Skip to page content

Gender Equity

Featured

Gender equity is the fair and just distribution of benefits and responsibilities among people of all genders, and protection from discrimination based on gender identity. RAND research has examined gender equity issues in the U.S. military, the health care sector, academia, and labor markets around the world.

Commentary
Advancing Women's Health Requires Better Evidence
For decades, advances in health and health care have had a bias toward the male body. By shifting the focus of research to women's bodies and building out this base of evidence on women's health, scientists and doctors can improve health outcomes and overall quality of life for women, all while also saving money.
Apr 10, 2023
Report
How the Dobbs v. Jackson Ruling Could Affect U.S. National Security
Women are an integral part of the U.S. military and DoD civilian workforce. Limiting their access to legal abortion services will affect their health and could decrease force readiness. It could also raise health care, child care, and education costs, and affect recruitment and retention.
Sep 13, 2022

Explore Gender Equity

Report
Demographic Diversity of the DoD STEM Workforce
Within the Department of Defense's STEM workforce, which demographic groups are subject to the greatest compensation disparity when compared with white men? What measures can the Pentagon take to address these discrepancies?
Apr 27, 2023
Blog
U.S. Cooperation with China and Russia, Artificial Intelligence, War in Ukraine: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on U.S. security cooperation with China and Russia, artificial intelligence, consequences of Russia's war in Ukraine, and more.
Mar 10, 2023
Report
Talent Management and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Department of the Air Force: Qualitative Review of Programs, Practices, and Partnerships
Researchers conduct a qualitative literature review and interviews with subject-matter experts to identify the Department of the Air Force's existing and planned efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in its military force.
Mar 9, 2023
Report
Talent Management and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Private-Sector Organizations: A Qualitative Review of Promising Practices
Researchers reviewed academic literature and conducted interviews with private-sector organizations to identify promising practices in support of the Department of the Air Force's goal of building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce.
Feb 23, 2023
Report
Benchmarking Demographic Diversity in Air Force Functional Areas Against Near-Equivalent Civilians: The Air Force Occupational Diversity Benchmarking Workbooks
To allow decisionmakers to discover potential barriers to a diverse and inclusive workforce, the authors created a method to measure diversity in the Department of the Air Force occupations using near-equivalent civilian occupations as benchmarks.
Feb 22, 2023
Blog
State of the Union, Mental Health First Aid, China's Spy Balloon: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on President Biden's State of the Union address, the benefits of mental health first aid training, insights on China’s spy balloon, and more.
Feb 10, 2023
Journal Article
Gender Differences in Patients' Experience of Care in the Emergency Department
Previous work has reported gender differences in diagnosis and treatment in ED settings. However, little is known about gender differences in patient experience in the ED, though such differences are reported in other settings.
Jan 25, 2023
Commentary
Gender Biases in Health Care: Listen to Women About Their Own Health
More and more information, evidence, and personal stories are emerging suggesting women are not being listened to or believed by health care professionals about their symptoms of physical illness. There is ongoing work in the United Kingdom to improve and integrate women's health services, which creates hope for improvements.
Jan 19, 2023
Report
Incorporating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Considerations into the 2021 Department of the Air Force Developmental Education Selection Boards: Analysis of Outcomes
Although demographic data have been masked for most Air Force boards adjudicating career development and promotions, the 2021 Central Professional Military Education Program Boards provided an opportunity to test the effects of unmasking the data.
Dec 20, 2022
Report
Societal Impact of Research Funding for Women's Health in Lung Cancer
The authors find that small investments are likely to yield large gains from increasing research funding in lung cancer; investing in women's health research yields benefits above investing in general research.
Nov 1, 2022
Q&A
Abortion After the Dobbs Decision: Q&A with RAND Researchers
The overturning of Roe v. Wade is likely to disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, including U.S. service women and pregnant women with substance use disorders. And abortion misinformation will likely increase. RAND researchers discuss these issues and potential policy responses.
Oct 25, 2022
Commentary
Privacy Rights Have Changed. Will Data Handling Follow?
Until privacy protection laws are cemented into place, consumer privacy won't be assured unless consumers can effectively take the steps they need to take to protect their data. Tech companies might view this as a burden, but there will likely be profits for those companies that instead see it as an opportunity.
Oct 24, 2022
Brochure
Social Value and RAND Europe
We define social value as "the difference we make to the communities which we operate within". This brochure describes our commitment to social value through the behaviours we embed in our practices, as well as the research and analysis we conduct.
Oct 12, 2022
Tool
Addressing Disparities in the U.S. Military
Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in military career success and representation are a long-standing problem. To help inform efforts to address this, researchers created the Military Demographic Equity Machine tool.
Sep 6, 2022
News Release
Fewer FEMA Employees Experienced Workplace Harassment or Discrimination in 2021 than 2019; More Progress Needed
The risk of FEMA employees experiencing harassment or discrimination in 2021 was significantly less than in 2019, but one in five employees still experienced at least one civil rights violation during the preceding year.
Aug 24, 2022
Report
Harassment and Discrimination at FEMA Is Declining, but More Progress Is Needed
About one in five FEMA employees surveyed experienced at least one gender-based/sexual or race/ethnicity–based civil rights violation in the past year. This is an improvement since 2019, but how can FEMA further its efforts to develop and maintain a workplace in which all employees are treated with professionalism and respect?
Aug 24, 2022
Commentary
South Korea's Extraordinary Fertility Decline
The complicated history of family planning as well as socioeconomic and political factors may all play roles in depressing birth rates in South Korea. But the nation's fertility decline is just one piece in a complicated gender puzzle.
Jul 22, 2022
Commentary
Doubling NIH Funding for Women's Health Would Yield Substantial Return on Investment
The scientific evidence base generally is biased toward the male body as a result of a long history of generous funding for diseases that predominantly affect men and underfunding for those that predominantly affect women. But the cost of the science pales in comparison to the price we continue to pay for what we don't know about caring for women.
Jul 8, 2022

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Next

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Jennifer Bouey

Senior Policy Researcher

Dr. Jennifer Bouey is a senior policy researcher, Tang Chair for China Policy Studies, and an epidemiologist at the RAND Corporation. She also serves as the department chair for Global Health at Georgetown University and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She…
Sarah Angell

Research Assistant

Sarah Angell (she/her) is a research assistant focusing on home affairs and social policy at RAND Europe. She is currently working on projects in the areas of education, women's financial independence and criminal justice. Her research interests include employment, gender, public benefits and…

Explore Our People »