Gender bias in the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study 2003 (TIMMS) for Canadian students /

This study is a secondary data analysis of the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study 2003 (TIMSS) to determine if there is a gender bias, unbalanced number of items suited to the cognitive skill of one gender, and to compare performance by location. Results of the Grade 8, math portion of the test were examined. Items were coded as verbal, spatial, verbal /spatial or neither and as conventional or unconventional. A Kruskal- Wallis was completed for each category, comparing performance of students from Ontario, Quebec, and Singapore. A Factor Analysis was completed to determine if there were item categories with similar characteristics. Gender differences favouring males were found in the verbal conventional category for Canadian students and in the spatial conventional category for students in Quebec. The greatest differences were by location, as students in Singapore outperformed students from Canada in all areas except for the spatial unconventional category. Finally, whether an item is conventional or unconventional is more important than whether the item is verbal or spatial. Results show the importance of fair assessment for the genders in both the classroom and on standardized tests.

Science, gender and otherness in Shelley's Frankenstein and Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation

Questions of gender and genre in Frankenstein remain complex issues for contemporary critics, in the novel itself as well as in its cinematographic adaptations, from John Whale's classic 1931 version to Kenneth Branagh's 1994 "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." Though science seems to be the unifying principle behind the main story of the novel and the films, I will argue that Shelley incorporates science and sexual orientation within her novel in a way that differs significantly from the films, and especially from Branagh's version.

Gender and the Australian parliament

This dissertation by publication which focuses on gender and the Australian federal parliament has resulted in the submission of three refereed journal articles. Data for the study were obtained from 30 semi-structured interviews undertaken in 2006 with fifteen (15) male and fifteen (15) female members of the Australian parliament. The first of the articles is methodological and has been accepted for publication in the Australian Journal of Political Science. The paper argues that feminist political science is guided by five important principles. These are placing gender at the centre of the research, giving emphasis to women’s voice, challenging the public/private divide, using research to transform society and taking a reflexive approach to positionality. It is the latter principle, that of the importance of taking a reflexive approach to research which I explore in the paper. Through drawing on my own experiences as a member of the House of Representatives (Forde 1987-1996) I reflexively investigate the intersections between my background and my identity as a researcher. The second of the articles views the data through the lens of Acker’s (1990) notion of the ‘gendered organization’ which posits that there are four dimensions by which organizations are gendered. These are via the division of labour, through symbols, images and ideologies, by workplace interactions and through the gendered components of individual identity. In this paper which has been submitted to the British Journal of Political Science, each of Acker’s (1990) dimensions is examined in terms of the data from interviews with male and female politicians. The central question investigated is thus to what extent does the Australian parliament conform to Acker’s (1990) concept of the ‘gendered organization’? The third of the papers focuses specifically on data from interviews with the 15 male politicians and investigates how they view gender equality and the Australian parliament. The article, which has been submitted to the European Journal of Political Science asks to what extent contemporary male politicians view the Australian parliament as gendered? Discourse analysis that is ‘ways of viewing’ (Bacchi, 1999, p. 40) is used as an approach to analyse the data. Three discursive frameworks by which male politicians view gender in the Australian parliament are identified. These are: that the parliament is gendered as masculine but this is unavoidable; that the parliament is gendered as feminine and women are actually advantaged; and that the parliament is gender neutral and gender is irrelevant. It is argued that collectively these framing devices operate to mask the many constraints which exist to marginalise women from political participation and undermine attempts to address women’s political disadvantage as political participants. The article concludes by highlighting the significance of the paper beyond the Australian context and calling for further research which names and critiques political men and their discourses on gender and parliamentary practices and processes.

Gender and the Australian parliament : putting the political scientist into the picture

This paper draws on a study of gender and politics in the Australian parliament in order to make a contribution to methodological debates in feminist political science. The paper begins by outlining the different dimensions of feminist political science methodology that have been identified in the literature. According to this literature five key principles can be seen to constitute feminist approaches to political science. These are: a focus on gender, a deconstruction of the public/private divide, giving voice to women, using research as a basis for transformation, and using reflexivity to critique researcher positionality. The next part of the paper focuses more specifically on reflexivity tracing arguments about its definition, usefulness and the criticisms it has attracted from researchers. Following this, I explore how my background as a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1987 to 1996 provided an important academic resource in my doctoral study of gender and politics in the national parliament. Through this process I highlight the value of a reflexive approach to research.

Is the association between temperature and mortality modified by age, gender and socio-economic status?

Background: A number of studies have examined the relationship between high ambient temperature and mortality. Recently, concern has arisen about whether this relationship is modified by socio-demographic factors. However, data for this type of study is relatively scarce in subtropical/tropical regions where people are well accustomed to warm temperatures. Objective: To investigate whether the relationship between daily mean temperature and daily all-cause mortality is modified by age, gender and socio-economic status (SES) in Brisbane, Australia. Methods: We obtained daily mean temperature and all-cause mortality data for Brisbane, Australia during 1996–2004. A generalised additive model was fitted to assess the percentage increase in all deaths with every one degree increment above the threshold temperature. Different age, gender and SES groups were included in the model as categorical variables and their modification effects were estimated separately. Results: A total of 53,316 non-external deaths were included during the study period. There was a clear increasing trend in the harmful effect of high temperature on mortality with age. The effect estimate among women was more than 20 times that among men. We did not find an SES effect on the percent increase associated with temperature. Conclusions: The effects of high temperature on all deaths were modified by age and gender but not by SES in Brisbane, Australia.

