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Title: Cities, Gender Equality and Social Change in Africa and Asia
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2017
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Abstract: Support for gender equality is rising – globally, but especially in cities. Urban (rather than rural) residents are more likely to support gender equality in education, employment and leadership. This holds even when controlling for individual- and national-level variables over time. Drawing on cross-national quantitative analysis of data from 45 countries between 1991 and 2016, and qualitative research in Cambodia, we suggest why cities often disrupt gender inequalities. First, cities often raise the opportunity costs of gender divisions of labour – due to higher living costs, more economic opportunities for women, and the current precarity of male employment. Second, cities facilitate the spread of ideas. People living in interconnected, heterogeneous, densely populated areas are typically more exposed to women demonstrating their equal competence in socially valued, masculine domains. Such exposure reinforces growing flexibility in gender divisions of labour. Third, urban women tend to have better access to health and police services – so are more able to control their fertility and secure external support against gender-based violence. However, none of the above hold necessarily. The impact of urban residence is mediated by occupational status; macro-economic context; sectoral composition of job growth; government policies; quality of services; and transnational flows.
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Authors: Evans, Alice; Swiss, Liam
Publisher: King's College London
Data Collections: IPUMS Global Health - DHS
Topics: Education, Fertility and Mortality, Gender, Health, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Land Use/Urban Organization
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