Female employment and political representation have skyrocketed in Iberia. Pioneering the world's first majority-female cabinet, Spain is now the 14th most gender equal country. Italy lags behind, notwithstanding similar economies, climate, legacies of latifundia, and Catholic heritage. What is Spain's feminist secret?

Rocking Our Priors

What's Spain's Feminist Secret?

The Middle East is renowned for female seclusion, cousin marriage, and discriminatory family laws. Gulf countries are especially conservative, but have actually seen the world’s greatest leap in female employment. Why is this?

Is xenophobia fuelling female empowerment in the Gulf?

Circa 1900, women in East Asia and South Asia were equally oppressed and unfree. But over the course of the 20th century, gender equality in East Asia advanced far ahead of South Asia. What accounts for this divergence? The first-order difference between East and South Asia is economic development. East Asian women left the countryside in droves to meet the huge demand for labour in the cities and escaped the patriarchal constraints of the village. They earned their own money, supported their parents, and gained independence. By contrast, the slower pace of structural transformation has kept South Asia a more agrarian and less urban society, with fewer opportunities for women to liberate themselves. But growth is not the whole story. Cultural and religious norms have persisted in spite of growth. Even though women in South Asia are having fewer children and are better educated than ever before, they seldom work outside the family or collectively challenge their subordination. By global standards, gender equality indicators in South Asia remain low relative to regions at similar levels of development or even compared with many poorer countries. Blog with hyperlinked references here: https://www.draliceevans.com/post/how-did-east-asia-overtake-south-asia

How did East Asia overtake South Asia in gender equality?

Indian Muslims have always been free to apply their own personal laws - concerning marriage, divorce and inheritance. Congress upheld legal pluralism, so as not to aggravate the minority. Modi has no such reservations. He is pursuing a Uniform Civil Code, and presents this as a victory for Muslim women. He's probably right. A UCC would improve gender equality - if women can claim their equal rights. To do so, they need economic autonomy and public safety. Full list of references: https://www.draliceevans.com/post/will-the-bjp-save-muslim-women

Will the BJP save Muslim women?

In a fascinating new paper, Per Fredriksson and Satyendra Gupta find that areas with low irrigation potential have higher female labour force participation and female property rights. Elsewhere, men cooperated between close kin, battled against outsiders for control over valuable irrigation, captured the gains of greater productivity, developed tight bonds of kinship, while women stayed at home. These irrigation societies also tended to become authoritarian, which constrains feminist activism. Paper: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/225005/1/GLO-DP-0681.pdf Blog with pictures of irrigation systems: https://www.draliceevans.com/post/did-irrigation-entrench-the-patriarchy

Did Irrigation Entrench the Patriarchy?

Gender inequalities can persist alongside economic development. This is partly due to gender beliefs. Seldom seeing egalitarian alternatives or successful resistance, women may internalise their subordination and reluctantly comply with a seemingly unchangeable status quo.

Why Do Gender Inequalities Persist? The Importance of Beliefs!

Across the world, women have agitated for greater rights, freedoms, and protections, but with differing degrees of success. In some countries, feminist activists have mobilised widespread dissent, secured legal reforms, and pressed for enforcement. Elsewhere, they have been marginalised and maligned. What explains this international heterogeneity? Women are much more likely to collectively criticise unfair practices and organise for reform if they have economic autonomy, move freely in their communities, broaden their horizons through city-living, and become emboldened through civic resistance. Without these preconditions, feminist movements fail to take off. Warning: this is a very depressing post. It pinpoints obstacles in the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia. These include powerful religious authorities, underdevelopment, and female seclusion. To read more on this, check out the references on my blog: https://www.draliceevans.com/post/what-thwarts-feminist-activism

What Thwarts Feminist Activism in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia?

Argentina has just legalised abortion - thanks to relentless feminist activism. Latin America can now boast rapid social change: with rising female employment, soaring representation (outpacing Europe), protections for domestic workers, and ginormous rallies against sexist violence. This sharply contrasts with entrenched patriarchy in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. What is different about Latin America? I would stress relatively weak constraints on women's mobility, economic development and democratisation. These deep roots and disruptors create a fertile environment for sustained mobilisation. This is the audio version of my latest blog. It draws on a wealth of brilliant scholarship. Click here for the bibliography: https://www.draliceevans.com/post/why-is-feminist-activism-thriving-in-latin-america

Why is Feminist Activism Thriving in Latin America?

Everyone knows that Southern and Northern India are very different in culture, language, and socio-economic development. But the most dramatic regional disparity may be in gender relations. Why is this? Is it due to.. Poverty Colonialism Matriliny Cousin marriage Conquests and purdah Labour-intensive cultivation Ancestral crop yields? If you would rather read than listen, the blog is here: https://www.draliceevans.com/post/why-are-southern-north-eastern-indian-states-more-gender-equal

Why are North & South India so Different on Gender?

