Sociologists for Women in Society

A Critical Sister: Public Authority and the Role and Position of the Karen Women’s Organisation, Myanmar

Pe The Law, N., Mortensen, S., & Middleton, C. (2026). “A Critical Sister: Public Authority and the Role and Position of the Karen Women’s Organisation, Myanmar.” Gender & Society, 40(1): 38-67, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432251415175.

Drawing on the case of the Karen Women’s Organisation (KWO) serving the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Karen people in Myanmar, we demonstrate that KWO acts as a critical sister, playing a vital role in co-producing KNU’s legitimacy through public service provision and revolutionary support, while simultaneously walking a fine line by criticizing the dominant patriarchal norms. 

Masculine and Violent Temporalities: Examining the Legacies of Men’s Unwanted Sexual Experiences

Bonner-Thompson, C., McGregor, K., & Preston, J. (2026). “Masculine and Violent Temporalities: Examining the Legacies of Men’s Unwanted Sexual Experiences.” Gender & Society, 40(1): 127-151, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432261418029.
This article argues that sexual violence ruptures masculine temporalities, revealing the limits of gendered constructions of time and the ways they sustain violence and inequality. We draw upon research that explored the lives of 40 men living in England after incidents of sexual violence to argue that gendered temporalities enable violence to be maintained and continued, rupturing the everyday life of survivors as they negotiate contradicting temporalities.

Critical Contradictions: How Black Girlhood in Schools Complicates Controlling Images

Miller, P. (2025). “Critical Contradictions: How Black Girlhood in Schools Complicates Controlling Images.” Gender & Society, 39(5): 689-716, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432251375114.

This article uses an intersectional lens of race, gender, and age to argue that current understanding that Black feminist theory can benefit from more fully theorizing how Black girlhood becomes subject to systemic violence and dehumanization. Using ethnographic methods at a 6th- to 12th-grade school, Miller demonstrates how controlling images in select media outlets distinctly impact Black girls.

The Mundane and the Extreme: Women’s Experiences of Housework and Marital Violence in India
Sarma, K., & Hu, Y. (2025). “The Mundane and the Extreme: Women’s Experiences of Housework and Marital Violence in India.” Gender & Society, 39(5): 717-747, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432251374244.

Through in-depth interviews with 22 women survivors of marital violence from Assam, India, this research shows that housework features prominently in the women’s experiences of marital violence. This article highlights that the mundane (housework) and the extreme (violence) are not separate regimes of gender control and demonstrates how they intersect to (re)produce domestic gender inequality, particularly in the Global South.

Unionized Against Cisnormativity: How Siblings of Transgender Youth Divest from Family Gender Norms

Alexander, K., Robinson, B. A., & Stone, A. L. (2025). “Unionized Against Cisnormativity: How Siblings of Transgender Youth Divest from Family Gender Norms.” Gender & Society, 39(5): 748-773, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432251374292.

Families are a key institution that reproduce and resist gender inequalities, including cisnormativity—a gender structure that erases, marginalizes, and harms trans people. Using interviews with 52 trans youth, who are mainly trans youth of color, this article examines how siblings of trans youth divest from cisnormativity and help trans youth achieve gender recognition when parents are unsupportive or ambivalent. We introduce the concept of counterhegemonic accountability to describe how siblings hold accountable family members who misrecognize trans youth’s gender. 

“We Are Seriously Two Equals”: Lesbian Mothers-to-be and Sharing Motherhood in Sweden

Eriksson Kirsch, M. (2025). “We Are Seriously Two Equals”: Lesbian Mothers-to-be and Sharing Motherhood in Sweden. Gender & Society, 39(5): 774-798, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432251374667.

This study explores how women in lesbian couples in Sweden discuss in/equalities during their transitions into motherhood. The couples are situated in a context where gender equality discourse has long dominated public narratives and political decisions about families. Drawing on interviews with 40 lesbian mothers-to-be (20 couples), the findings suggest that these women perceive themselves as exempt from the gender equality project. As a consequence, women in lesbian relationships may not foresee the gendered consequences of their actions and arrangements.

Feminist Solidarity or Moralized Body Politics? Online Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Communities and Feminist Health Politics

Blum, L., & Surkan, K. J. (2025). “Feminist Solidarity or Moralized Body Politics? Online Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Communities and Feminist Health Politics.” Gender & Society, 39(5): 799-827, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432251374235.

In this article, the co-authors extend the study of the embodied health activism of breast cancer survivors to the relatively neglected peer-to-peer groups now proliferating online. They conducted in-depth interviews during COVID-19 with individuals with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer mutations who are unusually active online. Blum and Surkan asked participants with diverse racial-ethnic, gender, and sexual identities about online experiences to understand solidarity and activism, as well as challenges and contradictions, particularly within the context of a neoliberal emphasis on taking individual responsibility to overcome health risks. 

Gender found Guilty: Anti-Gender Backlash and (Dis)Translation Politics in Iraq

Mustafa, B. (2025). “Gender found Guilty: Anti-Gender Backlash and (Dis)Translation Politics in Iraq.” Gender & Society, 39(4): 509-534, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432251344267.

The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court banned the term gender in February 2024, resulting in a crackdown on gender equity and significantly undermining the space for feminist activism and advocacy. This article examines the conditions leading to the 2023 anti-gender backlash in Iraq, the discursive strategies of the backlashers, and its broader implications for feminist activism. Analyzing the backlashers’ discourse and incorporating local feminist voices, this study highlights the backlash on gendered activism, academic inquiry, and women’s rights. 

