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Much research has explored high levels of son preference in India, finding that parents often report a desire for more sons than daughters. While scholars have noted that a nontrivial portion of respondents claim to have no sex preference, little is known about (1) the characteristics of this group and (2) how such parental preferences relate to child outcomes. We use data from a representative study of rural South Indian households (n = 7,891 adults) to address these gaps. Descriptive results show that a sizable portion of respondents – one in four – indicated that, at the start of their marriage, they had no preference for the number of daughters or sons they wanted. Further, multinomial regression results show that those who reported no sex preference at the time of marriage were more likely to be female, older, and less likely to be sterilized than those who reported equal or son preference, with additional distinctions across educational attainment and religion. Turning to child-level outcomes, we examined whether parents’ sex preferences related to adolescent mental health through ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models (n = 1,245 adolescents). Adolescents whose mothers stated no sex preference reported significantly fewer anxiety and depressive symptoms than their peers. Fathers’ sex preferences were not significantly related to adolescent mental health. These findings suggest that a lack of sex preference may hold meaningful and positive implications for adolescent mental health. Further, although son preference is a widespread phenomenon, singular attention on those with son preference may mask important nuances among Indian families.

This paper aims to identify the preferences towards sex education and information from a religiously diverse sample of young people. The research builds on growing evidence towards religious affiliation having a strong influence on sexual attitudes and behaviour.

A total of 3,007 young people aged 15‐18 attending schools in London, UK, completed a cross‐sectional survey. The questionnaire identified preferred sexual health “topics”, preferences for where they would like to receive this education and who they thought would be the ideal person to deliver the information.

The largest religious group was Christian (34 per cent), followed by Muslim (24 per cent), Hindu (21 per cent), “Don't believe” (15 per cent) and “Other” (7 per cent). There were a number of similarities across the practising religious groups such as preferences for more information on sexually transmitted infections and how to make sex more satisfying. The data also showed significant differences across the religious groups, in particular between Hindus and Muslims, and their preferences towards the ideal person to deliver sex education. Hindus were notable for showing a higher preference towards someone of similar age, and also reporting the least preference for someone of the same religion. By contrast, Muslims reported a higher preference for religious compatibility on the premise that such a person could “identify with” their own religious and cultural beliefs.

Although derived from a sample that is not statistically representative of all young people, the findings demonstrate the potential and importance of being able to respond to the competing sex education preferences of religious groups. The forthcoming challenge is to research the ways in which this potential for sex education can be harnessed in a sensitive manner.

This paper is valuable in terms of establishing young people's preferences for information on sex and relationships, but less so in terms of identifying the types of sex education that are most beneficial. Indeed, it is likely that this paper will be of particular relevance to the “knowledge and understanding” element that is specified in this guidance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine mentoring experiences and preferences aimed at creating equal mentoring opportunity for male and female employees in the Nigerian work setting.

Data were obtained from 140 randomly selected managers (70 males and 70 females).

Results revealed that mentoring occurrence is entirely informal and more males compared to females served as mentors. Respondents commonly reported and preferred career‐related benefits of mentoring. An examination of preferred mentor gender indicated a significant relationship between gender of respondent and that of preferred mentor and protégé. Concern for positive interaction reflects frequently mentioned reasons for this preference among men and women. The preferred qualities of a mentor often cited by respondents were those which enable a mentor to deliver career functions while reverence was the most mentioned protégé quality. The distribution of male and female respondents differed on some of the preferred qualities.

Though based on a self‐report instrument, findings imply that mentoring preferences of males differ from those of females.

A training and policy intervention should be considered to enhance delivery of mentoring and create equal opportunity for male and female employees.

Mentoring is currently being canvassed as a mandatory human resource tool in the Nigerian work setting. Empirical guidance on fostering the relationship in ways that create equal opportunities for male and female employees however, remains elusive due to a lack of research in this direction. This study narrows this gap in literature and contributes empirical information that equips management to better deal with the gender issue in mentoring. Beyond the Nigerian environment, it serves as a basis for advancing equal opportunities in mentoring, especially for Africans. This addresses shortcomings in the scholarly scope of reference journals which has a dearth of African empirical findings on mentoring.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a contingent valuation (CV) survey of health care services, designed to illuminate self-interest and benevolence on the part of one sex for the other.

In a constructed scenario, men and women recorded how much they would be willing to contribute to each of three different types of cancer screening, one of which would be available only to members of the opposite sex.

