English-Canadian and French-Canadian Attitudes Toward Women: Results of the Canadian Gallup Polls

Abstract

This paper examines the reaction of French and English mother tongue respondents to a variety of questions on women which were asked in the Gallup Polls between 1964. and 1973. These questions probe attitudes toward: 1) the acceptability of female physicians, lawyers and politicians; 2) the acceptability of married women working, both with and without family obligations; and 3) equality between men and women and the women’s liberation move ment. The analysis reveals that French mother tongue respondents tend to be more egalitarian than English mother tongue respondents with respect to women occupying male sex-typed occupations and with respect to equality in the public sector. However, once the mother and husband roles are involved, French Canadians are more likely than Anglo-Canadians to concur with the traditional stance that women should remain at home and husbands should be dominant. The analysis also reveals that for both mother tongue groups, differences in responses by sex exist, with women generally being slightly more egalitarian in their attitudes than males. However, the interaction between sex and language which was noted by Hobart iri his study of marital relations is virtually absent.