs an integrated MCDM-based approach using a combination of Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) to determine the most influential criteria for the gender gap in research centres. The combination of these two methodologies (DANP) is novel in the context of gender policies and integrates the benefits of both methods. ANP [ 34 ] allows us a full analysis of the influence of all the factors that make up a network (see [ 34 ] for more information on ANP). In addition, DEMATEL [ 35 ] permits a cause and effect analysis of the various network elements involved [ 36 , 37 ].

The aim of the second is to monitor the performance of a selected Spanish Energy Research Centre (ERC). All the indicators will be measured and analysed according to the results of importance and influence obtained for each.

This stage of the methodology has involved the thorough documentation of the institution itself (bibliometric indicators and other registered numerical indicators), as well as the document analysis of relevant scientific legislation. The analysis of hiring and promotion processes, among other variables, has entailed an in-depth examination of the laws and regulations governing these processes in Spain. A comprehensive study of documentation on Spanish state-level legislation and university organization was conducted to understand the specificities of the case study in the scientific context. A document analysis was carried out to analyse and perform an in-depth study of the chosen case study. Likewise, the content analysis of scientific Spanish legislation [ 38 ] and scientific reports [ 16 , 28 ] have also served methodologically when designing the script of the in-depth interviews. For methodological reasons, a binary gender system has been assumed in the construction of indicators and in the analysis of results. Nevertheless, in the sociodemographic questions of the questionnaire, the possibility of including other gender identities has been provided. This assumption of the binary system aims to facilitate both the research and the data interpretation. However, the authors are aware of the limitations posed by this binary approach and acknowledge the diverse expressions and identities that may manifest within such contexts.

Finally, some recommendations and guidelines will be addressed to the management team of the research centre in order to target their gender gap.

General methodology

Selection of indicators and relevant aspects.

Focusing on the selection of indicators, [ 22 ] proposed a list for Research and Innovation purposes from a Responsible Perspective for the Spanish context subsequent to an in-depth review of the existing indicators provided by relevant reports, such as the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) European Expert Group , the collection of She Figures EU reports, or the Spanish version of She Figures, Científicas en Cifras . Based on [ 22 ] study and previous knowledge, we developed a general, extensive list of indicators that should be considered in the analysis of the gender gap in research centres (Table  1 ). This preliminary list of indicators is organized into 6 main groups, which are the most common when analysing the gender gap in research centres.

Prioritization of indicators by experts

The DANP technique is used to evaluate the gender gap criteria (indicators), allowing us to rank these criteria in relation to the objective: evaluate gender roles and inequalities in research centres.

Selection of experts

Our methodology considers the inclusion of energy stakeholders, not only gender experts [ 39 ], in an interdisciplinary approach that combines experts from social sciences, politics, and engineering for methodological development. This interdisciplinary approach aligns with the underlying debate about the topic in energy studies [ 40 ].

The research team includes various types of experts, encompassing those dedicated to gender issues within the Spanish scientific system and engineers specializing in energy. The MCDM technique we use relies heavily on the quality, rather than the quantity, of these experts due to its semi-quantitative and expert-oriented nature [ 41 ]. It is vital that the experts display both a comprehensive understanding of the implications of their fields within the context of our case study and a holistic perspective on research centre activities. In order to ensure a comprehensive assessment, our DANP model requires multiple experts on each panel for cross-verification purposes. Our panel, comprised five individuals—one political scientist, one sociologist, and three engineers—was initially chosen to define the DANP model and validate context-based indicators suitable for any research centre. Recognizing the need to integrate the specific dynamics of the energy engineering sector, we expanded our expert panel by including two additional individuals with in-depth knowledge of the field of energy research. With a total of 7 experts, this panel evaluated context-based indicators, weighting them based on their impact on gender equity.

A detailed description of the cross-experience of our 7 experts is shown in Table  2

Model definition

The ranking model is built upon a network of criteria that have mutual influence. These criteria are derived from a literature review and the context is validated by the panel of 5 experts through a first participatory session.

The relevance of the indicators is heavily affected by the different contexts. The panel evaluates the criteria (indicators) integrating the context. Expert prioritization pinpoints the causal relations and diverse shapes of a specific problem that refuses to be measured.

