A systematic review examined research studies on women?s experiences of having their first child.
Source: Ginny Brunton, Meg Wiggins, and Ann Oakley, Becoming a Mother: A research synthesis of women?s views on the experience of first time motherhood, EPPI-Centre (Institute of Education/University of London)
Date: 2011-Dec
A new book examined the impact of different institutions (the familial household, commercial enterprises, and welfare state institutions) on well-being in European countries, focusing on gender issues. The proper balance of these institutions was a prerequisite of well-being – for both care givers and care receivers, and also for satisfactory gender relations.
Source: Elisabetta Addis, Paloma de Villota, Florence Degavre, and John Eriksen, Gender and Well-Being: The role of institutions, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Dec
The coalition government responded to a consultation on its strategy for 'engaging with women'.
Source: Strengthening Women's Voices in Government: A response to the public consultation, Government Equalities Office
Links: Response to consultation | Hansard
Notes: Consultation document (March 2011)
Date: 2011-Nov
A new book provided a comprehensive gendered analysis of the contemporary Conservative Party. It examined how the party had sought to increase the number of Conservative women MPs, and the nature and role of its women's organizations. It also analysed how the party had sought to appeal to women voters in the 2010 general election, and how party members and voters were likely to respond to the party's feminization efforts.
Source: Sarah Childs and Paul Webb, Sex, Gender and the Conservative Party: From iron lady to kitten heels, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary | Bristol University press release
Date: 2011-Nov
A new book examined developments in the content and forms of care in European societies, focusing on gender issues.
Source: Hanne Marlene Dahl, Marja Keranen, and Anne Kovalainen (eds.), Europeanization, Care and Gender: Global complexities, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Nov
A new book examined contemporary quantitative approaches to gender research. It challenged the stereotype that quantitative research was antithetical to feminism, and emphasized its importance for challenging global inequalities associated with gendered outcomes.
Source: Christina Hughes and Rachel Cohen (eds.), Feminism Counts: Quantitative methods and researching gender, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Oct
A new book examined the impact of European social movements on gendered political and material well-being. Social movements had been instrumental in changing individual well-being through participation and empowerment, and had contributed to collective well-being thanks to victories in health, sexualities, political recognition, and access to material goods.
Source: Alison Woodward, Jean-Michel Bonvin, and Merce Renom (eds.), Transforming Gendered Well-Being in Europe: The Impact of Social Movements, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Sep
An article examined the experiences of different women on a New Deal for Communities (NDC) board, including those from minority-ethnic groups. The NDC in the case study provided optimism about the possibility of including diverse groups and people in neighbourhood governance: but too little attention was still given at both national policy and neighbourhood levels to working politically and productively with concepts of ethnicity and gender.
Source: Yasminah Beebeejaun and Lucy Grimshaw, 'Is the "New Deal for Communities" a New Deal for Equality? Getting women on board in neighbourhood governance', Urban Studies, Volume 48 Number 10
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Aug
The equality and human rights watchdog said that, despite being better educated than ever before, women were still not occupying their fair share of positions of authority and influence.
Source: Sex and Power 2011, Equality and Human Rights Commission
Links: Report | Scotland report | EHRC press release | Fawcett Society press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Aug
A new book examined the economic and social value of 'erotic capital' – the advantages accruing to people perceived by others to be personally and/or sexually attractive. It said that greater recognition of erotic capital would change the role of women in society, getting them a better deal in both public and private life. It could also revolutionize social power structures more generally.
Source: Catherine Hakim, Honey Money: The power of erotic capital, Penguin Allen Lane
Links: Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Aug
A report said that the response to the global economic recession, including proposed welfare reforms and cuts in public spending, threatened to reverse years of struggle for equality in the workplace in Northern Ireland. The people most affected by the economic downturn were young women with no educational qualifications.
