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112 Gender Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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Gender is a complex and multifaceted aspect of human identity that influences every aspect of our lives. From the way we dress and behave to the roles we play in society, gender plays a significant role in shaping who we are and how we interact with the world around us. With such a wide-ranging and diverse topic, there are countless gender essay topics to explore and discuss. In this article, we will provide 112 gender essay topic ideas and examples to inspire your writing and research.

• The impact of gender stereotypes on children's development
• Gender inequality in the workplace
• Gender representation in the media
• The intersection of gender and race
• Gender identity and sexual orientation
• Transgender rights and activism
• The history of the feminist movement
• Masculinity in the modern world
• The role of gender in politics
• Gender and mental health
• Gender-based violence and abuse
• Gender and education
• The gender wage gap
• Gender and technology
• The portrayal of gender in literature
• Gender and body image
• Gender and sports
• Gender and healthcare
• The impact of gender on parenting
• Gender and language
• Gender and religion
• Gender and disability
• Gender and aging
• Gender and globalization
• Gender and social class
• Gender and environmental issues
• Gender and war
• Gender and peacebuilding
• Gender and migration
• Gender and entrepreneurship
• Gender and leadership
• Gender and the criminal justice system
• Gender and social media
• Gender and the arts
• Gender and fashion
• Gender and popular culture
• Gender and body modification
• Gender and social norms
• Gender and social change
• Gender and the family
• Gender and marriage
• Gender and divorce
• Gender and friendship
• Gender and sexuality
• Gender and reproduction
• Gender and parenting
• Gender and childhood
• Gender and adolescence
• Gender and young adulthood
• Gender and midlife
• Gender and old age
• Gender and health
• Gender and physical health
• Gender and reproductive health
• Gender and mental illness
• Gender and chronic illness
• Gender and addiction
• Gender and trauma
• Gender and resilience
• Gender and coping strategies
• Gender and social support
• Gender and healthcare access
• Gender and healthcare disparities
• Gender and healthcare quality
• Gender and healthcare outcomes
• Gender and healthcare costs
• Gender and healthcare policy
• Gender and healthcare reform
• Gender and healthcare innovation
• Gender and healthcare workforce
• Gender and healthcare leadership
• Gender and healthcare education
• Gender and healthcare research
• Gender and healthcare ethics
• Gender and healthcare advocacy
• Gender and healthcare activism
• Gender and healthcare organizations
• Gender and healthcare technology
• Gender and healthcare communication
• Gender and healthcare decision-making

These gender essay topic ideas and examples cover a wide range of issues and perspectives related to gender. Whether you are interested in exploring the impact of gender stereotypes on children's development or the intersection of gender and race, there is no shortage of topics to choose from. By delving into these gender essay topics, you can deepen your understanding of the complexities of gender and its influence on society.

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Gender and Politics

Gender and Politics Research Paper Topics

• The gender gap in political representation: causes and consequences
• Gender quotas in politics: pros and cons
• Women’s rights and political participation in the Middle East
• Women’s representation in local government: a case study of a specific country or region
• Masculinity and political leadership: how gender affects perceptions of leadership qualities
• Women’s access to political power in post-conflict societies
• Gender and political violence: how violence affects men and women differently
• The impact of gender on voting behavior
• The role of women in peacebuilding and conflict resolution
• Gender mainstreaming in international development policy: successes and challenges
• Intersectionality in politics: how race, class, and gender intersect to shape political outcomes
• The gendered impact of globalization on the labor market and political participation
• Gender and environmental politics: exploring the links between gender, environmentalism, and politics
• The impact of gender on political ideology and party affiliation
• Gender and political rhetoric: how gendered language affects political discourse
• The role of men in promoting gender equality in politics
• Feminism and political theory: historical and contemporary debates
• The impact of gender on political socialization and political attitudes
• The gendered nature of political scandals: how men and women are affected differently
• Women’s role in authoritarian regimes: case studies of specific countries
• The gendered impact of austerity policies on welfare states and social programs
• Gender and political participation in online spaces: how digital platforms are changing the landscape of political participation
• Women’s representation in the judiciary: a comparative analysis
• The impact of gender on media coverage of political campaigns
• Gender and international security: exploring the links between gender, security, and conflict
• The gendered impact of immigration policies and migration flows
• Gender and political corruption: how gender affects perceptions of corruption and ethics in politics
• Women’s role in political parties: a comparative analysis
• The impact of gender on political trust and legitimacy
• The gendered impact of economic liberalization and privatization policies
• Women’s representation in international organizations: a case study of the United Nations
• The role of gender in the formation of public policy and political decision-making
• Gender and political communication: how gender affects political messaging and public opinion
• The impact of gender on the formation and implementation of foreign policy
• Gender and the politics of social movements: exploring the role of women in movements for social change
• Gender and the politics of reproductive rights: a comparative analysis of policy and activism
• Women’s access to education and its impact on political participation
• The gendered nature of political institutions and processes: a comparative analysis
• Gender and the politics of identity: exploring the links between gender, race, and ethnicity in political discourse
• The impact of gender on the politics of healthcare and healthcare policy
• Women’s participation in local community governance: a case study of a specific region or country
• The impact of gender on political accountability and transparency
• Gender and political decision-making in the private sector: a comparative analysis
• The gendered impact of natural disasters on political outcomes and policy responses
• Women’s role in the politics of climate change: exploring the links between gender, the environment, and politics
• The impact of gender on political violence and terrorism
• Gender and the politics of nationalism: exploring the links between gender, nationalism, and identity
• Women’s role in the politics
• The Role of Intersectionality in Women’s Political Participation: An Analysis of Racial, Ethnic, and Class Differences in Political Mobilization.
• Women’s Representation in Political Leadership: Examining the Glass Ceiling in Parliaments and Executive Offices.

Women have historically been excluded from political decision-making, with men dominating positions of power in most political systems. This has led to a lack of representation of women’s perspectives and experiences in political decision-making, resulting in policies that do not adequately address the needs of all members of society. While progress has been made in increasing the number of women in political leadership roles in many countries, women continue to face unique challenges in accessing and exercising political power. These challenges include gender bias, discrimination, and social norms that prioritize men in political leadership.

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One way to address these challenges is through the use of quotas and affirmative action policies to increase the representation of women in political decision-making. Quotas have been implemented in many countries around the world, with varying degrees of success. Some argue that quotas are necessary to overcome the structural barriers that prevent women from accessing political power, while others argue that quotas are unfair and can lead to the selection of less qualified candidates. Regardless of the effectiveness of quotas, it is clear that increasing the representation of women in political decision-making is essential to creating more equitable and inclusive policies.

Feminist movements have also played a critical role in shaping political discourse and pushing for gender equality in political systems. Feminist movements have highlighted the ways in which gender shapes political systems and policies, and have worked to mobilize women to become more active in political decision-making. These movements have also pushed for policy changes to address gender-based violence, discrimination, and other issues that disproportionately affect women. By bringing attention to these issues, feminist movements have helped to shape political discourse and create more space for women to participate in political decision-making.

Despite these efforts, women continue to face significant challenges in accessing and exercising political power. Women remain underrepresented in political decision-making in many countries, and face unique challenges in accessing the resources and support needed to succeed in these roles. Addressing these challenges will require a sustained effort to increase the representation of women in political decision-making and to create more supportive and inclusive political environments.

In conclusion, gender and politics is a critical area of inquiry in political science, exploring the ways in which gender shapes political systems, policies, and outcomes. Women have historically been excluded from political decision-making, resulting in policies that do not adequately address the needs of all members of society. Quotas and affirmative action policies, as well as feminist movements, have been instrumental in addressing these challenges and increasing the representation of women in political decision-making. However, significant challenges remain, and continued efforts will be needed to create more equitable and inclusive political systems.

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TOP 100 Gender Equality Essay Topics

Table of Contents

Need ideas for argumentative essay on gender inequality? We’ve got a bunch!

… But let’s start off with a brief intro.

What is gender equality?

Equality between the sexes is a huge part of basic human rights. It means that men and women have the same opportunities to fulfil their potential in all spheres of life.

Today, we still face inequality issues as there is a persistent gap in access to opportunities for men and women.

Women have less access to decision-making and higher education. They constantly face obstacles at the workplace and have greater safety risks. Maintaining equal rights for both sexes is critical for meeting a wide range of goals in global development.

Inequality between the sexes is an interesting area to study so high school, college, and university students are often assigned to write essays on gender topics.

In this article, we are going to discuss the key peculiarities of gender equality essay. Besides, we have created a list of the best essay topic ideas.

What is the specifics of gender equality essay?

Equality and inequality between the sexes are important historical and current social issues which impact the way students and their families live. They are common topics for college papers in psychology, sociology, gender studies.

When writing an essay on equality between the sexes, you need to argue for a strong point of view and support your argument with relevant evidence gathered from multiple sources.

But first, you’d need to choose a good topic which is neither too broad nor too narrow to research.

Research is crucial for the success of your essay because you should develop a strong argument based on an in-depth study of various scholarly sources.

Equality between sexes is a complex problem. You have to consider different aspects and controversial points of view on specific issues, show your ability to think critically, develop a strong thesis statement, and build a logical argument, which can make a great impression on your audience.

If you are looking for interesting gender equality essay topics, here you will find a great list of 100 topic ideas for writing essays and research papers on gender issues in contemporary society.

Should you find that some topics are too broad, feel free to narrow them down.

Powerful gender equality essay topics

Here are the top 25 hottest topics for your argumentative opinion paper on gender issues.

Whether you are searching for original creative ideas for gender equality in sports essay or need inspiration for gender equality in education essay, we’ve got you covered.

Use imagination and creativity to demonstrate your approach.

• Analyze gender-based violence in different countries
• Compare wage gap between the sexes in different countries
• Explain the purpose of gender mainstreaming
• Implications of sex differences in the human brain
• How can we teach boys and girls that they have equal rights?
• Discuss gender-neutral management practices
• Promotion of equal opportunities for men and women in sports
• What does it mean to be transgender?
• Discuss the empowerment of women
• Why is gender-blindness a problem for women?
• Why are girls at greater risk of sexual violence and exploitation?
• Women as victims of human trafficking
• Analyze the glass ceiling in management
• Impact of ideology in determining relations between sexes
• Obstacles that prevent girls from getting quality education in African countries
• Why are so few women in STEM?
• Major challenges women face at the workplace
• How do women in sport fight for equality?
• Women, sports, and media institutions
• Contribution of women in the development of the world economy
• Role of gender diversity in innovation and scientific discovery
• What can be done to make cities safer for women and girls?
• International trends in women’s empowerment
• Role of schools in teaching children behaviours considered appropriate for their sex
• Feminism on social relations uniting women and men as groups

Gender roles essay topics

We can measure the equality of men and women by looking at how both sexes are represented in a range of different roles. You don’t have to do extensive and tiresome research to come up with gender roles essay topics, as we have already done it for you.

Have a look at this short list of top-notch topic ideas .

• Are paternity and maternity leaves equally important for babies?
• Imagine women-dominated society and describe it
• Sex roles in contemporary western societies
• Compare theories of gender development
• Adoption of sex-role stereotyped behaviours
• What steps should be taken to achieve gender-parity in parenting?
• What is gender identity?
• Emotional differences between men and women
• Issues modern feminism faces
• Sexual orientation and gender identity
• Benefits of investing in girls’ education
• Patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes in family relationships
• Toys and games of girls and boys
• Roles of men and women in politics
• Compare career opportunities for both sexes in the military
• Women in the US military
• Academic careers and sex equity
• Should men play larger roles in childcare?
• Impact of an ageing population on women’s economic welfare
• Historical determinants of contemporary differences in sex roles
• Gender-related issues in gaming
• Culture and sex-role stereotypes in advertisements
• What are feminine traits?
• Sex role theory in sociology
• Causes of sex differences and similarities in behaviour

Gender inequality research paper topics

Examples of inequality can be found in the everyday life of different women in many countries across the globe. Our gender inequality research paper topics are devoted to different issues that display discrimination of women throughout the world.

Choose any topic you like, research it, brainstorm ideas, and create a detailed gender inequality essay outline before you start working on your first draft.

Start off with making a debatable thesis, then write an engaging introduction, convincing main body, and strong conclusion for gender inequality essay .

• Aspects of sex discrimination
• Main indications of inequality between the sexes
• Causes of sex discrimination
• Inferior role of women in the relationships
• Sex differences in education
• Can education solve issues of inequality between the sexes?
• Impact of discrimination on early childhood development
• Why do women have limited professional opportunities in sports?
• Gender discrimination in sports
• Lack of women having leadership roles
• Inequality between the sexes in work-family balance
• Top factors that impact inequality at a workplace
• What can governments do to close the gender gap at work?
• Sex discrimination in human resource processes and practices
• Gender inequality in work organizations
• Factors causing inequality between men and women in developing countries
• Work-home conflict as a symptom of inequality between men and women
• Why are mothers less wealthy than women without children?
• Forms of sex discrimination in a contemporary society
• Sex discrimination in the classroom
• Justification of inequality in American history
• Origins of sex discrimination
• Motherhood and segregation in labour markets
• Sex discrimination in marriage
• Can technology reduce sex discrimination?

Most controversial gender topics

Need a good controversial topic for gender stereotypes essay? Here are some popular debatable topics concerning various gender problems people face nowadays.

They are discussed in scientific studies, newspaper articles, and social media posts. If you choose any of them, you will need to perform in-depth research to prepare an impressive piece of writing.

• How do gender misconceptions impact behaviour?
• Most common outdated sex-role stereotypes
• How does gay marriage influence straight marriage?
• Explain the role of sexuality in sex-role stereotyping
• Role of media in breaking sex-role stereotypes
• Discuss the dual approach to equality between men and women
• Are women better than men or are they equal?
• Sex-role stereotypes at a workplace
• Racial variations in gender-related attitudes
• Role of feminism in creating the alternative culture for women
• Feminism and transgender theory
• Gender stereotypes in science and education
• Are sex roles important for society?
• Future of gender norms
• How can we make a better world for women?
• Are men the weaker sex?
• Beauty pageants and women’s empowerment
• Are women better communicators?
• What are the origins of sexual orientation?
• Should prostitution be legal?
• Pros and cons of being a feminist
• Advantages and disadvantages of being a woman
• Can movies defy gender stereotypes?
• Sexuality and politics

Feel free to use these powerful topic ideas for writing a good college-level gender equality essay or as a starting point for your study.

No time to do decent research and write your top-notch paper? No big deal! Choose any topic from our list and let a pro write the essay for you!

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70 Argumentative Essay Topics About Gender Equality

Gender equality is an extremely debatable topic. Sooner or later, every group of friends, colleagues, or classmates will touch on this subject. Discussions never stop, and this topic is always relevant.

This is not surprising, as our society hasn’t reached 100% equality yet. Pay gaps, victimization, abortion laws, and other aspects remain painful for millions of women. You should always be ready to structure your thoughts and defend your point of view on this subject. Why not practice with our list of essay topics about gender equality?

Our cheap essay writing service authors prepared 70 original ideas for you. Besides, at the end of our article, you’ll find a list of inspirational sources for your essay.

