Gender Studies

Women were banned from medical trials until 1993. Your current treatment still assumes you're a 70kg male. This isn't ancient history affecting dusty textbooks. It's a research gap with devastating consequences for women's health today. Decades of male-focused research created treatment protocols that work well for men. But women's bodies respond completely differently. Here's what research reveals about female physiology: 👉 Sleep: Our sleep architecture shifts throughout our menstrual cycle, with more insomnia during luteal phase. Men's patterns remain stable. 👉 Stress Response: Our cortisol is modulated by estrogen and progesterone. Stress lasts longer depending on cycle phase. Men's responses stay consistent. 👉 Gut Health: Our gut bacteria composition changes with hormonal shifts, impacting digestion and mood. Men's microbiome remains stable. 👉 Immunity: Stronger during follicular phase, weaker during luteal, affecting illness susceptibility. Men have less variable but generally less robust responses. This isn't just interesting science. It's critical health information. The diet that energises you during follicular phase might drain you in luteal due to metabolic shifts. High-intensity workouts feel easier in first half of your cycle, while restorative movement supports you better in the second half. Even stress management techniques need adapting based on your hormonal state and cortisol sensitivity. Yet standard health advice ignores these fluctuations entirely. Most health research has historically focused on men or women outside reproductive years. The result: 👉 Health guidelines that rarely account for hormonal cycles 👉 Women told their symptoms are "in their head" or "normal" 👉 Complete lack of cycle-aware guidance for nutrition, exercise, and mental health 👉 Treatment protocols designed for male physiology applied to female bodies This reflects decades of training gaps, not malicious intent. But the impact on women's health is undeniable. At Aeva Health, we're building healthcare that understands these patterns. ☑️ That treats your hormonal fluctuations as valuable data, not inconveniences. ☑️ We work with evidence-based approaches designed specifically for women's unique physiology. ☑️ Our protocols account for hormonal fluctuations and female-specific presentations. Because female physiology isn't a design flaw. It's a design feature. One that deserves healthcare built around it, not adapted to it. Have you noticed how your body responds differently to the same inputs at different times of your cycle?

What do men have to do with gender Equity? 1. Awareness that men have privilege over women which holds back women’s careers and advances those of men 2. Be ready to give up the privilege and the ‘profits’ including giving up the privilege we get from unpaid care work by women at home 3. Talk about gender equity including championing and celebrating achievements 4. Actively lift barriers to women’s careers and leadership at home and the institutions we work at including reviewing policies that structurally stop women’s career development and leadership Finally staying conscious of male privilege as we are of other forms of privilege like colour, economic status, educational status, geography etc It’s not for the sake of it; it’s because it’s the right thing to do for the world to be a better place for all of us AMREF @womenlifthealth #WLHGC2024

🔵 The Secret Battle in Our Bodies During Early Aging – and Why Women Need to Know Aging isn’t just a number. Inside our bodies, it’s a biological transformation — and new science reveals it's more dynamic, and more gender-specific, than we ever imagined. Researchers have now discovered that during middle age, men’s visceral fat aggressively expands, driven by a newly identified population of fat stem cells (CP-As) that suddenly awaken. In contrast, women’s fat tissue shows only a moderate increase — a powerful reminder that how we age is not uniform, and women's biology tells a different story. The study found: • Hidden remodeling: In 12-month-old male mice, over 80% of visceral fat cells were newly born, causing insulin resistance and reduced energy metabolism. • Aging-specific fat stem cells: CP-As appear during middle age — highly active, highly aggressive — but primarily in males. • A switch we can target: Blocking Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Receptor (LIFR) stopped the runaway fat expansion, without affecting young healthy cells. ✨ For women, this is a critical moment: Understanding the sex-specific differences in how our bodies age means more power to protect our health. It’s not just about fat — it’s about energy, metabolism, and preventing the hidden disorders that creep up without warning. We need research that listens to women’s biology — and interventions designed with our rhythms, our aging, and our future in mind. Because aging gracefully isn’t luck. It’s knowledge. And knowledge is power. source in the comment #WomensHealth #AgingResearch #MetabolicHealth #VisceralFat #HealthyAging #BiomedicalResearch #Empowerment

Naila Kabeer is one of The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)'s finest minds. She has been going back over her decades of ground-breaking work on Bangladesh, women and patriarchy and shares some conclusions here: 'Multiple pathways to personhood: How Bangladeshi women managed to renegotiate patriarchy' In charting Bangladesh’s remarkable progress on a range of social indicators since the 1970s, she explores the critical role played by women’s agency. How were women able to challenge existing gender norms in the context of the “lived” Islam of their culture? What are the lessons of this episode  – and what nuances are offered vis-à-vis the more “universal” path to progress and emancipation generally assumed by Western feminists? https://lnkd.in/e4iruv5h LSE Department of International Development Department of Gender Studies LSE