The objective will be to identify which are important and which are crucial in the specific setting of the energy research centre within both the university and the Spanish research system, considering a panoramic view of the gathered data. This will contribute significantly to an interpretation of the results and the formation of recommendations. The aim is to tailor the general gender gap indicators for research centres (preliminary list) into indicators suitable for monitoring Spanish energy research centres (list of context-based indicators).

For this purpose, we designed a questionnaire that was used to ask the experts individually to elicit their judgements.

Application to a specific Energy Research Centre

Weighting and interactions of indicators.

After constructing the model and receiving validation from the experts, the DANP method is applied in five steps:

Step 1: Generation of Direct-Relation Matrix A. Firstly, measuring the relationship between criteria requires the design of a comparison scale on a 0–4 scale:

0 (no influence)

1 (low influence)

2 (medium influence)

3 (high influence)

4 (very high influence)

Next, experts make pairwise comparisons of the influences between the criteria. Then, the initial data are obtained as the direct-relation matrix. Matrix A is an nxn matrix in which aij denotes the degree to which criterion i affects criterion j .

Step 2: Normalizing the direct-relation matrix. On the basis of direct-relation matrix A , the normalized direct-relation matrix X can be obtained through equations:

where a ij is the values of the direct-relation matrix.

Step 3: Obtaining the total-relation matrix: T can be obtained by using (Eq.  5 ), in which the I is denoted as the identity matrix:

Step 4: Obtaining the causal diagram of the criteria. Parameters D and Rare obtained for each criterion from matrix T using the following equations:

The cause–effect diagram permits the analysis of the degree of prominence, given by the sum of D and R (horizontal axis), and the degree of cause or effect, given by the subtraction of D and R (vertical axis).

Step 5: Normalizing each column of the T matrix (unweighted) by its sum, we obtain the weighted supermatrix:

where w ij is the values of the weighted supermatrix and t ij is the values of the total-relation matrix.

Step 6: Calculating the limit matrix. In this step, the weighted matrix is multiplied by itself until all its columns become equal, i.e. the values converge, and the process ends. This way, each element’s individual influences on the network’s other elements are obtained from this limit supermatrix.

The criteria values are extracted from the vector of the limit supermatrix and normalized by the sum to obtain their final weights. In this way, we can obtain the criteria ranking, which will allow us to understand the decision profile of the experts.

After receiving individual assessment results of DANP, each expert validates her/his own results. If the results are unsatisfactory, she/he revises the results of the pairwise comparisons to ensure that the results are coherent with her/his knowledge and overall assessment.

Monitoring of the research centre

Online survey: primary data.

In addition to the personal interviews, an online survey was designed and circulated to reach as many people as possible within the organization. The study aimed to obtain qualitative and quantitative information to study the gender gap in Energy Research Centres and to identify barriers that potentially hinder the careers of women. Data were gathered through single and multiple choice, and open-ended questions by using Qualtrics software, Version July 2023. Copyright© 2023 Qualtrics. Gender and year of birth were requested for data analysis purposes but no information that would potentially identify the respondent was collected. The survey consisted of 20 questions addressing the level of seniority achieved, the perception of the formal and informal atmosphere of the organization, awareness of the equity plan, use of work–life balance measures, and experience in leading projects.

The survey was sent to the head of the research centre to be internally disseminated by email to all the workers of the institution. Our population is all the researchers who were registered as members of the ERC in May 2023, i.e. 48 people. A total of 36 people answered and, according to their distribution by professional category and gender, it was concluded that the sample was sufficiently representative. The only a priori bias detected was motivation, i.e. the proportion of women in relation to the total number of employees answering the questionnaire is higher than that of men. However, both gender groups are sufficiently represented.

The content validity of the survey was initially tested on a sample of 10 people from diverse academic backgrounds residing in Spain. The survey was adjusted by integrating the feedback received. The data from the pilot are not included in the results.

Databases: secondary data

The institutional database and the university’s website were consulted for information on the position, professional category, and academic merits (patents, scientific production, projects and other outcomes) of all the members of the research centre.

In-depth interviews: primary data

Twelve in-depth interviews (30–60 min long) were conducted with women and men in permanent and non-permanent positions at the centre (12 in total). The interviewees were selected based on a strategic selection of participants to ensure representativeness and to provide diverse and information-rich perspectives on the research topic. The distribution of interviewees corresponds to the structure of the energy engineering field itself, a highly masculine area as seen above.

