Changes In Gender Role Attitudes Research Articles

Cracking Under Pressure? Gender Role Attitudes Toward Maternal Employment During COVID-19 in Germany

The COVID-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges to gender equality, particularly affecting working parents due to disruptions in daycare and school operations. It also impacted labor market opportunities for both men and women. This study investigates shifts in gender role attitudes toward maternal employment in Germany during pandemic lockdowns and subsequent periods of eased restrictions, using combined data from 2008 to early 2022. During the lockdown in early 2021, the study documents a significant decline in egalitarian attitudes, especially for men with dependent children and women without dependent children in the household. The results are discussed and interpreted against the background of various theoretical approaches. During periods of eased restrictions in early 2022, the trend reversed, and gender role attitudes recovered significantly for the same groups. The findings imply that pandemic-related changes in gender role attitudes toward maternal employment were largely transitory. HIGHLIGHTS Gender role attitudes became less egalitarian during the 2021 COVID-19 lockdown in Germany. When restrictions lifted, egalitarian gender role attitudes returned, indicating the changes were largely transitory. Mothers of dependent children, who shouldered most of the additional care burden, demonstrated remarkable stability in views on gender roles. Norm-setting, social diffusion, cognitive dissonance, and defense of a cultural worldview explain variance by gender and presence of children in the household. Public support for maternal employment and childcare infrastructure is important for shaping societal norms.

Changing gender role attitudes and the changing gender gap in labour force participation

This paper uses micro-data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to examine the relationship between gender role attitudes and the labour supply of men and women. Using the Wellington decomposition technique, the paper also considers how much of the change in the gender gap in labour force participation (LFP) between 2001/5 and 2015/19 may be explained by changes in the gender role attitudes of adult women and men. The results show a 6.5 percentage point convergence in the gender gap in LFP between the two periods. Nearly half the convergence arises from a change in the schooling attainment of men and women. Just over one-third is due to changes in gender role attitudes (faster adoption of egalitarian gender role attitudes by women).

Gender and evaluation in contemporary American English: A corpus study based on pronominal and nominal expressions with male and female reference

Abstract This study of contemporary American English examines how males and females are evaluated in terms of their personality, physical appearance, societal importance, etc. across various registers. In this study, evaluation is defined as an expression of a speaker or writer’s attitude toward, viewpoint on, or feelings about a male or female referent, which generally carries a positive or a negative meaning. The evaluative tokens analyzed in the study include noun phrases (e.g., a real jerk) and adjectival modification (e.g., congenial) co-occurring with gender-specific nominal expressions (e.g., boy, lady) or pronominal expressions (e.g., he, she). The findings imply a distinct gender patterning in the evaluation: whereas males are evaluated in terms of their skills, abilities, acuities and importance in society, females are typically assessed in terms of their looks and appearance. Males occupy considerably more evaluative space than females, particularly in the Newspaper register. The preponderance of the evaluation of males even in twenty-first-century American English is surprising, considering changes in gender role attitudes in U.S. society in recent decades.

COVID-19 and mandatory telework: effects on gender roles and work family conflicts among Japanese dual-career regular employees with children

This study empirically investigates some of the consequences of mandatory telework from home brought about by the first state of emergency following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Japan. There is yet scant research in Japan on the consequences of working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this article disentangles the concepts of mandatory and involuntary telework. A survey of regular employees in dual income households with children retrospectively assessed the changes in gender role attitudes and work-family conflicts before and during forced telework from home in the Tokyo area in Spring 2020 and shed light on their first experience with telework. Mandatory telework, regardless of frequency, did not affect gender role attitudes among Japanese dual-career couples, and was associated with lower work-family conflict more so among women. Full mandatory telework resulted in higher satisfaction with one’s work space at home for women, and a desire for more frequent telework among both genders, once COVID-19 is under control. These results can help individuals, firms, and governments understand the effects of mandatory telework and devise countermeasures supporting flexible work arrangements.