New Research Published in QJE! 🎉 Thrilled to share our latest paper, published this week in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (with my amazing co-authors Christine Exley, Molly Moore and John-Henry Pezzuto). 📊 Across 15 studies with nearly 9,000 participants, we found that people systematically believe women are more generous, equality-oriented, and cooperative than men. Yet, the data shows that men and women’s behaviors in relation to trust, cooperation, and fairness across a variety of economic activities are far more similar than these stereotypes suggest. Participants predicted how men and women would behave in various economic games. In the Dictator Game, they estimated that women would be more generous when splitting money. In the Ultimatum Game, they anticipated women would be fairer. In the Public Goods Game, they expected women to cooperate more to a shared pot. Across 28 contexts, women were consistently expected to choose "socially-oriented" outcomes 8–13% more often than men—but these differences rarely exist. We then find similar results across a variety of other settings, vignettes and domains, plus additional experiments that hint at the role of upbringing in shaping these beliefs about gender differences. Why does this matter? These stereotypes can limit leadership opportunities, reinforce traditional family roles, and skew support for policies like equal pay and parental leave—perpetuating inequalities. 💡 Let’s challenge these beliefs and create environments where everyone can thrive. 🔗 Link to the paper in comments! #Research #Leadership #HR  #Stereotypes #GenderEquality

What 242 Studies Reveal About Norms, Girls’ Futures, and What Actually Works If you work on gender equity, adolescent health, or behavior change—this report is essential reading. The "State of the Evidence: Effects of Social Norms on Health and Livelihood Outcomes for Adolescent Girls and Young Women" synthesizes findings from 242 unique studies across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Led by the Center on Gender Equity and Health at UC San Diego Equity and Health, the report explores how norms shape outcomes for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW)—and what interventions actually shift them. Here’s a preview of what you’ll find: 🔹 Report Overview: Social and gender norms shape health, education, employment, and safety outcomes for young people. Yet while norm-shifting programs are growing, clear evidence on how they work - and how to measure change - has been limited. This report fills part of that gap. 🔹 Module 1: Introduction: Lays the foundation by outlining the report's rationale, methodology, and guiding questions. It also assesses the strength and limitations of existing evidence. 🔹 Module 2: Norms and Outcomes: Explores how social norms influence AGYW behaviors and life choices in SRH, WEE, GBV, and child marriage. Highlights the interplay between beliefs, attitudes, and systemic influences like education and policy. 🔹 Module 3: Entertainment Media Approaches: Examines how storytelling and media shift social norms. Reviews how programs engage parents, peers, and educators to influence group expectations through mass and social media. 🔹 Module 4: Faith & Cultural Champions: Analyzes how religious and cultural leaders influence norms through intentional programming. Highlights promising strategies, measurement challenges, and considerations for scale. My takeaway? Norm-shifting takes more than awareness. It takes changing collective expectations - and requires intentional, context-aware engagement. If your team works with adolescent girls or gender norms - this report is full of illustrations of programs that have worked. For folks who want to rewire what communities expect of girls this is essential reading. I'll share the link to the report in the comments, below. #BehavioralScience #SocialNorms #GenderEquality #GirlsEmpowerment #AdolescentHealth #EntertainmentEducation #FaithAndCulture #AfricaBehavioralScienceNetwork #NormsChange #PublicHealth #DevelopmentResearch

Male privilege is often used to justify domestic violence by reinforcing traditional gender roles that prioritize male dominance and entitlement. Abusers may exploit societal beliefs that position men as the “head of the household” to rationalize controlling behavior, expecting obedience and submission from their partners. This sense of entitlement can manifest in emotional, financial, and physical abuse, all while minimizing the harm by framing it as discipline, protection, or stress. In systems shaped by patriarchal norms, abusers may also receive implicit support or leniency from institutions, such as law enforcement or the courts, that are slow to hold men accountable, further enabling the cycle of abuse.

