iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Burak Sonmez @buraksonmez.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Come and join us @sriucl.bsky.social We’re looking for an Assistant Professor in Quantitative Social Science with a research agenda on the environment and/or climate change, and expertise in causal inference. See full details and apply 👉🏼 www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

UCL Social Research Institute recruitment poster for an Assistant Professor in Quantitative Social Science at the Centre for Quantitative Social Science. Applications close 30 October 2026.

25868

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

There will also be PhD and postdoctoral opportunities associated with the project. I’ll share details as they come up, so please watch this space. :)

021

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Big big 🙏 to everyone who has supported this work, given feedback, and agreed to join the advisory board. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with excellent collaborators and building new connections. If these questions interest you, please get in touch!

111

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Political engagement requires mental space as well as time and money: to follow the news, discuss issues, join a campaign or consider running for office. My project will investigate whether this load leaves parents with less capacity to engage & contributes to inequalities in whose voices are heard.

120

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I’m so happy to share that I’ve been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship at @uniofbath.bsky.social to study how the mental load—the invisible work of anticipating, planning and organizing family life—shapes parents’ political participation. 🤯 www.bath.ac.uk/announcement...

bath.ac.uk

Two University of Bath researchers awarded UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships

They will investigate how the hidden mental load of domestic life shapes political participation and how online behaviour can contribute to violent extremism.

16867

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Wtaf is this question my university just asked me about my project?

Does the project involve any work that could be interpreted as promoting DEIA, climate change research, or non-compliant to any Presidential Executive Orders?

15145881297

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

From July 2026 - Thinly Veiled: The Use of Femonationalist Speech in European Parliaments - cup.org/4fPucuL - @jmfernandes86.bsky.social, Bonnie M. Meguid & @anacweeks.bsky.social #OpenAccess

BJPolS abstract summarizing a study on femonationalism, focusing on the use of gendered rhetoric in anti-immigration policies across Western European countries from 2009 to 2024.

063

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Instituto Juan Linz @institute-juanlinz.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

🚨 Madrid people, mark your calendars: the permanent seminar of the Instituto Juan Linz is back! We have a great series of speakers from across the social sciences this year. First talk this Friday with @llschenoni.bsky.social Here is the program for this Fall:

22214

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

It was great to talk to Rose Hirst @thespinoff.bsky.social about whether apps can help us outsource the mental load. Spoiler... I am a skeptic, and Rose's experience didn't change my mind !

011

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

IPR @uniofbathipr.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

How can the conditions of local politics enable women to continue representing their communities? Ana Catalano Weeks at @uniofbath.bsky.social and Anna Helgøy find that family-friendly working practices can increase women’s willingness to stand for office again.

blogs.bath.ac.uk

Being a councillor is still a difficult career for women – why this matters for democracy

Women remain underrepresented in local government, but getting more women elected is only part of the challenge. New research by Ana Catalano Weeks and Anna Helgøy finds that family-friendly workin…

033

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Great talking to Grace Dean for this feature re gender gap in mental load. The article links to my research with @leahruppanner.bsky.social, @helenkowalewska.bsky.social, & @annanhelgoy.bsky.social 😀 The connection to current uk paternity leave debate is v important ! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Why more women carry the 'mental load' - and how couples can share it

Planning, organising and remembering household tasks often fall disproportionately to mothers - here are some tips to help.

060

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

At a moment when gender and sexuality is central to understanding contemporary American politics, Harvard decides to . . . defund its Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program.

524278

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

@annanhelgoy.bsky.social & I wrote about our recent article with Lou Timlin for @theconversation.com Our research shows that family-friendly policies such as remote working and care reimbursement increase women councillors' willingness to run for office again. theconversation.com/being-a-coun...

theconversation.com

Being a councillor is still a difficult career for women – why this matters for democracy

The fixes could be cheap and easy, though.

162

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Data come from: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... with the wonderful @leahruppanner.bsky.social

doi.org

110

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

It's back-to-school time, and with it, time for the mental load to ramp up! For the 1st time my 3 kids are all in different schools... I’m already dreading all the school apps. 🫣 Our research w/ 3,000 US parents finds moms handle 71% of the load. What are you doing to share or reduce it??

Chart showing how mothers and fathers in a sample of 3,000 US parents report responsibility for 21 cognitive household tasks. Mothers report being primarily responsible for cleaning, scheduling, childcare, social relationships, and food-related mental load. Fathers report greater primary responsibility for home maintenance, while financial tasks are more evenly divided. Examples of large gender gaps include keeping track of the family calendar, planning family events, scheduling appointments, researching children’s purchases, coordinating playdates, and tracking groceries. Source: Weeks & Ruppanner, Journal of Marriage and Family.

