Women's empowerment and violent death among women and men in Europe: an ecological study

Does gender inequity increase men's mortality risk in the United States? A multilevel analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study

A number of theoretical approaches suggest that gender inequity may give rise to health risks for men. This study undertook a multilevel analysis to ascertain if state-level measures of gender inequity are predictors of men's mortality in the United States. Data for the analysis were taken primarily from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study, which is based on a random sample of the non-institutionalised population. The full data set included 174,703 individuals nested within 50 states and had a six-year follow-up for mortality. Gender inequity was measured by nine variables: higher education, reproductive rights, abortion provider access, elected office, management, business ownership, labour force participation, earnings and relative poverty. Covariates at the individual level were age, income, education, race/ethnicity, marital status and employment status. Covariates at the state level were income inequality and per capita gross domestic product. The results of logistic multilevel modelling showed a number of measures of state-level gender inequity were significantly associated with men's mortality. In all of these cases greater gender inequity was associated with an increased mortality risk. In fully adjusted models for all-age adult men the elected office (OR 1.05 95% CI 1.01–1.09), business ownership (OR 1.04 95% CI 1.01–1.08), earnings (OR 1.04 95% CI 1.01–1.08) and relative poverty (OR 1.07 95% CI 1.03–1.10) measures all showed statistically significant effects for each 1 standard deviation increase in the gender inequity z-score. Similar effects were seen for working-age men. In older men (65+ years) only the earnings and relative poverty measures were statistically significant. This study provides evidence that gender inequity may increase men's health risks. The effect sizes while small are large enough across the range of gender inequity identified to have important population health implications.

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Theoretical approaches link gender inequity to increased health risks for men.

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Multilevel analysis allows investigation of a contextual effect of gender inequity.

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The study modelled the effect of state-level gender inequity on men's mortality.

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Aspects of gender inequity predicted an increased mortality risk for men.

The Association Between Men's Sexist Attitudes and Facial Hair

Facial hair, like many masculine secondary sexual traits, plays a significant role in perceptions of an array of sociosexual traits in men. While there is consensus that beards enhance perceptions of masculinity, age, social dominance, and aggressiveness, the perceived attractiveness of facial hair varies greatly across women. Given the ease with which facial hair can be groomed and removed entirely, why should some men retain beards and others choose to remove them? We hypothesized that men with relatively sexist attitudes would be more likely to allow their facial hair to grow than men with less sexist attitudes. Men from the USA (n = 223) and India (n = 309) completed an online survey measuring demographic variables, ambivalent sexism, and facial hair status. After controlling for demographic variables, men with facial hair were significantly higher in hostile sexism than clean-shaven men; hostile sexism was a significant predictor of facial hair status over and above demographic variables; and facial hair was more frequent among ambivalent and hostile sexists than among benevolent and non-sexists. It is suggested that sexist men choose to grow facial hair because it maximizes sexual dimorphism and augments perceived masculinity and dominance.

Social dominance orientation predicts drive for muscularity among British men

The present study tested the hypothesis that men's drive for muscularity would be associated with their valuation of domination, power, status, and aggression over others. A community sample of 359 men from London, UK, completed measures of drive for muscularity, social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, trait aggression, and need for power, as well as their demographic details. Bivariate correlations showed that greater drive for muscularity was significantly correlated with most of the measures and their subscales. However, in a multiple regression analysis, the only significant predictor of drive for muscularity was support for group-based dominance hierarchies (Adj. R(2)=.17). These results suggest that men's drive for muscularity is associated with a socio-political ideology that favours social dominance.

Whether men or women are responsible for size of gender gap in alcohol consumption depends on alcohol measure: A study across U.S. states

Smaller gender differences in alcohol consumption are often interpreted to mean something about women's drinking, for example, that women are increasing consumption to men's levels. However, prior research is unclear. This study sought to determine whether variation in size of gender differences in alcohol consumption across U.S. states was due to male or female consumption. Data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to test the hypothesis that variation in size of gender differences would be associated with women's, but not men's consumption. Pearson's correlations examined associations between gender-specific values of and gender differences in consumption in each state. The size of gender difference was associated with proportion of female, but not male, drinkers. Conversely, size of gender difference was associated with male frequency, five-plus frequency, volume, and risky drinking, but not female frequency, five-plus frequency, volume, or risky drinking. These findings suggest that smaller gender differences in cross-sectional studies cannot be interpreted as due to women's alcohol consumption.

What can alcohol researchers learn from research about the relationship between macro-level gender equality and violence against women?

AIMS

This systematic review focuses on research about macro-level gender equality and violence against women (VAW) and identifies conceptually and theoretically driven hypotheses as well as lessons relevant for alcohol research. Hypotheses include: amelioration--increased equality decreases VAW; backlash--increased equality increases VAW; and convergence--increased equality reduces the gender gap; and hypotheses that distinguish between relative and absolute status, with relative status comparing men's and women's status and absolute status measuring women's status without regard to men.

METHODS

Systematic review of studies published through June 2009 identified through PubMed and Web of Science, as well as citing and cited articles.

RESULTS

A total of 30 studies are included. Of 85 findings examining amelioration/backlash, 25% support amelioration, 22% backlash; and 53% are null. Of 13 findings examining convergence, 31% support and 23% are inconsistent with convergence; 46% are null.

CONCLUSION

Neither the existence nor the direction of the equality and VAW relationship can be assumed. This suggests that the relationship between macro-level gender equality and alcohol should also not be assumed, but rather investigated through research.