Gender inequalities in highly qualified professions: a social psychological analysis

Research in social and political psychology contributes towards understanding the persistence of job market gender segregation prevailing in recent decades, the consequences for those involved and their reactions when having to cope with gender inequality. Within the framework of the literature on shared ideologies that justify and legitimize discrimination against women, this article focuses on Portugal and analyses the particular case of women in two highly qualified professions traditionally carried out by men – politics and medicine. Drawing on the results of quantitative and qualitative studies, our analytical approach demonstrates how while a majority of participants show awareness of the existence of gender inequality in these markedly masculine professions, meritocratic individualism and personal attributions to discrimination are the recurring explanations rather than any gender-based account. These results allow us to highlight the relevance of gender-based analysis as an ideology and furthermore to argue that ignoring this perspective not only diminishes individual responsibility for social change but also perpetuates gender asymmetries.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gender dynamics in elementary school teaching: the advantages of men

This article presents a study that identifies the gender dynamics prevailing in a specific context of tokenism – elementary school teaching – in which the members of an otherwise socially dominant group are proportionally scarce – men. The results contradict Kanter’s (1977) theory by showing that male elementary school teachers do not experience the tokenism dynamics. In line with Williams’ gender perspective and Amâncio’s gender symbolic asymmetry, the article finds that although men constitute a small minority in elementary education, they do not lose the social advantages they generally have: on the contrary, they seem rather to gain several privileges. Indeed, the results show strong links between the tokenism dynamics and gender asymmetry, putting the token men at an advantage. Thus, tokenism seems to be limited to maintaining the gender social order.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Asymmetries in the perception of other as a function of social position and context

In the two experiments reported here an adaptation of the paradigm developed by Taylor, Fiske, Etcoff, & Ruderman (1978) was used to investigate: a) the impact of contextual factors on the accentuation effect, and b) asymmetries in the outgroup homogeneity effect as a function of relative group status. In both experiments targets were categorized on the basis of highly salient physical features, which also evoke asymmetric positions in intergroup relations: color of the skin in experiment 1 and sex in experiment 2. In experiment 1, with black and white participants, context was manipulated by introducing topics of discussion which were relevant (interethnic relations) and irrelevant (student university life) to the categorization, whereas in experiment 2, with female and male participants, the relevant topic of discussion was dating relationships and the irrelevant one was the same as in the previous experiment. According to our results, the accentuation effect was affected by context in experiment 1, but not in experiment 2, and the outgroup homogeneity effect was not symmetrical. Overall, target members of subordinate groups, blacks in experiment 1 and females in experiment 2, were more homogenized than target members of dominant groups, whites in experiment 1 and males in experiment 2.Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Gender equality and modernity in Portugal. An analysis on the obstacles to gender equality in highly qualified professions

In this review article, we argue that the transformations related to the modernisation of Portuguese society triggered by the implementation of democracy did not fully accommodate gender equality. In particular, when we consider the areas where the most progress has been made in keeping with a broadly shared urge for modernisation, education and science; whereas women have contributed to boosting the Portuguese population’s level of education, thus inverting the worst legacy of the dictatorship and developing scientific research, gender inequalities are still visible in highly qualified professions. Reviewing the results of studies from different professions, science, medicine and engineering, our analysis illustrates several factors that hinder not only the recognition of women’s competences and merit at work but also their career opportunities. Some of these factors are rooted in the type of gender ideology that was central to the propaganda of the dictatorship, thereby establishing continuity with the previous regime that seems particularly difficult to break in the absence of women’s voices to raise awareness on gender equality.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of light intensity and CO2 concentration on growth and the acquisition of in vivo characteristics during acclimatization of grapevine regenerated in vitro>

This study reports the effects of light intensity and CO2 concentration during the acclimatization of in vitro plantlets of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Touriga Nacional) on growth, chlorophyll and soluble carbohydrate contents, stomatal index and regulation of water loss. After in vitro phases at 45 µmol m-2 s-1 PFD, plantlets were transferred directly from in vitro to ex vitro acclimatization at different irradiation intensities (150 and 300 µmol m-2 s-1) and CO2 concentrations (350 and 700 µl l-1). Growth, especially total biomass, was closer associated with light than with CO2. Ex vitro leaves, expanded at high light and high CO2, developed fully autotrophic characteristics, mainly with regard to specific leaf area, chlorophyll a/b ratio and down-regulation of sucrose accumulation. In all treatments stomatal indices of leaves were lower than those of in vitro leaves although regulation of water loss was reduced at high CO2.

