Feature Channels: Gender Issues

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In a new synthesis of past work, researchers found that women consistently score lower than men on common assessments of conceptual understanding of physics. However, when examining the factors that may account for these differences (such as student background and test-taking strategies), no clear pattern emerged. Thus, despite previous claims that the causes of this gender gap have been pinpointed, the problem remains unsolved and poorly understood. This has critical importance for science education reform.

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A new study by UNL psychologists Sarah Gervais and Mike Dodd used eye-tracking technology to map the visual behavior of men and women as they looked at images of women with different body types.

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Having children early and in rapid succession are major factors fueling high infant mortality rates in the South Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan where one in 14 births to young mothers ends with the death of the child within the first year, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

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A Connecticut College senior asked 100 fellow students – all men – why vaginas are important to them. The resulting video, posted to YouTube, is a powerful, provocative and sometimes awkward 8-minute piece that has sparked conversations about vaginas, women, sex and consent on college campuses across the country and even across oceans.

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According to a University of Montreal research team, the quality of care provided by female doctors is higher than that of their male counterparts while the productivity of males is greater. The research team reached this conclusion by studying the billing information of over 870 Quebec practitioners (half of whom were women) relating to their procedures with elderly diabetic patients.

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Researchers at the University of Texas-Austin and Cornell University have published a new study examining the factors behind the shortage of women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. They find no evidence that women are opting out of the STEM workforce to start families, in contrast to the widespread perception that family factors account for the lack of women in STEM-related careers.

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A new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health finds that bisexual teens may be at risk for suicide even into young adulthood.

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Flushed face, sweating, a sudden rush of heat. The hot flash, the bane of menopausal women, also can affect men who are undergoing hormone therapy for prostate cancer.

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When early elementary math teachers ask students to explain their problem-solving strategies and then tailor instruction to address specific gaps in their understanding, students learn significantly more than those taught using a more traditional approach. This was the conclusion of a yearlong study of nearly 5,000 kindergarten and first-grade students conducted by researchers at Florida State University.

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• A genetic variant on chromosome 2 is linked with kidney failure in women with type 1 diabetes but not in men. • Diabetic women with the risk variant had a nearly two-fold increased risk of developing kidney failure compared with diabetic women who did not have the risk variant.

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By studying rare families in which a daughter shares the same Y chromosome as her father, Michael Weiss, MD, PhD, and his colleagues at the CWRU School of Medicine have determined that the pathway for male sexual development is not as consistent and robust as scientists have always assumed.

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Deep down, men may not bask in the glory of their successful wives or girlfriends. While this is not true of women, men’s subconscious self-esteem may be bruised when their spouse or girlfriend excels, says a study published by the American Psychological Association.

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Researchers at The Kinsey Institute have been awarded a two-year grant to study the medical accommodation and care of transgender troops in the U.S. military.

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Chapman University’s David Frederick will present new research at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association that examines men's and women’s beliefs about who should pay for dates during courtship, and how couples actually go about splitting expenses.

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In 2002, the federal government mandated that corporate boards of directors include at least one “audit committee financial expert” to help avert future accounting scandals. But the title and description of that position may have an unintended negative effect on the gender diversity of corporate boards, argues Seletha Butler, assistant professor of law and ethics at Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business.

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Many U.S. universities have no women among their physics faculty; when people talk about gender equity in physics, this is often cited as evidence of a hiring bias. A new analysis challenges this, finding the existence of all-male departments is not necessarily evidence of a hiring bias.

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The idea that females are more resilient than males in responding to stress is a popular view, and now University at Buffalo researchers have found a scientific explanation. The paper describing their embargoed study will be published July 9 online, in the high-impact journal, Molecular Psychiatry.

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The media often portray computer scientists as nerdy males with poor social skills. But a UW psychologist found women will want to study computer science if they don't buy into the stereotypes.

