The Gender Role Conflict Literature: Fruits of Sustained Commitment

Abstract

Twenty-five years ago, when the men's movement was in its beginning stages, O'Neil recognized the importance of understanding more about the impact of men's gender role conflict. This ensuing quarter century of research has produced a much more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of gender role conflict than we had then. In his integrative review, O'Neil provides an excellent illustration of programmatic research and the power of sustained commitment to a construct. Clearly we continue to have a great societal need to understand more about men's roles and how conflicts in this important arena affect our society as well as cultures around the world. The breadth and depth of the accumulated knowledge that addresses these important societal needs is remarkable. The lack of research on gender role conflict in the workplace is striking and merits additional attention. Additional methodological and theoretical complexity holds much promise to stimulate future research directions to enhance understanding of gender role conflict within the many complexities of men's lives.