The aim of the interviews was to obtain information on the perceptions, opinions, and experiences of the centre’s staff as regards gender issues from a representative number of individuals of differing professional categories and genders. Following the logic of the dimensions of the indicators, the interview guide was structured into these four blocks (see “ Qualitative information ” section). The information extracted was transcribed and analysed according to the qualitative content method [ 42 ]. The N-VIVO software was used as a tool to support the analysis.

We have divided the analysis of the results into two parts. In the first part, we show the results obtained for the indicators. These results are generic, i.e. they could be useful for monitoring the gender gap in any research centre in the Spanish research system.

Secondly, we present the results of the weighting of the context-based indicators and the monitoring of an energy technology research centre. The results have been obtained by measuring the performance of a particular centre for each of the proposed indicators.

Indicators to monitor the gender gap in research centres in Spain

Model description (energy research gender indicators).

Once the preliminary list of indicators was obtained (see “ Selection of indicators and relevant aspects ” section), and based on the context of the research centres, the main indicators were selected for the purposes of monitoring these centres. The final list of indicators, which was drawn up through a second participatory session of scientists with expertise in gender and energy, is shown in Table  3 . These selected indicators will be the DANP elements of the network.

This second expert prioritization phase took place during a comprehensive face-to-face session. The experts were convened for a half-day session. The initial session started with the validation of the indicators, which were thoroughly examined and deliberated over to ensure unanimous agreement on the list. Once the indicators were validated, the facilitators (some authors of this paper) elucidated the DANP principles, enhancing the experts’ comprehension and facilitating the clarity of the subsequent surveys. After that, each expert addressed his/her surveys individually under the guidance of facilitators. The results of each survey were immediately processed and presented to each of the experts for review. Subsequently, the facilitators aggregated all the individual results using the geometric mean, the consensus judgement according to [ 41 ], so as to obtain the group responses.

The criteria are clustered into four categories as shown in Fig.  2 : research management and results, staff configuration and structure, work culture, and gender contents in research.

Overview of the proposed model

Results obtained for the weights and interactions of the indicators

The context-based indicators already defined must be weighted, obtaining the Energy Research Gender Indicators (ERGIs). For this, we use the DEMATEL technique.

The expanded panel of experts (see Table  2 ) will then be asked individually to elicit their judgements. To this end, we designed a questionnaire in which they will be asked to rate the intensity of the influence between each pair of criteria from 0 to 4, in which 0 is no influence and 4 is maximum influence. An example of this questionnaire is shown in Fig.  3 .

Questionnaire used to weight the influence of context-based indicators

The DANP method prioritizes the selected indicators from the most to the least important for the evaluation of gender issues in the ERC, according to the participating experts.

The final prioritization of indicators for the aggregated group of experts obtained with the DANP technique is shown in Table  4 and Fig.  4 .

Prioritization of the indicators

In Fig.  4 , three indicators stand out slightly from the rest. The first is C24: Gender diversity in organizational leadership positions; the second C34: Existence of an equality plan, and the third C11: Gender diversity in research leadership. Two of them are related to the leadership of women.

This graph also shows that indicators related to the organization’s own structure, staff configuration and work culture, are more important than indicators related to research outputs when measuring the gender gap in the institution. The use of the DEMATEL technique also allows us to obtain very detailed and relevant information regarding the influences exerted by the indicators on each other. In Table  5 , we present the matrix of influences obtained by the set of experts. In this matrix, each cell represents the influence that the indicator in the row exerts on the indicator in the column.

The total relationship matrix presented in Table  5 shows the results in three different levels according to the two obtained thresholds for relevance [ 21 ]:

Threshold 1. Moderate influence: mean + 1 standard deviation (0.209)

Threshold 2. High influence: mean + 2 standard deviation (0.292)

Grey values are below threshold 1, black values are above threshold 1, and bold values are above threshold 2.

In addition, in the matrix we present the results of the calculations of factors D and R for each indicator (see Eqs.  1 – 5 ). Recall that factor D indicates the level of influence exerted by an indicator and factor R represents the level of influence that the indicator receives. In this second level of analysis, we can see that the indicators with the greatest influence are C34 and C24, which coincide with the two indicators that Fig.  3 shows as being the most important. We also observe that the two most influential indicators are C34 and C11. In other words, the indicators that stand out for their influence on the network coincide with the most important.