Dimensions of neuroticism : relationships with gender and personality traits

Reports results of 2 studies into sex-related neuroticism. Measures included sex-free and sex-related neuroticism scales (L. Francis, see record 1994-00056-001), the Psychoticism, Extraversion, and Lie scales of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and the Beck Depression Inventory. In Study 1 with 69 male and 75 female undergraduates, no support for the validity of sex-free and sex-related measures of neuroticism was found. Although scores on both neuroticism measures were significantly related to depression scores, sex-free neuroticism was also associated with extraversion, psychoticism, and social desirability but only among males. Women tended to have significantly higher neuroticism scores than did men. In Study 2 involving 56 male and 129 female undergraduates, no significant differences in total scale scores were observed between the sexes when a natural language measure of neuroticism was used.

Gender and Leader Effects in the 2010 Australian Election

The impact of voters’ gender on leader evaluations in parliamentary systems has been largely unexplored, while the impact of female leaders on voter attitudes and preferences remains to be fully established. This paper uses Julia Gillard’s historic candidacy in the 2010 Australian federal election to explore how voters evaluated Australia’s first female prime minister, and to test the impact of their assessments on vote choice. The authors also examine whether Gillard’s high-profile candidacy affected women’s levels of political interest, awareness and engagement in what had been largely a ‘man’s game’. Their findings confirm that Gillard enjoyed a gender-affinity effect in 2010 in terms of both leader evaluations and vote choice, and women’s political engagement was significantly affected by the Gillard candidacy.

High school students' perceptions of school science and science careers : a critical look at a critical issue

Disproportionate representation of males and females in science courses and careers continues to be of concern. This article explores gender differences in Australian high school students’ perceptions of school science and their intentions to study university science courses. Nearly 3800 15-year-old students responded to a range of 5-point Likert items relating to intentions to study science at university, perceptions of career-related instrumental issues such as remuneration and job security, self-rated science ability and enjoyment of school science. Australian boys and girls reported enjoying science to a similar extent, however boys reported enjoying it more in relation to other subjects than did girls, and rated their ability in science compared to others in their class more highly than did girls. There was no significant difference between the mean responses of girls and boys to the item “It is likely I will choose a science-related university course when I leave school” and the strongest predictors of responses to this item were items relating to students’ liking for school science and awareness from school science of new and exciting jobs, followed by their perceived self-ability. These results are discussed in relation to socio-scientific values that interact with identity and career choices, employment prospects in science, and implications for science education.

Book Review: "Gender and Global Justice edited by Alison M. Jaggar, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014"

Hidden aspects of assumed gender-neutral global policies and transnational institutions that have “systematically disparate and often burdensome consequences for specific groups of women in both the global North and the global South” (10) are the focus of Gender and Global Justice edited by Alison M Jagger. In response to the frequent neglect of gender in considerations of moral philosophy in global issues, the chapters assembled in this edited collection highlight the manifold ways in which our attention to a broad range of questions of justice at a global level is enhanced by close attention to the gendered dimensions of injustice and inequality.

Associations of serum perfluoroalkyl acid levels with T-helper cell-specific cytokines in children: By gender and asthma status

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are a group of common chemicals that ubiquitously exist in wildlife and humans. Experimental data suggest that they may alter T-lymphocyte functioning in situ by preferentially enhancing the development of T-helper 2 (TH2)- and inhibiting TH1-lymphocyte development and might increase allergic inflammation, but few human studies have been conducted. To evaluate the association between serum PFAAs concentrations and T-lymphocyte-related immunological markers of asthma in children, and further to assess whether gender modified this association, 231 asthmatic children and 225 non-asthmatic control children from Northern Taiwan were recruited into the Genetic and Biomarker study for Childhood Asthma. Serum concentrations of ten PFAAs and levels of TH1 [interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-2] and TH2 (IL-4 and IL-5) cytokines were measured. The results showed that asthmatics had significantly higher serum PFAAs concentrations compared with the healthy controls. When stratified by gender, a greater number of significant associations between PFAAs and asthma outcomeswere found in males than in females. Among males, adjusted odds ratios for asthma among those with the highest versus lowest quartile of PFAAs exposure ranged from 2.59 (95% CI: 1.14, 5.87) for the perfluorobutanesulfonate (PFBS) to 4.38 (95% CI: 2.02, 9.50) for perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS); and serum PFAAs were associated positively with TH2 cytokines and inversely with TH1 cytokines among male asthmatics. Among females, no significant associations between PFAAs and TH2 cytokines could be detected. In conclusion, increased serum PFAAs levels may promote TH cell dysregulation and alter the availability of key TH1 and TH2 cytokines, ultimately contributing to the development of asthma that may differentially impact males to a greater degree than females. These results have potential relevance in asthma prevention.