Argumentative Essay Topics About Gender Equality

• Does society or a person define gender?
• Can culturally sanctioned gender roles hurt adolescents’ mental health?
• Who or what defines the concepts of “masculinity” and “femininity” in modern society?
• Should the rules of etiquette be changed because they’ve been created in the epoch of total patriarchy?
• Why is gender equality higher in developed countries? Is equality the cause or the result of the development?
• Are gender stereotypes based on the difference between men’s and women’s brains justified?
• Would humanity be more developed today if gender stereotypes never exited?
• Can a woman be a good politician? Why or why not?
• What are the main arguments of antifeminists? Are they justified?
• Would our society be better if more women were in power?

Analytical Gender Equality Topics

• How do gender stereotypes in the sports industry influence the careers of athletes?
• Social and psychological foundations of feminism in modern Iranian society: Describe women’s rights movements in Iran and changes in women’s rights.
• Describe the place of women in today’s sports and how this situation looked a hundred years ago.
• What changes have American women made in the social and economic sphere? Describe the creation of a legislative framework for women’s empowerment.
• How can young people fix gender equality issues?
• Why do marketing specialists keep taking advantage of gender stereotypes in advertising?
• How does gender inequality hinder our society from progress?
• What social problems does gender inequality cause?
• How does gender inequality influence the self-image of male adolescents?
• Why is the concept of feminism frequently interpreted negatively?

Argumentative Essay Topics About Gender Equality in Art and Literature

• Theory of gender in literature: do male and female authors see the world differently? Pick one book and analyze it in the context of gender.
• Compare and contrast how gender inequality is described in L. Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” and G. Flaubert’s novel “Madame Bovary.” Read and analyze the mentioned books, distinguish how gender inequality is described, and how the main characters manage this inequality.
• The artificial gender equality and class inequality in the novel “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley.
• Do modern romance novels for teenagers help to break gender stereotypes, or do they enforce them?
• Gender equality changes through Disney animation films. Analyze the scenarios of Disney animation films from the very beginning. Describe how the overall mood in relation to female characters and their roles has changed.
• Henrik Ibsen touched on the topic of gender inequality in his play “A Doll’s House.” Why was it shocking for a 19th century audience?
• Concepts of gender inequality through examples of fairy tales. Analyze several fairy tales that contain female characters. What image do they have? Do these fairy tales misrepresent the nature of women? How do fairy tales spoil the world view of young girls?
• Why do female heroes rarely appear in superhero movies?
• Heroines of the movie “Hidden Figures” face both gender and racial inequalities. In your opinion, has the American society solved these issues entirely?
• The problem of gender inequality in the novel “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker.

Gender Equality Essay Ideas: Workplace and Employment

• Dress code in the workplace: Does it help to solve the problem of gender inequality, or is it a detriment?
• What kind of jobs are traditionally associated with men and women? How have these associations changed in the last 50 years?
• The pay gap between men and women: is it real?
• How can HR managers overcome gender stereotypes while hiring a new specialist?
• Analyze the concepts of “glass ceiling” and “glass elevator.” Do these phenomena still exist in our society?

Essay Topics About Gender Equality: Religion

• Gender aspects of Christian virtue and purity in the Bible.
• What does the equality of men and women look like from the perspective of Christianity? Can a woman be a pastor?
• Orthodox Judaism: Women and the transformation of their roles in a religious institute. Describe the change in women’s roles in modern Judaism.
• How can secularism help solve the problem of gender inequality in religious societies?
• Is the problem of gender inequality more serious in religious societies?

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics About Gender Equality

• Compare and contrast the problems men and women experience in managerial positions.
• Compare and contrast what progress has been made on gender equality in the USA and Sweden.
• Compare and contrast the social status of women in ancient Athens and Sparta.
• Conduct a sociological analysis of gender asymmetry in various languages. Compare and contrast the ways of assigning gender in two different languages.
• Compare and contrast the portrayal of female characters in 1960s Hollywood films and in modern cinematography (pick two movies). What has changed?

Gender Equality Topics: Definitions

• Define the term “misandry.” What is the difference between feminism and misandry?
• Define the term “feminology.” How do feminologists help to break down prejudice about the gender role of women?
• Define the term “catcalling.” How is catcalling related to the issue of gender inequality?
• Define the term “femvertising.” How does this advertising phenomenon contribute to the resolution of the gender inequality issue?
• Define the term “misogyny.” What is the difference between “misogyny” and “sexism”?

Gender Equality Essay Ideas: History

• The roles of the mother and father through history.
• Define the most influential event in the history of the feminist movement.
• What ancient societies preached matriarchy?
• How did World War II change the attitude toward women in society?
• Woman and society in the philosophy of feminism of the second wave. Think on works of Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan and define what ideas provoked the second wave.

Essay Topics About Gender Equality in Education

• How do gender stereotypes influence the choice of major among high school students?
• Discuss the problems of female education in the interpretation of Mary Wollstonecraft. Reflect on the thoughts of Mary Wollstonecraft on gender equality and why women should be treated equally to men.
• Self-determination of women in professions: Modern contradictions. Describe the character of a woman’s self-determination as a professional in today’s society.
• Should gender and racial equality be taught in elementary school?
• Will sex education at schools contribute to the development of gender equality?

Gender Equality Topics: Sex and Childbirth

• Sexual violence in conflict situations: The problem of victimization of women.
• The portrayal of menstruation and childbirth in media: Now versus twenty years ago.
• How will the resolution of the gender inequality issue decrease the rate of sexual abuse toward women?
• The attitude toward menstruation in different societies and how it influences the issue of gender equality.
• How does the advertising of sexual character aggravate the problem of gender inequality?
• Should advertising that uses sexual allusion be regulated by the government?
• How has the appearance of various affordable birth control methods contributed to the establishment of gender equality in modern society?
• Do men have the right to give up their parental duties if women refuse to have an abortion?
• Can the child be raised without the influence of gender stereotypes in modern society?
• Did the sexual revolution in the 1960s help the feminist movement?

How do you like our gender equality topics? We’ve tried to make them special for you. When you pick one of these topics, you should start your research. We recommend you to check the books we’ve listed below.

Non-Fiction Books and Articles on Gender Equality Topics

• Beecher, C. “The Peculiar Responsibilities of American Women.”
• Connell, R. (2011). “Confronting Equality: Gender, Knowledge and Global Change.”
• Doris H. Gray. (2013). “Beyond Feminism and Islamism: Gender and Equality in North Africa.”
• Inglehart Ronald, Norris Pippa. (2003). “Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World.”
• Mary Ann Danowitz Sagaria. (2007). “Women, Universities, and Change: Gender Equality in the European Union and the United States (Issues in Higher Education).”
• Merrill, R. (1997). “Good News for Women: A Biblical Picture of Gender Equality.”
• Mir-Hosseini, Z. (2013). “Gender and Equality in Muslim Family Law: Justice and Ethics in the Islamic Legal Process.”
• Raymond F. Gregory. (2003). “Women and Workplace Discrimination: Overcoming Barriers to Gender Equality.”
• Rubery, J., & Koukiadaki, A. (2016). “Closing the Gender Pay Gap: A Review of the Issues, Policy Mechanisms and International Evidence.”
• Sharma, A. (2016). “Managing Diversity and Equality in the Workplace.”
• Sika, N. (2011). “The Millennium Development Goals: Prospects for Gender Equality in the Arab World.”
• Stamarski, C. S., & Son Hing, L. S. (2015). “Gender Inequalities in the Workplace: The Effects of Organizational Structures, Processes, Practices, and Decision Makers’ Sexism.”
• Verniers, C., & Vala, J. (2018). “Justifying Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: The Mediating Role of Motherhood Myths.”
• Williams, C. L., & Dellinger, K. (2010). “Gender and Sexuality in the Workplace.”

Literary Works for Your Gender Equality Essay Ideas

• “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen
• “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf
• “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
• “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley
• “ The Awakening” by Kate Chopin
• “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker
• “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
• “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett
• “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir

We’re sure that with all of these argumentative essay topics about gender equality and useful sources, you’ll get a good grade without much effort! If you have any difficulties with your homework, request “ write my essay for cheap ” help and  our expert writers are always ready to help you.

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100 years on, politics is where the U.S. lags most on gender equality

A century on from women winning the right to vote in the U.S., our nation has made huge progress on many fronts. But plenty more is needed—and above all in the political sphere. The U.S. compares badly to most other countries in the world in terms of gender equality in politics—including to our nearest neighbors, Canada and Mexico.

Measuring gender equality

The 2020 Global Gender Gap Report from the World Economic Forum ranks progress toward equality in 153 countries around the world. The U.S. is in a disappointing 53rd place, compared to 25th place for Mexico and 19th place for Canada. WEF calculates gender equality in each country based on four equally weighted domains: educational attainment, health and survival, economic participation and opportunity, and political empowerment. WEF calculates the degree of gender equality in each domain, drawing on a range on indicators for each, where each indicator ranges from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating parity.

Here is how the U.S. compares overall and on each on these dimensions to Canada and Mexico:

All three countries have achieved gender equality, or very close to equality, in education and health. (In fact, gender inequalities especially in education now go the other way, which does not influence the WEF scoring system). The U.S. and Canada score similarly, and much higher than Mexico, in terms of economic equality. But in terms of political empowerment, Mexico leads the three, followed by Canada, with the U.S. trailing well behind.

Equality in politics: The U.S. lags behind

Gender equality in the political domain is calculated by WEF using three indicators: the ratio of women to men in terms of years in executive office (prime minister or president) over the last 50 years; the current ratio of women to men in parliamentary positions; and the current ratio of women to men in ministerial positions.

All three North American nations score poorly on the first indicator. Neither Mexico nor the U.S. has had a female political leader, and Canada was led by a woman for just six months (Avril Campbell in 1993). In the U.S., 2016 was the first year when voters even had the chance to vote for a female presidential candidate from one of the major parties.

But as the figure shows, parliamentary representation in Mexico is now essentially equal, and ministerial representation is close behind, at 42 percent female. Both Canada and the U.S. do much less well than Mexico on the parliamentary measure, with women accounting for just one in four legislators. But Canada now excels in terms of ministerial representation, with Justin Trudeau making good on his electoral promise to choose a gender-equal cabinet .

Scoring poorly on all three metrics, the U.S. falls into the bottom half of the global league table for gender equality in the political sphere, trailing behind, for example, the Philippines, India, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.

By my calculations, if the U.S. matched Mexico’s political empowerment score, it would jump from 53rd to 6th place in the world for gender equality (with an overall equality score of 0.80),  beating out New Zealand, Denmark and Canada. For the U.S., politics is the biggest challenge—but also therefore potentially the biggest opportunity.

Getting closer to gender equality in politics: Congress

Improving the representation of women in Congress is a clear imperative. The last three decades have seen rapid gains on this front :

But even now there are still three men for every woman in the U.S. Congress. It is also notable that the increase is skewed heavily to the Democrat side of the aisle, where the proportion of women has increased from 3.7 percent in 1991 to 19.8 percent in 2019, compared to a rise from 1.9 percent to 3.9 percent for Republicans. If the Republican Party had similarly increased the proportion of Senators and members of the House during this time, overall female representation would now be at 30 percent, rather than 24 percent, and would lift the U.S. from 53rd place to 43rd place on the global league table.

A step-change in female representation is needed to get close to equality within any reasonable timetable. But how? Mexico’s progress is the result of intentional policy changes. Since 2014, the Mexican constitution has required gender parity among candidates from all political parties for positions in the federal Chamber of Deputies and Senate (as well as and state congresses). The resulting transformation in representation is proof that “quota laws work,” according to Sofia Alessandra Ramirez from the Council on Foreign Relations .In fact, more than half the countries in the world now use some form of quota system to increase female representation. There is no evidence of a drop in the quality of candidates or legislators. If anything, quotas seem to improve the skills of leaders by, as one Swedish study brutally put it , reducing the number of “mediocre men.”

Quotas in politics are a great idea, but even if such a law could be passed in the U.S. it would be struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court . Nothing, however, is to stop the major political parties from adopting such quotas themselves—like parties in many other countries. Anisa Somani suggests that some public funding of political parties could be tied to the adoption of such quotas, an excellent proposal.

Replacing the current “winner takes all” voting system with more representative approaches such as ranked choice voting or multi-winner districts would also result in greater female representation, among many other reasons for their adoption.

Getting closer to gender equality in politics: Cabinet and president

The fastest way to improve the U.S. ranking would be to for either President Trump or President Biden to follow Trudeau’s lead and appoint a balanced cabinet. Overnight, the global standing of the U.S. in terms of gender equality would be dramatically improved. Another area where progress is needed (and has gone backwards since 2016) is in the proportion of women in advisory positions, as Kathryn Dunn Tenpas argues in her essay in this series .

But the biggest prize of all, of course, is the White House. Although WEF gives each of the four main domains—economics, health, education, and politics—an equal weight, the sub-indicators for each are weighted differently. For the political empowerment score, most weight goes to the head-of-state indicator. And here of course the U.S. gets the lowest score possible: zero. By comparison, many countries closer to the top of the gender equality table have had women as political leaders for many of the last fifty years, including Iceland (22 years), Norway (16 years), Germany (14 years), and the United Kingdom (14 years).

Simply electing a woman as president would therefore transform the position of the U.S. on the international league table for gender equality. By my calculations, if Hillary Clinton had become a two-term president in 2009, the U.S. would be 36th in the world—not high enough perhaps, but a lot higher than 53rd.

Quantifying gender inequality

The World Economic Forum is not the only game in town: there are many other indices of gender equality, including internationally-focused ones produced by the European Institute for Gender Equality the United Nations and the OECD . Each have their strengths and weaknesses, and each rest on different assumptions about what matters most and how progress should be quantified. Some include measures of time use, rates of domestic violence, tax treatment, civil liberties, and so on. Some focus more on absolute measures, while other highlight the relative position of women and men.

As a general proposition, countries that are more economically developed are typically closer to gender equality. In many of these countries, women have overtaken men on some fronts, such as education, while still at a disadvantage in many other areas, such as politics.

What would John Stuart Mill say?

Fifty years before the U.S. granted women the vote, John Stuart Mill argued in The Subjection of Women for “a principle of perfect equality.” He considered that “the most vitally important political & social question of the future, [is] that of the equality between men and women.”

But how will we know when “perfect equality” has been achieved, when the “subjection” of women has ended? Mill, like most of his contemporaries, was focused on achieving equality for women in law, and especially with the right to vote. Like his intellectual partner and wife. Harriet Taylor Mill, he hoped that women’s suffrage would pave the way to equality in other walks of life.

By and large this was an accurate prediction. Getting the vote was indeed a vital first step to getting many other social, legal and political rights for women. But even now, “perfect equality” has not been achieved—and in the U.S., especially in the sphere of politics itself.

The fight for equality began with politics, and specifically with the right to vote. After ten decades of significant social, cultural, and economic progress, the biggest challenge is once again in the political arena. Now, the need is for much greater representation of women in politics—including in the highest office in the land.

I would like to thank Chris Pulliam for providing valuable research assistance.

This piece is part of 19A: The Brookings Gender Equality Series.  Learn more about the series and read published work »

About the Author

Richard v. reeves, john c. and nancy d. whitehead chair – economic studies, more from richard v. reeves, enough about men: 3 reasons to boost women’s work.

The retreat from work among men is a topic of great concern for scholars and policymakers. And for good reason: over the past 50 years, the prime-age male employment rate declined by 10 percentage points. While men’s employment rates have dropped in many countries, a drop on this scale is unique to the U.S.

Occupational hazard? The future of the gender pay gap

New research shines light on a possible explanation for the gender pay gap: occupation and industry, not education or experience.