Source: Bronagh Hinds, The Northern Ireland Economy: Women on the Edge? A comprehensive analysis of the impacts of the financial crisis, Women s Resource and Development Agency
Links: Report | Summary | WRDA press release | Community NI press release
Date: 2011-Jul
An article examined the gendered nature of partnership working within regeneration policy in England, based on a case study of a New Deal for Communities Partnership.
Source: Lucy Grimshaw, 'Community work as women's work? The gendering of English neighbourhood partnerships', Community Development Journal, Volume 46 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
An article examined the views on gender relations expressed by women active in the contemporary Islamic revival movements in Europe.
Source: Jeanette Jouili, 'Beyond emancipation: subjectivities and ethics among women in Europe's Islamic revival communities', Feminist Review, Volume 98 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
An article examined the variations in reported life satisfaction for men and women. Although average levels of life satisfaction were similar, the variations were more marked for women. Hours of paid work increased life satisfaction for both men and women, while housework hours were statistically significant only for retired men and women. Child care (for children aged 3-4) and caring for adults affected women's life satisfaction negatively, but were statistically insignificant for men. Some of these differences might be explained by the fact that women and men in the sample assigned differing weights to satisfaction with different life dimensions: job satisfaction, in particular, mattered much more to men than to women.
Source: Marina Della Giusta, Sarah Louise Jewell, and Uma Kambhampati, 'Gender and life satisfaction in the UK', Feminist Economics, Volume 17 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
A think-tank report examined the impact of the coalition government's reform agenda on women's political power. Women were set to 'disappear' from a number of key areas including economic strategy, policing, and healthcare. Under existing plans, there would be more women school governors and peers: but there would be fewer women executive mayors, police commissioners, and chairs of local enterprise partnerships.
Source: Unintended Consequences: The impact of the government s legislative programme on women in public roles, Centre for Women and Democracy
Links: Report | Summary | CFWD press release
Date: 2011-Jul
A report examined the impact of the 2011 local elections in England on women's representation. There was a net increase across over 3,500 seats of just 20 women councillors: At that rate, it would be more than 150 years before there were equal numbers of men and women elected to English local councils.
Source: Nan Sloane, Representative Democracy? Women in the 2011 local government elections in England, Centre for Women and Democracy
Links: Report | CFWD press release | Fawcett Society press release
Date: 2011-Jun
A new book provided an introduction to the key concepts and main developments in gender studies. It considered how gender intersected with different dimensions of diversity, and the connexions between sex and gender.
Source: Kath Woodward, The Short Guide to Gender, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Jun
A think-tank report said that girls were significantly more successful than boys in making the transition to adulthood: they did better in their exams, more of them went to university, and those aged 22-29 earned 2.1 per cent more than their male peers. But teenage girls had worse rates of binge drinking and physical inactivity than their male peers; and they had higher rates of teen pregnancy than their European counterparts.
Source: Richard Darlington, Julia Margo, and Sarah Sternberg, with Beatrice Karol Burks, Through the Looking Glass, Demos
Links: Report | Summary | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Apr
A new book examined issues of sexuality and sexual identity in social work, informed by feminist research.
Source: Priscilla Dunk-West and Trish Hafford-Letchfield (eds.), Sexual Identities and Sexuality in Social Work: Research and reflections from women in the field, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Apr
A report examined the changing nature of motherhood, based on statistical and survey data since the 1930s.
Source: The Changing Face of Motherhood (Part 1), Social Issues Research Centre
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined the impact of 'political opportunity structures' on the activity choices of women's groups in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
Source: Lori Poloni-Staudinger and Candice Ortbals, 'Gendered political opportunities? Elite alliances, electoral cleavages, and activity choice among women's groups in the UK, France, and Germany', Social Movement Studies, Volume 10 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Mar
The government began consultation on ways to promote direct engagement between government ministers, women, and organizations that represented women – in order to ensure that government understood the views of a wide range of women, and provided the opportunity for a 'two way dialogue' on policies that affected women.
Source: Strengthening Women s Voices in Government: Transforming the way the government engages and listens to women in the United Kingdom, Government Equalities Office
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | GEO press release
Date: 2011-Mar