“I Actually Snapped”: Conceptualizing Resistance to Street Harassment as Feminist Snap and Erosion

Fileborn, B. (2025). “‘I Actually Snapped’: Conceptualizing Resistance to Street Harassment as Feminist Snap and Erosion.” Gender & Society, 39(4): 535-560, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432251337428.

Fileborn examines the strategies of resistance deployed by people who have experienced street harassment. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 47 heterosexual women and LGBTQ+ people, Fileborn documents how participants skillfully and contextually deployed resistance strategies to disrupt harassment. Notably, participants often represented resistance practices as moments of affective, subconscious snap. Fileborn argues that practices of resistance must be located within a much longer history of harassment which builds up or sediments in the body over time, culminating in an affective breaking point. 

Moving out of Salafism: Muslim Women and the Development of a Pious Feminist Consciousness

Dawood, I. (2025). “Moving out of Salafism: Muslim Women and the Development of a Pious Feminist Consciousness.” Gender & Society, 39(2): 257-284, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432251317157.

Drawing on theories of religious defection with the development of feminist consciousness, Dawood shows how some Muslim women, who joined the Salafi community in London between 1980s and 2010, later moved out of the community in different directions and to varying degrees, after developing a pious feminist consciousness. This consciousness involves the identification of gender inequality in gender-traditional religious communities as well as the development of an oppositional consciousness in which religion is critically applied to contest women’s subaltern position in these communities. 

Beyond tradition? How Gender Ideology Impacts Employment and Family Arrangements in Swiss Couples
Bornatici, C., & Zinn, I. (2025). “Beyond tradition? How Gender Ideology Impacts Employment and Family Arrangements in Swiss Couples.” Gender & Society, 39(2): 285-320, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432251317464.

This article examines how heterosexual couples “undo gender” in their work–family arrangements within the conservative context of Switzerland. Bornatici and Zinn explore in a longitudinal analysis the influence of both partners’ gender ideologies on paid and unpaid work arrangements across family life stages. Their findings highlight the need for policy reform to establish supportive institutions that empower couples to align their behaviors with their gender ideologies, paving the way for greater equality in the future.

“Drama queens” and “attention seekers”: Characterizations of Femininity and Responses to Women Who Communicated their Intent to Suicide

Townsend, H. (2025). “‘Drama queens’ and ‘attention seekers’: Characterizations of Femininity and Responses to Women Who Communicated their Intent to Suicide.” Gender & Society, 39(1): 5-34, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241300619 

Historically, suicidal women and women in distress have been pathologized and trivialized. Townsend performs a qualitative “sociological autopsy” on 17 cases of young women who communicated intent before their deaths by suicide but were dismissed or ignored. Townsend identifies two tropes of suicidal femininity: “drama queens” and “attention seekers.” This article highlights how gendered assumptions about, and interpretations of, women’s emotions and suicidality can be dangerous, even fatal.

Reframing Feminist Ideas, Challenging State Incorporation: Activism Against Violence and the Feminicídio Law in Brazil

Pamplona, R. S. (2025). “Reframing Feminist Ideas, Challenging State Incorporation: Activism Against Violence and the Feminicídio Law in Brazil.” Gender & Society, 39(1): 35-62, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241304768.

Through a case study of the Feminicídio Law in Brazil, Pamplona examines feminist writings on feminicídio, following its state incorporation as a criminal category, to address the killing of women based on gendered reasons. Drawing on materialist feminist discourse analysis, Pamplona challenges the notion that institutionalization necessarily leads to depoliticization and instead demonstrates how feminists have reframed the legal framework of feminicídio to strategically confront state initiatives, such as firearm ownership projects, by employing an individual criminal category against the state. 

Reworking Identity, Reworking Heteronormativity: The Case of Tongqi in China

Yang, T. S., Song, C., & Xie, H. (2025). “Reworking Identity, Reworking Heteronormativity: The Case of Tongqi in China.” Gender & Society, 39(1): 63-90, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241301020.

What happens when heteronormativity is disrupted? This article sheds light on this question using data from in-depth interviews with 34 heterosexual women (tongqi) in China who are unwittingly married to men who have sex with men (MSM). Our analysis reveals four ways in which tongqi draw upon heteronormativity to rework their identities in response to the disclosure of their husbands’ sexuality: oppositional identity work to restore an unblemished identity, relational identity work to distance oneself from other tongqi, maintenance identity work to sustain the marriage, and subversive identity work to challenge heteronormativity. 

Why do Rural Migrant Mothers in Urban China Digitally Monitor Their Children?

Murphy, R., & Wu, G. (2025). “Why do Rural Migrant Mothers in Urban China Digitally Monitor Their Children?” Gender & Society, 39(1): 91-119, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241305605.

Murphy and Wu examine how and why some rural intra-provincial working migrant women in cities in central China used digital monitoring technologies in their mothering. Drawing on 22 interviews with the rural migrant mothers of at least one child, their analysis highlights the intersectionally constituted time pressures arising from these women’s need to balance their responsibilities in paid work and childcare. They explore how these mothers used digital monitoring in navigating the time and space constraints to providing maternal care, practices that Murphy and Wu call “time stretching.” 

