The Russell Sage Foundation has issued a call for articles for potential inclusion in an upcoming issue their Journal of Social Sciences on “Gender Inequality Beyond Categories: Femininity, Masculinity, and Gender Expression.”
Gender categories are not homogenous; they have inequalities and hierarchies both within and between them. Within any gender identity category, people enact varying levels of femininity and masculinity, from traditional bipolar or "opposite" conceptions of gender, to various forms of androgyny and nonconformity, to feeling little attachment to gender at all. Contemporary gender theory highlights the importance of understanding these dominant, subordinate and mixed positions within gender categories as key to the overall maintenance of gender inequality. However, outside of social psychology, most quantitative research to date has been ill-equipped to operationalize concepts of femininity, masculinity, and gender expression.
Supported in part by funding from the Russell Sage Foundation, the 2024 General Social Survey (GSS) included two pairs of femininity and masculinity scales: one asking how respondents see themselves and another asking how "most people" see them. These measures not only capture within-category gender diversity they also recognize that gender is interactionally negotiated and distinguish whose determination of gender is being measured. Collectively, these improvements bring the empirical operationalization of gender more in line with contemporary social science theory and help quantitative researchers engage more directly with existing qualitative research on the nature of contemporary gender inequality.
With the 2024 GSS data's initial release now publicly available, we seek contributions that draw on gradational measures such as these to advance research on gender inequality beyond categories in the contemporary United States. We encourage submissions from many disciplines and perspectives, including but not limited to sociology, psychology, political science, economics, education, geography, and urban studies. We welcome papers that feature the 2024 GSS data alone, in combination with other data, or using similar gender measures in other surveys. We also welcome papers that adopt multiple methods, and combine analyses of the 2024 GSS with experiments, in-depth interviews, oral histories, ethnography, or content analysis. For example, the GSS can be the primary or sole data, it can play an important role in setting context and motivation, it can be used to validate or challenge findings from other data sources, and it can be used as illustrative evidence to support theory development. If other data on their own can address the questions posed below, they are also eligible for inclusion in this issue.
The initial GSS data release also does not include all variables from the 2024 survey. More data is scheduled for Fall 2025 release, following disclosure review, including occupation (OCC), religion (RELIG) and current identity (SEXNOW2). Researchers should confirm which release includes their data of interest (a variable guide is included in all downloads) and note that analyses using restricted data, such as geocodes and/or the original responses from protected variables, require a sensitive data license. This application process can take several months and requires a fee.
Please click here for a full description of the topics covered in this call for articles.
Anticipated Timeline
Prospective contributors should submit a CV and an abstract (up to two pages in length, single or double spaced) of their study along with up to three pages of supporting material (e.g., tables, figures, pictures, etc.) no later than 5 PM EST on October 15, 2025, to https://rsf.fluxx.io.
NOTE that if you wish to submit an abstract and do not yet have an account with us, it can take up to 48 hours to get credentials, so please start your application at least two days before the deadline. All submissions must be original work that has not been previously published in part or in full. Only abstracts submitted to https://rsf.fluxx.io will be considered. Each paper will receive a $1,000 honorarium when the issue is published. All questions regarding this issue should be directed to Suzanne Nichols, Director of Publications, at journal@rsage.org. Do not email the editors of the issue.
A conference will take place at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City on June 26, 2026. The selected contributors will gather for a one-day workshop to present draft papers (due a month prior to the conference on 5/26/26) and receive feedback from the other contributors and editors. Travel costs, food, and lodging for one author per paper will be covered by the foundation. Papers will be circulated before the conference. After the conference, the authors will submit their revised drafts by 10/15/26. The papers will then be sent out to three additional scholars for formal peer review. Having received feedback from reviewers and the RSF board, authors will revise their papers by 5/10/27. The final issue will be published in the late fall 2027. Papers will be published open access on the RSF website as well as in several digital repositories, including JSTOR and UPCC/Muse.
Please click here for a full description of the topics covered in this call for articles.
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