Gender Equality and the City

In the last last few years, the division between cities and rural areas has become a prominent topic of discussion, as it has huge repercussions for the political landscape of the United States. Many of these discussions try to understand the reasons for the disconnect between rural and urban areas by analyzing the role of economic policy, rhetoric and culture to understand the attitudes of people from rural America. An example of a prominent urban-rural divide is around gender equality, support for which is affected both by local norms as well as individual beliefs. While in the last five decades, support for gender equality has increased in many countries, support for gender equality in cities is usually higher than in rural areas.

To further investigate this question, Alice Evans, in her paper “How Cities Erode Gender Inequality: A New Theory and Evidence from Cambodia” uses evidence from Cambodia to give us insight into the changes in gender relations between people living in cities and people from rural areas. Evans uses the emergence of garment factories in rural areas to test the theory that female employment enhances support for female equality.

The study compares responses to a qualitative study in the capital Phnom Penh with responses given in two nearby villages in Kandal and Takeo provinces. The author chose Cambodia because the growth of garment factories in its rural areas has increased the need for labor, leading to higher rates of female employment in rural areas. This provides an opportunity to measure what happens to gender roles when female employment increases. The study also compares rural data with data from the capital to test the hypothesis that there are other factors available only in cities that increase gender equality vis-à-vis rural areas.

Evans finds that most women in rural areas do not enjoy the benefits of gender equality even after becoming part of the formal workforce. Many of the subjects in the study still feel like their extra contribution has not been noticed or rewarded by their partners. Contrarily, some of the men in the study do mention shifts in their initial perceptions of women as ‘weak’ or ‘incapable’ and that seeing them perform the same tasks as men forces them to question their assumptions about women. Overall, the data does seem to indicate a small, slow change in attitudes of some women and men.

The other question that Evans asks is what is it about Cambodian cities that lets women disrupt gender inequality? She argues that there are three main processes. First, a shift in perceived interests. As women get more opportunities to pursue things they enjoy, both men and other women talked about being struck by women performing successfully in education, employment, public discussion, and leisure, and how that affected their understanding of the role and the capacities of women. Second, exposure to women demonstrating equal competence in socially valued domains. The longer the exposure to competent women, the more difficult is to maintain ideas of inferiority of one gender. Finally, association or mutual learning. This last process argues that the increased interaction between men and women in contexts other than the preestablished roles, such as husband and wife, increases the support for gender equality.

In thinking about how we can push for gender equality across the country, we should take these mechanisms into account. How can we bring forward the benefits of city-dwellers to people living in more rural areas? These results highlight the importance of bringing exposure to women in positions of high social value, of looking for spaces to expand their experiences, and of making way for other women. But most importantly, it is important to show that these measures have a positive impact on both men and women.

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Evans, Alice. 2019. “How Cities Erode Gender Inequality: A New Theory and Evidence from Cambodia.” Gender & Society 33, (6): 961-984. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243219865510.