In the Grip of Traditionalism? How Nigerian Middle-Class Working Mothers Navigate Normative Ideals of Femininity

Adekoya, O. D., Adamson, M., Mordi, C., Ajonbadi, H. A., & Adisa, T. (2024). In the Grip of Traditionalism? How Nigerian Middle-Class Working Mothers Navigate Normative Ideals of Femininity. Gender & Society, 38(6): 841-867, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241289404.

This article explores how middle-class professional women navigate working mother subjectivities in the context of Nigeria’s strong patriarchal culture, where traditional notions of maternal femininity prevail. Drawing on 32 qualitative interviews, Adekoya et al demonstrate how a small group of women refused traditional feminine subject positions; however, most mothers either embraced or reluctantly acquiesced to traditional femininity, despite having access to broader cultural repertoires and material resources. 

“I Would Have Given them a Piece of my Mind”: Spatialized Feelings and Emotion Work Among Racialized Muslim Women in Québec

Stallone, J. (2024). “‘I Would Have Given them a Piece of my Mind’: Spatialized Feelings and Emotion Work Among Racialized Muslim Women in Québec.” Gender & Society, 38(6): 935-964, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241293445.

Stallone examines the emotional experiences of Canadian Muslim women and the emotion work they do to manage non-Muslims’ impressions of them in a context of rampant Islamophobia. Developing a concept called spatialized feelings—how emotions, relationally accomplished in intersectional hierarchies, are contingent on the spaces social actors occupy– Stallone draws on interviews and participant observation of Muslim women in Québec who revealed that their feelings about self and belonging were spatialized. 

Under the Smokescreen of Horizontality: Gendered Leading Tasks within the Yellow Vest Movement

Melby, E. (2024). “Under the Smokescreen of Horizontality: Gendered Leading Tasks within the Yellow Vest Movement.” Gender & Society, 38(5): 701-728, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241277814.

Melby expands the concept of leading tasks, to get at the ways in which gender intersects with the critical organizing work of maintaining horizontal movements. Drawing on comparative data from 7 months of fieldwork conducted with two grassroots groups in the French Yellow Vest movement, Melby argues that horizontal organizing in the Yellow Vests (YVM) functions as a gendered structure which opens possibilities for women to take on important leading tasks: caring management, attentive listening, and superintendence. These analytically constructed, gendered leading tasks point to a tension inherent in horizontality. 

Workplace Breastfeeding As Foodwork In Organizational Settings: Advancing Knowledge From Black, Low-Income Women In South Africa

Farista, F., & Jaga, A. (2024). “Workplace Breastfeeding As Foodwork In Organizational Settings: Advancing Knowledge From Black, Low-Income Women In South Africa.” Gender & Society, 38(5): 761-787, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241277223.

A major reason for breastfeeding cessation is the conflict between this foodwork labor and the physical labor of paid employment. Based on in-depth interview data from 33 black low-income working mothers in South Africa, the research findings yield both struggles and innovations in the mothers’ attempts to combine nourishing their children with paid employment. Farista and Jaga present recommendations for improving workplace support for low-income mothers’ breastfeeding efforts, and for advancing gender equity.

Gendered Vulnerability in Necropolitical Bordering: Displaced Men’s Material and Affective Abandonment in Greece

Paul, O., & Masood, M. (2024). “Gendered Vulnerability in Necropolitical Bordering: Displaced Men’s Material and Affective Abandonment in Greece.” Gender & Society, 38(4):, 493-522, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241263583.

Drawing on fieldwork and interviews with humanitarians and displaced men, Paul and Masood demonstrate how gendered conceptions of vulnerability are not only integrated into institutionalized immigration apparatuses but also circulate in the everyday discourses, practices, and affective economies that constitute the Greek care regime. The result is that a form of necropolitics is exercised against men, forcing them to reside in conditions of slow violence and permanent injury. They address the gendered nature of this necropolitics as well as the gender-specific consequences for men at Europe’s borders.

Choosing to Stay: Building a Future for Gender-Diverse People in Saskatchewan through Stories of Hope and Belonging

Walker, R. L., Bergen, J., Fayant-Mcleod, T., & Marshall, K. (2024). “Choosing to Stay: Building a Future for Gender-Diverse People in Saskatchewan through Stories of Hope and Belonging.” Gender & Society, 38(3): 351-378, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241252617

This article draws on the first comprehensive study of Two Spirit, trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming (2STNBGN) people in Saskatchewan. Despite challenges, including rising conservatism and targeted political attacks, the co-authors temper assumptions that trans and queer people want to leave Saskatchewan for other locations where the 2STNBGN community is assumed to be bigger. Their research shows that despite an increasingly chilly political climate toward 2STNBGN people, Saskatchewan still bears witness to trans joy, innovative activism, and an activated trans community that is invested in a future that they are a part of.

Money Matters! Evidence From a Survey Experiment on Attitudes Toward Maternal Employment Across Contexts in Germany

Frodermann, C., Hipp, L., & Bünning, M. (2024). Money Matters! Evidence From a Survey Experiment on Attitudes Toward Maternal Employment Across Contexts in Germany. Gender & Society, 38(3): 436-465, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241252601.

This examines the context dependency of attitudes toward maternal employment. Frodermann, Hipp, and Bünning test three sets of factors that may affect these attitudes—economic benefits, normative obligations, and child-related consequences—by analyzing data from a unique survey experimental design implemented in a large-scale household panel survey in Germany (17,388 observations from 3,494 respondents). Their results show that the economic benefits associated with maternal employment are the most important predictor of attitudes supporting maternal employment. 

