Concluded Research Projects

For a long time, international and national climate policy was considered gender-neutral. It is only in recent years that the gender perspective has been given greater consideration - but this is mainly at the level of international climate policy. In contrast, little attention is still paid to the relevance of gender relations for effective climate policy measures in industrialized countries like Germany. The aim of the project is to better integrate gender perspectives into climate policy. To this end, mechanisms of impact between gender and climate policy, their interactions with other social categories (e.g. age, income, cultural background) and options for shaping them will be analysed.

In addition to a systematic literature review on gender and climate policy, the project will further develop and test the Gender Impact Assessment tool (GIA) for the areas of climate adaptation and climate protection. The application of the GIA enables political decision-makers to assess gender-specific consequences of climate protection and adaptation measures in order to reinforce intended impacts and to avoid negative, unintended consequences. With the help of secondary analyses, the ISOE's team examines existing GIAs in the field of environmental and climate as well as other impact assessments that feature distinctive gender dimensions (e.g. technology impact assessments, regulatory impact assessments and vulnerability analyses). These analyses lay the groundwork for further developing the GIA tool and for its testing and evaluation in selected fields of action of climate protection and adaptation to climate change. These include, for instance, the areas of transport and energy supply in private households. Here, the overarching question is to what extent these measures contribute to a reduction or even to a possible reinforcement of gender hierarchies.

To date, there is little reliable knowledge on how a gender perspective leads to qualitative changes in climate policy and, conversely, what influence climate policy has on gender relations. The project will therefore investigate the specific value of a gender perspective for climate protection and adaptation. To this end, in addition to the further development and testing of the GIA tool in the field of climate policy, further data requirements and appropriate survey methods will be identified. Finally, the researchers will develop concrete recommendations for action and policy in the field of climate policy.

When Men in the Third Stage of Life Do Care Work for children. A Preliminary Study

Funding:		Hessen State Ministry for Higher Education, Research and the Arts
Duration:		June 2015 – November 2016
Supervision:		Prof. Dr. Birgit Blättel-Mink, Dr. Alexandra Rau
Researchers:		Luigi Wenzl

The explorative preliminary study examines the phenomenon of rental grandfathers in the State of Hesse. The focus is on "old" men who provide post-employment childcare and thus break with "typical" post-employment activities of the same gender group. Initially, quantitative data on the structure and distribution of the phenomenon are assessed. On the basis of guideline-based interviews the project reconstructs, firstly, the central motives and causes of renting grandfathers and, secondly, the design of care practice. The analytical framework is based on three discourses: the diagnosis of a (social-)reproduction crisis, the precarization of work and life, and the debate about "active old people" / activity in the process of ageing. Whether and to what extent traditional and/or changing conceptions of masculinity and the corresponding concepts of grandfatherhood are addressed subjectively is the central gender-sociological question of the study. For this purpose, rental grandmothers will also be interviewed in the course of the qualitative phase of the study, which will provide a comparative measure for the interpretation.

Publications

Sauter, A. (2016). Großvater aus >>freien Stücken<<. Soziologie nimmt das Phänomen „Leihopa“ unter die Lupe. UniReport, 1, p.7 

Mitternacht, K. (2016). Wenn Opa nur geliehen ist. Seniorinnen, die junge Familien unterstützen, kennt man. Jetzt trauen sich auch Männer. Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS), 32, p. 17.

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See Concluding Report (German)

Different demonstration projects within the first research and funding period in the model region showed special possibilities in combination with electro mobile offers established by companies and can play an important role in the launch of new mobility forms. Especially in the Rhein-Main region with its high rate of commuting traffic – not only from and to Frankfurt, but also in the complete region– the way to and from work takes on key importance. At the other end of the mobility chain there is the field residing and living. Especially metropolitan residing is increasingly characterized by intermodal forms of mobility. Sharing concepts (car, Pedelec, E-Scooter) offer attractive possibilities of a more broad-range establishment of electric vehicles of different types, as demonstration projects of the first funding period showed. Inclusion of new mobility forms into existing public transport is an additional key regulating variable.