The Power of Peers? Early Adolescent Gender Typicality, Peer Relations, and Gender Role Attitudes in Belgium

Gender role attitudes, or one’s beliefs about the appropriate roles for men and women, inform important life decisions such as educational and career decisions. As gender role attitudes are dynamic and change over time, it is important to understand how they are constructed and evolve over time. One of the crucial—but under researched—life phases in the development of gender role attitudes is early adolescence, a life stage wherein early educational and career exploration are key. This study examines the development of adolescent’s gender role attitudes. We use multilevel latent growth analysis techniques to estimate the change in gender role attitudes during the first 2 years of junior high school (Nstudents = 4063; Nschools = 57; average 12 to 14-years old) and its relation to how adolescents perceive themselves as gendered actors (gender typicality) and how they perceive their peer environment (friend group composition, peer pressure, gender conformity pressure). The analysis indicates that while friend group composition and peer pressure are important in shaping gender role attitudes at the beginning of junior high school, they do not continue to influence boys’ or girls’ gender role attitudes during the first 2 years of junior high school. An important finding is that pressure to conform to gender norms rather than generic peer pressure shape adolescent gender role attitudes. The study highlights the complicated process through which attitudes about gender are constructed during adolescence.

Changes in gender role attitudes following couples' residential relocations

Background: Residential relocations of couple households are associated with increases in objective gender inequality within families in paid and unpaid work. Little is known about how couples’ relocations affect subjective outcomes such as attitudes. Objective: We examine whether gender role attitudes change when families move residentially in Britain, empirically addressing potential explanations. We also assess heterogeneity in outcomes by relocation distance and relocation motive. Methods: We use linear fixed-effects regression on a representative sample of 6,415 partnered women and 6,220 partnered men from the British Household Panel Survey (1991–2007). Results: Our results show that, on average, an individual’s gender role attitudes were not significantly altered following a couple’s relocation. As an exception, we find that when couples exclusively relocated for the female partner’s job, men’s gender role attitudes became more egalitarian post-relocation. Preliminary evidence also suggests that women’s gender role attitudes are potentially affected by their exposure to residential contexts. Contribution: Despite widespread evidence regarding increases in objective gender inequality following couple relocations in Britain, our findings suggest that this does not permeate into subjective outcomes such as attitudes. Beyond expanding the knowledge on subjective sources of gender inequality that follow couples’ relocations, our results also contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of change in gender role attitudes over the life course.

2000∼2015년 성역할 태도 변화 연구 : 한국의 TV광고 내용 분석

2000∼2015년 성역할 태도 변화 연구 : 한국의 TV광고 내용 분석

Gender identity in patients with 5-alpha reductase deficiency raised as females

5-Alpha reductase type 2 deficiency (5-ARD) is a rare disorder of sex development. The lack of 5-alpha reductase, an enzyme that converts testosterone into dihydrotestosterone, results in external genitalia that may appear female, or predominantly male, albeit undervirilized, or, more often, ambiguous. This study describes a series of patients with 5-ARD raised as female, focusing on aspects related to gender identity. Following a retrospective chart review, patients with 5-ARD were invited to return to the clinic to enable their gender identity to be assessed using an 11-item structured in-house questionnaire. The Golombok-Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction was applied to patients who had initiated their sexual life. Six patients aged >15 years with 5-ARD and raised as female were included. Most patients were diagnosed late: two before and four after puberty. The mean length of the phallus was 2.8cm (0.5-5.0). Reasons for seeing a doctor included genital appearance (n=3), amenorrhea/absence of breast development (n=2), and changes in gender role attitudes (n=1). According to the gender identity assessment, 4 patients identified as female, 1 as male, and 1 as both genders. Only the patient identified as male requested gender re-assignment. Of the two patients who had initiated their sexual life, sexual satisfaction was found to be good in one and poor in the other due to vaginal discomfort during intercourse. In the present series, the majority of undervirilized patients with a diagnosis of 5-ARD raised as female were in complete conformation with being femaleand described themselves as heterosexual. The more virilized patients were those least in conformity with their female-assigned gender.

Men’s and Women’s Gender-Role Attitudes across the Transition to Parenthood: Accounting for Child’s Gender

Gender-role attitudes capture individuals’ degree of support for traditional divisions of paid and domestic work and have been linked to the production and reproduction of gender inequality in different social spheres. Previous research has established that life-course transitions are related to within-individual over-time change in gender-role attitudes. Most importantly, becoming a parent is associated with shifts toward more traditional viewpoints. Theories of attitude change suggest that the gender of children should influence the pattern of gender-attitude shifts that accompany parenthood, but very few studies have investigated this. We add to this literature using Australian panel data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (n = 29,918 observations) stretching over 15 years and fixed-effects panel regression models. We find that men’s and women’s gender-role attitudes become more traditional when they become parents, with evidence that this process is more pronounced among men, parents of daughters and, most of all, male parents of daughters.