We would like to represent this information in a cause-effect diagram; in Fig.  5 we present the X -axis, which shows the degree of importance of each indicator ( R  +  R ) and the Y -axis, which shows the degree of cause (positive values) or effect (negative values) of each indicator ( D – R ).

Cause–effect diagram of the ERGIs

As can be seen in this diagram, the indicators are classified into four quadrants [ 43 ]. We may observe that the indicators that appear in quadrant II are: C24, gender diversity in organizational leadership positions and C31, ease-of-use of work–life balance measures. These can be considered key factors and should be taken into account when designing gender actions. Indicator C31 has not appeared until now as it belongs neither to the most influential nor to the most important group. However, the combination of both properties places it in quadrant II, which makes it a relevant factor when measuring the gender gap in research centres. Our interpretation of these two key factors is that the role of senior researchers is crucial because the fact that there are women in the relevant positions serves as a mirror in which they look for the other women working in the same research centre. In addition, the dynamics can be different when there are women in leadership since it makes clear to the staff in their charge what position they might occupy in the hierarchy of the organization. This result aligned with those from previous studies [ 30 ]. In our case study, the effect of the low number of women and the fact that part of the staff is not accustomed to mixed-gendered interactions have been clearly stated during the interviews. We find that women with a clear vision of equality problems in the centre have probably created a safe environment, bearing in mind that the younger women under their command have not perceived the problems they had faced. However, that affects only a few of the research groups of the centre, groups in which there is a high concentration of female members by the way.

On the other hand, the availability and ease of use of work–life balance measures are considered highly relevant factors that could make the difference when attempting to attract more women to a field as masculine as energy engineering.

Additional conclusions that can be drawn from Fig.  5 are as follows:

These indicators are isolated: C12, mobility actions carried out ; C33, existence of regulations on conduct in cases of workplace harassment and C14, participation of women in knowledge transfer . This means that they are less influential on others. For instance, according to the national authorities, mobility or knowledge transfer are relevant requirements for career advancement but have limited impact on other gender aspects, as is the case of sexual harassment regulations, which are highly relevant but not so closely related to others.

C41, gender contents in research appears to be of low influence and not of great importance. Not all research leaves room for gender perspective integration as is the case of some research in the field of energy.

Finally, we would like to re-emphasize those indicators that appear to be very influential but not very important: C23, transparency in selection processes ; C35, specific training in gender issues . These would be indicators that have a strong influence on others, but which would not be so important on their own, i.e. without considering their relationships with the rest. It is necessary to consider them whenever their influence is exerted on important indicators. For instance, transparency in selection processes affects the distribution of staff both vertically and horizontally, whereas the fact that staff are trained in gender issues will make them more aware of these issues and more critical of inequalities.

Results of the monitoring of a research centre in energy engineering

Qualitative information.

The three thematic blocks of the information obtained from the personal interviews correspond to the dimensions developed in the Energy Research Gender Indicators (ERGIs): (1) research management and results; (2) staff configuration and structure; (3) working culture; and (4) gender contents in research.

Firstly, as regards research management, a large proportion of the men interviewed stated that the organization, participation, and leadership of research in the centre only respond to meritocratic and hierarchical issues and that gender has no influence whatsoever. A researcher stated “the truth is that we were surprised by your interview because here we do not… here what matters is what matters. (…) women, men, and everything. And the truth is that I believe that no discrimination has ever been made” (I1). However, the women interviewed expressed a more critical attitude towards the management of gender diversity in the centre.

Secondly, the unequal proportion of men and women in the organization is one of the issues most frequently mentioned. It is stated that this is a structural problem of the discipline, which manifests itself as early as undergraduate studies, on which very few women are enrolled, and which is reproduced on the subsequent levels of the scientific career and, therefore, at the centre. Furthermore, they state that in comparison, “there are many women at the entry level, but very few go all the way [to a research career]” (I3). There are no proactive measures to try to reverse the structural inequality in the centre by taking positive discrimination measures in selection processes or by making specific calls to attract more women. The permanent researchers interviewed claim to select members of their group based on their knowledge and specialization, regardless of gender. Furthermore, as will be seen in the quantitative results (“ Quantitative information ” section), there is a clear gender gap in positions of responsibility, both vertically and horizontally.