The Myth of Mutuality: Decision-Making, Marital Power, and the Persistence of Gender Inequality

Wong, J. S., & Daminger, A. (2024). “The Myth of Mutuality: Decision-Making, Marital Power, and the Persistence of Gender Inequality.” Gender & Society, 38(2), 157-186, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241230555.

What is the new consensus upholding gendered power imbalances among contemporary highly educated couples? Drawing on 112 interviews with members of 44 such couples making career and family decisions to update theorizing on invisible power –the ability to resist changing one’s behavior because of an unspoken consensus that the status quo is natural or inevitable— Wong and Daminger examine decision-making processes and outcomes across work and family domains over time, including in cases of apparent agreement, reveals the consensus now upholding men’s interests to be couples’ conviction they are practicing mutuality. 

Couple Identity Work: Collaborative Couplehood, Gender Inequalities, and Power in Naming

Sue, C. A., vasquez-tokos, J., & Núñez, A. c. (2024). “Couple Identity Work: Collaborative Couplehood, Gender Inequalities, and Power in Naming.” Gender & Society, 38(2), 187-215, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231226125.

Baby naming, which represents a highly visible and symbolic family milestone, is a strategic site in which to examine how couple identities are constructed—for self, partner, and others—through the naming process and through stories parents tell of how they named the baby. Drawing on 46 interviews with U.S. Mexican-origin heterosexual parents, the co-authors expose tensions that result when practices do not align with a desired (egalitarian) couple identity and detail the ensuing cognitive, emotion, and narrative labor that parents—primarily women—perform to reconcile inconsistencies. They introduce the concept of couple identity work, or the work involved in creating and projecting a desired impression of a relationship for multiple audiences, to provide a theoretical framework for these gendered dynamics. 

Loosening The Grip: Delegation of Financial Decision-Making to Spouse in Old Age 

Hohn, S., Basu, A., Dulleck, U., Henry, J., & Cherbuin, N. (2024). “Loosening The Grip: Delegation of Financial Decision-Making to Spouse in Old Age.” Gender & Society, 38(2): 244-275, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231225504.

Gender inequality in control of household finances is a well-known phenomenon. This article investigates whether such imbalance also extends to the delegation of financial decision-making (FDM) responsibilities to one’s spouse in old age. This study reports the results from an incentivized delegation experiment among Australian couples of age ≥60 years. Their research suggests that gender norms and control play a dominant role in the delegation of FDM within older couples and can override specialization or efficiency considerations.

Bounded Nonnormativity of Heterosexuality: Gendered Sex Partying in Hong Kong

Tsui, P. P. (2024). “Bounded Nonnormativity of Heterosexuality: Gendered Sex Partying in Hong Kong.” Gender & Society, 38(1): 7-32, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231207046.

How heterosexual men and women are differently constrained by normativity—or potentially rupture it—is underexplored. Through an ethnography of sex partying, Tsui integrates queer and feminist perspectives to examine how people navigate and cope with institutionalized heterosexuality and compulsory monogamy. This study finds a contradictory relationship between sex partygoers and normativity and contributes to gendering transnational queer sociology by highlighting the distinct experiences of men and women in relation to the regime of normalcy in Hong Kong.

Do Couples Take Financially Rational Decisions When They Become Parents? No, But They Believe They Do

Zimmermann, R. (2023). “Do Couples Take Financially Rational Decisions When They Become Parents? No, But They Believe They Do.” Gender & Society, 37(6): 914-941, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231189302

Based on 133 in-depth interviews with 54 parents (27 couples) residing in French-speaking Switzerland, this study traces new parents’ financial decision-making and focuses on two financial decisions parents must make: about division of working hours and type of childcare. Even when parents voiced opposition to gender norms, they rationalized gendered labor division as economically efficient and their decisions conformed to those norms despite real costs of labor division deviating from estimated costs.

Gender Segregation in Civic Life: Women’s and Men’s Involvement in Voluntary Associations

Dederichs, K., & de Graaf, N. D. (2023). “Gender Segregation in Civic Life: Women’s and Men’s Involvement in Voluntary Associations.” Gender & Society, 37(6): 942-971, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231195075.

In this article, Dederichs and de Graaf study gender homophily in voluntary involvement and examine how structural features of friendship networks and traditional gender norms bring about gender segregation. Employing data from a German panel study (SC6-NEPS), they analyze cross-sectional patterns of gender segregation and run multinomial and binary logistic regressions to model joining and quitting transitions. Their results indicate substantive gender segregation across and within types of voluntary associations. 

The Discursive Work of “Bottom-Shaming”: Sexual Positioning Discourse in the Construction of Black Masculinity

Winder, T. J. A. (2023). “The Discursive Work of “Bottom-Shaming”: Sexual Positioning Discourse in the Construction of Black Masculinity.” Gender & Society, 37(5): 774-799, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231186999.

Using ethnographic data and interviews with young Black gay cisgender men, Winder highlights the ways Black masculinity is constructed against Latino and white men’s masculinity, discursively situating this masculinity within a racial hierarchy celebrating hypermasculinity among Black men. Black masculinity is further policed within Black gay communities through what Winder terms as sexual positioning discourse. Sexual positioning discourse is integral to masculinity boundary work among gay men, yet when employed by heterosexual men, this discourse calls their sexuality into question. 

Parental Leave Policies, Usage Consequences, and Changing Normative Beliefs: Evidence From a Survey Experiment

Philipp, M.-F., Büchau, S., Schober, P. S., & Spiess, C. K. (2023). “Parental Leave Policies, Usage Consequences, and Changing Normative Beliefs: Evidence From a Survey Experiment.” Gender & Society, 37(4): 493-523, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231176084.