Over two-thirds of individuals, amongst whom men were more heavily represented, chose an identical CV for all three services. Amongst those who nominated dissimilar values, a willingness to contribute to own-sex screening coupled with an unwillingness to contribute to opposite-sex screening was more common amongst women than amongst men. Both sexes valued own-sex screening more highly than opposite-sex screening yet, compared with men, women were prepared to offer proportionately less for the latter relative to the former. In an associated person trade-off task, women were considerably less likely than men to choose opposite-sex screening at the expense of a type from which they could benefit personally.

To date, very little research has been undertaken on differential responses to health valuation of care provision by sex. The results suggest a degree of asymmetry between the sexes, with respect to self-interest and benevolence.

This research aims to investigate the differences in evaluations of job performance between male and female managers by those managers’ immediate bosses and peers.

Drawing on gender structure theory, along with ideas about status characteristics, the authors use hierarchical regression to test the hypotheses that male and female bosses and peers deferentially evaluate the male and female manager’s global job performance. The authors hypothesize significant two-way interactions (gender of the manager by gender of evaluator) in predicting a manager’s job performance.

The results suggest that while male peers rate female managers’ job performance significantly lower than that of male managers, female peers do not discriminate between genders in their performance evaluations. Also, managers’ bosses were found not to discriminate between genders of their subordinates.

The limitations of this study have to do primarily with the data. While the data are rich on some dimensions, they are weak on others, especially with regard to the detail about the jobs the respondents did, detailed level of familiarity with the evaluated managers, as well as racial background. The data also do not provide information on the different facets of job performance, the evaluation of which could potentially be impacted by managerial gender; this study is focused exclusively on global job performance.

The authors discuss various theoretical explanations of this pattern of results, as well as its possible influence on female managers’ careers. Although the effect size of the negative bias that male peers exhibit toward female managers is relatively small, it may be argued that lower performance assessments can accumulate over years in multiple job evaluations, negatively affecting the career of female leaders.

The evaluations supplied by different organizational members gain importance with the increased use of 360-degree feedback instruments not just for developmental but also for the job performance appraisal purposes. While the job evaluations of managers’ bosses have been investigated in the past with regard to the possible gender bias, this study provides the first known to the authors’, evidence. Also, this study points to a direct bias in performance assessments, rather than a potentially more subtle, non-performance-based bias that affects the disparities in wages and promotions of female managers. Thus, this study helps to fill a significant gap in the literature on organizations and it may have practical implications for the advancement of female managers. In addition to this contribution, this study also provides data that may be useful in resolving the ongoing debate whether female bosses act more as cogs in the machine or as change agents in organizations.

Individuals including tourists are known to be selective as to what they consider as appropriate food. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the traditional foods consumed by international tourists during their stay in Ghana, using the Analytical Hierarchical Process Model.

The data used for the study were collected from a random sample of 675 out‐bound international tourists in Ghana at the departure lounge of the Kotoka International Airport between February and March, 2010.

In total, 17 traditional foods were popular among Ghana's international tourists, with red red being the most favoured food whilst impotupotu was the least preferred food. It was concluded that Ghana has the potential to have a thriving local food industry that could be based on the seven topmost foods.

As the first description of traditional food preferences among Ghana's international visitors, this study is intended to provide a strong point for more in‐depth studies of the special qualities and attractiveness of the various traditional foods in Ghana.

The observation that international tourists on holiday in Ghana patronize a great variety of Ghanaian foods suggests that there is a substantial market of food‐interested visitors that needs to be nurtured. The current awareness and interest in Ghanaian foods need to be sustained by improving on the packaging, service quality, and sanitary conditions of most eating places, as well as the efficiency of regulatory institutions including the Food and Drugs Board, the Ghana Standards Board, and the Ghana Tourists Board Given that red red is more likely to sell or be consumed by Ghana's international visitors, food operators, including restaurants, food vendors, traditional catering points and hotels have to be sensitized to include this food item in their menus at all times.

This finding also signifies that the country can reduce loss of revenue overseas if the large food imports to feed international tourists are reduced. The consumption of locally produced food items and the utilization of local ingredients in the preparation of tourist menus are known to reduce imports and leakage of tourism revenue from the local economy. The study also has a potential of assisting Ghana to project its culture through food. It has been established that traditional foods constitute essential components in the understanding of the culture of a society and also constitute an important medium for cultural expression.