Thirdly, as regards the work culture, working hours are flexible, which is seen as positive for both the family and private life of men and women. However, these measures are still insufficient, as one of the interviewees stated: “private life still affects women more in terms of career development (…) motherhood (…) leaves you behind” (I7).

It is also important to highlight the participation dynamics and the atmosphere in the centre. The fact that there is a reduced number of women is influential, insofar as the women feel less involved because they are in a smaller proportion. And “I do have to say that it is still noticeable that men are not used to it. There are very, very few …that will surely affect that men are accustomed to dealing with men” (I7).

Finally, the incorporation of the gender perspective in research, which is seen, in most cases, as something alien to the nature of the work due to its object of study (e.g., fundamental science). In these studies, in which this perspective would have a place, it is considered that “[considering] research questions or the object of our work is more difficult for us because we do not have the skills. What we know how to do, we do not know how it can contribute” (I10).

On the other hand, although most of the interviewees know of the existence of an equality plan and sexual harassment protocols, it is only their existence that is acknowledged, not their content or implications in the centre.

In short, most of the male interviewees’ discourse centred around the fact that there is no gender-related problem at the institution, either in the management of research or in the working environment. However, this is not the case for some of the women interviewed who do allude to different problems of gender discrimination, such as “the distribution of tasks and roles in the centre” (I2).

Quantitative information

Primary data results: survey.

Researchers who indicated they had children (60%) were asked whether they had taken maternity/paternity leave. 100% of the women with children reported taking maternity leave, whereas less than 50% of the men did. This is especially relevant since maternity leave was regarded by some of the researchers as a critical point in the development of a woman’s scientific career, leading to them losing advantage compared to their male counterparts. If men took paternity leave as well, the difference would not be so blatant, and the impact would be smaller.

The large majority of respondents (75%) reported not having received any gender equality training (see Fig.  6 ). The primary source of training for those who did was the university.

Gender equality training received

Secondary data results: website of the centre and official university database

The research outcomes of all ERC staff were thoroughly reviewed and analysed. This examination included several variables, such as the quantity of published papers, papers published as first authors, research projects as PI, contracts obtained, number of contracts in which they participate, and patents. The analysis was focused on the data from 2019–2023, which were later on segregated by gender. The aim was to identify key factors contributing to scientific career advancement.

Table 6 shows the members of the monitored centre classified according to professional categories following the Spanish university system. Notably, there are no women in the highest category.

Figures  7 and 8 compare gender distribution in research contracts between private companies and publicly funded R&D projects. A notable difference emerges in leadership roles: senior men predominantly lead contracts with private companies, while senior women tend to lead publicly funded R&D projects. As regards the higher number of women leading public projects (Fig.  7 ), there could be several reasons for this, such as: (i) networking, (ii) the policy of promoting gender equality and (iii) the differences between the motivations and values of men and women in terms of the impact of their results.

Principal investigators of publicly funded R&D projects attending to professional tenure and gender

Principal investigators of private contracts attending to professional tenure and gender

Private contracts lack regulations for PIs, whereas for publicly funded projects, there is a policy promoting gender equality in science that positively evaluates projects led by women. On the other hand, and as far as the higher number of men leading private contracts is concerned (Fig.  8 ), that could be a question of ease-of-access to advertising venues since, as the information is not open, are obtained through contacts. Again, the dynamics of a male-connected engineering environment may be observed.

Monitoring of the Research Centre: gathering of data indicators

The results obtained for ERGIs in the monitoring of a Spanish Energy Research Centre as well as the sources from which these results have been collected are shown in Table  7 .

As regards the results of the DANP model and the ERGI values obtained for the ERC, we propose some recommendations focusing on key factors that should be considered when designing gender actions in this centre. These key factors will be those indicators that are important or influential, (or those that combine both properties), and whose ERGI values are low or qualitatively deficient for the centre. We propose recommendations for those indicators marked with * in Table  7 .