In this study, we conceptualize and provide novel empirical evidence on norm-setting effects of family policies by investigating how priming with parental leave policy–related information may alter normative beliefs regarding the gender division of parental leave in Germany. We implemented a survey experiment in two waves of the representative German GESIS Panel in 2019 and 2020. Our findings mostly point to stronger effects of priming with information on income risks compared with paternal leave usage trends and to more pronounced changes in normative beliefs among childless respondents.

Gender-Atypical Learning Experiences of Men Reduce Occupational Sex Segregation: Evidence From the Suspension of the Civilian Service in Germany

Hamjediers, M. (2023). “Gender-Atypical Learning Experiences of Men Reduce Occupational Sex Segregation: Evidence From the Suspension of the Civilian Service in Germany.” Gender & Society, 37(4): 524-552, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231177650.

Occupational sex segregation persists in part because men seldom enter female-dominated occupations. Whereas programs providing women with gender-atypical learning experiences aim to increase female representation in male-dominated domains, similar programs for men—despite their potential to counteract the prevailing lack of men in female-dominated occupations—are rare. This paper investigates whether men’s gender-atypical learning experiences affect their likelihood of entering female-dominated occupations by studying the effect of participation in Germany’s civilian service. 

Coming Into Identity: How Gender Minorities Experience Identity Formation

Nordmarken, S. (2023). “Coming Into Identity: How Gender Minorities Experience Identity Formation.” Gender & Society, 37(4): 584-613, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231172992.

Previous studies have found that trans people claim to have consistent gender identities over their lifetimes. As a result, scholars know little about processes through which individuals come to identify differently from their gender assignment. In this article, Nordmarken analyzes how gender minorities in the United States come to identify with new labels, theorizing gender-identity formation as a social process. Most research participants’ stories illustrate a process of gender-identity change—what Nordmarken terms as coming into identity. 

Stratified Reproduction, Hysterectomy, and the Social Process of Opting into Infertility

Becker, A. (2023). Stratified Reproduction, Hysterectomy, and the Social Process of Opting into Infertility. Gender & Society, 37(4): 614-639, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231175655.

Shifting cultural norms transform the uses and meanings of medical practices, and, in turn, medical practices have the capacity to alter social relations. In this article, I 

Becker uses hysterectomy as a case for understanding how reproductive health practices are constrained by and contribute to notions of gender, race, and stratified reproduction. Hysterectomy is regularly performed yet understudied and has been transformed by both technological advances and shifting norms in gender and reproduction. This research draws on 100 in-depth interviews with individuals who had, want, or are considering hysterectomy to treat chronic reproductive health conditions or as gender-affirming care for trans and gender-nonbinary (TGNB) individuals. Findings show divergent patient–provider interactions ranging from physician support to provider coercion to gatekeeping. Similarly, the data reveal that hysterectomy evokes a wide range of reactions—from delight to neutrality to grief. 

Building the Settler Colonial Order: Police (In)Actions in Response to Violence Against Indigenous Women in “Canada”

Flores, J., & Román Alfaro, A. (2023). Building the Settler Colonial Order: Police (In)Actions in Response to Violence Against Indigenous Women in “Canada”. Gender & Society, 37(3): 391-412, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231171171.

In this article we focus on missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in “Canada.” We theorize narratives that police employ to respond to this violence. Using a broad data sample of testimonies across “Canada,” this article contributes to understanding how police (in)actions make sense of, justify, and dismiss violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. We draw from 48 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Indigenous peoples in Toronto and other “Canadian” cities and 219 testimonies from the Canadian National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (NIMMIWG). 

Multidimensional Gender Ideologies Across Europe: Evidence From 36 Countries

Begall, K., Grunow, D., & Buchler, S. (2023). “Multidimensional Gender Ideologies Across Europe: Evidence From 36 Countries.” Gender & Society, 37(2): 177-207, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231155914.

In this paper, we use the “gender as a social structure” framework to assess macro-, interactional-, and micro-level mechanisms explaining the stalled revolution in gender ideologies. Using the European Values Study 2008 data and latent class analysis, we look at the spread of gender ideologies and examine their association with national levels of gendered ascription of work and care roles, work–family compatibility, social inequality and societal affluence, individual characteristics, and cross-level interactions with gender and education in 36 (post-)industrialized countries. 

Gender Differences in Job Resources and Strains in Authority Positions

Stojmenovska, D. (2023). Gender Differences in Job Resources and Strains in Authority Positions. Gender & Society, 37(2): 240-267, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231159334.

In contrast to the rich literature on the causes of the gender gap in workplace authority, relatively little is known about how the jobs and experiences of women and men compare once they have positions with authority. Using linked survey and administrative data of about 100,000 women and men working in Dutch organizations, Stojmenovska analyzed differences in job resources (earnings, autonomy, and nonroutine work) and strains (workplace harassment, work–nonwork interference, and job burnout) between women and men in positions of workplace authority. Findings suggest that women’s entry into authority positions alone is not sufficient for achieving gender equality.