The Power of Love: Why maternal depression is an economic mobility issue

Richard Reeves shows how maternal depression is also an economic mobility issue.

MORE FROM THE 19A SERIES

The president’s advisors: An analysis of women on the president’s “A Team”

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas explores the history of women working in senior levels of the White House advisory staff.

The gender revolution is stalling—what would reinvigorate it?

What’s necessary to reinvigorate the gender revolution and create progress in the areas where the movement toward equality has slowed or stalled—employment, desegregation of fields of study and jobs, and the gender pay gap?

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Gender and politics.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2014

The gendering of politics, and the politics of gender, are fundamental themes of human life. Back in March 2010 we featured these themes in our journal’s first-ever special theme issue. At over 400 pages, the issue was the longest single issue in the history of Perspectives and, I would be willing to bet, the history of APSA journal publishing more generally. It also launched our journal’s then-new cover design, which featured a photo of an impoverished Nigerian woman holding a machete with which to chop pieces of dying mangrove wood for sale. In preparing for the Introduction you are now reading, I went back and re-read that old issue of our journal. It is amazing how well it holds up, and how much it anticipates the themes discussed in this issue, also centered on the theme of Gender and Politics.

We have chosen to revisit the gender theme for a variety of reasons worth noting.

One is that gender issues were raised in a very public way at last year’s APSA meeting in Chicago (see Beth McMurtrie's report on the meeting, “Political Science is Rife With Gender Bias, Scholars Find,” published in the August 30 Chronicle Review ). Much of the discussion centered on the findings presented in Daniel Maliniak, Ryan Powers, and Barbara F. Walter’s piece in the October 2013 International Organization, “The Gender Citation Gap in International Relations.” But for many these findings were the launching point for discussing a much larger set of issues related to the gendering of political science. One interesting forum of discussion is the special symposium on “the gender gap” organized by The Monkey Cage (9/30/2013), which led with a piece by 2012-13 APSA President Jane Mansbridge, whose Address is featured in this issue. These issues have indeed been the focus of a number of APSA committees, most notably the Ad Hoc Committee on Workable Solutions to Advancing Women in the Profession chaired by Kristen Renwick Monroe. They are of pressing concern to many APSA members, and so they were a topic of conversation at our journal’s September 2013 board meeting. Our board decided to make the gender citation question a major topic at our Spring 2014 meeting in Chicago. And we also decided to plan an issue of the journal centering on the theme of gender.

The second reason we have centered this issue on the theme of gender is more theoretical: the fundamental importance of gender as an ever-present structuring category of social being and thus of social science. I offered some thoughts on the importance of gender to political science in the Introduction to the March 2010 special issue. But here I can do no better than to quote from Karen Beckwith and Lisa Baldez in their editorial statement in the inaugural issue of our sister publication Politics & Gender , which first appeared in March 2005: “We launch Politics & Gender with the conviction that the study of women and politics, and the gendered analysis of politics, benefit and strengthen political science. We hold the reverse conviction as well: the tools of political analysis advance and strengthen our understandings of women and of gender. . . our primary purpose is to publish research on women and politics and on politics and its gendered analysis. Gender cuts through every aspect of politics. In Politics & Gender , we seek to represent the full array of questions, issues, and approaches within the discipline. We envision each issue as a showcase of work across all the major subfields of political science, including (but not limited to) political theory, comparative politics, international relations, and U.S. politics.”

The range of work on gender published in this issue of Perspectives affirms the truth of Beckwith and Baldez’s words. The fact that the work in this issue of Perspectives was largely unsolicited, and simply came to us in the normal course of our editorial business, is a further sign of how central gender themes are to our discipline (something also documented in the just-published Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics , edited by Georgina Waylen, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola, and S. Laurel Weldon). Indeed, there are striking and entirely fortuitous overlaps between this issue of Perspectives and Politics & Gender . This issue contains contributions from four members of the editorial board of Politics & Gender —Kimberly Cowell-Meyers, Cynthia Enloe, Heath Fogg Davis and Jane Mansbridge—and one officer of the Women and Politics section that sponsors the journal—Celeste Montoya. Two other officers of this section—Mala Htun, its President, and Dara Strolovitch—also serve on our board, as does Timothy Kaufman-Osborn who serves on the editorial board of Politics & Gender . These overlaps demonstrate inextricable links between gender scholarship and political science as a discipline.

But more important than the centrality of gender to political science is its centrality to politics . Within days of sitting down to write this Introduction the following four news items came across my desk:

* The November 6, 2013 release of a UN report, Women and Natural Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential , which contends that: “As primary managers and users of natural resources in many conflict-affected contexts, women have a key role to play in building peace. However, they remain largely excluded from owning land, benefiting from resource wealth or participating in decision-making about resource management. Excluding women is clearly a missed opportunity. Indeed, peace and development will only be achieved when both men and women in conflict-affected and fragile societies access and benefit from natural resources in an equitable and sustainable way.”

* A November 4, 2013 Newsweek photojournalistic feature, “Grab and Run: Kyrgyzstan’s Bride Kidnappings,” reporting that “In Kyrgyzstan, as many as 40% of ethnic Kyrgyz women are married after being kidnapped by the men who become their husbands, according to a local NGO. Two-thirds of these bride kidnappings are non-consensual—in some cases, a ‘kidnapping’ is part of a planned elopement—and while the practice has been illegal since 1994, authorities largely look the other way.”

* A November 25, 2013 Voice of America story, “UN Expresses Concern on International Day to End Violence Against Women,” which reports that according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, every hour 50 young women become newly infected with HIV, many as a result of sexual violence. The piece quotes Dr. Mariangela Simao, UNAIDS Director of Rights, Gender, Prevention and Mobilization: “Lots of the gender-based violence [is] sexually related. There is a lot of data right now showing that most of the violence against women happens in the context of intimate partner violence – domestic violence. And many times it takes the face of non-consensual sex, which is a polite way to say rape.”

* A November 20, 2013 White House press release marking the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance: “Today, November 20 th , communities across the country and around the world will mark Transgender Day of Remembrance. This day is an opportunity to remember those who have lost their lives to violence and injustice because of their gender identity or gender expression. . . The Obama Administration remains committed to preventing violence against all people, including all members of the LGBT community. Four years ago, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act, which greatly expanded the federal government’s ability to prosecute hate crimes. The law marked the first time that the words, ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ appeared in the U.S. Code, and enables the Justice Department to prosecute in certain circumstances hate crimes committed because of a person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.”

Such reports underscore the ongoing importance not simply of sex/gender difference but of sex/gender inequality , and the sometimes violent forms that this inequality takes. But they also underscore that these issues can no longer be simply taken for granted, for they have been politicized . As a result, they are recognized by citizens, activists, NGOs, and governments as problems of public importance requiring public solutions. The research and writing contained in this issue of Perspectives demonstrates that political scientists have much to say about these public problems, their public solutions, and the limits of these solutions.

Our lead article, Tali Mendelberg, Christopher F. Karpowitz, and J. Baxter Oliphant’s “Gender Inequality in Deliberation: Unpacking the Black Box of Interaction,” centers on the role of widespread and general communicative norms in limiting women’s political voices and thus their political representation. As the authors summarize their argument: “When and why do women gain from increased descriptive representation in deliberating bodies? Using a large randomized experiment, and linking individual-level speech with assessments of speaker authority, we find that decision rules interact with the number of women in the group to shape the conversation dynamics and deliberative authority, an important form of influence. With majority rule and few women, women experience a negative balance of interruptions when speaking, and these women then lose influence in their own eyes and in others’. But when the group is assigned to unanimous rule, or when women are many, women experience a positive balance of interruptions, mitigating the deleterious effect of small numbers. Men do not experience this pattern.” Mendelberg, Karpowitz, and Oliphant link their experimental results to a broader consideration of the political importance of governmental and non-governmental deliberative forums in a range of settings throughout the world, and “the conditioning effect of institutions” in limiting the effective participation of women, and thus limiting both the symbolic and the substantive representation of women’s political interests.

There are some important complementarities between this analysis and Jane Mansbridge’s 2013 APSA Presidential Address, “What Is Political Science For?” Mansbridge delivers a strong message that is relevant to but also exceeds questions of gender. “The fundamental job of political science,” she writes, “is to help us create and properly use legitimate coercion.” Mansbridge catalogues the domains in which present day politics comes up short, and insists that political science can play an important role in helping us to generate better and more legitimate collective decisions by promoting “negotiation to agreement” (Mansbridge’s text here is usefully read alongside one of this issue’s “Undisciplined” features, Sanford Levinson’s “Compromise, Contestation, and the U.S. Constitution”). As Mansbridge writes: “Because negotiation is such a large part of politics, we need to identify institutions that help negotiators bring in new issues and make good trades. And because one function of institutions is to help correct individual mistakes, we need to figure out what institutions help participants combat the cognitive and emotional barriers to successful negotiation.”

Mansbridge’s primary purpose here is to promote more inclusive practices of public discourse. She notes that there is some tension between this concern and a good deal of her own work on the contestation of gender inequality: “Viscerally and experientially I identify with resistance. Women, for example, have won most of our gains in the last two centuries by resisting the domination of men. My generation grew up with resistance and our political theory was largely about resistance. Nevertheless, I think the western democratic tradition, anchored in resistance to kings, has focused too much on the possibilities and actualities of tyranny and domination and not enough on the equally important problem of how to create legitimate coercion for collective action.” In one sense, her observation here can be linked to her earliest work on Beyond Adversary Democracy . But even if her Address focuses on constructing commonalities rather than on contesting inequalities, both concerns are linked by the theme of inclusion . For it is only by being maximally inclusive that collective decisions can be either effective or legitimate. And a political science that seeks to “help participants combat the cognitive and emotional barriers to successful negotiation” is a political science that necessarily engages precisely the kinds of discursive barriers, distortions, and obstacles to equal participation addressed by Mendelberg, Karpowitz, and Oliphant (who indeed cite Mansbridge’s published work on this topic).

At the same time, gender inequality is a complex phenomenon hardly reducible to the discursive realm. Elizabeth Markovits and Susan Bickford’s “Constructing Freedom: Institutional Pathways to Changing the Gender Division of Labor” addresses a broader theme—the gendered social division labor. As they write: “individuals make decisions about work and family in an environment marked by a limited set of gendered social scripts, which are then reinforced by particular institutional structures, all of which work to sustain desires and actions in accord with the gender division of labor.” Markovits and Bickford thus link the kinds of communicative practices analyzed by Mendelberg, Karpowitz, and Oliphant to the more “material” practices of labor, work, child-rearing and family care that fundamentally structure gender inequality (for a complementary discussion of these connections, see Celeste Montoya’s review of Jacqui True’s award-winning The Political Economy of Violence Against Women in this issue). Their piece blends normative and empirical concerns, and in arguing for “participatory parity,” they gesture toward conceptions of “policy feedback” that have been featured often in our journal, from Suzanne Mettler and Joe Soss’s “The Consequences of Public Policy for Democratic Citizenship: Bridging Policy Studies and Mass Politics” (March 2004) to Eileen McDonagh’s “It Takes a State: A Policy Feedback Model of Women’s Political Representation” (March 2010) to Eric Patashnik and Julian Zelizer’s “When Policy Does Not Remake Politics: The Limits of Policy Feedback” (December 2013). As they write: “In addition to fostering ‘counterpublic’ spaces and cross-public conversations, feminists have long been engaged in struggle over public policy. Public policies that structure women's options affect what women are able to choose, regardless of what they desire; but they also affect what women desire because they work to ideologically support certain options. Public policies thus play a role in conditioning women's desires, as the options they support ‘feel’ right and are easier or at least imaginable. When these policies sustain unequal divisions of household labor and women’s underrepresentation in the public sphere, they also affect women's power and participation in the terms and processes of social construction.” Markovits and Bickford thus conclude that public policy is both a key determinant of gender inequality and a potential source of greater equality.

Heath Fogg Davis's “Sex-Classification Policies as Transgender Discrimination: An Intersectional Critique” analyzes a more fundamental dimension of gender inequality—the very determination of the categories of “man” and “woman,” and the ways that these very binary categories marginalize and exclude transgendered individuals. Fogg Davis proceeds from a very specific episode: the Philadelphia Bus Authority’s treatment of Charlene Arcila, an African-American transgender woman who was denied bus access because her monthly public transit pass was considered invalid both when marked with an F to signify female gender and when marked with an M to signify male gender. Fogg Davis uses this episode of an individual who did not “fit” and who was thus denied access to public transportation, to tell a rich political story of Arcila’s civil rights litigation with the city; the activism of R.A.G.E. (Riders Against Gender Exclusion), a local grassroots organization which sprouted in 2009 to bring public attention to the invidious impact of the gender sticker policy; and the legal and political argumentation surrounding the case.

In telling this story, he underscores a dimension of gender inequality that is often ignored: “Personal identification documents such as driver’s licenses, passports, and birth certificates bear mandatory binary sex markers. We are asked to tick binary sex boxes on many bureaucratic forms ranging from school, job, mortgage and apartment rental applications, to government census forms, and dental and medical in-take questionnaires. And we live in a society in which most public restrooms, change room facilities, and all prisons, are designed, constructed and designated as sex-segregated. The invidious nature of these sex-classificatory schemes may be hard for many people to fathom because they are so customary, and because most people experience them as mere moments of cursory verification of who they are and where they ought to be. Moreover, these policies do not fit the model of traditional sex discrimination, which has focused on policies that disadvantage women in relationship to men, and vice versa. However, for those of us who appear to some to be stretching conventional binary sex categories ‘too far,’ sex-classification policies cause significant vulnerability to invasive questioning, verbal ridicule, exclusion, and even physical violence by administrative agents, and the public at large.” Like Markovits and Bickford, Fogg Davis blends normative, empirical, and jurisprudential analysis, highlighting the importance of gender classificatory schemes that are often taken for granted, and calling for the consistent deployment of antidiscrimination law to eliminate the vast majority of these schemes in the name of civic equality.

If our first three research articles center on the sources of sex/gender inequality, each also indicates ways that such inequality can be politicized and challenged. Such politicization is the focus of Kimberly B. Cowell-Meyers’s “The Social Movement as Political Party: The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition and the Campaign for Inclusion.” As Cowell-Meyers writes, “This article considers one particular device for enhancing the inclusiveness and responsiveness of the representative system that has largely been overlooked by scholars to date. The subject is a movement-party , an unusual but not entirely rare institution. In particular, it considers the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, which, despite being small, marginal and short-lived, left its mark on the political system in Northern Ireland, by promoting women’s descriptive and substantive representation in nearly all the other political parties in the system.” Cowell-Meyers argues that the Coalition’s organizers “formed a political party to blackmail the other parties into granting their own women access as candidates, representatives, and leaders,” and that through this effort “women managed to break through the cultural prejudices against women in politics, and change popular and elite attitudes. . . altering the terms of representation and enhancing the inclusiveness of the political process.” (The themes of gender mobilization and representation are also explored in this issue’s Critical Dialogue between Kristin A. Goss, author of The Paradox of Gender Equality: How American Women's Groups Gained and Lost Their Public Voice and Holly J. McCammon, author of The U.S. Women's Jury Movements and Strategic Adaptation: A More Just Verdict .)