For recommendation purposes, from the total list of 14 indicators we choose those that add up to 50% of the total weight. This prioritization allows us to focus on the most important factors that are likely to have the greatest impact on the outcome and prevents the inclusion of too many recommendations that could lead to excessive complexity and potentially obscure the improvement of the process. Therefore, we will more thoroughly analyse the indicators that add up to 50% of the weighting process according to Fig.  1 : C24, C34, C11, C21, and C35.

Case study: key indicators and recommendations

As far as the results of the DANP model and the ERGI values obtained for the analysed ERC are concerned, we propose recommendations in the following indicators (marked in Table  7 with *):

C24. Gender diversity in organizational leadership positions

C34. Awareness of the existence of an equality plan

C11. Gender diversity in research leadership—% Women principal investigators of projects

C21. Vertical segregation

C35. Gender-specific training

C31. Ease-of-use of work–life balance measures

The lack of women in organizational leadership positions is pronounced in the case of the study as no women are present in head positions. This indicator (C24) affects multiple dimensions. The insufficient or, in this case, inexistent female representation in high-level positions might dissuade women from joining an organization in which they do not foresee career development. The presence of women in management might be perceived as making panels more approachable or more receptive to the acknowledgement and tackling of gender issues than those that are exclusively male. Additionally, the absence of women in high positions can potentially disincentivize them from entering an institution where gender dynamics might pose a challenge. These arguments also apply to indicators C21: Vertical segregation and C11: Gender diversity in research leadership . In the case of indicator C11, it is worth highlighting that being the principal investigator of projects is a requirement for any advancement in academic research in the energy sector in Spain. The low proportion of female principal investigators in projects could explain the absence of women in leadership positions. The difficulty they experience in advancing their scientific careers, and consequently accessing management positions, may be a contributing factor.

There is a prevailing belief within the research centre that only meritocracy drives success, dismissing other factors—especially gender—as irrelevant. Despite the evidence, including the low representation of female leaders in the scientific output of the Spanish energy sector [ 17 ], many members fail to recognize existing differences or inequalities. Consequently, these indicators could serve as a pivotal tool to raise awareness and challenge expected resistance towards equality measures within specific groups.

Specific training on gender (C35) would address two different aspects identified in this case study. Firstly, it would provide training to those people who recognize that there is a gender gap and are willing to work towards reducing it but do not have the tools or knowledge to address it, either as a power figure or as part of the group. And secondly, it would increase the awareness of those who consider that no gender gap exists, nor that changes should be made to accommodate a more inclusive view. Thus, given its importance, gender training should not be the sole responsibility of the University's Equality Committee, but the research centre should also oversee the proposal and development of activities that promote training in equality to make this as cross-cutting and diverse as possible.

Furthermore, there is a significant lack of awareness regarding the content of the equality plan (C34). The actions taken to circulate this content and make it visible to the staff should be promoted by the management. However, this would require an initial acknowledgment of the gender gap by the heads of the institution.

The availability of work–life balance measures (C31) is identified as a crucial indicator for the career development of women in research. Yet, availability is not enough. The acceptance of such measures by the work environment as well as whether men make use of them are important factors that weigh in women’s career development. If men in the institution are making equal use of the measures, women’s careers will be less negatively impacted from a competitive point of view when they use them. Besides, it is also a sign that the organizational culture is more sensitive, and that care is not considered a women-only issue.

Furthermore, the ease with which women can make use of the work–life balance measures is considered a highly relevant factor, which leads us to believe that centres not placing obstacles in their way—considering the reasons why they use them—would be an attractive factor for women. Particularly in a field as masculine as energy engineering.

While work–life balance measures are present they are often informal, and the absence of official guidelines gives line managers the discretion to determine the extent, duration, and timing of these measures. Therefore, a change of manager might entail a change of conditions or some uncertainty towards what their rights will be, as some men pointed out in the interviews.

The Gender Perspective in Research Content (C41) was not identified as a relevant indicator, possibly due to the nature of the research. Indeed, for some of the research conducted, gender perspective cannot be applied; for example, in the study of the disposition of photovoltaic cells. However, it was detected that this possibility had often not been considered. Therefore, future research should assess whether its impact may be different for women and whether it is possible to integrate a gender perspective into both the samples and data collection. Several studies have shown that men and women may have different energy consumption patterns due to varying daily routines, responsibilities, and access to resources [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. Taking gender differences into consideration can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the energy needs and these consumption patterns. This is particularly relevant, since women are the primary users of household energy in both developing and industrialized countries [ 8 ]. It could also contribute to the fostering of a broader and fairer approach in policy and technology development; for instance, adapting renewable energy projects to address specific needs of women in rural areas [ 18 , 48 ], or simply having enough understanding not to create inequalities or perpetuate those already existing.

