Women’s integration into non-traditional sectors for transforming gender roles and advancing institutional equity

Despite the aims of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 (gender equality), significant gaps remain in unconventional, male-dominated sectors. This paper presents the Gender Role Transformation Model to understand the role of gender and power in maintaining inequality and to examine how gender role transformation can be achieved in resistant institutional settings. The study argues that gender inequality remains entrenched in male-dominated sectors and that the proposed Gender Role Transformation framework explains not only the causes of the disparity, but it can also account for how inequality can be challenged. By synthesizing Social Role Theory and Gender Relations Theory, the framework integrates role-based and structural perspectives into a staged approach for understanding and advancing gender transformation. The framework offers a theoretically grounded, staged roadmap for moving beyond tokenistic representation toward systemic equity, thereby supporting the achievement of SDG 5.