This issue’s final two research articles also center on broad questions of inclusion and representation, though without a focus on gender. Zoltan L. Hajnal and Jeremy D. Horowitz’s “Racial Winners and Losers in American Party Politics” offers a careful empirical analysis of the relative well being of African-Americans, Latinos, and Asian-Americans under Democratic and Republican administrations in the United States. As they write: “We trace the well-being of racial and ethnic minorities over time using objective, empirical measures, and then compare the relative progress of these demographic groups under different partisan regimes. Specifically, we test to see whether blacks and other racial and ethnic minorities fare better on basic indicators of well being like income, poverty, and unemployment when Democrats control the presidency or whether they do better under Republican administrations.” And they conclude that “When the nation is governed by Democrats, racial and ethnic minority well-being improves dramatically. By contrast, under Republican administrations, blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans generally suffer losses.” As Hajnal and Horowitz make clear, these contemporary disparities relate to long-standing racial inequalities in the United States. Their piece can thus be read alongside our issue’s second “Undisciplined” feature, Rick Valelly’s review essay, “Slavery, Emancipation, and the Civil War Transformation of the U.S. State” Valelly’s piece is a tour de force . Reviewing a group of recent books on the history of the U.S. Civil War (most of them written by professional historians, though one is written by a political science scholar of “APD”), Valelly analyzes the ideological and political struggles and dynamics leading to the Civil War; the role of arguments about slavery and its abolition in these struggles; the sometimes intended and sometimes unintended consequences of the actions of politicians like Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln; and the ways in which the politics of War and Reconstruction both dramatically and haltingly contributed to the growth of the power of the American central state. Indeed, both of our “Undisciplined” review essays, by Vallely and Sanford Levinson, underscore the complexity and contingency through which the American state and its Constitution have developed over time.

Paul Frymer’s “‘A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours’: Territorial Expansion, Land Policy, and U.S. State Formation” is a rich descriptive account, based on extensive archival research, of 19 th century land policy in the United States. Frymer details the territorial expansion of the United States, treating it as a form of state-building and a means of dispersal and control of immigrant, settler, and native populations. As Frymer writes: “Land policies offered government officials an institutional mechanism for taking territory that manufactured racially-specific outcomes with less public visibility, enabling the government to maintain at least the appearance of fidelity to national ideals. Indian removal and the violence it entailed cannot be minimized—the actions of the United States during this period would constitute genocide under current-day international law. But the Indian Removal Act was only one piece of a far broader, systematic, efficacious, and yet ‘unexceptional’ taking of land. Legislators clearly intended that these land policies could change the racial demographics of a specific geographical terrain; they designed statutes such as the Armed Occupation Act, the Land Donation Act, the Preemption Act, and the Homestead Act to move as many settlers as possible on to contested lands to overwhelm and numerically dominate the pre-existing populations. Only after this successful rush and push created a majority of whites residing in the territory would Congress vote to formally incorporate the land as a state.” As Frymer’s article makes clear, the “extended republic” envisioned by James Madison and other framers of the Constitution was accomplished through state policies of infrastructural expansion, population removal, resettlement and settlement, and extensive violence against native populations that were heavily inflected by class and race.

Frymer’s account of the territorial expansion that accompanied the growth of the U.S. state is broadly consistent with a wide range of theories in comparative politics and international relations theory that focus on what might be called “the logic of state power” in the world of power politics. Frymer does not discuss gender in this connection, though works such as Amy S. Greenberg’s Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2005) make clear that conceptions of masculinity and femininity played an important role in justifying American westward expansion. One of the reasons why Laura Sjoberg's Gendering Global Conflict: Toward a Feminist Theory of War is so important is that it makes clear that every aspect of modern power politics, and especially those dimensions of power politics that relate to war and peace, are heavily inflected by gender (see also Jessica Peet’s review of Valerie M. Hudson’s Sex and World Peace ). Sjoberg argues that the fields of international relations and security studies are impoverished by an insufficient attention to the gendering of conflict, and that a “feminist theory of war” is therefore indispensable to an adequate understanding of the politics of war. We are thus especially pleased to feature a symposium on her book that features commentaries by Cynthia Enloe, Sara Meger, Elisabeth P. Prügl, Matthew Hoddie, and Dustin Howes.

We are also pleased to include a special discussion of Celeste Montoya’s Global to Grassroots: The European Union, Transnational Advocacy, and Combating Violence Against Women , which features perspectives on the book from an Eastern European feminist scholar (Oana Baluta) and a U.S. scholar (Mary Hawkesworth).

Our special review section on Gender and Politics contains reviews of a wide range of political science books. These reviews make clear that gender is a central theme of political science that crosses all conventional subfield and methodological divides in our discipline. At the same time, this issue also contains a great number of reviews that fall more or less neatly under the conventional subfield rubrics. The range of articles, essays, reviews, review essays, and dialogues that appear here demonstrates the synergies between genres and perspectives that make political science an intellectually rich and productive discipline.

With this issue, Perspectives begins its twelfth year. Over those twelve years a great many people have contributed to the journal as editors, associate editors, and editorial assistants. I am very pleased that during my tenure our entire editorial board has continued to serve, with enthusiasm. I am also pleased to note that we recently have added a number of terrific colleagues to our board, and I would like to welcome them here: Michael Bernhard, Charli Carpenter, Ange-Marie Hancock, Marc Lynch, Samantha Majic, Andrew Sabl, Joe Soss, and Paul Staniland. A complete list of our board appears on our masthead. We all owe these colleagues a debt of gratitude for the work they do for our journal.

I would also like to thank Michael Brintnall, who recently retired as APSA’s long-standing Executive Director, for his extraordinary service to our discipline and for his support of our journal. Michael was a terrific colleague, and we look forward to working with his successor, Steven R. Smith, who is off to a great start.

My editorial team has experienced its share of turnover over the years. This year one of our longest-serving and most invaluable editorial assistants, Emily Hilty, earned her Ph.D. and left our staff for a position as Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of Cincinnati. Emily was replaced by Rachel Gears, who joins our current team of crackerjack editorial assistants: Laura Bucci, Peter Giordano, Rafael Khachaturian, Brendon Westler, and Adrian Florea (Adrian, a brilliant young scholar of comparative politics and international relations, recently returned to our staff after holding a competitive dissertation writing fellowship, and he plays an indispensible role in bridging the front and back ends of the journal).

Ever since I first became Book Review Editor in 2005, I have been graced with the dedicated and indefatigable support of two people who I’ve mentioned frequently: James Moskowitz and Margot Morgan. When I became Editor in Chief, James became our journal’s full-time Managing Editor. Shortly thereafter, Margot earned her Ph.D. from Rutgers and became our full-time Book Review Managing Editor. James and Margot have been my indispensible partners, and what our journal has accomplished under my editorial tenure has only been possible because of their extraordinary collaboration. In August of 2013 Margot left our staff for a position as Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana. She is greatly missed. At the same time, I am pleased to note that her book, Politics and Theatre in Twentieth-Century Europe: Imagination and Resistance , was published by Palgrave Macmillan in December 2013. I am also pleased to note that James Moskowitz, Perspectives on Politics’s own version of NBA great Allen Iverson—nicknamed “The Answer”—has incorporated the Book Review into his already extensive responsibilities, and remains with us for the duration. I could not do this without him.

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• Volume 12, Issue 1
• Jeffrey C. Isaac
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714000012

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Gender Essay Topics: Overview of the Relevant Themes

Updated 12 Jun 2024

When it comes to choosing the right theme for your essay, it may be quite challenging for you to find the right gender essay topics as this theme is too broad and in-depth. It goes without saying that the future success of your writing is greatly contingent on the theme you opt for. If it’s interesting, engaging, and not too broad, you won’t face great difficulties. The overriding objective of this comprehensive post is to thoroughly analyze the hottest essay topics about gender. After reading our topic samples, you’ll quickly pick the one for your work!

How to Choose Gender Topics to Write About?

As we have already mentioned, it may be difficult and time-consuming to find the right essay topic. Simply put, it is quite challenging to sift through the mud and find the gold. The web is overloaded with gender topics to write about, but if this theme is new to you, you may get confused with an array of variants. Remember that your first and foremost task is to disclose one problem that really matters for society. Let’s get back to a few insightful tips that might help you define the right topic for your future paper:

• Always opt for the topics that you fully understand.

Although essays are usually short (up to 1000 words), this doesn’t mean you should take an unknown topic. Your goal is to cover the theme, explain how it all works, clarify an array of issues, etc. Your target audience should believe you and to achieve this in your paper, you should be no stranger to the theme.

• Try to be more specific.

The biggest students’ mistake is choosing a too expansive theme. As we have already mentioned, essays are usually shorter as compared to research papers. Therefore, you won’t be able to cover a broad topic within this limit.

• Choose an issue that can be seen from both sides.

For instance, if you opt for gender research topics, you need to be doubly sure that you see the issue from various perspectives. You need to be doubly sure that you have strong cases when you’ll be refuting the opposition.

• Spend enough time gathering information.

An essay must be well-researched. Of course, you are allowed to share your opinion but you need to be doubly sure that you have scientifically proven facts that support your opinion.

Overall, when following these insightful pieces of advice, you’ll undoubtedly choose the right theme for your future paper.

List of Gender Essay Topics

Let’s get back to practice and review the hottest research topics:

• The Evolution of Gender Roles in Modern Society.
• Analyzing Gender Representation in Media.
• The Impact of Gender on Career Choices and Professional Life.
• Gender Identity and Expression in the 21st Century.
• The Role of Education in Shaping Gender Perceptions.
• Gender and Sexuality: Understanding the Spectrum.
• The Influence of Social Media on Gender Norms.
• Gender and Politics: Representation and Participation.
• The Intersectionality of Gender, Race, and Class.
• Gender in Sports: Achievements and Challenges.
• The Role of Religion in Defining Gender Roles.
• Gender and Language: How Words Shape Perceptions.
• The Psychological Impact of Gender Stereotyping.
• Gender and Consumer Behavior: Marketing Perspectives.
• The Future of Gender: Beyond Binary Classifications.
• Gender and Leadership: Breaking the Glass Ceiling.
• The Role of Gender in Family Dynamics.
• Gender and Environmental Activism.
• The Impact of Globalization on Gender Equality.
• Gender in Literature: Themes and Characters.

Gender Roles Essay Topics

• The Changing Dynamics of Gender Roles in the Household.
• Gender Roles in Children's Literature and Their Impact.
• The Influence of Pop Culture on Adolescent Gender Roles.
• Traditional vs. Modern Gender Roles in Marriage.
• The Role of Schools in Reinforcing or Challenging Gender Roles.
• Gender Roles in the Workplace: Progress and Stagnation.
• The Impact of Military Service on Gender Roles.
• Gender Roles in Indigenous Cultures.
• The Effect of Parental Gender Roles on Child Development.
• Gender Roles in Advertising: Perpetuation of Stereotypes.
• The Shift in Gender Roles in Aging Societies.
• Gender Roles and Mental Health: A Correlation.
• The Influence of Technology on Gender Roles.
• Gender Roles in Same-Sex Relationships.
• The Role of Gender in Sports Participation and Recognition.
• Gender Roles in Fashion and Beauty Industries.
• The Impact of Gender Roles on Sexual Orientation and Identity.
• Gender Roles in Science Fiction and Fantasy Genres.
• The Role of Gender in Conflict and Peacebuilding.
• Challenging Gender Roles through Art and Performance.

Gender Equality Essay Topics

• The State of Gender Equality in Education Globally.
• Gender Equality in the Tech Industry: Challenges and Opportunities.
• The Role of Feminism in Advancing Gender Equality.
• Gender Equality in Political Representation: A Global Perspective.
• The Impact of Gender Quotas on Equality in the Workplace.
• Gender Equality in Sports: Closing the Gap.
• The Effectiveness of Gender Equality Legislation.
• Gender Equality and Economic Development: The Link.
• The Role of Men in Promoting Gender Equality.
• Gender Equality in Healthcare Access and Treatment.
• The Media's Role in Promoting Gender Equality.
• Gender Equality in Parental Leave Policies.
• The Relationship Between Gender Equality and Cultural Practices.
• Gender Equality in the Arts and Entertainment Industry.
• The Impact of Social Movements on Gender Equality.
• Gender Equality in Academic and Research Institutions.
• The Challenges of Achieving Gender Equality in Rural Areas.
• Gender Equality and Sustainable Development Goals.
• The Role of International Organizations in Promoting Gender Equality.
• Addressing Gender Equality in the Legal System.

Gender Inequality Essay Topics

• The Root Causes of Gender Inequality in Society.
• Gender Inequality in Access to Education: A Critical Analysis.
• The Wage Gap: Exploring Gender Inequality in Earnings.
• Gender Inequality in Access to Healthcare Services.
• The Impact of Gender Inequality on Economic Growth.
• Gender Inequality in Political Leadership and Representation.
• The Role of Culture and Tradition in Perpetuating Gender Inequality.
• Gender Inequality in the Film and Music Industry.
• The Effects of Gender Inequality on Child Development.
• Gender Inequality in STEM Fields: Barriers and Solutions.
• The Intersection of Gender Inequality and Racial Discrimination.
• Gender Inequality in Entrepreneurship and Business Ownership.
• The Impact of Gender Inequality on Mental Health.
• Gender Inequality in Sports: Recognition and Resources.
• Addressing Gender Inequality in the Workplace: Policies and Practices.
• The Role of Education in Combating Gender Inequality.
• Gender Inequality in Retirement Savings and Security.
• The Global Challenge of Gender Inequality in Land and Property Rights.
• Gender Inequality and Domestic Violence: A Vicious Cycle.
• The Role of Media in Addressing or Perpetuating Gender Inequality.

Gender Wage Gap Essay Topics

• Analyzing the Gender Wage Gap: Causes and Consequences.
• The Gender Wage Gap in Different Industries: A Comparative Study.
• The Role of Negotiation in the Gender Wage Gap.
• Legislative Solutions to Close the Gender Wage Gap.
• The Impact of Parenthood on the Gender Wage Gap.
• Gender Wage Gap: A Global Perspective.
• The Effect of Education and Experience on the Gender Wage Gap.
• Addressing the Gender Wage Gap Through Corporate Policies.
• The Gender Wage Gap Among Minority Women.
• The Long-term Economic Effects of the Gender Wage Gap.
• The Gender Wage Gap in the Gig Economy.
• The Role of Unions in Addressing the Gender Wage Gap.
• Gender Wage Gap and Its Impact on Women's Retirement.
• The Perception of the Gender Wage Gap Among Young Professionals.
• The Gender Wage Gap in Creative and Performing Arts.
• Analyzing the Gender Wage Gap in Healthcare Professions.
• The Influence of Gender Stereotypes on the Wage Gap.
• The Gender Wage Gap in Academic and Research Institutions.
• Strategies for Women to Overcome the Gender Wage Gap.
• The Future of the Gender Wage Gap: Trends and Predictions.