Gender Bias in Stem Hiring: Implicit In-Group Gender Favoritism Among Men Managers

Friedmann, E., & Efrat-Treister, D. (2023). Gender Bias in Stem Hiring: Implicit In-Group Gender Favoritism Among Men Managers. Gender & Society, 37(1): 32-64, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221137910

Women’s underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is related to the hierarchical social structure of gender relations in these fields. However, interventions to increase women’s participation have focused primarily on women’s interests rather than on STEM managers’ hiring practices. In this research, we examine STEM hiring practices, explore the implicit bias in criteria used by STEM managers, and suggest possible corrective solutions. 

Complicating Patriarchy: Gender Beliefs of Muslim Facebook Users in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia

Charles, M., Friedland, R., Afary, J., & Yang, R. (2023). “Complicating Patriarchy: Gender Beliefs of Muslim Facebook Users in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.” Gender & Society, 37(1): 91-123, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221137909.

Western stereotypes often characterize gender relations in Muslim-majority societies as uniformly traditional and patriarchal. Underlying this imagery is a unidimensional understanding of gender ideology as moving along a single traditional-to-egalitarian continuum. In this study, we interrogate these assumptions by exploring variability across and within Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian (MENASA) societies in beliefs related to two regionally salient gender principles: women’s chastity and marital patriarchy. Data from a new online survey of Muslim Facebook users show substantial heterogeneity across and within six MENASA societies in support for these principles. 

Perinatal Care for Trans and Nonbinary People Birthing in Heteronormative “Maternity” Services: Experiences and Educational Needs of Professionals

Pezaro, S., Crowther, R., Pearce, G., Jowett, A., Godfrey-Isaacs, L., Samuels, I., & Valentine, V. (2023). “Perinatal Care for Trans and Nonbinary People Birthing in Heteronormative “Maternity” Services: Experiences and Educational Needs of Professionals.” Gender & Society, 37(1), 124-151, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221138086.

Childbearing trans and nonbinary people are confronted with the heteronormative and cisgender frameworks that underpin “maternity” services. We explored the educational needs of 108 perinatal staff in the United Kingdom as related to the needs of trans and nonbinary service users. Participants were most confident in formulating care plans and least confident about the provision of colleagues’ perinatal care in this context. While the majority of participants were positive toward the trans and nonbinary communities, they considered that those communities remain marginalized in perinatal services.

Weaponized Subordination: How Incels Discredit Themselves to Degrade Women

Halpin, M. (2022). “Weaponized Subordination: How Incels Discredit Themselves to Degrade Women.” Gender & Society, 36(6), 813-837, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221128545.

In this article, Halpin analyzes weaponized subordination, wherein men strategically use their perceived subordinate masculine status to legitimate their degradation of women. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of 9,062 comments made on a popular involuntary celibate (“incel”) discussion board characterized by self-loathing, anger, and misogyny, with several incels having committed murders (e.g., Elliot Rodger), the article demonstrates how incels use their perceived subordinate status to justify their misogyny. 

“Just Let it Pass by and it Will Fall on Some Woman”: Invisible Work in the Labor Market

Kaplan, A. (2022). “Just Let it Pass by and it Will Fall on Some Woman”: Invisible Work in the Labor Market. Gender & Society, 36(6): 838-868, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221128544.

Kaplan addresses the lack of a systematic conceptualization and measurement of invisible work in the labor market built upon women’s and men’s knowledge and experiences. Using mixed-method sequential analysis, twelve group interviews of employed women and men of varied socioeconomic locations in Israel yielded diverse expressions of invisible practices in the workplace and their gendered meanings. The study develops a typology of invisible work as a heuristic device contributing to office housework theory. 

Does the Pandemic Affect Inequality Within Families?: The Case of Dual-Earner Couples in Israel

Herzberg-Druker, E., Kristal, T., & Yaish, M. (2022). Does the Pandemic Affect Inequality Within Families?: The Case of Dual-Earner Couples in Israel. Gender & Society, 36(6): 895-921, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221128222.

This article exploits the unique consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak to examine whether time constraints drive the unequal division of unpaid labor between dual-earner couples in Israel. Using the first wave of longitudinal household data that was collected in Israel since the outbreak of the pandemic, the authors focused on 325 dual-earner couples who stayed employed during the first lockdown. Strong evidence was found for a gendered translation of the time constraints mechanism: A decrease in hours of paid work is related to an increase in hours of care for children among men and women, but time devoted to housework increased only among women. 

Breaking Barriers? Examining Neoliberal–Postfeminist Empowerment in Women’s Mixed Martial Arts

Hamilton, J. (2022). “Breaking Barriers? Examining Neoliberal–Postfeminist Empowerment in Women’s Mixed Martial Arts.” Gender & Society, 36(5): 652-676, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221111170.

This article problematizes claims of women’s empowerment in “masculine” sports through an exploration of women’s participation in mixed martial arts (MMA)—a combat sport colloquially referred to as “cage fighting.” Drawing from more than four years of ethnographic fieldwork and 40 semi-structured interviews with professional women’s MMA athletes, Hamilton  shows how the neoliberal–postfeminist culture of MMA undermines its empowerment potential by shaping gendered subjecthood in ways that are conducive to the maintenance of gender inequality.

Negotiating “Impossible” Ideals: Latent Classes of Intensive Mothering in the United States

Lankes, J. (2022). “Negotiating “Impossible” Ideals: Latent Classes of Intensive Mothering in the United States.” Gender & Society, 36(5): 677-703, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221114873.

Using the 2014 Child Development Supplement from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Lankes examined how a sample of mothers fell into intensive mothering profiles, or latent classes, and how class membership varied by demographic characteristics. By revealing how mothers are selectively intensive, this study expands on the ways mothers simultaneously “do” and “undo” gender norms in their parenting, as well as the sociodemographics that may predict these patterns.

