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In March 2020, the Australian government introduced a raft of public health initiatives to curb the rising cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) including closing schools and work from home orders. As a group of female academics, we were immediately attuned to the potential of COVID-19 to dilute progress made towards reducing the academic gender gap. This study emerged in response and comprised a rapid gender impact assessment of Australian universities' organisational responses to COVID-19. Our aim was to understand the nature of university policy responses and the extent to which they considered differential impacts for men and women. We searched for relevant communications pertaining to COVID-19 policies from all Australian universities published up to June 2020. Our final sample comprised 79 documents from 29 universities. Information collected was in relation to five key policy domains: support for higher degree research students, leave arrangements for staff, working remotely, managing staff and academic promotion. Overall, little attention was paid to how gender might impact on the need for, or access to, policies in response to COVID-19. Findings showed a reliance on existing workplace mechanisms including access to leave and flexible working arrangements. While the ability to work flexibly is considered a key enabler of gender equality, these approaches have been in place at Australian universities for decades but have, on their own, been inadequate to redress entrenched inequalities. While there is potential for social disruptions brought about by the pandemic to act as a catalyst for change, this will not happen without policies that are transformative in their approach to equality and inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1982 Turkish Constitution established a legal system aimed at ensuring state efficiency and stability more than the full respect of the rule of law. In the last decade, the latter is undergoing a democratic decay. The currently dominant Islamic Populism is reinterpreting fundamental concepts of constitutional democracy to entrench a paternalistic majoritarian vision of the law-making process and of the society. This perspective undermines the principle of gender equality, confirming the denial of LGBTQIA+ rights and increasingly favouring the principle's interpretation in line with the Islamic conception of gender complementarity. Such a limitation in women's enjoyment of equality is quite striking for a country that started the process of women's emancipation and empowerment at the beginning of the twentieth century, coevally with the establishment of the Turkish Republic. Furthermore, this drift raises doubts as to the activity of the parliamentary committee on 'Equal opportunity for women and men', established in 2009 with the duty of ensuring the respect for gender equality throughout the law-making process. Does it effectively enhance gender equality in the legislation or is it a mere reputational tool? To answer this question, after having introduced the illiberal features of the current Turkish regime, the activity of the Committee is assessed against the European and Turkish standards on the quality of legislation. Finally, concluding remarks compare the Turkish case with other illiberal authoritarianisms' discourse on gender equality, underscoring to what extent the Turkish authoritarian drift entails an anti-gender evolution in line with the conservative ideological vision of several other populisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale mining, oil, and gas projects can have a profound and negative affect on women's rights and gender equality. Adverse impacts include the disruption of family and social life; the increased risks to health and safety, especially in terms of domestic and sexual violence; environmental degradation; as well as changing access to and control over land and livelihoods. These adverse impacts fall most heavily on women. This case study focused on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). It shows that conventional environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) processes may not identify all potential adverse impacts on women, and can fail to analyse the implications of potential impacts on gender norms and gender power relations, leading to a downplaying of the significance of these impacts. The implications for women and girls' health and safety resulting from the in-migration of large numbers of mostly men seeking project employment and other opportunities and increases in women's unpaid care work are two potential adverse impacts the EACOP ESIA failed to identify. Strengthening gender analysis within the current suite of impact assessment tools and methodologies, particularly for extractive industries projects, is therefore urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the special issue on gender in impact assessment and management. We discuss the absence of gender-responsive approaches in