Group Gender Composition and Tolerance of Immigrants’ Rights

Abstract

Research has shown that women on average express more positive attitudes towards out-groups than men. We hypothesize that, because of differences in the social climate that this gender gap produces, people who spend more time in female-dominated groups are likely to develop more positive attitudes towards out-groups than people who spend more time in groups that are dominated by men. We corroborate our argument with evidence from two unique Swedish data sets. On the basis of the first data set, we show that students who attend female-dominated school classes are more tolerant of immigrants’ rights than students attending male-dominated school classes. On the basis of the second data set, we show that adults who work at female-dominated workplaces are more tolerant of immigrants’ rights than adults who work at male-dominated workplaces. Overall, our findings demonstrate that group gender composition is important for understanding the formation of attitudes towards out-groups.