Essay Topics on Gender Stereotypes

• The Origins and Impacts of Gender Stereotypes in Society.
• Gender Stereotypes in Early Childhood Education.
• The Role of Media in Perpetuating Gender Stereotypes.
• Breaking Down Gender Stereotypes in the Workplace.
• The Impact of Gender Stereotypes on Personal Relationships.
• Gender Stereotypes in Sports: Overcoming Barriers.
• The Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Career Choices.
• Challenging Gender Stereotypes Through Literature and Art.
• The Effects of Gender Stereotypes on Adolescent Development.
• Gender Stereotypes and Their Role in Marketing and Advertising.
• The Intersectionality of Gender Stereotypes and Cultural Identity.
• Gender Stereotypes in the Fashion Industry.
• Overcoming Gender Stereotypes in Leadership and Management.
• The Role of Parents in Challenging Gender Stereotypes.
• Gender Stereotypes in Science Fiction and Fantasy Media.
• The Impact of Gender Stereotypes on Mental Health.
• Gender Stereotypes in Video Games and Gaming Culture.
• The Evolution of Gender Stereotypes Over Time.
• The Role of Education in Dismantling Gender Stereotypes.
• Gender Stereotypes and Their Impact on Sexual Orientation and Identity.

What are some current gender issues?

Let’s get back to the specifics of choosing gender issues topics. Before we move on to reviewing the hottest themes, let’s take a deeper look at the current issues:

• Gender bias in education. And that’s a serious problem so far. Around 130 million girls will never get a basic primary education. Consequently, they will also lose a chance for a better future. The main reasons are the lack of proper sanitation, child marriage, or violence in classrooms.
• Pay gap. Financial empowerment is one of the hottest factors in keeping gender out of balance. The thing is that women and men may do the same job but they don’t receive equal pay. The men’s salary is usually higher.
• Gender gap in agriculture. So far, nearly half of all farmers on earth are women, but unfortunately, they can’t boast as productive fields as men have. The thing is that women don’t have enough access to such resources as farm labor, seeds, fertilizers, etc. Even if they have, the income of men and women farmers is different due to the pay gap.
• Bad access to healthcare. Every day, around 1,000 women die because of pregnancy and childbirth. It’s clear that women living in poverty can’t access high-quality healthcare. The absence of healthcare leads to a negative impact on communities.

Specifics of Gender Essay Writing

Women and men have different roles in society and both are of utmost importance. When writing your essay, you should use only well-researched ideas based on true facts. Of course, you can share your opinion regarding the topic but the main ideas of your writing must be supported by facts.

When choosing one of these themes, you should mainly concentrate on the role of women and men in society, their statuses, and roles. Make sure you have a catchy intro, the body (that normally includes 3-6 paragraphs), and a brief summary. If you are an inexperienced writer or English is not your native language, don’t hesitate to ask professionals for essays for sale !

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Sociology of Gender — Gender

Essays on Gender

When it comes to gender essay topics, there are a wide variety of options to choose from. Whether you are interested in exploring the social, cultural, or political aspects of gender, there is no shortage of thought-provoking topics to consider. In this article, we will explore some of the most compelling gender essay topics.

Gender roles in society:

One of the most popular and relevant topics in gender studies is the exploration of gender roles in society. This topic allows for a deep dive into the ways in which societal expectations and norms shape the experiences of individuals based on their gender. From examining the impact of traditional gender roles on the division of labor to exploring the ways in which gender stereotypes affect the way people are treated in various social contexts, there is no shortage of angles to explore within this topic.

It's important to consider the keywords and phrases that people are likely to use when searching for information on this topic. For example, "gender roles in society," "gender stereotypes," and "gender and social expectations" are all relevant keywords that can be incorporated into an essay to improve its search engine visibility.

Gender and sexuality:

Another popular area of study within gender studies is the intersection of gender and sexuality. This topic allows for an exploration of the ways in which individuals' gender identities intersect with their sexual orientation and how these intersections impact their experiences and interactions with the world around them. From discussing the impact of heteronormativity on LGBTQ+ individuals to exploring the ways in which gender and sexuality are constructed and perceived in different cultural contexts, there is a wealth of material to explore within this topic.

Gender and power dynamics:

The relationship between gender and power is a complex and multifaceted topic that provides ample material for exploration. This topic allows for an examination of the ways in which gender intersects with other forms of social power, such as race, class, and nationality, and how these intersections impact individuals' experiences and opportunities. From discussing the ways in which gender-based discrimination and oppression intersect with other forms of social inequality to exploring the ways in which individuals can challenge and resist these power dynamics, there is no shortage of material to explore within this topic.

Gender and representation in media:

The representation of gender in media is another important and relevant topic within gender studies. This topic allows for an exploration of the ways in which gender is depicted and constructed in various forms of media, from film and television to advertising and social media. From discussing the impact of traditional gender stereotypes on media representation to exploring the ways in which individuals can challenge and subvert these stereotypes, there is a wealth of material to explore within this topic.

Gender essay topics offer a wide range of options for exploration, from gender roles in society to gender and power dynamics. By incorporating relevant keywords and phrases into essays on these topics, writers can improve their search engine visibility and attract more readers to their work. Whether you are interested in exploring the social, cultural, or political aspects of gender, there is no shortage of thought-provoking topics to consider within the field of gender studies.

The Effects of Gender-based Violence

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The Role of Gender in "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"

How the author has used gender in "the god of small things", women, gender and sexuality studies, gender differences towards self-efficacy and academic performance, my experience of gender expectations, literature's portrayal of gender roles in society, "give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.’... marilyn monroe, equal rights for lgbt community, the link between homosexuality and genetics, strategies for challenging the patriarchy: "fight club" and "the passion of the new eve", the women’s day off in iceland, a close analysis of gender in the handmaid's tale and a streetcar named desire, gender and hiv/aids: prevention among young people, the phallus: the art of rejection, gender divided: stigma created by culture, review of the issue of gender problems in hollywood, critique of the social construction approach to gender, analysis of the theme of gender in "litany and havisham", the gender in nella larsen’s novella and tennessee williams’ play, how gender inequality has lowered the strength of women as writers, relevant topics.

• Sex, Gender and Sexuality
• Gender Roles
• Gender Stereotypes
• Gender Criticism
• Social Justice
• Media Analysis
• Sociological Imagination

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Top 150 Gender Research Topics For An Excellent Paper

Creating a successful academic paper is surely not easy for most students. Moreover, writing on one of the women's and gender studies paper topics can appear to be a real challenge. Fortunately, we are here to help. Discover the freshest tips on how to write an astonishing essay and pick up any of the topics from our hotlist.

How To Write An Essay On Gender Roles Topics

There is one basic rule any student should always follow when creating essays of this kind. This is meeting the requirements of the traditional structure of the academic paper. Here is how it will look like in your case:

• Introduction: Make sure to create an eye-catching beginning of your paper. The best thing to come up with a nice introduction is to pick up the most controversial option among various interesting women's studies topics. This way, you will grab the interest of the reader right from the start. By the way, it is important to be brief and come up with a striking thesis at the end of your introduction.
• Main part: Here comes the main info you want to share with the audience. As a rule, you will need to find several powerful arguments about gender roles, feminism, or other related topics. You are expected to come up with convincing arguments that will support the facts, discovered during your research. Moreover, you can share your own understanding of gender power, the issues related to this area in modern society, as well as provide some recommendations on how to solve them.
• Conclusion: This is a brief summary of your paper. Avoid writing about any new facts in this part but just sum up your research facts and ideas.
• Bibliography. The last part of your academic paper is a list of sources you’ve used for creating an essay. Don’t forget to add a bibliography list to your paper to get the best scores for your assignment.

Top Feminist Research Topics For Your Paper

Feminism has been one of the most disputable trends in society for centuries. What were its basic principles a few decades ago? How did the feminist ethics change? What is modern feminism about? Writing on one of these topics will help you create an up-to-date academic paper.

• The Development Of Feminism
• Feminism: Basic Facts And Concepts
• Feminism In The 20th Century
• Feminism In Social Relations
• The Attitude Of Modern Teenagers Towards Feminism
• The Issues Of Feminism Nowadays
• Feminism: Pros And Cons
• Feminism And Transgender Theory
• The Role Of Feminism In Modern Culture
• The Main Concepts Of Feminism In The 21 Century
• Feminism In Asia
• Feminism In Latin America
• Feminism In Europe
• Pros And Cons Of Being A Feminist
• First-wave Feminism
• What Is Antifeminism?
• Feminist Ethics
• Psychology Of Feminism
• Feminism Philosophy
• Top Feminist Literature
• Democracy And Feminism
• Ecofeminism
• Radical Feminism

Gender Roles And Issues Topics

Gender roles have been constantly changing. This means you can find tons of ideas to write a brilliant essay about gender roles and their development throughout the years.

• Men And Women Roles In Childcare
• Women’s Roles In The 20th Century
• The Psychology Of Gender
• Women’s Rights
• Gender Roles And Employment
• Women’s Roles During The Industrial Revolution
• Gender Roles In Building A Career
• The Concepts Of Gendered Society
• Gender-related Issues In The Modern World
• Psychological Differences Between Men And Women
• Women’s Roles In The Ancient World
• Women’s Roles In The Middle Ages
• Women In Combat
• Women In Non-traditional Roles
• The Theories Of Gender Development
• The Basic Concepts Of Gender Identity
• Men And Women In Politics
• Traditional Feminine Traits
• Differences In The Behavior Of Men And Women
• The Attitude In Different Societies Towards Women
• Importance Of Girl’s Education
• The Pros And Cons Of Changing Gender Roles

Women-Related Studies Topics: Abortions

Abortion has been among the most controversial topics for years. Moreover, it continues to be one of the burning issues in modern society, too. In case you are looking for a modern, sharp, and disputable idea for your academic paper, feel free to choose a topic about abortion.

• Abortion Rights In The USA
• The Risks Of Abortion
• Pros And Cons Of The Right Of Abortion
• Abortion Rights In Asia
• Abortion Rights In Europe
• Sex-selective Abortion
• Women’s Movements Related To Abortion
• Abortion: Cases And Controversies
• Abortion Policies: A Global Review
• The Times When Abortion Was A Crime
• Abortion And Politics
• The Modern Ways Of Birth Control
• Abortion And Democracy
• Abortion In Judaism
• The Abortion Question
• Psychological Conditions After Abortion
• Abortion And Depression
• Abortion And Further Pregnancies
• The Benefits Of Reproductive Freedom
• Defense Of Abortion
• Abortion And Ethics
• Abortion In India
• Fertility Control In Different Countries
• Fertility And Abortion
• Abortion: Public Opinion
• Abortion From Doctor’s Retrospective

Gender Stereotypes Research Paper Topics

Although we live in a developed society, there are still lots of gender stereotypes thousands of people believe in. Many of these stereotypes are related to gender, as well as relationships in families. You can create a gender stereotypes research paper using one of the following ideas.

• Patriarchal Stereotypes In Family Relationships
• Gender Stereotypes In The Advertisement
• Gender Stereotypes On TV
• Gender Stereotypes In The Gaming Industry
• Gender Stereotypes In Different Countries
• Sei Shonagons Pillow Book Analysis
• The Psychology Of Stereotyping
• Dominance Stereotypes
• Ways To Fight Gender Stereotypes
• Gender Stereotype Activation: Basic Concepts
• Gender-role Stereotyping And Career Aspirations
• Gender Role Stereotyping In Children's Imaginary Friends
• Gender Stereotypes Dynamics
• Stereotyping And Discrimination
• Gender Stereotypes In Different Age Groups
• Stereotypes About Same-sex Marriages
• Adoption Of Sex-role Stereotyped Behaviors
• Sex-role Stereotypes

Women's Rights Topics: Gender Inequality

Gender inequality has been an issue in most countries for centuries. However, in many societies, this problem still continues to be sharp. Therefore, one of the topics on gender inequality might become an excellent choice for many students.

• Gender-neutral Language
• The Issue Of Gender Inequality In The Modern World
• How To Fight Gender Inequality
• Gender Inequality Policies
• Primary Source Analysis On Gender Ain't A Woman
• Racial And Gender Inequality In African Countries
• The Modernization Of Gender Inequality In Brazil
• Class, Race, Gender, And Inequality
• The Indications Of Inequality Between The Sexes
• Inequality And Education
• Inequality At The Workplace
• Factors Causing Gender Inequality
• Inequality In Business
• Sexuality And Politics

Gender Studies Research Topics: Psychology Of Gender

The psychology of gender is one of the most interesting topics for discussion. You will definitely find lots of the newest research on this issue and will be able to write a fresh and up-to-date academic paper.

• Camel And Cactus Test
• Femme Invisibility
• Benevolent Sexism
• Determining The Relations Between Different Sexes
• Gender-parity In Parenting
• Sex-role Theory In Sociology
• Men And Women In Sports
• Impact Of Discrimination On The Development Of Boys And Girls
• Lack Of Female Leaders In Politics
• Women Without Children: Issues And Opportunities
• Discrimination In Marriage
• Technology And Gender Psychology
• Modern Gender Norms
• The Future Of Gender Norms
• The Role Of Motherhood In The Lives Of Women
• How To Solve A Work-home Conflict Of Modern Women

Gender Reassignment Studies Topics

Gender reassignment is becoming common in the modern world. But are there any issues for changing gender in different societies? What makes people change their sex or sexual preferences? You can freely describe these issues in your essay and get top grades for your assignment.

• Heterosexual Transvestites
• Homosexuals In Military
• Polysexual In The Modern World
• Transsexuals: Basic Concepts And Features
• Who Are Transgenders?
• Origin Of Sexual Orientation
• Why Do People Become Transgenders?
• Transgender Identities
• Socializing Transgenders
• Bisexuals In A Modern Society
• Gender Reassignment In Muslim Cultures
• Sex Reassignment And Personal Identity
• Rethinking Gender And Therapy

Powerful Gender Research Topics

There are many controversial topics you can write about in your academic paper. For example, same-sex marriages, legalization of prostitution, sexuality, and many others.

• Legalization Of Prostitution
• Same-sex Adoption Rights
• Same-sex Marriage
• Signs Of Sexuality
• Gender-based Violence
• Human Trafficking
• Healthy Relations Between Sexes
• Types Of Abuse And How To Stop It
• The Role Of Women In The Modern World
• The Problem Of Gender Diversity
• Determining Sexual Orientation
• Psychology Of Gender
• Men Vs. Women: Who Is Stronger?
• Types Of Sexual Orientations
• Gender And Mental Health

How To Write A Gender-Related Academic Paper

There is nothing new that choosing a research topic for women gender studies is not easy. However, picking up the most fitting option among hundreds of gender and feminist research paper topics is only half of the job you need to do complete your assignment. So, what else are you expected to do to get the best scores in a class?

• Create an essay with a flawless structure
• Do advanced research via different channels
• Write in a proper voice and tone
• Use up-to-date and impressive facts and arguments
• Represent the best examples to support your ideas
• Split your main ideas into paragraphs in a logical and well-structured way
• Express your own views wisely and properly
• Use a particular voice and tone
• Avoid any grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes
• Make sure not to have any typos
• Add a polished and correct bibliography
• Use only modern and reliable sources
• Make your introduction shine
• Create a great summary with no new facts and ideas
• Use proper formatting

Following all these rules often seem amazingly difficult for many learners. In case you are one of them, no worries. The secret truth is that lots of diligent students often  pay for essay online . And you can do that, too! This way, you will get a brilliant essay created by skilled and professional writers with absolutely no effort.

References:

• Writing tips for beginners
• The best research techniques
• The history of feminism
• Influential women in wellness
• Women during the American Civil War
• The role of women during the industrial revolution
• Books about women

Gender Politics Essays

Overseas chinese students and gender politics, popular essay topics.