conventional impact assessment practice and management, and associated implications for meaningfully addressing gender relations and the rights of women and LGBTQI+ people. We also introduce the special issue, which sheds light on gaps in impact assessment but also demonstrates that practical approaches exist to further embed gender-responsive approaches. Collectively, a central argument emanating from the contributions is that gender-neutral approaches to impact assessment and management can perpetuate or even create new forms of gender discrimination. This runs counter to the expectations set by international human rights law and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which rest on the central principles of non-discrimination, substantive gender equality, and 'leaving no one behind'. Four themes for more gender-responsive impact assessment and management are highlighted: (1) gender-responsive context analysis; (2) gender-responsive engagement and increased participation of women and LGBTQI+ people; (3) adaptation of tools, methods, and skills for enhanced gender responsiveness; and (4) embedding gender-responsive approaches from the project level to the governance sphere. Without presuming transferability across contexts, the contributions show that such strategies are necessary and possible in diverse global settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore key areas that impact assessment practitioners may consider when evaluating business impacts on women and girls in conflict-affected contexts. Conflict has severe impacts on women and girls, including increased domestic and sexual violence, as well as heightened economic insecurity and loss of livelihood. Additionally, gender roles can change drastically as a result of armed conflict. Business activities can compound these issues by further perpetuating violence, contributing to displacement, and undermining access to already-scarce resources. Despite the risk and severity of these impacts, impact assessments of business activities frequently fail to incorporate a gender and conflict perspective. A vast body of knowledge already exists on gender and conflict, yet this knowledge is poorly reflected in impact assessment literature and practice. I argue that increased integration of gender and conflict knowledge can significantly enhance impact assessment practice, especially in better recognising and responding to the threats and opportunities faced by women and girls in conflict-affected contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Korea's Constitution, Article 11(1) prescribes, 'All citizens shall be equal before the law, and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic, social or cultural life on account of sex, religion or social status'. The Constitution prescribes equal protection of citizens regardless of their gender. In this article, the efforts and tools for ensuring gender equality in Korea are introduced. The discussion mainly focuses on gender impact assessment and how it improves equal protection in Korea. Gender impact assessment is necessary because it contributes to policy improvement by removing gender discrimination in law and policy. The assessment also helps in preparing a substantial policy that guarantees gender equality through equal policy benefit, equal participation, and equal budget distribution for men and women. This article also covers the role of the Constitutional Court of Korea as a reviewer of the constitutionality of gender-based laws. The Constitutional Court has the authority to judge a law as unconstitutional. This can be seen as a form of legislative evaluation in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare professionals are considered to be at high risk of exposure and spread of SARS-CoV-2, and have therefore been considered a priority group in COVID-19 vaccination campaign strategies. However, it must be assumed that the immune response is influenced by numerous factors, including sex and gender. The analysis of these factors is an impact element for stratifying the population and targeting the vaccination strategy. Therefore, a large cohort of healthcare workers participating in the Italian vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2 has been studied to establish the impact of sex and gender on vaccination coverage using the Gender Impact Assessment approach. This study shows a significant difference in the antibody titers among different age and sex groups, with a clear decreasing trend in antibody titers in the older age groups. Overall, the serological values were significantly higher in females; the reported side effects are more frequent in females than in males. Therefore, disaggregated data point out how the evaluation of gender factors could be essential in COVID-19 vaccination strategies. On this biomedical and social basis, suggestions are provided to improve the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination campaign in healthcare professionals. Still, they could be adapted to other categories and contexts.