1194

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

WuTangIsForTheChildren @wutangforchildren.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Buckingham Palace band playing 9 to 5 for Dolly Parton

378154024303

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Wissensnetzwerk Rechtsextremismusforschung @wi-rex.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Exploring legislative speeches from 5 West. Europ. countries from 2009-2024, @jmfernandes86.bsky.social, Bonnie M. Meguid & @anacweeks.bsky.social show that the use of femonationalist rhetoric by far right parties increases the more other parties accomodate to far right anti-immigration positions:

doi.org

Thinly Veiled: The Use of Femonationalist Speech in European Parliaments | British Journal of Political Science | Cambridge Core

Thinly Veiled: The Use of Femonationalist Speech in European Parliaments - Volume 56

162

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Daniel Devine @danjdevine.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

If journal editorial is of interest to you - replace me at @jeppjournal.bsky.social as Associate Editor. I've loved working with JEPP. The team, papers, and reviewers have been awesome. Happy to answer questions if you have any. editorresources.taylorandfrancis.com/editor_recru...

editorresources.taylorandfrancis.com

Associate Editor needed for Journal of European Public Policy

12121

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Have you read @malugatto.bsky.social's insightful book, Resistance to Gender Quotas in Latin America? Malu's book advances a novel theory of male resistance shaped by political ambition and electoral vulnerability. Check out my full review in @jwpp.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

130

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

🆕 in @bjpols.bsky.social: "Thinly Veiled: The Use of Femonationalist Speech in European Parliaments" We describe the ⬆️ of femonationalist speech over time & across party families in Europe We find the far right use it esp when other parties converge on their anti-immigration position Open access!

03215

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Remote participation and care support are relatively low-cost reforms, and they may help make local politics more accessible and representative. Open access paper: doi.org/10.1080/1350...

doi.org

100

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

They emphasised the importance of remote participation in enabling access for many groups of people, and support for care costs, not only about the logistics but in reducing stigma around using it.

The text describes qualitative analysis of open-ended survey responses, in particular related to the challenges of accessing care policies in practice and the stigma around claiming costs for care.

110

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Our qualitative evidence helps interpret why. Many women councillors described the difficulty of combining elected office with paid work and caring responsibilities. And most of these are not parents of small children. Gendered caring burdens persist across the life course.

100

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

In the control condition, women reported significantly lower political ambition than men. In the family-friendly policies condition, this gender gap disappeared. This suggests that gender-sensitive institutional design can shape not only who enters politics, but who stays.

120

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

We then asked councillors how likely they would be to stand for election to that council on a 0–10 scale. Among women councillors, family-friendly policies increased willingness to stand again by almost a full point (6.7 → 7.7). Among men, there was no detectable effect.

The figure shows a clustered bar chart of average self reported likelihood of standing for election by treatment group and gender with 95 percent confidence intervals. The horizontal axis lists 4 groups, from left to right: Men Control, Men Treatment, Women Control, and Women Treatment. The vertical axis is labeled Mean Likelihood of Standing 0 to 10, with a numeric scale from 0 to 10 marked at intervals of 2 units. Each group is represented by a single vertical bar with a thin line and cap showing the confidence interval. For men, the control bar reaches 7.94 and the treatment bar reaches 7.90, with overlapping error bars. For women, the control bar reaches 6.72 and the treatment bar reaches 7.66, with limited overlap of error bars. Overall, men show similar mean likelihood in control and treatment, while women show a higher mean in the treatment group than in the control group.

100

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

We surveyed sitting English councillors. Respondents were randomly assigned to read about a hypothetical council that either: • offered standard working arrangements, or • offered family-friendly policies, including remote participation and reimbursement of childcare/dependent-care costs.

100

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

This paper began as an MA Gender & Politics dissertation by #LouTimlin at @uniofbath.bsky.social 👏👏👏 (who has since gone on to become a town councillor and borough councillor herself) & is also co-authored with 🌟 @annanhelgoy.bsky.social.

100

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

🚨New paper out in JEPP @jeppjournal.bsky.social 🎉 Women are underrepresented in local politics, and the problem isn't only their election but retention. In a survey experiment with 500+ English councillors, we find that family-friendly council policies increase women's static ambition. 🧵

The picture shows the article abstract: Women’s representation in European local governments remains stagnant at around one-third of councillors. One explanation for this longstanding gender gap relates to structural barriers blocking the supply of women candidates, including working practices which are not compatible with caring responsibilities. Yet, so far we do not know whether measures governments can implement to remedy this, including reimbursing care expenses and remote working, increase women’s political ambition. To answer this question, the study uses a survey experiment fielded to local councillors in England (N = 534). The survey manipulates exposure to a bundled set of family-friendly policies in a hypothetical council to identify the causal effect of such policies on static political ambition (councillors’ willingness to run for their current level of office), and explores heterogeneous effects by gender. The introduction of family-friendly policies significantly increases women’s, but not men’s, willingness to run for office again. Analysis of open-ended survey responses further reveals that women councillors more frequently brought up the difficulty of balancing care and work with a political role, while men were less likely to mention this. Overall, the study contributes new evidence about the important role that family policies might play in closing gender gaps in political ambition.