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Essays on Gender Politics

1 sample on this topic

On this page, we've put together a directory of free paper samples regarding Gender Politics. The plan is to provide you with a sample similar to your Gender Politics essay topic so that you could have a closer look at it in order to get a clear idea of what a great academic work should look like. You are also suggested to implement the best Gender Politics writing practices revealed by expert authors and, eventually, develop a top-notch paper of your own.

However, if composing Gender Politics papers completely by yourself is not an option at this point, WowEssays.com essay writer service might still be able to help you out. For instance, our experts can craft a unique Gender Politics essay sample solely for you. This model paper on Gender Politics will be written from scratch and tailored to your personal requirements, fairly priced, and delivered to you within the pre-set deadline. Choose your writer and buy custom essay now!

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Gender and politics essay.

The study of gender and politics in political science rests on an initial body of research that established women as a politically relevant group for political scientific analysis and sex as a political variable. A small number of early influential studies of women and politics can be identified, the best known of which is Maurice Duverger’s The Political Role of Women (1955), a work commissioned in part in response to transnational feminist demands for empirical research on women’s political and economic status. By the mid-1900s, developments such as quantitative databases based on large, nationally representative samples, the apparent ease of identifying the sex of survey respondents, and computer-facilitated quantitative analysis allowed for the generation of research on sex-related differences in mass political behavior and preferences. By the 1970s this research, increasingly informed by developments in feminist political thought and by feminist movement mobilization in North America and Western Europe, provided the foundation for moving from research on women and politics to a gendered analysis of politics. Although gender and sex are related concepts in political science research, their relationship continues to be debated among political theorists and empirical scholars in the discipline.

Defining Sex

It is worth noting that, for many decades, political science engaged primarily in single-sex research, in which sex was not a variable but a constant. Male political elites, male elected officials, and men as citizens and voters were the central focus of political science research and theory and, in some cases, the exclusive concern of the discipline. The development of a disciplinary subfield of women and politics research shifted the treatment of sex as a constant to sex as a variable; feminist theorizing made women visible in political theory.

In political science, as early as 1974, with Wilma Rule Krauss’s article “Political Implications of Gender Roles,” “gender” emerged as a variable distinct from “sex,” with sex treated as “a biological fact” and gender expressed through “gender identity.” The variable “sex” was based on state-assigned sex classification, generally at birth, as male or female. The variable of “gender roles,” related to but distinct from “sex,” was understood as sets of traits and behaviors considered to be “feminine” or “masculine.” Sex as a dichotomous variable, operationalized as “male” and “female,” was found to have limited analytical utility, however. Sex-based political research on women has served more to correct and to modify previous research concerning sex-related differences than it has to develop complex models of the political meanings of sex; nonetheless, it has provided the foundation upon which a gendered analysis of politics is being constructed. The distinction of sex and gender, as separate variables, has clarified, empirically, the socially constructed features of masculinity, femininity, sexualities, and structural meanings of gender, distinct from biological assumptions about sex and sex difference. As political scientists asked questions that could not be answered by employing sex as a political variable—for example, do party nomination rules structure internal party competition to advantage male rather than female candidates? Why do numbers of elected women increase in the aftermath of war?—they began to turn to gender as a concept for purposes of political analysis; they also turned to, and relied heavily on, gendered research in anthropology, history, labor studies, psychology, sociology, women’s studies, and sexuality studies as well as on theoretically related work being developed in regard to race and research on the intersections of race, class, and gender.

Defining Gender

Gender as a concept in political research is conventionally understood as sets of socially constructed meanings of masculinities and femininities derived from context-specific identifications of sex, that is, male and female, men and women. These meanings emerge from stereotypes about male and female behavior, from “characteristics people tend to associate with women and men, femaleness and maleness” (as Beth Reingold writes in her 2000 book Representing Women, p. 47), from normative assumptions about appropriate behaviors of men and women, and from social structures of power. As Nancy Bur ns noted in “Gender: Public Opinion and Political Action” (2002, p. 463–464), “Gender is a repertoire of mechanisms that provide social interpretations of sex, that enable sex to structure people’s lives. Gender is a set of ways in which people and institutions make sex matter. Gender is a principle of social organization. Gender is a hierarchy.” Gender represents both the outcomes and processes of human actors and institutions in developing meanings about a range of femininities and masculinities that are not “natural” but are identifiable social and political constructions. As Iris Marion Young concluded in her essay “Modernity, Emancipatory Values, and Power, ”Gender is . . . a set of ideational and social structural relationships that people move through, rather than attributes they have attached to their persons” (p. 493).

Gender and the political are mutually constitutive, and hence a central question for scholars of women, gender, and politics is how gender and politics interact to construct hierarchies of political power. Gender produces and transforms political inequalities, privileging most men in relationship to most women but also privileging some women in regard to other women and to some men. At the same time, political institutions, laws, and political practices construct gender, identifying appropriate political actors as primarily (or exclusively) male, establishing masculine behaviors as normative and fitting political institutions to a model of the male actor. As Lisa Baldez writes in her 2007 work “Intersectionality,” because “gender never . . . operates independently of other aspects of political life, . . . it is misleading to think of gender as an autonomous category of analysis” (p. 229).

Gender has multiple meanings that rely on context and that change across time. No universal content emerges from “sex” that gives single and universal meaning to gender; the identification of a person as male or female does not automatically indicate that person’s political behavior, political preferences, or location in political hierarchies of power. As Laurel Weldon notes in her 2006 article on “The Structure of Intersectionality,” “Gender norms and practices vary across groups of women and men as well as across nations, regions, generations, and cultural groups” (p. 238), and across age, race, and time. These norms and practices also have “multiple logics”; that is, their development, workings, and functions differ according to context. The political implications of gender, as a result, were different for white working-class women in the United States in 1942 than they were for black women in the southern United States in 1962 or for northern Italian upper-class women in 1982 or for Hutu Rwandan women in 2002. In these examples, all individuals are “women,” but the gendered political meanings and power for these groups of women differ substantially. How gender works for these women, and for other women and for men, cannot be assumed on the basis of sex. The extent to which women and men are differently politically empowered is a matter for empirical research and political theorizing.

Gendered meanings and structures, such as “welfare recipient,” “labor movement,” “suicide bomber,” and “Parent Teacher Association,” intersect with and mutually constitute those of, for example, race, class, and caste. It is not yet clear, however, how they do so. Intersections of gender with race, class, and other politically relevant categories have yet to be fully theorized and developed for empirical analysis. As AngeMarie Hancock observes in the 2007 article “Intersectionality as a Normative and Empirical Paradigm,” relationships among intersectional categories remain “an open empirical question” (p. 251), for the location of such intersections and for the identification of how such intersections function politically in gendered terms. An appreciation of gender as multiple and intersectional responds to the theoretical and empirical research undertaken in race studies and gender studies, although, according to Hancock, “a comprehensive intellectual history of intersectionality research” has yet to be published (p. 249), and its impact on gendered political research remains to be assessed.

Gender In Political Research

How does gender as a concept function in political science research? Gender, unlike sex, can serve as both an independent and a dependent variable. Gender and the political are reciprocal in nature; in political science, scholars examine “the particular and contextually specific ways in which politics constructs gender and gender constructs politics,” as Joan Scott writes in her 1986 article “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis” (p. 1070). Insofar as gender is constructed by state and society—for example, who counts as a citizen, the extension of nationality to spouses of men but not of women, the extension of rights to men but not women, policies protecting workers in male-dominated workforce that do not encompass work primarily undertaken by women—gender functions as an effect or outcome of human agency and politics. Because gender also serves to construct political choices and outcomes, it can function as a determinant of such phenomena. As Helen Irving writes in Gender and the Constitution (2008), “Formal equality can produce unequal results; where similar treatment is offered to persons who are not similarly situated, further disadvantage for the disadvantaged can be the outcome” (p. 2). Furthermore, gender can function both as a categorical concept and as a dynamic process concept for political research.

Employing gender as a category involves the “multidimensional mapping of socially constructed, fluid, politically relevant identities, values, conventions, and practices conceived of as masculine and/or feminine, with the recognition that masculinity and femininity correspond only fleetingly and roughly to ‘male’ and ‘female,’” as Karen Beckwith writes in her 2005 article “A Common Language of Gender?” (p. 131). Gender as a category variable has utility in its classification of “feminine and masculine behaviors, actions, attitudes and preferences” and its impact on “particular outcomes, such as military intervention, social movement success, and electoral choice, among others” (p. 131). Recent research on gendered campaign strategies of women and men running for office, on gendered media behaviors of male and female candidates, and on gendered interactions among women and men in national parliaments are examples of the utility of gender as a category variable. For example, Dianne Bystrom and her coauthors, in Gender and Candidate Communication (2004), found that women running for elective office in the United States developed specifically gendered campaign styles designed to transcend—or to take advantage of—stereotypes about female candidates and women in politics. Kathleen Dolan, in her 2004 Voting for Women, found that voters held gendered assumptions about policy issues, about women’s and men’s likelihood of promoting some issues rather than others, and about ideology; in her 2008 review of the scholarship on female candidates in the United States, she found that “women candidates of both parties [are] seen as more liberal than their male counterparts but also they are perceived as more liberal than they actually are” (p. 116).

Mary Hawkesworth, in her 2003 article “Congressional Enactments of Race-Gender,” for the U.S. Congress, and Joni Lovenduski, in her 2005 book Feminizing Politics, for the British House of Commons, found structures and practices in each institution that shaped differences in access to power and influence between men and women in these national legislatures. Examples include differences in treatment by colleagues, where, as Hawkes worth found (pp. 538–539), female legislators were explicitly excluded from Congressional committee press conferences and remained unrecognized for speaking by their male colleagues, and where female members of Congress employed techniques akin to “groveling” to influence their male peers, “[indicating] a power dynamic that Congresswomen of color must take into account in devising their legislative strategies” (p. 538).These indicate the ways in which gender can be identified and employed as a category variable for political analysis.

In contrast, gender as a process concept functions to identify “the differential effects of apparently gender-neutral structures and policies upon women and men, and upon masculine and/or feminine actors,” as Beckwith observes (2005, 132), as well as the behaviors of individual women and men to shape structures and policies to a specifically gendered outcome. Examples of such research include studies of the gendered impact of electoral rules, nomination procedures, and policymaking and other decision-making processes, where structures, procedures, and practices produce outcomes that advantage some men and disadvantage some men. Lovenduski describes “a deeply embedded culture of masculinity that pervades political institutions in Britain . . . manifested in the agenda-setting, formulation and implementation stages of the policy process” (2005, 48, 53), ranging from the adversarial debating style of parliamentary speeches to explicit, articulated sexism by members of Parliament (2005, 54–56). Other examples are the gendered outcomes of democratic transitions and other regime changes, of military interventions, of war and revolution, and of mass mobilizations such as strikes and protests, where the disruption of traditional gender roles, abolition of previous political institutions, dissolution of political party systems, and other major changes can create opportunities for women’s political empowerment.

Gender as process is also evidenced, for example, in the strategic decisions and actions of women and men in constructing new political systems, drafting constitutions, negotiating party alliances, and organizing transnational social movement campaigns. Gender employed as a process variable moves beyond, for example, differentiating between foreign policy preferences of male and female elites to a focus on the ways in which institutional structures and practices shape the interactions, alliance formation, and discourses available to and influenced by male and female political elites in foreign policy decision making. Gender as a process variable also helps to reveal how states and institutions become gendered; that is, how states adopt and accommodate structures that create and confirm gendered political differences, such as an all-male military, girls’ exclusion from state or religious-based educational institutions, and workplace protections for industrial workers.

Joan Acker, in her 1992 article “From Sex Roles to Gendered Institutions,” defines gendered institutions as those where “gender is present in the processes, practices, images and ideologies, and distributions of power in the various sectors of social life” and she recognizes that “the institutional structures of . . . societies are organized along lines of gender” (p. 567). Other state-focused gender research has turned to issues of gender in institutions and in political institutional development, how institutions structure gender and mobilize women, and how organized women actively work to restructure (and hence to retender) institutional structures. For example, Louise Chappell’s book Gendering Government (2002) found, for Australia and Canada, that relatively similar feminist movements, facing different institutional arrangements, developed state-specific strategies to achieve their goals, strategies that included crafting changes within each state. As activist women responded to the political opportunities offered by state structures, they mobilized in ways that shifted each state in terms of gender, creating new avenues for women’s influence. In Australia, with “high federal political capacity,” effective women’s policy agencies at the national level, and norms that accommodated advocacy of gender interests, organized women employed a strategy of internal, insider bureaucratic positioning and external lobbying vis-à-vis parliament (pp. 159–163, 173). In contrast, Canada offered different opportunities for advancing women’s interests, primarily through constitutional measures, such as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which, as Alexandra Dobrowolsky shows in her 2003 chapter “Shifting States,” activist women helped to forge. Dobrowolsky found that activist women were particularly successful in developing new, women-friendly political institutions in Scotland with the opportunities afforded by the prospect of a Scottish Parliament (pp. 133–139).

Work of this type, analyzing the gendered nature of institutions, according to Acker, demonstrates the states’ susceptibility to influence. Not only do states and other institutions express, practice, and shape gender; they are also responsive to the attempts by political actors to regender them; that is, to recast the terms and contexts of state and institutional arrangements, practices, and discourses in order to leverage political advantage and to increase strategic political opportunities and outcomes along gender lines.

Focusing on gender as a concept that functions independently and dependently, conceptualized as category and/or process, allows scholars, as Corrine McConnaughy writes in her 2007 article “Seeing Gender over the Short and Long Haul,” to “[account for] the interaction of gendered identities and attitudes, social location, and political context” (p. 380). This permits us to treat gender as “a meta-concept, to construct meaningfully distinguished concepts within it, and then to model explicitly those concepts and their interactions” (p. 380; emphasis in original).

What gender as a concept does for political science is to provide an analytical strategy for the political and politicized relations of power between and among women and men that cannot be fully or clearly identified or analyzed by a reliance on sex as a variable. Research using gender and sex as variables still includes the counting of self-identified women and men, interpretation of regression analyses that include a sex variable (see Nancy Burns’s 2005 article “Finding Gender”), and analyses of the presence of men and women in political institutions. Gender, however, has moved political research further toward the heart of disciplinary research, with foci on the social, activist, and legal constructions of empowered and/or disempowered women and men across intersectional ties of, for example, race, class, caste, sexuality, and nationality; on the imbrications of gender and power in institutions; and on the strategic employment of masculinities and femininities in constructing and gaining political power. Gender also makes clear the imposed, involuntary political differences and inequalities imposed upon (and often resisted by) women, revealing the gendered and racialized dichotomies of, for example, enfranchisement, access to office, legal status, and provision of government benefits.

Conclusions About Gender In Political Science

Although political science may not yet have a common language of gender, two common defining components are evident. First, gender is socially constructed. Despite some disputes concerning the relationship between sex and gender, or the utility of gender as a concept, scholars of women, gender, and politics concur that gender is a social construction of political import that marks neither natural nor essential qualities of individuals or institutions. As a result, gender can be seen in—and is useful in analyzing—the construction of political institutions, the development of political practices, the crafting of new constitutions, and the resolution of wars and revolutions.

Second, gender reveals power differences. Scholars of gender and politics recognize that the effects of gender are not neutral. Gender constitutes a constructed set of differences among sexed persons in terms of relations of dominance and subordination that are systematic and structural, although the processes of their construction and their specific consequences are matters for empirical investigation. As Acker reminds us, gender signifies “the patterning of difference and domination through [socially and culturally constructed] distinctions between women and men that is integral to many societal processes” (1992, 565). Gender is worked to structure—or to undermine—power differences between and among women and men. As Scott concludes, “Gender is one of the recurrent references by which political power has been conceived, legitimated, and criticized” (1986, 1073).

