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Background: Population health is a primary goal of sustainable development. United Nations international conferences like the Beijing Platform for Action have highlighted the key role of women in ensuring sustainable development. In the context of climate change, women are affected the most while they display knowledge and skills to orient themselves toward climate adaptation activities within their societies.

Objective: To investigate how the gender perspective is addressed as an issue in research and policy- making concerning climate change and global health.

Methods: A broad literature search was undertaken using the databases Pubmed and Web of Science to explore the terms ‘climate change,’ ‘health,’ ‘gender,’ and ‘policy.’ Climate change and health-related policy documents of the World Health Organization (WHO) and National Communications and National Adaptation Programs of Action reports submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of selected countries were studied. Assessment guidelines to review these reports were developed from this study’s viewpoint.

Results: The database search results showed almost no articles when the four terms were searched together. The WHO documents lacked a gender perspective in their approach and future recommenda- tions on climate policies. The reviewed UN reports were also neutral to gender perspective except one of the studied documents.

Conclusion: Despite recognizing the differential effects of climate change on health of women and men as a consequence of complex social contexts and adaptive capacities, the study finds gender to be an underrepresented or non-existing variable both in research and studied policy documents in the field of climate change and health. 

The overall aspiration of this study is to generate awareness that, despite the recognition of the differential effects of climate change on health of women and men gender, is still an underrepresented variable in strategic planning and policy making on climate change and health. If health is a human right and is largely influenced by the jeopardy of gender, then there is a need to include a gender perspective in the still developing and evolving area of research and policy of impacts of climate change on global health. Efforts to introduce a gender perspec- tive in the climate and global health field must be evidence based and policy driven. The solutions lie in addressing the social beliefs and practices that are harmful for women physically, emotionally, or mentally. The need is to narrow the gaps by bridging the technological, social, and gender divides by creating pro-women orientation in strategic planning and policy making on climate change and health. Researchers and policy makers should be able to address the gender issues and create means for equal participation among women and men. 

The aims of the current research were to understand: (a) how much research on glass ceiling effects has been done since the formation of glass ceiling commission?; (b) what trends are evident across this body of research?; (c) what research questions have been addressed?; (d) what research topics have been emphasized? (e) what frameworks were used to guide studies?; (f) what research methods were employed?; and (g) what has been learned about glass ceiling effects? To answer these research questions, we gathered a large amount of data in the form of previously published empirical and non-empirical research about glass ceiling effects. From the body of work reviewed, we determined that while there are a large number of sources which cite, discuss, and generally acknowledge a glass ceiling, there is relatively little empirical research devoted specifically to identifying and investigating glass ceiling effects. Our sampling of research questions also uncovered the fact that there is little coherence on how glass ceiling effects are identified and studied. However, it should be noted that this body of research does emphasize traditional measures of com- pensation (e.g., salary) and employment status (e.g., promotion rates) in the discussion of glass ceiling effects. The current research also employed various frameworks to guide these studies. In fact, the diversity among frameworks was so great, we could find only a few studies which were conducted with similar theoretical perspectives. The research methods employed by the studies also varied greatly. These included methods from both the quantitative and qualitative traditions, as well as from theoretical and non-empirical perspectives. In sum, we acknowledge that a great deal has been learned about glass ceiling effects in society from this body of work. However, there is little coherence on how best to operationalize or measure glass ceiling effects and there is little agreement on the causes or origins for women and people of color.  While they are observations of the state of the literature in general, specific issues relating to higher education are highlighted.

• First, while the glass ceiling seems to be a common term in conversational discourse, little research has presented clear guidance for research and practice-based discourse. For example, there is little agreement on how to operationalize a single definition of a glass ceiling so that its effects may be studied in a uniform way.
• Second, empirical studies differed in populations, methodologies, and frameworks to such a degree that meaningful comparisons are difficult to assert, even within sectors. 
• The ability to make results gen- eralizable from this group of studies is not readily apparent. In addition, the studies from higher education stem from different methodological approaches and frameworks, with the majority of them not identifying a dominant framework.
• Next, there is a dearth of scholarship which aims to disentangle the ways that race/ ethnicity and gender influence glass ceiling effects. Across all sectors, studies typically focused on gender, or the combined identities, or sources of discrimination, of race/ ethnicity and gender.
• Very few studies focused solely on the effects of race/ethnicity and the glass ceiling. This finding is both troubling and surprising given institutions’ of higher education commitment to racial/ethnicity equity on its campuses and the fact that the Department of Labor has explicitly identified the glass ceiling as a barrier for people of color.  