Gender and politics: the relevance of gender on judgements about the merit of candidates and the fairness of quotas

Drawing on the conceptualization of meritocracy as an illusion, we argue that perceptions of merit and fairness of sex quotas in politics are influenced by gender ideology, specifically gender symbolical asymmetry, which equates men with individuals and the universal reference of 'person', and women with a sexed category. A total of 311 Portuguese participants read one of eight scenarios manipulating the sex and political competence of two candidates for an electoral list where only one would be selected. According to the experimental condition, either the female or the male candidate was presented as more competent or both candidates were presented as equally competent. In the control condition no such information was provided. Participants rated the merit of the selected candidate and the fairness of quotas. Results show that men take mostly only the candidates’ competence information into consideration. Reflecting gender symbolic asymmetry women were also influenced by the fact that the selected candidate was male or female. Results are discussed in the light of the gender symbolic asymmetry model

Peroxiredoxins are involved in two independent signalling pathways in the abiotic stress protection in Vitis vinifera

Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) play major roles in preventing oxidative damage and their function is consistent with the presence of Prx isoforms in most, if not all, cellular compartments and their expression is dependent on environmental conditions. The aim of this study was to identify and characterize genes encoding Prxs in Vitis vinifera. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT PCR) was used to determine their response to irradiance, heat, and water stress. We identified seven vvprx genes, two of which were especially responsive to water stress, followed by heat stress, but no major changes were observed after high irradiance. The vvprxIIF targeted to mitochondria was the most responsive to water stress and it might be involved in drought tolerance through H2O2 signalling. The vvprxII-2, a putative PrxII, is targeted to the chloroplasts and was the most responsive to heat stress. It might be related with abscisic acid-dependent thermotoleranc

Microarray-based uncovering reference genes for quantitative real time PCR in grapevine under abiotic stress

Research ArticleBackground: Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction is becoming the primary tool for detecting mRNA and transcription data analysis as it shows to have advantages over other more commonly used techniques. Nevertheless, it also presents a few shortcomings, with the most import being the need for data normalisation, usually with a reference gene. Therefore the choice of the reference gene(s) is of great importance for correct data analysis. Microarray data, when available, can be of great assistance when choosing reference genes. Grapevine was submitted to water stress and heat stress as well as a combination of both to test the stability of the possible reference genes. Results: Using the analysis of microarray data available for grapevine, six possible reference genes were selected for RT-qPCR validation: PADCP, ubiq, TIF, TIF-GTP, VH1-IK, aladin-related. Two additional genes that are commonly used as reference genes were included: act and L2. The stability of those genes was tested in leaves of grapevine in both field plants and in greenhouse plants under water or heat stress or a combination of both. Gene stability was analyzed with the softwares GeNorm, NormFinder and the ΔCq method resulting in several combinations of reference genes suitable for data normalisation. In order to assess the best combination, the reference genes were tested in putative stress marker genes (PCO, Galsynt, BKCoAS and HSP17) also chosen from the same microarray, in water stress, heat stress and the combination of both. Conclusions: Each method selected different gene combinations (PADCP + act, TIF + TIF-GTP and ubiq + act). However, as none of the combinations diverged significantly from the others used to normalize the expression of the putative stress marker genes, then any combination is suitable for data normalisation under the conditions tested. Here we prove the accuracy of choosing grapevine reference genes for RT-qPCR through a microarray analysi