A third defining component is emerging from research on gender and institutions (including the political economy): the recognition that a focus on gender, rather than sex, permits analysis of gender as structured in institutions, processes, and practices, independent from any specific human actors. As structures are developed through human agency, which individual human actors are at issue and how they are gendered become inscribed in the structures themselves. Such inscriptions have staying power and persist beyond the presence (and, often, lives) of the original actors. Institutions, processes, and practices developed primarily (or exclusively) by men are structured with identifiable masculinities which, developed in women’s absence (or exclusion), persist in producing and replicating inequalities in political power. As Burns writes, where we “find gender” is not only in individuals, but in political and other institutions. Gender “is made and remade across . . . institutions in ways that build linkages across institutions. . . . Without taking simultaneous account of the host of institutions in which women and men operate, scholars are not likely to understand the causes and scope of disadvantage” (2005, 139).

For scholars undertaking gender and politics research, operationalizing gender as a category concept for empirical research continues to be problematic. Analyses of female and male political elites, and of women and men as, for example, voters, political activists, and members of the military and other state authorities, have had to continue to rely primarily on a dichotomized sex variable as a surrogate for the multidimensional variable of gender. As Reingold observes, employing the terminology of gender in such a context can result in

evoking age-old sexual stereotypes: gender (the activities and values associated with women and men) gets affixed to sex (women and men in public office) as if it were an accurate and exhaustive descriptor of the actual behavior and attitudes of all such women and men. . . . Recognition of gender difference gets translated into expectations of dichotomous, stable and universal sex differences.” (2000, 48–49)

Despite such risk, one strategy has been nonetheless to employ the terminology of “gender” rather than “sex” in such research, to signal a recognition of the nature of the social construction underlying the categories with which scholars are working and to disrupt any presumptions of the foundationality of sex for politics. A future project for gender and politics scholars will be the development of operationalizations of gender variables in contexts where sex currently must suffice.

Sex and gender continue to be linked conceptually and theoretically, even as they are conceptually distinct concepts. This is the case in part because political science still lacks a wide range of knowledge, especially comparative and longitudinal, about women’s political behavior, political beliefs and attitudes, means of organizing, behavior in governmental office, experience in campaigning, response to power inequalities, and exclusion from political power—among other concerns. The subfield of women and politics research still requires this basic, investigatory, cumulative research. In this regard, our major concern with women and politics has not been precluded by, or surpassed by, a focus on gender. Fortunately, as Fiona Mackay reminds us in her 2004 article “Gender and Political Representation in the UK” (p. 114), feminist theoretical developments continue to inform and to hone gender as a political science concept, in order “to bridge the gap between sophisticated theorizing about gender and the operationalization of workable concepts for empirical research.”

Bibliography:

• Acker, Joan. “From Sex Roles to Gendered Institutions.” Contemporary Sociology 21, no. 5 (September 1992): 565–569.
• Baldez, Lisa. “Intersectionality.” Politics & Gender 3, no. 2 (June 2007): 229–231.
• Beckwith, Karen. “A Common Language of Gender?” Politics & Gender 1, no. 1 (March 2005): 128–137.
• Burns, Nancy. 2005. “Finding Gender.” Politics & Gender 1, no. 1 (March 2005):137–141.
• Burns, Nancy. 2002. “Gender: Public Opinion and Political Action.” In Political Science: State of the Discipline, edited by Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner, 462–487. New York: Norton. Bystrom, Dianne G., Mary Christine Banwart, Lynda Lee Kaid, and Terry A. Robertson. Gender and Candidate Communication:VideoStyle,WebStyle, NewsStyle. New York: Routledge, 2004.
• Chappell, Louise. Gendering Government: Feminist Engagement with the State in Australia and Canada. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2002.
• Dobrowolsky, Alexandra. “Shifting States:Women’s Constitutional Organizing across Time and Space.” In Women’s Movements Facing the Reconfigured State, edited by Lee Ann Banaszak, Karen Beckwith, and Dieter Rucht, 114–140. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• Dolan, Kathleen A. Voting for Women: How the Public Evaluates Women Candidates. Boulder:Westview Press, 2004.
• “Women as Candidates in American Politics:The Continuing Impact of Sex and Gender.” In Political Women and American Democracy, edited by Christina Wolbrecht, Karen Beckwith, and Lisa Baldez, 110–127. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• Duverger, Maurice. The Political Role of Women. Paris: UNESCO, 1955.
• Hancock, Ange-Marie. “Intersectionality as a Normative and Empirical Paradigm.” Politics & Gender 3, no. 2 (June 2007): 248–254.
• Hawkesworth, Mary. “Congressional Enactments of Race-Gender:Toward a Theory of Raced-Gendered Institutions.” American Political Science Review 97, no. 4 (2003): 529–550.
• Irving, Helen. Gender and the Constitution: Equity and Agency in Comparative Constitutional Design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• Lovenduski, Joni. Feminizing Politics. Cambridge, Mass.: Polity, 2005.
• Mackay, Fiona. “Gender and Political Representation in the UK:The State of the ‘Discipline.’” British Journal of Politics & International Relations 6, no. 1 (2004): 99–120.
• McConnaughy, Corrine M. “Seeing Gender over the Short and Long Haul.” Politics & Gender 3, no. 3 (September 2007): 378–386.
• Reingold, Beth. Representing Women: Sex, Gender, and Legislative Behavior in Arizona and California. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
• Rule Krauss,Wilma. “The Political Implications of Gender Roles.” American Political Science Review 68, no. 4 (December 1974): 1706–1723.
• Scott, Joan W. “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis.” American Historical Review 91, no. 5 (December 1986): 1053–1075.
• Weldon, S. Laurel. “The Structure of Intersectionality: A Comparative Politics of Gender.” Politics & Gender 2, no. 2 (June 2006): 235–248.
• Young, Iris Marion. “Modernity, Emancipatory Values and Power: A Rejoinder to Adams and Orloff.” Politics & Gender 1, no. 3 (September 2005): 492–500.

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Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand Americans’ attitudes about U.S. government, such as its size and role.

This report is based primarily on a survey of 8,709 adults, including 7,166 registered voters, from April 8 to 14, 2024. Some of the analysis in this report is based on a survey of 8,638 adults from May 13 to 19, 2024.

Everyone who took part in these surveys is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the questions used for the report and its methodology .

While the economy, immigration and abortion have emerged as major issues in the 2024 election, Joe Biden and Donald Trump also have dramatically different ideas about the size and role of government.

These differences reflect decades-old divisions between Democrats and Republicans over the scope of government.

Among registered voters, large majorities of Biden supporters – roughly three-quarters or more – favor a bigger, more activist government.

• 74% say they would rather have a bigger government providing more services.
• 76% say government should do more to solve problems.
• 80% say government aid to the poor “does more good than harm.”

Trump supporters, by comparable margins, take the opposing view on all three questions.

The Pew Research Center survey of 8,709 adults – including 7,166 registered voters – conducted April 8-14, 2024, examines Americans’ views of the role and scope of government , the social safety net and long-term trends in trust in the federal government .

Democratic support for bigger government is little changed in the last five years but remains higher than it was a decade ago. Republicans’ views have shifted less over the last 10 years.

Among all adults, about three-quarters of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents favor a bigger government, up from about six-in-ten in 2014 and 2015. The share of Republicans and Republican leaners who prefer a bigger government has increased only modestly over the same period.

Democratic support for bigger government, while slightly lower than in 2021 (78%), remains at nearly its highest level in five decades. During Bill Clinton’s presidency in the 1990s, fewer than half of Democrats said they preferred a bigger government with more services.

Voters continue to express very different views about government’s role in specific areas than about the government generally.

A large majority of voters (80%) – including 82% of Biden supporters and 78% of Trump supporters – say that in thinking about the long-term future of Social Security, benefits should not be reduced in any way.

However, Biden supporters are more likely than Trump supporters to say Social Security should cover more people with greater benefits.

• 46% of Biden supporters favor expanding Social Security coverage and benefits, compared with 28% of Trump supporters.

Most Americans (65%) continue to say the federal government has a responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care coverage.

Democrats overwhelmingly (88%) say the federal government has this responsibility, compared with 40% of Republicans.

The share of Republicans who say the government has a responsibility to provide health coverage has increased 8 percentage points since 2021, from 32% to 40%.

There are wide income differences among Republicans in opinions about the government’s role in health care:

• 56% of Republicans with lower family incomes say the government has a responsibility to provide health coverage for all, compared with 36% of those with middle incomes and 29% of higher-income Republicans.

When asked how the government should provide health coverage, 36% of Americans say it should be provided through a single national program, while 28% say it should be through a mix of government and private programs. These views have changed little in recent years.

Democrats continue to be more likely than Republicans to favor a “single payer” government health insurance program (53% vs. 18%).

Other key findings in this report

• Americans’ trust in the federal government remains low but has modestly increased since last year. Today, 22% of American adults say they trust the government to do what is right always or most of the time, which is up from 16% in June 2023.
• While the public overall is divided over the nation’s ability to solve important problems, young adults are notably pessimistic about the country’s ability to solve problems . About half of Americans (52%) say the U.S. can’t solve many of its important problems, while 47% say it can find a way to solve problems and get what it wants. Roughly six-in-ten adults under age 30 (62%) say the nation can’t solve major problems, the highest share in any age group and 16 points higher than two years ago.

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Political Discrimination Against Women Essay

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Introduction

Human rights activists, cathy cohen ideas on gender equality, works cited.

In most societies, women are perpetually pushed to the periphery in many activities of the community. In most third world countries, women are not allowed into any political office in contention that they do not posses leadership qualities. This is a false notion that is created by members of the society.

Various scholars have developed theories to explain the ongoing injustices against women. The theories cross examines the social roles and feministic politics in a number of ways. The theories target to expose gender equalities. Various theorists including Cohen advocate the rights of women. Discrimination against women takes many forms including stereotyping, oppression, patriarchy and sexual objection.

Human rights activists promoting gender equality have embarked on serious campaign to educate the public that in deed women are just like men in capability and leadership.

The activists trace the causes of inequality by criticizing them as mere statements without any truth. They specifically identify epistemology, which is the source of knowledge as one cause of gender inequality. It is generally believed that men are wise and knowledgeable.

They are trusted with leadership because other forces cannot manipulate them easily. The scholarly work is usual attributed to men. Sometimes in history, women developed theories that were attributed to their husbands. Most of the published material uses male language, which increases gender inequality.

Such names as God the Father, police officer and mail carrier glorifies men to high positions in the society. Women activists have risen up to challenge such language by coming up with more qualitative language as policeperson/office and mail person.

Psychology theories such as Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis are misleading the public that gender is not biological but based on development of an individual. He argued that inequality emanates from childhood experiences claiming that men are masculine while women are feminine.

This notion leads to social belief that men are fully developed psychologically and they should take up leadership roles in the society. Other segments of the society such as the media portray women as weak characters in films and movies. Women take up lesser roles than men do and are branded to be dangerous people that should be punished by death.

Cohen had a different perspective because she was concerned with equal opportunities not uplifting the social standards of women. She observed that women could also lead just like men this had been proved at local levels. Women in rural areas had their own organizations and associations that were run effectively.

Women are doing everything they can to change the world. Cohen had a good childhood education concerning politics; the father was a letter carrier and keen on labor politics.

She advocated for equality in the United States in all aspects be it race or gender, she believed that politics create space for freedom of expression. Her main issue is to produce important intellectual work from the comparison of various perspectives on race and gender equality.

She claims that women ca only liberate themselves through excelling in academics. An educated woman earns respected and the members of a particular society take he views seriously. She cautions that time is running out for women to participate in political development of the country.

The black women as well as other minorities should not treat gender equality crusade as white women affair instead they should identify as one of the problems affecting the society just like HIV/Aids. In other words, Cohen argues that the crusade on gender is not a fight b between men and women but it is a call to the society to accept diversity and appreciate change.

The biggest challenge to activists for gender equality is the existing belief system. The society does not want to accept that women have the same capabilities as those of men. Women are subjugated to lesser roles mainly associated with the family, such as homecare.

In most parts of the world, a female child is never exposed to full academic curiosity. There is a limit as compared to men where only the sky is the limit in academics.

The kind of education that women receive is meant to provide the basic skills for survival in the family setting; especially Africans and other countries of the third world hold this kind of mentality. This becomes a great challenge in enhancing feminine politics.

Another challenge to gender equality is religious faiths and doctrines. The church and Christianity teach that women were created after men implying that they came from men and therefore are weaker. They are supposed to respect men and serve them since they are mere helpers.

The kind of education exposes women in the society to be lesser to men. This has led to discrimination extending to work places especially in political offices. The condition is even worse in other religious such as Islam and Hindu where women are not part of the decision makers in societal institutions.

Apart from difficult situations experienced by the activists such as Cathy Cohen, the activists have soldiered on with the agenda of changing female perception in the society. Some men have noticed the seriousness of the matter and are joining men in large numbers to advocate for equality.

This has in turn forced many governments both at county and national levels to redefine their policies to suit the interests of all in the society women included.

Cohen, Cathy. Global Feminisms: Comparative Case Studies of Women’s Activism and Scholarship , Transcript of Cathy Cohen: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2004.

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• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2018, May 29). Political Discrimination Against Women. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gender-and-politics/

"Political Discrimination Against Women." IvyPanda , 29 May 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/gender-and-politics/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Political Discrimination Against Women'. 29 May.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Political Discrimination Against Women." May 29, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gender-and-politics/.

1. IvyPanda . "Political Discrimination Against Women." May 29, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gender-and-politics/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Political Discrimination Against Women." May 29, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gender-and-politics/.

Opinion: As conservatives target same-sex marriage, its power is only getting clearer

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It’s been two years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Dobbs case that overturned the federal right to an abortion, and the troubling concurring opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas in which he expressed a desire to “revisit” other landmark precedents, including the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, codified nationally by the Obergefell Supreme Court decision, nine years ago Wednesday

Since that ruling, the LGBTQ+ and allied community has done much to protect the fundamental freedom to marry — passing the Respect for Marriage Act in Congress in 2022; sharing their stories this year to mark the 20th anniversary of the first state legalization of same-sex marriages, in Massachusetts; and in California , Hawaii and Colorado launching ballot campaigns to repeal dormant but still-on-the-books anti-marriage constitutional amendments.

California Democratic Party endorses ballot measures on same-sex marriage, taxes, rent control

The party’s executive board voted Sunday on which measures they would endorse.

May 19, 2024

This winter, I worked with a team at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law to survey nearly 500 married LGBTQ+ people about their relationships. Respondents included couples from every state in the country; on average they had been together for more than 16 years and married for more than nine years. Sixty-two percent married after the court’s 2015 Obergefell marriage decision, although their relationships started before before that. More than 30% of the couples had children and another 25% wanted children in the future.

One finding that jumped out of the data: Almost 80% of married same-sex couples surveyed said they were “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the Obergefell decision being overturned. Around a quarter of them said they’d taken action to shore up their family’s legal protections — pursuing a second-parent adoption, having children earlier than originally planned or marrying on a faster-than-expected timeline — because of concerns about marriage equality being challenged. One respondent said, “We got engaged the day that the Supreme Court ruled on the Dobbs decision and got married one week after.”