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Hormonal therapy for transsexual patients is safe and effective, a multicenter European study indicates. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society’s 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

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Hormone treatment to halt puberty in adolescents with gender identity disorder does not cause lasting harm to their bones, a new study finds. The results were presented today at The Endocrine Society’s 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

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According to market research from Saint Joseph's University, gender diversity is lacking across all leadership levels within the insurance industry. Primary author Mike Angelina, executive director of Saint Joseph's Academy of Risk Management and Insurance, is hopeful his findings will call on businesses to address gender inequality, saying employing females in leadership roles will lead to a more diverse workforce and potentially better represent the underlying customer demographics.

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Many women get too little sleep, despite considerable evidence showing the importance of sleep to overall health. Now a new UC San Francisco study has discovered another reason why inadequate sleep may be harmful, especially to women and their hearts.

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New research from McMaster University suggests women can remember faces better than men, in part because they spend more time studying features without even knowing it, and a technique researchers say can help improve anyone’s memories.

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Given the chance, women are more likely than men to dodge an opportunity to donate to charity, a group of economists have found.

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People will lie about their sexual behavior to match cultural expectations about how men or women should act – even though they wouldn’t distort other gender-related behaviors, new research suggests.

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A new study from researchers in Japan indicates that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is independently associated with visceral (abdominal) fat accumulation only in men, perhaps explaining gender differences in the impact of OSA on cardiovascular disease and mortality.

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African-Americans are less likely than whites and women are more likely than men to have had a prior diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) regardless of their current disease severity, according to a new study.

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While the genes provided by the father arrive at fertilization pre-programmed to the state needed by the embryo, the genes provided by the mother are in a different state and must be reprogrammed to match.

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A study of adolescents receiving treatment for methamphetamine dependence has found that girls are more likely to continue using the drug during treatment than boys, suggesting that new approaches are needed for treating meth abuse among teen girls.

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Though past studies have found little evidence that women are opting out of the workforce in general, first-of-its-kind research by Vanderbilt professor of law and economics Joni Hersch shows that female graduates of elite undergraduate universities are working much fewer hours than their counterparts from less selective institutions.

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A scientist’s gender can have a big impact on how other researchers perceive his or her work, according to a new study.

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American University Professor Jennifer Lawless and her co-author reveal in their new report, "Girls Just Wanna Not Run: The Gender Gap in Young Americans’ Political Ambition," that there is a serious gender gap in women's interest versus men's interest in running for elected office which will likely persist for generations.

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UC San Diego report on gender in the professions shows that males retain lion’s share of power and prestige in post-recession economy.

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As most people know, there are many differences between men and women (to say the least). But what if acknowledging those differences could save a life.

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Same-sex cohabitors report worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status who are in heterosexual marriages, according to a new study, which may provide fuel for gay marriage proponents.

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The idea that boys are better at math and in competitions has persisted for a long time - primarily because of the competition format. A new study shows that competitions that extend beyond a single round result in parity between the sexes.

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When it comes to college education, men are falling behind by standing still. The proportion of men receiving college degrees has stagnated, while women have thrived under the new economic and social realities in the United States.

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Student loans provide more help to women than they do for men in encouraging graduation from college, a new nationwide study reveals.

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A new psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin suggests the glue that cements the unique relationship between gay men and straight women is honest, unbiased relationship advice.

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A new quantitative study of data assembled from the online multiplayer game Pardus examines ways men and women manage their social networks drastically different, even online.

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It's time for the Mars/Venus theories about the sexes to come back to Earth, a new study shows. From empathy and sexuality to science inclination and extroversion, statistical analysis of 122 different characteristics involving 13,301 individuals finds that men and women, by and large, do not fall into different groups.

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A book co-edited by prominent University of Illinois at Chicago gender historian John D'Emilio has received an award from the American Historical Association.

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A new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium (CKD-PC) found that in general chronic kidney disease is similarly associated with a higher risk of death and end stage renal disease for both women and men. The findings were released online in advance of publication in BMJ.