In order to embed an increasing number of electric vehicles of any size into the daily routine of mobility relevant organizations and (business) enterprises should be examined in relation to their possible function as ‚Change-Agents‘ for the broad-range introduction to the market of electric vehicles. The accompanying social scientific research of the presented subproject brings two main fields of need in focus: ‚job mobility‘ (commuting traffic, fleets of company cars etc.) as well as ‚residing and living‘ (mobility chains, sharing-concepts, infrastructure etc.). Enterprises and associations in the model region are considered as the main actors, who can make a key contribution to the market diffusion of electro-mobile transport modes. The main research–leading question is: Which are the key regulating variables for the acceptance of electric mobility in the context of working and living and how can these be successfully used for a wide market penetration in terms of ‚best practice‘?

Publications

Blättel-Mink, Birgit; Dalichau, Dirk; Buchsbaum, Monika; Hattenhauer, Merle; Weber, Jens (2013): Elektromobilität aus der Sicht privater Nutzerinnen und Nutzer. Ergebnisse der sozialwissenschaftlichen Begleitforschung in der Modellregion Rhein-Main. In: Sozialwissenschaften und Berufspraxis. Jg. 36 (2), pp. 270-286.

Blättel-Mink, Birgit; Buchsbaum, Monika; Dalichau, Dirk; Hattenhauer, Merle; Weber, Jens (2013): Transforming mobility into sustainable e-mobility. The example of Rhein-Main region. In: Hülsmann, Michael; Fornahl, Dirk (eds.): Evolutionary Paths towards the Mobility Patterns of the Future. Heidelberg: Springer Verlag, pp. 113-130.

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See Interim Conclusion (German)

The teams of Prof. Dr. Birgit Blättel-Mink and Prof. Dr. Martin Lanzendorf at the Goethe University analyzed the acceptance of (sustainable) electric mobility in the model region in general and especially the little motorized electric mobility (Pedelecs and E-Scooter) in the demonstration project. A further focus is on the participation mechanisms of users of the electric mobility offers and the optimizing of the vehicles on the one hand and the infrastructure on the other hand. The aim is to find out the conditions for a system transition from the conventional to the sustainable electric mobility in the model region Rhein-Main in terms of its economic, socio-demographic, cultural and ecologic characteristics. Therefore, intensive interviews were conducted with selected people, who are living in the cities and communities of the Rhein-Main. In addition group discussions with users of different types of vehicles were held in order to work out their usage behavior and to identify usage potentials. With regard to optimizing the offer, creative workshops were performed i.e. about the topics of e-mobiles fleet management or sustainable mobility for leisure time in the region

Main results

1. E-Mobility is getting more attractive, if it is possible to test it. The experienced Fun-Factor as well as positive empirical knowledge about the battery range are decisive.

2. A possible switch to (sustainable) E-Mobility most likely is seen in the context of professional mobility.

3. The conditions in cities significantly differ from conditions in the county. For cities: major opportunities are seen for Intermodality and Sharing-concepts. For the country: the own car has a high priority, private loading possibilities mostly do exist and optionally there is an interest in sharing a car to get to work.

4. Besides the so called „lead user“ further groups of people have to be included: e.g. women, family carers, elderly people, and young people.

5. The optimum solutions to enforce (sustainable) E-Mobility in the Rhein-Main region have to be tailored to the individual requirements.

Publications

Blättel-Mink, Birgit; Buchsbaum, Monika; Dalichau, Dirk; Hattenhauer, Merle; Weber, Jens (2013): Transforming mobility into sustainable e-mobility. The example of Rhein-Main region. In: Hülsmann, Michael; Fornahl, Dirk (eds.): Evolutionary Paths towards the Mobility Patterns of the Future. Heidelberg: Springer Verlag, pp. 113-130.

Blättel-Mink, Birgit; Buchsbaum, Monika; Dalichau, Dirk; Hattenhauer, Merle; Weber, Jens (2011): Sozialwissenschaftliche Begleitforschung Modellregion E-Mobilität Rhein-Main. Akzeptanz und Optimierung durch Nutzerinnen und Nutzer. Interner Endbericht. Frankfurt am Main: Goethe University.

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences; Goethe University Frankfurt; e-hoch-3 GbR (2011) (eds.): Sozialwissenschaftliche Begleitforschung zur Elektromobilität in der Modellregion Rhein-Main. Broschüre zur Abschlussveranstaltung „Begleitforschung zur Elektromobilität in der Modellregion Rhein-Main“, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, September, 6, 2011 in Frankfurt.

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See Concluding Report (German)

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