Professor Joe Henrich (Harvard) presents his new book on 'how Westerners became psychologically peculiar and particularly prosperous'. He suggests that the Western Church eroded kinship in Europe, which enabled a process of cultural evolution, resulting in democratisation, innovation, and economic growth. I present an alternative hypothesis: through economic development, wage labour, non-familial employment, and rural-urban migration, people broaden their networks beyond kinship. So my suggestion is that economic development fosters cultural change. Let me know what you think!! Read more about Professor Henrich: https://henrich.fas.harvard.edu/ And his book: https://weirdpeople.fas.harvard.edu/

"The WEIRDest People in The World": Professor Joe Henrich

Support for gender equality has increased across the world, especially in cities. Why is this? And what does it tell us about the drivers of social change? World Bank talk, followed by insightful audience questions. Sharing in case it's of wider interest. My research in Zambia & Cambodia suggests that cities: (i) raise the opportunity costs of the male breadwinner model, (ii) increase exposure to women in socially valued roles, and (iii) enable diverse associations, so people can collectively contest established practices. Interests, exposure, and association then reinforce a snowballing process of social change. This work has been published in Gender & Society, and the Annals of the Association of American Geographers. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327035036_HOW_CITIES_ERODE_GENDER_INEQUALITY_A_NEW_THEORY_AND_EVIDENCE_FROM_CAMBODIA https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320921459_Cities_as_Catalysts_of_Gendered_Social_Change_Reflections_from_Zambia

How Cities Erode Gender Inequalities

Here's the video of my interview with Professor Stasavage: https://youtu.be/T9VCP6ENJ6w We discuss his new book, "The Decline & Rise of Democracy".

Video: "The Decline and Rise of Democracy"

Crops, technology, & exit options influenced whether societies became democratic or authoritarian - argues Professor David Stasavage. Rulers wanted to tax their people at the right level: extract the maximum revenue without making the goose hiss! Their strategy would depend on crop yields and technology. If caloric output is easy to predict (owing to stable temperature, irrigation, and other technology), rulers could easily calculate the agrarian surplus. But if caloric output varies each year (owing to changing weather patterns and primitive technology), prediction is difficult. Leaders could overcome these informational constraints either by surveying with bureaucrats or by soliciting council governance. Bureaucracies and councils performed the same role: providing information on crop yields. If rulers lacked bureaucratic technology, they would solicit council governance, to ascertain how much to tax. This gave rise to large-scale representative governance - argues Stasavage. In this podcast, we discuss whether this theory explains the dearth of democracy in China and MENA today, and the rise of the Communal Movement in Europe. It's a great read, though I remain sceptical.. There remains a further question: why were European but not Chinese or MENA societies able to collectively organise, and secure democratising reforms? Curious? Buy the book: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691177465/the-decline-and-rise-of-democracy Further readings: Greif & Tabellini: http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/GreifTabellini.pdf Joe Henrich: https://weirdpeople.fas.harvard.edu/ Jonathan Schulz & others: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6466/eaau5141/tab-article-info Frank Fukuyama: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Origins-Political-Order-Prehuman-Revolution/dp/1846682576 Klaus Mühlhahn: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674737358

"The Decline and Rise of Democracy": Professor David Stasavage

I've made a special episode of Rocking Our Priors. It's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgnluTjB-YE Enjoy! So, which do you prefer? Audio or video?

Video - The Rise & Fall of the Male Breadwinner

Today I discuss 3 fantastic new books on work, families, and social change - C19-21. 'Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving', by Caitlyn Collins https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691178851/making-motherhood-work 'Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood', by Helen McCarthy www.bloomsbury.com/uk/double-lives-9781408870761/ 'Bread Winner: An Intimate History of the Victorian Economy' by Emma Griffin. yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300230062/bread-winner Also mentioned: 'Women's labour force participation in nineteenth‐century England and Wales' onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ehr.12876 'The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and Family' by Claudia Goldin https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/goldin/files/the_quiet_revolution_that_transformed_womens_employment_education_and_family.pdf 'Changes in the Labour Supply of Married Women' by Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn www.nber.org/papers/w11230.pdf 'From ‘MeToo’ to Boko Haram: A survey of levels and trends of gender inequality in the world' by Stephan Klasen https://www.nber.org/papers/w11230.pdf 'Women Forget That Men are the Masters : Gender Antagonism and Socio-economic Change in Kisii District, Kenya', by Margrethe Silberschmidt www.bookdepository.com/book/9789171064394

The Rise & Fall of the Male Breadwinner

Dr Alice Evans meets with leading experts to discuss global politics and inequalities. Topics include economic development, democratisation, social movements, and gender inequality. Alice is a Lecturer at King's College London, and Faculty Associate at the Harvard Kennedy School.

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Rocking Our Priors

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