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This chapter explores the influence of gender on clothing consumption and the impact on differences in clothing volumes between men and women. Based on a qualitative and quantitative wardrobe study, we employ Schatzki’s (2002) social ontology of practice combined with Butler’s (1990) gender performance concept to examine the relationship between gender and clothing consumption in 15 households in Norway. The findings show that women had on average 497 items and the men had 258 items, and the main difference between male and female wardrobes was due to the number of items per occasion. These findings highlights the complexities and tensions faced by women in navigating clothing norms and maintaining a balance in the practice of dressing between appropriate dress, feminine expressions and having an ideal and more sustainable wardrobe. This chapter contributes to a better understanding of the interplay between occasions and gender dynamics that shape clothing consumption patterns. Moreover, it illustrates the potential of ‘occasion’ as an analytical concept and the implications of gender in clothing consumption, challenging the prevailing studies on clothing and fashion that often overlook the nuanced practices and actions that influence clothing volumes.

The impact of diet quality on mental health has gained strong ground. However, most studies on this relationship were performed before COVID-19, a pandemic that was accompanied by high levels of psychological stress. Stress disturbs normal physiology, which makes studying diet quality and mental health under high stress a necessity. In addition, COVID-19 has been associated with disturbances in sleep and has increased the prevalence of mental health issues in women more than in men. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess food group consumption and sleep during different stages of the pandemic in relation to mental distress among men and women. Secondary data collected from adults 18 years or older between September 2018 and November 2021 was analysed. Temporal stages were divided into pre-COVID-19 (as a baseline), during the lockdown, and after the ease of restriction (two periods of different psychological stress levels). Regression analyses using a Difference-in-Difference (DID) event study or a Dynamic DID modelling were used. COVID-19 seemed to have a modulatory effect on food groups and mental health. The pandemic appeared to have either magnified the negative impact of certain food groups or changed the tolerance threshold for the beneficial ones. Across the board, women’s moods exhibited higher sensitivity to several food groups. COVID-19, a period of high psychological stress, differentially altered the impact of food on the mood of men and women; which proposes the need to further evaluate diet quality and mood under stressful conditions.

Based on traditional Chinese filial piety, this article examines the impacts and mechanisms of the two-dimensional filial piety concept “Qinqin – Zunzun” on gender wages in China via China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2014 and 2018.

This article construct regression models to examine the relationship between filial piety concepts and wages. Also, it uses unconditional quantile regression and decomposition to explore the impact of filial piety concepts on the wage gap.

It is found that: (1) The effects of two-dimensional filial piety are heterogeneous in terms of gender. Specifically, authoritarian filial piety significantly suppresses individual wages and has a stronger suppressive effect on women’s wages, whereas affinity filial piety significantly enhances individual wages without gender heterogeneity; (2) Parents' time support in the intergenerational exchange model is a crucial mechanism by which filial piety affects wages, exhibiting significant gender heterogeneity; (3) Regarding wage distribution, authoritarian filial piety mainly widens the gender income gap in the low and middle income-groups, while affinity filial piety narrows the gender wage gap by “raising the floor”, with its converging effect being most significant in the middle and high-income groups. This article deepens the understanding of the gender wage gap and intergenerational income mobility, providing policy references for better utilizing the social governance function of culture.

The article deepens the understanding and mechanisms of the gender wage gap and inter-generational income mobility, providing policy reference for better utilizing the social governance function of culture.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the gender wage gap (GWG) in Spain adopting a labour market segmentation approach. Once we obtain the different labour segments (or idiosyncratic labour markets), we are able to decompose the GWG into its observed and unobserved heterogeneity components.

We use the data from the Continuous Sample of Working Lives for the year 2021 (matched employer–employee [EE] data). Contingency tables and clustering techniques are applied to employment data to identify idiosyncratic labour markets where men and/or women of different ages tend to match/associate with different sectors of activity and occupation groups. Once this “heatmap” of labour associations is known, we can analyse its hottest areas (the idiosyncratic labour markets) from the perspective of wage discrimination by gender (Oaxaca-Blinder model).

In Spain, in general, men are paid more than women, and this is not always justified by their respective attributes. Among our results, the fact stands out that women tend to move to those idiosyncratic markets (biclusters) where the GWG (in favour of men) is smaller.

It has not been possible to obtain remuneration data by job-placement, but an annual EE relationship is used. Future research should attempt to analyse the GWG across the wage distribution in the different idiosyncratic markets.

Our combination of methodologies can be adapted to other economies and variables and provides detailed information on the labour-matching process and gender wage discrimination in segmented labour markets.

Our contribution is very important for labour market policies, trying to reduce unfair inequalities.

The study of the GWG from a novel labour segmentation perspective can be interesting for other researchers, institutions and policy makers.

Rooted in Joan Acker’s “gendered organisations” framework, this paper aims to explore the impact of employee’s developmental performance management systems (DPMSs) on occupational wellbeing, highlighting gender and age-based intersectional disparities within organisations.