A Critical Examination of the Reliability and Validity of a Gender Role Attitude Scale in Flanders (Belgium): What Lessons Can be Learned?

Western societies have shifted toward more egalitarian gender role attitudes (GRA). Quantitative research on GRA has been critiqued for not having kept up with societal changes in GRA. GRA scales are claimed to lack discriminative power and not fully capture the diversity within non-traditional attitudes. The present study gives an overview of the theoretical critiques with regard to GRA scales and empirically assesses these critiques. A typical example of a GRA scale measuring adolescents’ GRA in Flanders (Belgium) is used to test the scale’s quality across three waves of surveys completed by 4063 early secondary school students. Our analysis identifies the drawbacks of this particular scale. First, a ceiling effect was found, with most respondents being egalitarian. Second, the representativeness of roles inquired about is restricted; relevant societal domains are not questioned and most roles are only questioned for one gender. Third, a gender-binary approach is dominant. Finally, our results confirm that adolescents demonstrate ambivalent feelings toward balancing female employment and motherhood; although paid employment is encouraged, childcare is prioritized. We recommend that other researchers critically examine the usability and quality of GRA scales in today’s society. Using outdated GRA scales might conceal the ambivalence that adolescents feel due to new gender inequities. Also, investing in structures and regulations supporting the work-family balance is key in further promoting gender equity.

Investigation on the Motivation for Fathering Support Lecture:Focus on Changes in Gender-Role Attitudes

Investigation on the Motivation for Fathering Support Lecture:Focus on Changes in Gender-Role Attitudes

A Feminist Generation? Cohort Change in Gender-Role Attitudes and the Second-Wave Feminist Movement

A Feminist Generation? Cohort Change in Gender-Role Attitudes and the Second-Wave Feminist Movement

How Do Changes in Gender Role Attitudes Towards Female Employment Influence Fertility? A Macro-Level Analysis

This study explores whether the diffusion of gender-equitable attitudes towards female employment is associated with fertility. We argue that any positive effect on fertility requires not only high levels of gender-equitable attitudes overall, but also attitude convergence between men and women. We analyse 27 countries using data from the World Values Surveys and European Values Studies. We find support for a U-shaped relationship between changes in gender role attitudes and fertility: an initial drop in fertility is observed as countries move from a traditional to a more gender-symmetric model. Beyond a certain threshold, additional increases in gender egalitarianism become positively associated with fertility. This curvi-linear relationship is moderated by the difference in attitudes between men and women: when there is more agreement, changes are more rapid and the effect of gender egalitarian attitudes on fertility strengthens.

Gender Equality Perceptions, Division of Paid and Unpaid Work, and Partnership Dissolution in Sweden

With the increase in female employment and the decrease in gender labor specialization, there has also been a marked change in gender role attitudes. An increasing proportion of women and men has come to prefer gender egalitarianism. Yet a marked gender division of labor persists. Here, we study the interplay between individual gender role attitudes and behavior in terms of sharing paid and unpaid work with one's partner, and implications for partnership stability. We focus on Sweden, a country with long experience of the dual-earner model and policies supporting female labor-force participation while also promoting men's active engagement in family tasks. We test two hypotheses: first, that gender egalitarianism in attitudes and behavior per se strengthens partnership stability (the gender egalitarian model) and second, that consistency in individual attitudes and couple behavior, whether egalitarian or traditional, strengthens partnership stability (the attitude-behavior consistency model). We use data from the Swedish Young Adult Panel Study (YAPS) conducted in 1999, 2003, and 2009. We find no difference in dissolution risk between the consistent egalitarian and the consistent traditional individuals, and both categories exhibit lower dissolution risks than individuals holding gender egalitarian views but dividing workload with their spouse/partner in a gender-traditional way. These results speak in favor of the attitude-behavior consistency model of marriage.

Maternal employment and gender role attitudes: dissonance among British men and women in the transition to parenthood

This study examines how changes in gender role attitudes of couples after childbirth relate to women’s paid work and the type of childcare used. Identifying attitude-practice dissonances matters because how they get resolved influences mothers’ future employment. Previous research examined changes in women’s attitudes and employment, or spouses’ adaptations to each others’ attitudes. This is extended by considering how women and men in couples simultaneously adapt to parenthood in terms of attitude and behavioural changes and by exploring indirect effects of economic constraints. Structural equation models and regression analysis based on the British Household Panel Survey (1991-2007) are applied. The results suggest that less traditional attitudes among women and men are more likely in couples where women’s postnatal labour market participation and the use of formal childcare contradict their traditional prenatal attitudes. Women’s prenatal earnings have an indirect effect on attitude change of both partners through incentives for maternal employment.

