‘All Changed, Changed Utterly’?1 Gender role attitudes and the feminisation of the Irish labour force

Abstract

Synopsis One of the most dramatic changes in Irish society over the past two decades has been the substantial increase in the number of women participating in the paid workforce, and the concomitant change in gender roles. This gives rise to the question of whether this change in behaviour is also associated with changes in gender role attitudes. This paper uses data from the 1988, 1994 and 2002 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) ‘Family and Changing Gender Roles’ module to examine changes in Irish gender role attitudes over this period. The analysis presented here demonstrates a decline in support for traditional gender roles over the period. A central issue explored is the relationship between attitudes and behaviour. Are increases in Irish women's labour force participation accompanied by a move away from traditional ideas about the gendered division of labour? Given the significance of ISSP as an important resource both for comparative and national level social science research, and especially given that the module is to be fielded again in 2013, the paper also critiques the wording of the questions in this survey, and the extent to which they accurately measure the complexities of gender role attitudes.