This study uses data from a sample of more than 600 Italian employees and investigates with a three-way interaction, the effect that DPMS have on employee’s occupational wellbeing by considering the intersectionality between gender and ages’ categories.

The findings dismiss the idea that DPMS can be regarded as a practice for inclusion. Moreover, the analysis discloses the need for intersectional perspective as the authors do reveal different effects of developmental performance system adoption on occupational wellbeing for people in diverse intersections of genders and ages.

This paper expands on Acker’s tradition with a focus on age, dismissing the possible inclusive outcome of competency based employee performance systems.

From a world society perspective, common national educational developments are driven by global cultural models that dominated an international liberal order. These models emphasized the centrality of education as an institution, both as a source of human capital and as an inherent human right. Epistemic communities and international organizations circulated these models influencing national educational policies and reforms. However, in recent decades the international liberal order has been challenged with social movements across the political spectrum questioning the value and authority of education in this order. Earlier educational mandates to be more inclusive are attacked with the rights of women, immigrants, and minorities often targeted. Confidence in knowledge grounded in education and science also gets undercut. In a more fragmented world society, educational contestations increase, reflecting surges in nationalist, populist, and traditional illiberal ideas. We reflect on the impact of these challenges on the centrality of education and propose future research directions to ascertain which educational developments are likely to continue to be globally valued and which are more apt to erode.

This study aims to optimize blood donation drive efficiency by addressing operational bottlenecks and improving resource deployment, focusing on enhancing donor experience and reducing camp duration.

The research uses a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative insights from blood banking officer interviews with quantitative data from 58 camp observations. “Simio” simulation software models various operational configurations, while mathematical techniques like queuing theory analyze key performance metrics. The process involves creating a baseline model, proposing optimizations and validating recommendations through real-world implementation.

The study achieved significant improvements: Reduced average donor time from 1.79 to 0.79 hours (56.4% improvement); Shortened camp operation time from 7.98 to 4.85 hours (39.2% improvement); Decreased waiting times at the medical check station from 45.23 to 0.60 minutes; Improved service rates across all stations, notably at registration (233.79% increase); and Streamlined processes through digitization and health check consolidation.

The study provides actionable recommendations for blood bank managers, including digital pre-registration and optimized staff allocation, leading to substantial time and resource savings while enhancing donor experience.

By improving donation camp efficiency and experience, this research could increase donor retention rates and lead to a more stable blood supply, crucial for medical care.

This research presents a novel approach by combining discrete event simulation with real-world implementation and validation, offering an innovative solution to common bottlenecks in blood donation drives.

This paper aims to appraise the effectiveness of gender quotas in breaking the glass ceiling for women on boards (WoBs) in companies that are legally obliged to comply with quotas (listed companies and state-owned companies, LP) and in those that are not (unlisted companies and nonstate-owned companies, NLNP). Furthermore, it investigates the glass cliff phenomenon, according to which women are more likely to be appointed to apical positions in underperforming companies.

A balanced panel data of the top 116 Italian companies by total assets, which are present in both 2010 and 2017, is used for estimating ANOVA tests across sectors and fixed-effects panel regression models.

WoBs significantly increased in both the LP and the NLNP companies, and this increase was greater in the financial sector. Furthermore, the relationship between the percentage of WoBs and firm performance is not linear but depends on the financial corporate health. Specifically, the situation in which a woman ascends to a leadership position in challenging circumstances where the risk of failure is high (glass cliff phenomenon) is only present in companies with the lowest performance in the sample, in other words, when negative values of Roe and negative or zero values of Roa occur together.

These findings have relevant policy implications that encourage the adoption of gender quotas even in specific top positions, such as CEO or president, as this could lead to a “double spillover effect” both vertically, that is, in other job positions, and horizontally, toward other companies not targeted by quotas. Practical interventions to support women in glass cliff positions, on the other hand, relate to the extent of supervisor mentoring and support to prevent women from leaving director roles and strengthen their chances for career advancement.

The authors explore the ability of gender quotas to break through the glass ceiling in companies that are not legally obliged to do so, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, the glass cliff phenomenon in the Italian context.

The purpose of this study is to assess the role of renewable energy as a means of promoting women’s economic participation and improving their health by mitigating climate vulnerability.

To shed light on this relationship, the authors assess the capacity of renewable energy to reduce the negative impact of climate vulnerability on women’s economic empowerment and health, using the generalized method of moments estimator for 36 African countries over the period 1990–2021.

The empirical results show that climate vulnerability reduces economic empowerment and climate vulnerability increases child mortality. These results are mitigated by the use of renewable energy. The use of renewable energy mitigates the negative impact of climate vulnerability on women’s economic empowerment. Renewable energy use also reduces the pressure of climate vulnerability on child mortality. In addition, the authors take into account regional heterogeneities and find distinct effects. The results remain stable after further robustness testing.

Renewable energy thresholds are provided at which climate vulnerability no longer reduces women’s socio-economic well-being.