Finally, a recommendation is addressed to the home institution of the research centre. The centre has no expertise in gender equality, while the equality plans are located at university level. We have identified that some gendered distortions that exist throughout the whole Spanish research system- such as gendered precariousness and the impact of family responsibilities- are not mitigated by centre measures and university measures are equally absent and unrecognized. Considering the effort to be made, the research centre cannot do it alone; for its development, it should have the support of the equality unit of the institution to which it belongs. The centre could greatly benefit from developing a tailored equality plan that considers its unique circumstances as regards the gender gap. While rooted in the general measures of the institution's plan, the centre’s plan should incorporate specific aspects that reflect its nuances. This entails integrating measures specifically designed to address and bridge the gender gap within the research centre.

General discussion

To effectively study and enhance the presence and participation of women in the field of energy science, comprehensive data are imperative. Disaggregated data, at least separated into area of knowledge, category, and gender, is vital for both informed decision-making and understanding the reality within research centres, enabling the necessary steps to be taken.

The case study research method carried out aims to provide insights into the workings of a particular process within its context, enabling us to observe the dynamics of the agents and infer explanations. However, it is important to note that this approach is not representative and can only be compared once more cases have been developed [ 49 ]. Expanding the research to monitor additional energy research centres would enhance the model and offer deeper insights into the unique dynamics and challenges within this domain. While each centre may present distinct dynamics, this adaptable model is designed to accommodate and integrate these differences. Therefore, this tool can serve both diagnostic and awareness-raising purposes—a conversation starter rooted in data, demonstrating the persistent existence of the gender gap demanding attention and resolution. The presented indicators possess the potential to serve as diagnostic tools for understanding the gender gap within research institutions and for raising awareness. This is particularly crucial in fields such as energy, where according to the cited literature, the gender gap is often overlooked, as we found out in our case study.

We are currently monitoring other research centres using the same general methodology and replicating the specific methodological part of the case study in two additional scientific sectors: applied technologies and biology sciences. The findings in these two case studies reveal similar dynamics in the underrepresentation of women, especially in leadership roles in research and management positions. What may also be observed is how little aware these organizations are of the existing gender gap.

The development of an indicator tool based on DANP not only serves as a proactive approach to the monitoring and evaluation of gender roles and inequalities in research centres but also contributes to interpreting results and forming recommendations. Applied in a case study, this tool is specifically tailored to incorporate findings from literature reviews and both qualitative and quantitative organizational inputs, considering the broader energy, science, and gender context in Spain.

The tool’s design considers the complexity of measuring relational dynamics within organizations, recognizing that these dynamics significantly contribute to the gender gap. This perspective helps integrate various dimensions, including the individuals involved, relational dynamics, and organizational culture. The gender gap is portrayed as a multi-dimensional problem, extending beyond mere numerical representation. Using a multi-criteria decision-making method, we assess the impact of the indicators on gender equality in order to address the gender gap in a specific research centre. This method entails the selection and grouping of decision criteria, followed by the analysis of interactions within the network model defined, considering the opinion of energy stakeholders, not only gender experts.

Our context-sensitive methodology reveals specific dynamics. For instance, in the analysed centre, a sexist environment emerges through informal comments, such as jokes; men often underuse available life–work balance measures, and there is a gendered pattern in fund access: women primarily lead publicly funded projects, limiting their diversification due to a more limited access to private funds.

The use of indicators serves as powerful diagnostic tool and catalyst for awareness. They highlight the persistent gender gap, particularly in traditionally male-dominated fields, such as energy engineering, where this gap often goes unrecognized and acts as a catalyst for conversations about the changes required.

It is advisable to expand the research so as to monitor more centres for the purposes of refining the model and better understanding the nuances of the gender gap. An ongoing monitoring would help to identify existing disparities and instigate actions toward gender equality. For this reason, the research would benefit from the monitoring of more energy research centres to further adapt the model and better understand the particularities that this area might include. Our findings, from an in-depth case study, can be discussed in the development of further research avenues on gender and energy. However, each organization is unique and the methodology we propose is designed to fit the specific dynamics of each centre.

