Mens & Maatschappij - Volume 96, Issue 4, 2021

Gender role attitudes and modernisation: back to the essence? The influence of modernisation, self-expressive values, and educational level on gender role attitudes in Europe

Despite several societal developments, such as educational expansion, the second wave of feminism, and modernisation, the trend towards more egalitarian gender role attitudes has stagnated. This study complements previous studies that explain this phenomenon by a growing focus on self-expressiveness and gender essentialism, which contradicts the initial expectations of modernisation theory. The aim of this contribution is to explore the role of modernisation at the country level in Europe, in the relation between educational level, self-expressive values, and gender role attitudes at the individual level. A multilevel model shows that more self-expressiveness and a higher educational level lead to more egalitarian attitudes. At the contextual level, self-expressiveness strengthens this relation. The results are in line with expectations from modernisation theory, rather than expectations from the egalitarian-essentialism hypothesis. The study closes with a discussion on the measurement of gender role attitudes, suggesting a multidimensional alternative. In addition, it is suggested that gender essentialism might influence behaviour, rather than attitudes. This provides implications for further research in uncovering the structural and cultural processes behind persisting gender inequality.

The economic threat of climate change: A multilevel analysis of the relationship between working in a greenhouse gas intensive sector, economic insecurity and climate policy scepticism among the lower educated in Europe

This research set out to determine to what extent the relationship between working in a greenhouse gas intensive sector and climate policy scepticism can be explained by economic insecurity, while also examining the contextual influence of national commitment to climate change mitigation. Focusing on the lower educated of 21 European countries (N = 10.060) and conducting two multilevel analyses, this research found that working in a greenhouse gas intensive sector leads to more climate policy scepticism. This substantiates the idea that values of climate change scepticism are more present in the social environment of more greenhouse gas intensive sectors. This relationship is, however, not substantially explained by economic insecurity. Finally, this research found that working in a greenhouse gas intensive sector does not lead to more economic insecurity and that this relationship is only partially and minimally influenced by an extensive national climate policy agenda.

Cooperation Between Safe Home and Municipalities in Zuid-Limburg: Gaps in the Approach to Child Abuse

Since January 2015, Safe Home [in Dutch: Veilig Thuis] is the national report center for child abuse and domestic violence. The task of Safe Home and its partner organizations is to stop child abuse and domestic violence. The Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model states that to reduce the chance for harmful behaviors in the future, relevant risk factors should be addressed in individual cases. Offered treatment programs should also be attuned to these risk factors (which is known as risk-based care). The offered risk-based care does not always correspond to the request of the family in question.

In the current study the main question was how it is determined which treatment program or care is offered by the municipalities to families after the investigation of Safe Home is completed and a case is transferred to the local municipality. We interviewed professionals from six municipalities in the region of South-Limburg about the use of structured risk assessment tools and the effectiveness of offered treatment programs. We found that the choice for certain treatment programs is mainly based on the family’s request (and not risk-based, as suggested by the RNR-model). Moreover, the municipalities make limited use of risk assessment tools that meet scientific standards. In order to stop child abuse in the long term, a radical change is needed in the approach of child abuse cases. We offer several recommendations, including the use of scientifically validated risk assessment tools and a closer cooperation and exchange of information between Safe Home and its partner organizations.

Samenvatting

Veilig Thuis (VT) fungeert sinds 2015 als landelijk advies- en meldpunt kindermishandeling en huiselijk geweld. De taak van VT en haar ketenpartners is om kindermishandeling en huiselijk geweld duurzaam te stoppen. Het Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR)-model stelt dat om het risico van schadelijk gedrag in de toekomst te verminderen, de relevante risicofactoren in individuele casuïstiek aangepakt dienen te worden. Hierop dient ook de hulpverlening te worden afgestemd (ook wel risk-based care genoemd), die niet altijd overeen hoeft te komen met de hulpvraag van het betreffende gezin.

In het huidige onderzoek stond de vraag centraal hoe bepaald wordt welke hulp er wordt ingezet in gezinnen die na een afgerond onderzoek van VT aan de gemeenten worden overgedragen. We vroegen professionals binnen zes gemeenten in Zuid-Limburg middels verschillende vragenrondes naar het gebruik van gestructureerde risicotaxatie-instrumenten en de effectiviteit van de aangeboden hulpverlening. Wij vonden dat de keuze voor hulpverlening voornamelijk hulpvraag-gericht is (en niet risico-gestuurd, zoals het RNR-model voorschrijft) en dat door de gemeenten beperkt gebruik gemaakt wordt van risicotaxatie-instrumenten die voldoen aan wetenschappelijke standaarden. Om kindermishandeling blijvend te stoppen, is een ingrijpende verandering nodig in de aanpak van deze problematiek. Wij doen een aantal aanbevelingen, waaronder gebruik van wetenschappelijk gefundeerde risicotaxatie-instrumenten en nauwere samenwerking en uitwisseling van informatie in de keten.

Ongoing or dead-end ways? Progression of women and men to management roles

In this article, we investigated whether and how the progression of women and men to management roles differs, and which factors can explain these differences. Drawing on data from the Dutch Labour Supply Panel, we found that men more often progressed to management roles than women, especially to the most senior roles. The findings confirm our hypotheses that women less often progress to management and the most senior roles because they work part-time much more often than men and less often work overtime. Our analyses provide no confirmation for the expectation that support from the employer makes a difference.