Reservoir compensation and resettlement are the two important keys for enforced migration for water conservancy projects. For reservoir migrants in China, the most severe loss of inundation is that of land, so land rights are the most critical in land acquisition compensation (LAC). In this study, based on the field survey of Wuxikou reservoir migrants in China, a social relations approach is adopted to analyze the gender gaps in the three dimensions of rules, resources and power in LAC. Besides, the study discusses the causes of gender gaps in LAC of reservoir migrants, both external and internal. External causes include the absence of a gender perspective in land systems design and migration policies, the insufficient implementation of related compensation policies, etc. Similarly, internal causes include a deviation of village rules and customary laws from policies, the patriarchal gender culture of "son preference", and the marital mobility of virilocal residence. Studies find that gender gaps exist in related local policies and laws, as well as their enforcement. Besides, migrant women lacked participation in rule-making. The distribution of compensation resources was skewed towards men, while migrant women had de facto difficulties in accessing financial compensation, productive lands, and living sites. However, migrant men had more power in the leadership of village affairs, expression in village meetings, and decision-making in family affairs than migrant women. The findings of the study reveal that to bridge the gender gaps of reservoir migrants' rights and socio-economic benefits, governments or development enterprises should reasonably build up an equal gender environment and empower migrant women, which will help to achieve the sustainable development of water projects in China. • Compensation and resettlement keys for enforced migration of WCPs • LAC for sustainable environmental management of Wuxikou Hydropower Projects • China's future water conservancy requires paradigm shifts. • Study helps to achieve the sustainable development of water projects in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Commission on Dams’ influential final report linked equitable and sustainable water and energy development, and the need for hydropower dam proponents to recognise rights, address risks, and safeguard the entitlements of all groups of affected people, including women. Yet since the report’s publication in 2000, very limited attention has been given to the gendered effects of large hydropower dams. This situation must change, given that hydropower projects inevitably have considerable impact on women and gender relations. This article describes efforts by Oxfam, the Lao Women’s Union, and the Center for Social Research and Development in Vietnam, to engage the hydropower sector on gender issues, and to work with companies and other stakeholders to pilot gender impact assessments of hydropower projects in Laos and Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender Impact Assessment (GIA) has been institutionalized in different ways in the Czech and Slovak Republics; the Czech Republic introduced GIA independently of regulatory impact assessment (RIA) process relatively early on, while Slovakia did so only during the modernization of RIA processes in the early 2010s. Based on the analysis of 671 RIAs from 2007 to 2015 the study finds that with a few exceptions largely coming from the Ministries of Social Affairs where gender equality units were originally anchored in both countries, the GIA responses are relatively formal and 'blind'. This is despite the obligations and RIA modernization processes in both countries which introduced also standardization and supervision of RIA processes by independent bodies. Both countries witness persistent invisibility of gender, despite different GIA trajectories which can be attributed to the dominance of economists in both RIA processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK coalition government is bound by equality duties to have regard to the impact of its policies on various groups, including women. This article investigates how far this legislative commitment is influencing debates about current welfare reforms, especially plans for ‘universal credit’ (a new means-tested benefit). The authors draw on findings from recent studies of within-household distribution from a gender perspective, including their own qualitative research. A major aim of this research was to facilitate more nuanced analysis of the effects of welfare reforms in terms of gender roles and relationships within the household. This article therefore examines how far findings from qualitative studies, in conjunction with the key principles they develop for assessing the gender impact of welfare reforms, can be used to examine ‘universal credit’; and to what extent these influenced the UK government’s proposals and analysis in the light of its commitment to equality duties. Los derechos de igualdad obligan al gobierno de coalición del Reino Unido a tener en cuenta el impacto de sus políticas sobre varios grupos, incluidas las mujeres. En este artículo se investiga hasta qué punto este compromiso legislativo está influyendo en los debates sobre las reformas de bienestar actuales, especialmente los planes de “crédito universal” (un nuevo beneficio de ingreso). Los autores se basan en los resultados de estudios recientes sobre la distribución dentro de los hogares desde una perspectiva de género, incluida su propia investigación cualitativa. Un objetivo principal de esta investigación era el de facilitar un análisis más matizado de los efectos de las reformas de bienestar en términos de roles y relaciones de género dentro del hogar. Por tanto, este artículo examina hasta qué punto los resultados de estudios cualitativos, en relación con los principios fundamentales que se desarrollan para evaluar el impacto de género de las reformas sociales, se pueden utilizar para examinar el “crédito universal”, y en qué medida éstos influyeron en las propuestas y análisis del gobierno del Reino Unido a la luz de su compromiso con los derechos de igualdad.