This study makes a valuable contribution by highlighting tourists' tastes in Ghana. Finally, an insight into tourists' food consumption and preferences is vital to the maximization of the potential associated with tourism. Researchers such as Mitchell et al., suggest that consumer behaviour research is important for stakeholders in the wine and food industry because it can help provide important insights into who the wine or food tourist is and how marketers – restaurant and café owners, bed and breakfast operators, food producers and managers – can effectively target and develop markets.

The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which differences and similarities exist between female and male business professionals.

A total of 1,164 students from three English‐speaking countries completed a 75‐item multi‐dimensional tool that consists of 17 empirically independent work preference constructs associated with psychological learning styles, work values, work interests, and personality temperament.

There are few notable or significant differences between the work preferences of female and male business professionals within each country. Differences between the work preferences of female and male business professionals are not consistent from nation to nation.

Additional research on gender differences of work preferences needs to include larger samples of college students majoring in non‐business subjects as well as working adults drawn from related occupational fields.

Managers need to understand that biological sex may be irrelevant when it comes to the selection, placement, training, development, and appraisal of employees.

Contrary to prior research, the results refute the existence of work‐related differences between females and males.

The article aims to present a new aspect of “the emergent identities” in Thailand with a correlation between morality and religiosity. The research deals with the perception of 65 Thai male-to-female transgender sex workers who are currently working in sex tourism in Pattaya and Bangkok. This article explores the role religion plays, the linkages between sexualities, and the potential for Thai Theravada Buddhist individuals to understand the way that they cope with life and interpret its meaning among these sexual minorities. Finally, the article shows how Thai marginalized Theravada Buddhists are negotiating their gendered religious spaces in Thailand.

The study investigates perceptions of religion and its role in the lives of Thai Buddhist male-to-female transgender sex workers. Almost all the qualitative data was collected sequentially through (1) focus group discussions, (2) small group discussions, and (3) in-depth interviews. All interview sessions took place over six months in 2019. The researcher is a native Thai speaker and conducted the interviews in Thai with selected sex workers over 20 years old who have at least one year of experience engaging in sex work.

The research found three principal characteristics of “lived religion” in which emergent identities negotiate sexuality and morality: (1) Buddhist dequeering (the way Buddhism operates conservatively to reinforce heteronormativity), (2) queering Buddhism amidst multiple oppressions (how Buddhism operates to complement queer identity and empowerment), and (3) queering Buddhism as enlightenment (Buddhism with an emphasis on “practice” and “spiritual development”). The paper discusses how institutional Buddhism creates and recreates gendered identities in complex ways.

The article shows how Thai marginalized Theravada-Buddhism are negotiating their gendered religious spaces and “buy” the right to sexual and anatomy within their families and society by providing financial support, engaging in religion practices, donating in social charity projects base on their faith and capacity.

The paper is supporting human right movements and dignity for sexual minorities gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender questioning, intersex (LGBTQI+) in Thailand. The paper also promotes equality to all human beings and shows a struggle for the basic human rights of sexual minorities in religion. The paper is raising awareness to religion's rights for all to look beyond distinctions of gender and class which may help to shape future history.

This article examines how Thai transgender sex workers utilize the non-essentialist philosophy of Theravada Buddhism. The paper finds that respondents are negotiating their religious spaces through the linkages among their gender, body, embodiment, identities, and sexualities. Despite most respondents believe that being born “a kathoey” as a result of bad karma, they use the Buddhist teachings of karma to explain their identities and even to lead a meaningful life to gain more merits for a better rebirth.

Thailand still lacks research on queer spiritualities and Buddhism. The article has seen challenges to the human rights of sexual minorities in religion. The solution is to increase awareness of the concepts of sex, gender, and sexualities and broaden the understanding of “endless performativity” and “gender diversification” (Butler, 1990) for gender sensitivity and gender responsiveness in creating “social equality” for all member societies in public campaigns, and media launched by the state and NGOs.

This study seeks to explore what young women want from their school‐based sex education.

Qualitative methods were used to explore the perspectives of two groups of young women from Uganda and Scotland.

Of particular importance to all the young women were: a diverse sex education curriculum appropriate to the ages of the students, being taught by an outside female facilitator, single‐sex classes and access to a female teacher. Furthermore, they proposed that discussion between small groups of friends is very useful. The Scottish group said that having a young teacher, teaching about emotions and relationships and being guided through their own decision making is also important. The Ugandan group emphasized the importance of being taught by female family members and having written materials provided on sex education.

The study showed that young women from different backgrounds have strong opinions about sex education, and are an important resource for policy makers.