Gender-Typed Skill Co-Occurrence and Occupational Sex Segregation: The Case of Professional Occupations in the United States, 2011–2015

Hsiung, C. (2022). Gender-Typed Skill Co-Occurrence and Occupational Sex Segregation: The Case of Professional Occupations in the United States, 2011–2015. Gender & Society, 36(4): 469-497, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221102148.

Studies of occupational sex segregation rely on the sociocultural model to explain why some occupations are numerically dominated by women and others by men. However, the model does not adequately explain cases of segregation that deviate from these norms or investigate the ways in which feminine and masculine skills co-occur in occupations. The present study evaluates two previously untested explanations for deviations from the sociocultural model. The findings show that requirements for physical strength (a masculine skill) increase with women’s representation in professional occupations because physical strength skills co-occur with substantially higher requirements for feminine skills that involve helping and caring for others. 

Revisiting the Gender Revolution: Time on Paid Work, Domestic Work, and Total Work in East Asian and Western Societies 1985–2016

Kan, M.-Y., Zhou, M., Kolpashnikova, K., Hertog, E., Yoda, S., & Jun, J. (2022). “Revisiting the Gender Revolution: Time on Paid Work, Domestic Work, and Total Work in East Asian and Western Societies 1985–2016.” Gender & Society, 36(3): 368-396, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221079664.

The authors analyze time use data of four East Asian societies and 12 Western countries between 1985 and 2016 to investigate the gender revolution in paid work, domestic work, and total work. The closing of gender gaps in paid work, domestic work, and total work time has stalled in the most recent decade in several countries. Findings suggest that cultural norms interact with institutional contexts to affect the patterns of gender convergence in time use, and gender equality might settle at differing levels of egalitarianism across countries.

Plastic Bodies: Women Workers and Emerging Body Rules in Service Work in Urban India

Islam, A. (2022). “Plastic Bodies: Women Workers and Emerging Body Rules in Service Work in Urban India.” Gender & Society, 36(3): 422-444, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221089637.

Drawing on the narratives of young lower-middle-class women employed in cafés, call centers, shopping malls, and offices in Delhi, India, Islam identifies malleability or “plasticity” of the body as an important feature of contemporary service work. As neophyte service professionals, young women mold themselves to the middle-/upper-class milieu of their workplaces through clothes, makeup, and body language. Such body plasticity can be experienced as enabling: Identifying with the image of the “New Indian Woman,” young women enter the bourgeoning service economy. However, they also experience this body plasticity as threatening; bodily changes to meet the requirements of work can, at times, feel inauthentic as well as be read as promiscuous by others.

Climax as Work: Heteronormativity, Gender Labor, and the Gender Gap in Orgasms

Andrejek, N., Fetner, T., & Heath, M. (2022). “Climax as Work: Heteronormativity, Gender Labor, and the Gender Gap in Orgasms.” Gender & Society, 36(2): 189-213, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211073062.

In this mixed-methods study of heterosexual Canadians, the authors examine how men and women engage in gender labor that limits women’s orgasms relative to men. With representative survey data, we test existing hypotheses that sexual behaviors and relationship contexts contribute to the gender gap in orgasms. With in-depth interview data from a subsample of 40 survey participants, the authors show that both men and women engage in gender labor to explain and justify the gender gap in orgasms.

“Dutch Racism is not Like Anywhere Else”: Refusing Color-Blind Myths in Black Feminist Otherwise Spaces

Rose, A. (2022). “Dutch Racism is not Like Anywhere Else”: Refusing Color-Blind Myths in Black Feminist Otherwise Spaces. Gender & Society, 36(2): 239-263, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221075098.

Despite myths of color-blindness in the Netherlands, Black women are marginalized by mainstream expectations of racial and cultural homogeneity. Rose uses Amsterdam Black Women as a case study to illustrate the lived experiences of women affected by this exclusion. In this space, women freely critique Dutch society through mundane moments of truth-telling, venting, and joking, which enable individual problems to rise to a community level. Rose explores how subtle configurations of Black feminist organizing can be key sites of healing, experimentation, and political engagement. 

Postfeminist Versions of Equality? An Analysis of Relationship and Sex Counseling Practices in Finland

Kolehmainen, M. (2022). “Postfeminist Versions of Equality? An Analysis of Relationship and Sex Counseling Practices in Finland.” Gender & Society, 36(1), 63-87, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211057922.

Relationship and sex counseling are pivotal components of the “therapeutization of society,” which has been identified and widely examined as a key transformation of 21st-century modern Western societies. The particular understandings of gender and sexuality that circulate in those practices contribute to the wider everyday conceptions of intimate life and are thus important to investigate from a feminist perspective. Combining insights from studies on therapeutic cultures, research on intimate relationships, scholarship on postfeminism, and affect theory, this article taps into the often ambivalent ways in which gender equality and sexual rights are articulated in relationship and sex counseling practices. My data are derived from an ethnographic investigation of relationship enhancement events in Finland.

Gendered Interpretations of Job Loss and Subsequent Professional Pathways

Rao, A. H. (2021). Gendered Interpretations of Job Loss and Subsequent Professional Pathways. Gender & Society, 35(6), 884-909, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211046303.