World & Nation

Same-sex marriage ruling creates new constitutional liberty

The Supreme Court’s historic ruling Friday granting gays and lesbians an equal right to marry nationwide puts an exclamation point on a profound shift in law and public attitudes, and creates the most significant and controversial new constitutional liberty in more than a generation.

June 26, 2015

As we examined the survey results, it became clearer than ever why LGBTQ+ families and same-sex couples are fighting so hard to protect marriage access — and the answer is really quite simple: The freedom to marry has been transformative for them. It has not only granted them hundreds of additional rights and responsibilities, but it has also strengthened their bonds in very real ways.

Nearly every person surveyed (93%) said they married for love; three-quarters added that they married for companionship or legal protections. When asked how marriage changed their lives, 83% reported positive changes in their sense of safety and security, and 75% reported positive changes in terms of life satisfaction. “I feel secure in our relationship in a way I never thought would be possible,” one participant told us. “I love being married.”

The evolution of same-sex marriage

I’ve been studying LGBTQ+ people and families for my entire career — and even still, many of the findings of the survey touched and inspired me.

Individual respondents talked about the ways that marriage expanded their personal family networks, granting them (for better and worse!) an additional set of parents, siblings and loved ones. More than 40% relied on each other’s families of origin in times of financial or healthcare crisis, or to help out with childcare. Some told of in-laws who provided financial assistance to buy a house, or cared for them while they were undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

Analysis:: Antonin Scalia’s dissent in same-sex marriage ruling even more scornful than usual

The legal world may have become inured to wildly rhetorical opinions by Justice Antonin Scalia, but his dissent in the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision Friday reaches new heights for its expression of utter contempt for the majority of his colleagues.

And then there was the effect on children. Many respondents explained that their marriage has provided security for their children, and dignity and respect for the family unit. Marriage enabled parents to share child-rearing responsibilities — to take turns being the primary earner (and carrying the health insurance), and spending more time at home with the kids.

The big takeaway from this study is that same-sex couples have a lot on the line when it comes to the freedom to marry — and they’re going to do everything possible to ensure that future political shifts don’t interfere with their lives. As couples across the country continue to speak out, share their stories — and in California, head to the ballot box in November to protect their hard-earned freedoms — it’s clear to me that it’s because they believe wholeheartedly, and with good reason, that their lives depend on it.

Abbie E. Goldberg is an affiliated scholar at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law and a psychology professor at Clark University, where she directs the women’s and gender studies.

More to Read

Opinion: Interracial marriage went from criminal to commonplace. Could it go back?

June 9, 2024

Newsom urges California voters to protect same-sex marriage amid Supreme Court distrust

June 7, 2024

The U.S. has caught up to California on views of LGBTQ+ rights, poll shows

June 6, 2024

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An Essay on Women’s Political Representation

• Published: October 2020
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The Introductory Essay asks readers to consider four vignettes—on prostitution, Muslim women’s dress, abortion, and Marine Le Pen. The vignettes illustrate what the authors term the poverty of women’s political representation , representational problematics experienced by women in established democracies. These are also core issues identified in contemporary gender and politics research: of women’s ideological and intersectional differences, skewed political and parliamentary agendas, and disconnect from political parties and electoral politics. The vignettes adopt a dialogical style to clarify and magnify core concerns of the book, highlighting the contemporary relevance and importance of the book to academic scholarship and democratic practice. The discussion of the vignettes weaves through reflection on “representation as it should be,” what women’s good representation might be. There would be significant change to political institutions, political representatives, political parties, and parliaments; elected representatives would be institutionally and systemically required to represent women.

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JK Rowling will 'struggle to support' Labour with Starmer's stance on gender

Rowling, who has always denied being transphobic, has been widely condemned in recent years for her views on transgender rights, having claimed that she would rather go to jail than refer to a trans person by their preferred pronouns.

Political reporter

Friday 21 June 2024 23:09, UK

JK Rowling has said she will "struggle to support" Labour if Sir Keir Starmer keeps his current stance on gender recognition.

The Harry Potter author has authored a 2,000-word essay in The Times in which she outlines her dissatisfaction with the Labour Party 's current position.

In the piece, she criticises Sir Keir , as well as shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, shadow equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry.

Election latest: Starmer makes 'Swift pit stop'

Rowling has been outspoken in her belief that biological women should be able to have separate spaces, and trans women - who were born male - should not be allowed access.

She has been criticised for her position, being widely condemned in recent years for her views on transgender rights, for example claiming that she would rather go to jail than refer to a trans person by their preferred pronouns.

Transgender newsreader India Willoughby recently responded to comments by Rowling as "genuinely disgusted".

She added: "Grotesque transphobia, which is upsetting. I am every bit as much a woman as JK Rowling."

Daniel Radcliffe, who became a worldwide star after playing schoolboy wizard Harry in the blockbuster adaptations of the novels, has also criticised her views, and said in an interview last month that the fallout with Rowling " makes me really sad ".

In the article, the author speaks about how she thought she "misheard" Sir Keir in 2021 when he criticised Labour candidate Rosie Duffield for saying only women have a cervix.

Sir Keir was asked about this statement in a recent leaders debate, at which point he said he agreed with Sir Tony Blair that women have vaginas and men have penises.

Rowling says she felt the Labour leader gave "the impression that until Tony Blair sat him down for a chat, he'd never understood how he and his wife had come to produce children".

She added that she "really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt".

In her article, Rowling claims to "have been a Labour voter, a member (no longer), donor (not recently) and campaigner (ditto) all my adult life" - and she wants to see the end of the Conservative government.

According to Electoral Commission records, she gave £1m to the party in 2008, and £8,000 in 2015.

Read more: Troll who threatened to kill Rowling and Duffield avoids jail Rowling accuses Starmer of 'misrepresenting equalities law' Starmer says 99.9% of women 'haven't got a penis'

In the article, the author highlighted Ms Dodds for saying what a woman is "depends on what the context is".

Ms Cooper is criticised for saying she was "not going to get into rabbit holes on this".

Rowling points to Ms Thornberry for saying: "some women will have penises. Frankly, I'm not looking up their skirts, I don't care".

And Mr Lammy draws ire for saying women like Rowling are "dinosaurs hoarding rights".

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The Harry Potter author also claims Mr Lammy said that a cervix is "something you can have following various procedures and hormone treatments".

Rowling wrote: "It's very hard not to suspect that some of these men don't know what a cervix is, but consider it too unimportant to Google."

The NHS definition of the cervix is the opening between the vagina and the womb.

Rowling says the debate for "left-leaning" women like herself "isn't, and never has been, about trans people enjoying the rights of every other citizen, and being free to present and identify however they wish".

Instead, she says it is "about the right of women and girls to assert their boundaries".

She adds: "It's about freedom of speech and observable truth.

"It's about waiting, with dwindling hope, for the left to wake up to the fact that its lazy embrace of a quasi-religious ideology is having calamitous consequences."

The author says she met a mother of a girl with learning difficulties who was "smeared as a bigot and a transphobe for wanting female-only intimate care" for her.

"I cannot vote for any politician who takes issue with that mother's words," Rowling adds.

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She concludes: "An independent candidate is standing in my constituency who's campaigning to clarify the Equality Act.

"Perhaps that's where my X will have to go on 4 July.

"As long as Labour remains dismissive and often offensive towards women fighting to retain the rights their foremothers thought were won for all time, I'll struggle to support them.

"The women who wouldn't wheesht didn't leave Labour. Labour abandoned them."

Earlier in the day, Sir Keir ruled out lifting the block on the Scottish government's controversial gender reforms.

Sky News has approached the Labour Party for comment.

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Supreme Court will take up state bans on gender-affirming care for minors

The U.S Supreme Court is seen, Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Visitors pose for photographs outside the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, June 18, 2024, in Washington. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FILE - The Supreme Court is seen under stormy skies in Washington, June 20, 2019. In the coming days, the Supreme Court will confront a perfect storm mostly of its own making, a trio of decisions stemming directly from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday jumped into the fight over transgender rights, agreeing to hear an appeal from the Biden administration seeking to block state bans on gender-affirming care .

The justices’ action comes as Republican-led states have enacted a variety of restrictions on health care for transgender people, school sports participation, bathroom usage and drag shows. The administration and Democratic-led states have extended protections for transgender people, including a new federal regulation that seeks to protect transgender students.

The case before the high court involves a law in Tennessee that restrict puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. The federal appeals court in Cincinnati allowed laws in Tennessee and Kentucky to take effect after they had been blocked by lower courts. (The high court did not act on a separate appeal from Kentucky.)

“Without this Court’s prompt intervention, transgender youth and their families will remain in limbo, uncertain of whether and where they can access needed medical care,” lawyers for the transgender teens in Tennessee told the justices.

Actor Elliot Page, the Oscar-nominated star of “Juno,” “Inception” and “The Umbrella Academy,” was among 57 transgender people who joined a legal filing in support of Supreme Court review.

Arguments will take place in the fall.

Last month, South Carolina became the 25th state to adopt a law restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, even though such treatments have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.

Most of the state restrictions face lawsuits . The justices had previously allowed Idaho to generally enforce its restrictions, after they had been blocked by lower courts.

At least 24 states have laws barring transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls’ sports competitions. At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s bathrooms at public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.

The nation’s highest court has only rarely taken up transgender issues. In 2020, the justices ruled that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment.

In 2016, the court had agreed to take up the case of a transgender student, backed by the Obama administration, who was barred from using the boys’ bathroom in his Virginia high school. But the court dropped the case after a directive advising schools to allow students to use the bathroom of their chosen gender, not biological birth, was scrapped in the early months of the Trump administration. The directive had been a key part of an appeals court ruling in favor of the student, Gavin Grimm.

In 2021, the justices declined to get involved in Grimm’s case after the appeals court again ruled in his favor. At the time, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas noted they would have taken up the school board’s appeal.

This story has been corrected to show the South Carolina law was adopted last month, not last week.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court .

Are bans on gender-affirming care for minors constitutional? Supreme Court to decide

'this is a relatively new diagnosis with ever-shifting approaches to care over the past decade or two,' a lower court judge said. the biden administration said the court's input was urgently needed..

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court will wade into the controversial topic of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender people under the age of 18, taking up a case that could be a flashpoint in the fight for LGBTQ rights .

The court agreed Monday to hear the Biden administration's challenge to a Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors, an increasingly potent political issue that has divided lower courts and emerged as a leading front in the battle over LGBTQ issues.

The case will be argued in the next term, which begins in October.

It's the first time the justices will weigh in on the matter, which is being fought by transgender teens and their families.

The Justice Department told the Supreme Court its input was “urgently needed” to resolve whether bans are discriminatory.

'Profound uncertainty'

“These laws, and the conflicting court decisions about their validity, are creating profound uncertainty for transgender adolescents and their families around the nation,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar  said in a filing .

At issue is whether the bans discriminate on the basis of sex.

A divided 3-judge panel of the 6th Circuit ruled Tennessee's bans and a similar one in Kentucky were likely to survive a challenge and allowed them to be enforced during the litigation. Two of the three judges said the evolving issue of gender dysphoria may be better left in the hands of state legislatures.

"This is a relatively new diagnosis with ever-shifting approaches to care over the last decade or two,"  U.S. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton, appointed by President George W. Bush,  wrote for a 2-1 majority last year . "Under these circumstances, it is difficult for anyone to be sure about predicting the long-term consequences of abandoning age limits of any sort for these treatments."

Given that, Sutton wrote, judges should be "humble and careful about announcing new substantive due process or equal protection rights."

In April, the Supreme Court allowed Idaho to largely enforce a similar state ban while that law is being challenged but didn't address the underlying constitutional questions.

The ban from Tennessee is the first to fully reach the Supreme Court.  

Combined with other state actions to restrict the bathrooms transgender students can use and what sports teams they can join, the laws could be a major issue in this year’s elections.

More: Bathrooms to ballfields: Transgender athlete ban one of many LGBTQ fights brewing in courts

Trump says he will push to ban gender-affirming care for minors

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee,  has said  he will press Congress to pass a law banning gender-affirming care for minors and will cut federal funding for schools pushing “transgender insanity” if he returns to the White House.

President Joe Biden  has boasted about steps he’s taken to strengthen the rights of “transgender and all LGBTQI+ Americans.”

The Biden administration in April finalized rules clarifying that schools can't discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity though put on hold a proposed change to protect transgender athletes. Nine GOP-led states along with conservative advocacy groups have sued to block the protections for transgender students.

Florida and a Catholic medical group are challenging a Biden administration rule banning gender identity discrimination in health care, arguing it will force doctors to provide gender transition care.

Fact check No, Biden didn't replace Easter celebration with Transgender Day of Visibility

More states seek to limit access to gender-affirming care for minors

The issue has gained prominence with startling speed, despite the tiny – though increasing – fraction of Americans who are transgender.

Since 2022, the number of states taking steps to limit access to gender-affirming care for minors has grown from four to 25 .

That’s despite the fact that most major medical groups support youth access to gender-affirming care.

More: Republicans lean into anti-trans messaging ahead of 2024. But will it mobilize voters?

"The widely accepted view of the professional medical community is that gender-affirming care is the appropriate treatment for gender dysphoria and that, for some adolescents, gender-affirming medical care is necessary," the American Academy of Pediatrics and other major medical and mental health groups told the court in a filing supporting challenges to the bans.

But England's National Health Service has begun limiting puberty-blocking drug s for those under 16, saying there's not enough evidence about long-term effects.

States with bans say the treatments are too drastic and untested to be allowed for those under 18 who may not fully grasp the lifelong risks and consequences.

“Tennessee, like many other states, acted to ensure that minors do not receive these treatments until they can fully understand the lifelong consequences or until the science is developed to the point that Tennessee might take a different view of their efficacy,” the state’s lawyers told the Supreme Court.

'Punitive bans' that could wreak havoc on the lives of transgender youth

The challenges rely in part on a  landmark Supreme Court decision from 2020  that barred workplace discrimination against LGBTQ employees, which held that discrimination based on a person's gender identity is a form of sex discrimination.

"This Court has historically rejected efforts to uphold discriminatory laws, and without similar action here, these punitive, categorical bans on the provision of gender-affirming care will continue to wreak havoc on the lives of transgender youth and their families," Tara Borelli, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, said in a statement. "We are grateful that transgender youth and their families will have their day in the highest court, and we will not stop fighting to ensure access to this life-saving, medically necessary care."

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said the appeals court issued a "thoughtful and well-reasoned opinion" when it sided against the challengers.

'Special protections'?

"I look forward to finishing the fight in the United States Supreme Court," Skrmetti said in a statement. "This case will bring much-needed clarity to whether the Constitution contains special protections for gender identity."

Despite the litigation swirling around transgender minors, the Supreme Court has largely been silent on the issue. Last year, the  high court sided with a 12-year-old transgender girl  who was challenging a West Virginia ban on  transgender athletes joining girls sports teams , temporarily blocking the state from enforcing the prohibition. The ruling came on the court's emergency docket and did not resolve the underlying questions in the case.

In January, the Supreme Court  declined to decide  whether schools can bar transgender students from using a bathroom that reflects their gender identity, leaving in place a lower court ruling that allowed a transgender middle school boy in Indiana to use the boys' bathroom.