Limitations and future research lines

We acknowledge and emphasize the intrinsic limitation of our in-depth case study methodology and encourage further research that can provide additional insights and patterns into the gender dynamics in energy research centres. Our purpose is to follow up with other energy engineering institutes in Spain, as well as to establish comparisons with other geographical contexts, such as with similar studies conducted in Germany [ 50 ]. This could provide a broader view and strengthen the applicability of the proposed tool in various contexts. We are currently monitoring several research institutes in differing areas of knowledge, also in Spain, with results that are very similar to those presented in this analysis. We intend to continue this study by applying the proposed methodology and carrying out a comparative study of these institutions.

Moreover, we also want to highlight some other limitations regarding data gathering. We were unable to employ any strategies to mitigate non-response bias in the collection of primary data, such as follow-up contacts or incentives for participation due to confidentiality reasons of the monitored centre. This could have compromised the representativeness of the quantitative results through the survey.

Finally, as regards the interpretation of some of the qualitative results, we know that there is an interpretation bias in the results on paternity leave due to the fact that the length of this leave in Spain has varied greatly over the last 20 years from 4 days to 6 months. Since age was not asked in order to anonymize the responses to the questionnaire, it is not possible to relate the length of leave to whether it was taken or not. Further research could have an impact on this issue, since no data has been available until recently.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the need to protect the privacy of study participants but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Energy Research Centre

Analytic Network Process

Combination of DEMATEL and ANP (DANP)

Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory

Energy Research Gender Indicators (ERGIs)

European Union

Multi-criteria decision methods

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Acknowledgements

This is an extended and updated version of a paper originally presented at the 18th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES 2022) held in Paphos, Cyprus, over the period 24th to 29th September 2023 (denoted then as paper SDEWES2023.00425 Proposal of an Energy Research Gender Indicator as a diagnostic tool for energy research organizations). Thanks to everyone who contributed to the study by commenting on, filling out and sharing the questionnaire and being interviewed. We would also like to thank the panel of experts in the surveys for their willingness to participate. Finally, we would like to thank Michael Colin Bennett for assisting us with the English revision of the final version of this paper.

Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported by project INVISIBLES funded by the regional public administration of Valencia under the grant (AICO/2021/133).

This work was also partly supported by the Ministry of Universities through the EU-funded Margarita Salas programme NextGeneration EU, Valencia University under the Grant (2021-1099).

This work was also partly supported by European Commission H2020 Scientific Understanding and Provision of an Enhanced and Robust Monitoring system for RRI SUPER_MoRRI (H2020-SWAFS/0467-Grant-agreement nº 824671).

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Sara Sánchez-López, Rocío Poveda-Bautista, Paula Otero-Hermida & Mónica García-Melón

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Sara Sánchez-López: writing—original draft, methodology, visualization, data curation. Rocío Poveda-Bautista: conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review & editing, supervision. Carmen Corona-Sobrino: conceptualization, methodology, software, data curation, visualization, writing—original draft, writing review & editing. Paula Otero-Hermida: conceptualization, writing—review & editing, supervision. Mónica García-Melón: methodology, data-curation, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Sara Sánchez-López .

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The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee) of Universitat Politècnica de València (P17_10_01_20, 10 January 2020). The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. The questionnaire and interviews did not collect personally identifiable data, according to Delegación de Protección de Datos, IRB of Universitat Politècnica de València, and national regulations Law 3/2018, 5th of December, Protection of Personal Data and guarantee of digital rights, article 7, published in BOE núm. 294, 06/12/2018, (Reference: BOE-A-2018–16673). The purpose of the study was explained to all the participants at the beginning of the questionnaire and interviews. The participants were also informed that they have the right to leave the questionnaire or interview at any time whenever they feel uncomfortable or do not want to answer any further questions.

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Sánchez-López, S., Poveda-Bautista, R., Corona-Sobrino, C. et al. Tackling gender disparities in energy research: a diagnostic tool for equality in research centres. Energ Sustain Soc 14 , 51 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13705-024-00479-8

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Received : 13 December 2023

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s13705-024-00479-8

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