While we know that career interruptions shape men’s and women’s professional trajectories, we know less about how job loss may matter for this process. Drawing on interviews with unemployed, college-educated men and women in professional occupations, Rao shows that while both men and women interpret their job loss as due to impersonal “business” decisions, women additionally attribute their job loss as arising from employers’ “personal” decisions. This study identifies job loss as an event that, on top of gendered workplace experiences and caregiving obligations, may curtail some women’s participation in paid work.

On the Periphery: Examining Women’s Exclusion From Core Leadership Roles in the “Extremely Gendered” Organization of Men’s Club Football in England

Bryan, A., Pope, S., & Rankin-Wright, A. J. (2021). On the Periphery: Examining Women’s Exclusion From Core Leadership Roles in the “Extremely Gendered” Organization of Men’s Club Football in England. Gender & Society, 35(6): 940-970, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211046318.

In this article, the authors frame men’s club football as an “extremely gendered” organization to explain the underrepresentation of women leaders within the industry. By analyzing women’s leadership work over a 30-year period, the authors find that women’s inclusion has been confined to a limited number of occupational areas. These areas are removed, in terms of influence and proximity, from the male players and the playing of football. These findings reveal a gendered substructure within club football that maintains masculine dominance in core football leadership roles and relegates women to a position of peripheral inclusion in leadership roles. 

Sexual Harassment in Display Work: The Case of the Modeling Industry

Crowley, J. E. (2021). “Sexual Harassment in Display Work: The Case of the Modeling Industry.” Gender & Society, 35(5), 719-745, https://doi.org/10.1177/089124322110368.

This feminist analysis focuses on sexual harassment within a specific category of jobs known as display work, where primarily women’s bodies are commodified and sold to consumers, and often through the conduits of powerful male industry leaders. Using qualitative content analysis methods to analyze 88 subjective, first-person narratives of harassment from 70 models working within the fashion business, Crowley describes how the commodification of bodies interacts with the particular features of the modeling industry—the premium placed on youth, ambiguous industry demands, and the presence of kingmakers—to produce an environment in which opportunities for sexual harassment can proliferate. 

Divergent Gender Revolutions: Cohort Changes in Household Financial Management across Income Gradients

Hu, Y. (2021). “Divergent Gender Revolutions: Cohort Changes in Household Financial Management across Income Gradients.” Gender & Society, 35(5): 746-777, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211036912.

The ways in which partners manage their money provide important clues to gender inequality in and the nature of couple relationships. Analyzing data from nationally representative surveys (N = 11,730 couples), Hu examines changes across British cohorts born between the 1920s and 1990s in their household financial management, and how the changes vary across individuals and couples occupying differential income positions. The results show divergent, nuanced cohort trends toward gender equality in couples’ money management. 

“Women’s Work”: Welfare State Spending and the Gendered and Classed Dimensions of Unpaid Care

Lightman, N., & Kevins, A. (2021). “Women’s Work”: Welfare State Spending and the Gendered and Classed Dimensions of Unpaid Care. Gender & Society, 35(5): 778-805, https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211038695

This study is the first to explicitly assess the connections between welfare state spending and the gendered and classed dimensions of unpaid care work across 29 European nations. This research uses multi-level model analysis of European Quality of Life Survey data, examining childcare and housework burdens for people living with at least one child under the age of 18. Two key findings emerge: First, by disaggregating different types of unpaid care work, we find that childcare provision is more gendered than classed—reflecting trends toward “intensive mothering”. Second, while overall social expenditure has no effect on hours spent on childcare and housework, results suggest that family policy may shape the relationship between gender, income, and housework (but not childcare). 

The Gendered Racialization of Asian Women as Villainous Temptresses

Hwang, M. C., & Parreñas, R. S. (2021). “The Gendered Racialization of Asian Women as Villainous Temptresses.” Gender & Society, 35(4): 567-576, https://doi.org/10.1177/089124322110293.

What explains white male animus against Asian women? Examining the murders in Atlanta, GA, which reflect a larger global pattern of violence against what are perceived as hypersexualized Asian women, the dominant discourses on these murders promote either a narrative of racial xenophobia or a stance for or against sex work. Neither discourse adequately accounts for the simultaneous racial and gendered determination of Asian women’s experiences. As the authors explain, hypersexualization implies immorality, which in turn threatens the social order and thereby justifies Asian women’s disposability. 

Covid-19, Flexible Working, and Implications for Gender Equality in the United Kingdom

Chung, H., Birkett, H., Forbes, S., & Seo, H. (2021). “Covid-19, Flexible Working, and Implications for Gender Equality in the United Kingdom.” Gender & Society, 35(2): 218-232, https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243221100130/

This article examines the role flexible working has for gender equality during the pandemic, focusing on arrangements that give workers control over when and where they work. Using a survey of dual-earning working parents in the United Kingdom during the peak of the first lockdown between mid-May and mid-June 2020, the results show that in most households, mothers were mainly responsible for housework and child care tasks both before and during the lockdown period, although this proportion has slightly declined during the pandemic. 

Reflections on the Less Visible and Less Measured: Gender and COVID-19 in India

Agarwal, B. (2021). “Reflections on the Less Visible and Less Measured: Gender and COVID-19 in India.” Gender & Society, 35(2), 244-255, https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243221100129.

The gender effects of COVID-19 are complex, and extend much beyond the issues of care work and domestic violence that have captured global attention. Agarwal uses examples from India to outline the complexity of the gender effects of the pandemic and highlights the advantages of group-based approaches for protecting women’s livelihoods during such crises.