While the gender impact assessment (GIA) system has been expanding in Korea with surprising and impressive speed, its actual influence on policies and programs remains quite uncertain. By conducting in-depth interviews with 16 frontline public officials and by systematically comparing it with environmental impact assessment (EIA) and regulatory impact assessment (RIA), the present study evaluates the current GIA system in Korea and identifies areas and issues for future improvement. Our findings show that an independent law, a separate managing division, clear criteria for selecting target policies and programs, and solid assessment measures are critical requirements for successful GIAs. In addition, we find that one of the most essential tasks is overcoming cultural resistance, especially the low priority gender issues have for male policy decision makers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Gender mainstreaming is one of the most important strategies in promoting global gender equality. The Taiwan government launched policies on gender mainstreaming and gender impact assessment in 2007 in response to strong public and academic advocacy work. With rising awareness of gender issues, nursing professionals in Taiwan should keep pace with global trends and become actively involved in advancing gender-mainstreaming policies. This article shows that nursing professionals should prepare themselves by cultivating gender competence, understanding gender-related regulations, recognizing the importance of gender impact assessment implementation, integrating gender issues into nursing education, conducting gender-related research and participating in decision-making processes that promote gender mainstreaming. Nursing professionals should enhance their knowledge and understanding of gender mainstreaming-related issues and get involved in the gender-related decision-making process in order to enhance gender awareness and women's health and further the professional development of nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender impact assessment is one of the most used methodologies for applying gender mainstreaming in public policies. In Spain and in some of its autonomous regions, and contrary to what is done, for example, in the Nordic countries, it is generally established as a compulsive rule that all the legislation and rulings proposed and approved by the central and regional governments should be accompanied by a gender impact assessment evaluation, taking into consideration the gender of its contents. Is this compulsory rule enough to consider that gender perspective is included in the actual legislation? This article focuses on the application of the gender impact assessments in the Galician autonomous region, with the aim of discerning whether the use of this methodology has influenced the contents of the legislation approved at regional level. For this purpose, a total of 150 gender impact assessments done between 2004 and 2008 will be analysed using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. This analysis will take into account several key issues regarding this assessments impact: the political areas where those assessments seem to have a bigger impact, the areas of the gender system to change and the agents involved in preparing the assessments. With the analysis of this instrument's construction and implementation, we aim to contribute for a better theoretical understanding and a practical evaluation of the use of gender mainstreaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the national posting project of licensed exercise instructors with gender-sensitive approach by conducting a gender impact assessment. This research explored gender issues that influenced immensely the planning, management and evaluation stages of the project, and suggested sonic recommendations. The gender impact assessment was drawn up by employing 8 evaluation indexes and 11 detailed questions. Major findings are as follows: First, in planning and decision-making stages, the national posting project did not reflect the current demands of instructors concerning gender perspectives. And the ratio of female members in charge of sports in all committees in local organizations was very low. Second, in the opera ting stage, there was no gender discrimination in the procedures of advertisement and engagement of instructors. However, there is a possibility that female instructors are restricted to a few sports such: as aerobics, dancing and weight training. Third, in the evaluation stage, the participation ratio in this project and time satisfaction level of female instructors were high. However, further attention is needed to the fact that female instructors tend to work in poorer circumstances in the labor market and thins reveal less dissatisfaction than their male counterparts as well as to time possibility that male managers do not have such gender-sensitivity as to notice problems. Finally, government officers, administrators at sport organizations and local managers should have gender-sensitivity and consider gender equality as an important factor in posting exercise instructors. It is necessary to encourage female instructors' professional growth and development and enhance the position of women within all the service areas of public sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare professionals are considered to be at high risk of exposure and spread of SARS-CoV-2, and have therefore been considered a priority group in COVID-19 vaccination campaign strategies. However, it must be assumed that the immune response is influenced by numerous factors, including sex and gender. The analysis of these factors is an impact element for stratifying the population and targeting the vaccination strategy. Therefore, a large cohort of healthcare workers participating in the Italian vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2 has been studied to establish the impact of sex and gender on vaccination coverage using the Gender Impact Assessment approach. This study shows a significant difference in the antibody titers among different age and sex groups, with a clear decreasing trend in antibody titers in the older age groups. Overall, the serological values were significantly higher in females; the reported side effects are more frequent in females than in males. Therefore, disaggregated data point out how the evaluation of gender factors could be essential in COVID-19 vaccination strategies. On this biomedical and social basis, suggestions are provided to improve the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination campaign in healthcare professionals. Still, they could be adapted to other categories and contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]