‘All Changed, Changed Utterly’?1 Gender role attitudes and the feminisation of the Irish labour force

Synopsis One of the most dramatic changes in Irish society over the past two decades has been the substantial increase in the number of women participating in the paid workforce, and the concomitant change in gender roles. This gives rise to the question of whether this change in behaviour is also associated with changes in gender role attitudes. This paper uses data from the 1988, 1994 and 2002 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) ‘Family and Changing Gender Roles’ module to examine changes in Irish gender role attitudes over this period. The analysis presented here demonstrates a decline in support for traditional gender roles over the period. A central issue explored is the relationship between attitudes and behaviour. Are increases in Irish women's labour force participation accompanied by a move away from traditional ideas about the gendered division of labour? Given the significance of ISSP as an important resource both for comparative and national level social science research, and especially given that the module is to be fielded again in 2013, the paper also critiques the wording of the questions in this survey, and the extent to which they accurately measure the complexities of gender role attitudes.

Gender-role attitudes and behavior across the transition to parenthood.

On the basis of social structural theory and identity theory, the current study examined changes in gender-role attitudes and behavior across the first-time transition to parenthood and following the birth of a second child for experienced mothers and fathers. Data were analyzed from the ongoing longitudinal Wisconsin Study of Families and Work. Gender-role attitudes, work and family identity salience, and division of household labor were measured for 205 first-time and 198 experienced mothers and fathers across 4 time points from 5 months pregnant to 12 months postpartum. Multilevel latent growth curve analysis was used to analyze the data. In general, parents became more traditional in their gender-role attitudes and behavior following the birth of a child, women changed more than men, and first-time parents changed more than experienced parents. Findings suggest that changes in gender-role attitudes and behavior following the birth of a child may be attributed to both the process of transitioning to parenthood for the first time and that of negotiating the demands of having a new baby in the family. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Family policy, employment and gender-role attitudes: a comparative analysis of Russia and Sweden

In this article, we explore the interaction between female and male employment, parenting responsibilities and family policy in Russia and Sweden. The study is based first on indicators of public social services, assistance for families and labour force data; and second, on the ISSP modules on Family and Changing Gender Roles (years 1994, 2002). The results show that both Sweden and Russia facilitate the `dual-earner' family model, but that Sweden places a greater emphasis on dual-caring and flexible work arrangements for women. The support for traditional gender roles was much higher and more uniform in Russia than in Sweden. The proportion of `dual-earner' and female-led families was nevertheless higher in Russia than in Sweden, especially in 1994 when major restructuring in the social and economic sphere was occurring. The findings suggest that family policy is instrumental in facilitating female employment, but does not necessarily bring changes in gender-role attitudes.

Gender Role Attitudes and Careers: A Longitudinal Study

Data from the Monitoring the Future Study were used to examine the impact of early gender role attitudes on later career outcomes for women and men. We also examined the impact of marriage, children, and labor market outcomes on changes in gender role attitudes. Women’s early gender role attitudes predicted their later work hours and earnings. Women’s work hours predicted their later gender egalitarianism. Children were negatively associated with later gender egalitarianism for both women and men. Findings indicated that gender role attitudes influence subsequent behavior, but they may also be adjusted to accommodate to situational constraints.

Changes in Attitudes to Mothers Working: Evidence from Australian Surveys Betsy Blunsdon and Ken Reed

The aim of this article is to contribute to the development of our understanding of two aspects of attitude change in Australia. First, both cohort and individual explanations for attitude change are tested empirically. Second, empirical evidence is provided about the nature and scope of change in gender role attitudes amongst males and females, and of different birth cohorts in Australia, as reported in two survey periods: 1994 and 2002. In particular, the question of whether there is empirical evidence of cohort differences in attitudes to gender roles in Australia is investigated. The findings show that birth cohorts display progressively more modern attitudes, but people tend not to change their attitudes as they get older. In addition, men and women have different attitudes to gender roles, with men displaying more traditional beliefs than women. Having more than one child makes women less inclined to express the belief that women should work.