13012

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Chris Hanretty @chanret.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

New article, written before I became a father and was thus unable to conceive of a future when this paper would be out in the world

1388

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Indeed Seoltangi @icareyesido.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Japan: oh no what shall we do about the low birth rates Also Japan: how dare she take 4 months off to have a baby BBC News - A mayor in Japan announced her maternity leave - and got the whole country talking www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

A mayor in Japan announced her maternity leave - and got the whole country talking

In the face of criticism, Shoko Kawata, 35, says she loves her job and is proud to be taking time off to have a baby.

031

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

AFP News Agency @en.afp.com · 25/06/2026

🇸🇪 🇪🇺 Swedish minister brings baby to EU talks Sweden's environment minister Romina Pourmokhtari brought her three-month-old baby to an EU meeting, in a barrier-breaking move she said showed it was possible to be both "a present minister and a present mother".

35817

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

“The dismantling of USAID, according to models from Boston University epidemiologist Brooke Nichols, “has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children,” Gawande wrote.” hsph.harvard.edu/news/usaid-s...

hsph.harvard.edu

USAID shutdown has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The Trump administration’s decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition, accord...

6222011448

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Coleen Murphy @ctmurphy1.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

one anecdote: I was searching for a link to one of my old papers on Google, and the automated Gemini summary attributed all of my lab's work to my husband

1041711907

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Rossella Merullo @rossmer.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Just arrived in Belfast for EPSS!⚡ So much going on and so many great papers to catch up on. This Saturday 9:00 AM I'm presenting my paper with @anacweeks.bsky.social on Women's Leadership in the Rad Right!. Come find us at the panel "The Strategic Use of Gender and Sexuality by the Radical Right"

032

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Jack Bailey @jack-bailey.co.uk · 03/06/2026

Last year, we shared a paper showing that Labour's accommodation of the radical right did not work. We now have a new version of the paper online: osf.io/preprints/so...

12520285

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

“Over half reported having reviewed or adjusted key words in research proposals, and almost half said they’d reframed research topics. [43%] had also cautioned students or collaborators to be careful what they say publicly and more than a third had abandoned plans on one or more research topics.”

theconversation.com

Self-censorship, more stress, tougher recruiting – we asked US researchers how the Trump administration’s science policies have affected them

What do US researchers make of all the Trump administration science-related policy changes? A survey of 280 academic scientists asked them.

042

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

The US government has a new website for moms that is peddling pro-natal, trad-wife propaganda: “the only mention of working motherhood on the homepage links to a warning that “workplace exposures, conditions, and tasks can affect workers’ sexual and reproductive health.” See @jessicacalarco.com👇

1316

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Reform mobilising non-voters looks to be a big story from this year’s locals. As so often, non-voters are the “dark matter” of politics - rarely discussed but so numerous they even mobilising a small slice can have big effects. Particularly in low turnout local elections.

1919383

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Tiffany Barnes @tiffanydbarnes.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Voters are ~4X as likely to be able to vote for a David as for a Sarah… there are 516 Davids, 453 Johns, 385 Pauls & 137 Sarahs among the candidates. “…our needs & experiences are not going to be represented by an endless supply of Davids and Johns” -Penny East www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Nearly twice as many men as women standing in May elections in UK

Exclusive: women ‘massively underrepresented’ in next week’s local and devolved elections, campaigners say

031

Reposted by Ana Catalano Weeks

Journal of Marriage and Family @jmfncfr.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

NPR spotlighted JMF author @leahruppanner.bsky.social in a Q&A about her new book & mentioned a JMF article she coauthored: tinyurl.com/mvr85uz7 The JMF article, authored by @anacweeks.bsky.social & Dr. Ruppanner, explored gender distribution of parents' cognitive labor tasks: tinyurl.com/mcfn9s3s

tinyurl.com

Want to lighten your mental load? First, let go of these gender myths

"Men can't see the mess." "Women are better at chores." These myths position women to take on more emotional thinking, says researcher Leah Ruppanner. She shares what works to reclaim your headspace.

041

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

@leahruppanner.bsky.social’s fantastic new book Drained is out and covered by NPR life kit (including our research on US parents!). Run don’t walk to get her mental load audit & practical advice !! www.npr.org/2026/04/21/n...

npr.org

Want to lighten your mental load? First, let go of these gender myths

"Men can't see the mess." "Women are better at chores." These myths position women to take on more emotional thinking, says researcher Leah Ruppanner. She shares what works to reclaim your headspace.

072

Ana Catalano Weeks @anacweeks.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

If you are headed to the first-ever meeting of EPSS in Belfast, bookmark this schedule & come check out all the excellent research on gender, sexuality, and politics! @turnbulldugarte.com & I had a v tough job narrowing it down… from engagement and ambition to polarization, backlash and more 👇

0224