Proposals to adjust the role of women in science (measures to eliminate)

Some measures relating to motherhood

• When women give birth or adopt a child, their scientific production should be

  calculated as less productive for at least a year and accompanied by a work pause

  when appropriate.

• Temporary reduction of their teaching or project management activities during the

  period of maternity.

• Quality crèches at work must be provided.

  General measures

• Inclusion of across the board gender equality in academic and scientific activity to

integrate gender aspects into:
o Structures(maintainingsex-disaggregatedstatisticsforallacademicand

scientific activity and seeking a gender balance in professional associations

and rotation of positions)
o Programmes(includingcontentongenderequalityandconsideringthegender

impact on particular research work)
o Budget:Societymustfinancespecificeducationalprograms,inorderto

highlight the significance of gender equality.

• Supervision of selection procedures: entrance, promotion, awarding of sabbaticals,

  project funding, scholarships etc.

• Gender mainstreaming manuals and trainings offered to members of selection boards

• Systematic accountability of progress in terms of equality

• Assistance so that activities which use public money respect principles of equality

  (from the criteria that govern appointments in the Royal Academies to the science committees of congresses and national prizes or eligible positions).

  Positive Action Measures

  • Money and/or reserved positions to achieve a numerical balance between women and

    men

  • Active recruitment of women (seeking potential candidates when women do not apply

    for a post), particularly for senior positions

  • Remedies by various organisations and fora for the correction or the drastic

    improvement of the situation.

    In addressing the issues with glass ceilings that women can encounter in the science & other fields, the important area to note is that the glass is indeed only glass. The report will bring forward examples of how the glass is encountered for various situations & individuals – and how these barriers can be whittled away, or even shattered, by taking specific measures today that address gender bias and by working with the future workforce to build confidence, skills and change perceptions. 

A large representative sample (N = 20,816) of Israeli Jewish high school students served to explore differences between coeducational and same-sex schools in advanced math and science courses. Data were obtained from the Israeli population census of 1995 and from the Israeli Ministry of Education. Results from logistic regressions suggest that girls at all-female state religious schools did not differ from girls at coeducational state schools in placement in advanced math, physics and biology courses. But girls at all-female religious schools took advanced computer science courses at a much higher rate than girls at coeducational schools. This finding is attributed to a different curricular policy and not directly to the all- female environment. The analysis showed that girls who attended same-sex schools did not dramatically differ from girls who attended coeducational schools in placement in advanced math and science courses. The only subject in which girls in same-sex schools differed from girls in coeducational schools was advanced computer science. This finding seems to be related to different curricular policy and not to more favorable attitudes to computers.

The Israeli setting is unique in respect to same-sex education because it is part of public education. As such it shares similar curricula, in most subjects, with coeduca- tional schools and is probably less selective than private or independent same-sex education in other countries. Never- theless, religious education in Israel also involves elements of pre-selection. It draws its students mainly from religious families, and coeducational schools differ considerably from same-sex schools in this sector. Another limitation of the present study is that its dataset does not include information on previous achievement. Yet the fact that similar patterns were found in all school types in most of the analyses implies that pre-selection was not a major problem when control for the family background was employed As previous research has suggested, curricular policy is associated with inequality in educational opportunities. A policy that matches advanced computer science with the highest level of math and with other “masculine” scientific courses is especially harmful for girls who refrain from choosing these subjects. The religious all-girl school policy of allowing their students to take advanced computer science courses without requiring them also to take the highest level of math and an additional scientific course most probably encouraged more girls to take computer science. This interpretation implies that even without changing gender stereotypes in high school subjects, school administrators can influence gender gaps in math and science course taking and increase the number of girls who choose to specialize in scientific subjects. It might be easier to implement a curriculum which helps girls overcome gender stereotypes in same-sex schools, but it is also possible to implement such a curriculum in coeducational schools.