Beyond XX and XY: How Sex Chromosomes Secretly Shape Us. Rethinking Sex Chromosomes: Key Regulators of Our Entire Genome This research shakes up the established dogma in a few key ways. It shows that X and Y chromosome genes regulate the expression of thousands of genes throughout the genome, not just genes related to sex and reproduction. This challenges the view that sex chromosomes mainly determine biological sex differences. It found that the gene pair ZFX/ZFY, located on the X and Y chromosomes, have similar regulatory effects on global gene expression. This goes against the assumption that X and Y chromosome genes have diverged significantly in their functions. The regulatory effects of adding an extra X or Y chromosome were found to be linear and similar in magnitude. This suggests that the sex chromosomes contribute equal, dosage-sensitive regulation rather than fundamentally distinct effects.   The sex-based regulation was observed in diverse cell types like immune cells and skin cells, not just reproductive tissues. This indicates that sex chromosomes impact all body systems, challenging their perceived niche role. This research is so important because it fundamentally changes our understanding of the role and impact of sex chromosomes on human health and development. It expands the functional scope of sex chromosomes, showing that they regulate the core biological processes that underpin growth, immune function, disease risk, and more. This may open new avenues for understanding sex differences in disease. It suggests that the dosage of X/Y gene pairs like ZFX/ZFY helps optimize overall gene expression levels. Imbalances from extra/missing chromosomes may, therefore, disrupt healthy development. It has sex chromosomes integral to normal physiology. As gene regulators used by every cell, they are not a reproductive niche anymore but essential genome components. Considering the role of sex chromosomes in core cell processes across tissues, new links to common diseases like autoimmune disorders, cancers, and neurodegeneration may emerge. The research shakes up the dogma that sex chromosomes mainly govern reproduction and sex differences. Instead, it shows they have a broad regulatory role across cell types, with X and Y providing symmetrical dosage-based control of a common ancestral function. It expands the functional scope of sex chromosomes, showing that they regulate the core biological processes that underpin growth, immune function, disease risk, and more. This may open new avenues for understanding sex differences in disease. JP https://lnkd.in/eQmqVaAY

🔎 Conscious Biases: “That’s Just How It Is” ✅ “Leader = Male” (Think Leader, Think Male) A Harvard Business Review study found that 76% of people associate leadership qualities with traditionally masculine traits (e.g., decisiveness). As a result, women have to put in more effort to prove their competence, even in fields where they are experts. 📖 Source: Eagly & Karau (2002) “Role Congruity Theory”. ✅ “Double Bind” Women in leadership face a paradox: if they show emotion, they are seen as “weak”; if they are firm, they are labeled “aggressive.” Research from Yale University found that highly self-confident women receive 35% less support from colleagues compared to men. 📖 Source: Moss-Racusin et al. (2012) “Science Faculty’s Subtle Gender Biases”. ✅ “Maternal Wall” Women with children are often perceived as less committed to their careers. A Cornell University study found that mothers’ résumés received 50% fewer interview invitations compared to identical résumés of child-free women. 📖 Source: Correll et al. (2007) “Getting a Job: Maternal Bias”. 🔎 Unconscious Biases: “It’s Just How the Brain Works” ✅ “Heidi vs. Howard Effect” A Columbia Business School experiment presented the same leadership case study with two different names: “Heidi” (a woman) and “Howard” (a man). Howard was perceived as competent and likable, while Heidi was seen as selfish. 📖 Source: Flynn & Lake (2008) “The Heidi/Howard Paradox”. ✅ Unconscious Association: “Woman = Supportive Role” An fMRI study (Proverbio et al., 2022) showed that when women break traditional stereotypes (e.g., leading negotiations), observers’ amygdala—associated with anxiety—becomes more active. ✅ “Outcome Bias” Men’s success is often attributed to their talent, while women’s achievements are more likely credited to luck. A neuroeconomic experiment (Uhlmann & Cohen, 2005) found that participants were 40% more likely to select men for leadership roles, even when their qualifications were identical to women’s. 🌱 Let’s make bias a thing of the past—together!

More than a year back I carried out a research study supported by the International Rice Research Institute and the CGIAR Gender Equality and Inclusion and Impact Platform explored the use of socio-technical innovation bundles (STIBs) in India to improve women farmers' practices. The study met with 50 women farmers from 8 blocks of Cooch Behar District and carried out detailed interactions with them. Climate change has significant implications for food security and the livelihood of smallholder farmers, especially in lower and middle-income countries. In South Asia, an overwhelmingly higher proportion of women (71%) than men (47%) work in agri-food systems. Climate change impacts are not gender-neutral, as women are more vulnerable due to restrictive social norms and constrained access to resources. Many climate-smart agriculture technologies remain out of reach for women, especially from marginalized communities. An inclusive approach is essential to bring women working in agriculture into the mainstream and empower them with direct access to knowledge of improved agricultural practices, innovations, and technologies. Appropriate innovations, technologies, and a social eco-system need to be developed for women to increase food production and reduce post-harvest losses. To make India's agriculture progressive, it is necessary to incorporate the inclusion of women at many levels. Empowered women farmers can increase household income, develop a stable rural livelihood, and contribute to ensuring food security.