Societies in transition: are they more sexist? A comparison between Polish, South African and British samples

Abstract

This study investigates ambivalent sexism to women in student samples from two under-researched transitional countries, Poland (PL) and South Africa (SA), in comparison with the United Kingdom. Based on ambivalent sexism theory (AST), and in light of socio-economic context, it was hypothesised that: (1) the sample in PL and SA would be more hostile- and benevolent-sexist than the sample from the UK, (2) males would exhibit more hostile attitudes than females irrespective of country and (3) males would outscore females on benevolent attitudes in the relatively liberal UK but underscore them in relatively conservative SA. The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory was used to measure benevolent and hostile sexism. The findings largely supported the hypotheses. The participants in SA and PL were more sexist than in the UK and men were more hostile-sexist than women in all three countries. However, males outscored females on benevolent sexism not only in the UK but also in SA and PL. Moreover, the sample from PL was observed to be more sexist than the sample from SA. The findings are discussed in light of AST and the countries' transitional context.