Race and Independent Living among Elderly Brazilians Since 1980

Abstract

This article investigates gender differences in gender-role attitudes in two societies with the same cultural heritage and identifies factors differentiating patterns of women’s and men’s attitudes. The data were collected from two surveys conducted in Taiwan and coastal China during 1996 97, with a total of 2.801 and 2,907 completed interviews, respectively, used in the analysis. Latent Class Analysis revealed two similar latent forms of gender-role attitudes for both genders in the two societies. Most of the respondents, with more males than females and more coastal Chinese than Taiwanese, were classified as holding “traditional type” attitudes. The gender gap in traditional attitudes was larger in Taiwan than in coastal China. The factors differentiating women’s patterns of attitudes from men’s found in Taiwan support the perspectives of gendered self-interest and paternal role-model. Urbanization and cohort effects were more significant in coastal China, showing that political ideology and policy implementation in different stages and regions shape gender-role attitudes in different societies. This study supports the importance of incorporating gender analysis into interpretations of societal differences in the ways gender-role attitudes are structured.