Differences In Gender Role Attitudes Research Articles

Investigation of Early Childhood and Primary School Education Teacher Candidates' Attitudes to Gender Roles in Terms of Gender, Grade, Mother’s and Father’s Education Levels

Gender inequality indeed persists as a pervasive issue worldwide, infiltrating numerous facets of society and impeding progress toward a more equitable and just world. Schools play a crucial role as essential institutions where children embark on their initial journey into social life, contributing to the formation of values, norms, and social relationships. During these early years, children observe, imitate, and internalize the words, behaviors, and attitudes of teachers, shaping their understanding of the world around them. Therefore, children's perceptions of gender and attitudes toward gender can be significantly influenced by the attitudes and behaviors of their teachers. This research aims to examine whether there are differences in the gender-role attitudes among pre-service early childhood and primary school teachers based on gender, grade level, mother's and father's education level. The study was designed as a cross-sectional survey model, and data were collected from 1st and 4th-grade students enrolled in Early Childhood and Primary School Education Programs at a university in Turkey. The data were collected using a Personal Information Form and the Gender Role Attitude Scale (GRAS). The data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests in SPSS 22.0, and effect sizes were calculated. Analysis indicated that there were statistically significant differences in gender role attitudes between genders, grade level, and mother’s education level. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the scores based on the father's education level. Female teacher candidates were found to have more egalitarian gender role attitudes compared to male teacher candidates, and 4th-grade students exhibited more egalitarian attitudes than 1st-grade students. Additionally, it was observed that teacher candidates whose mothers were illiterate tended to have more traditional gender role attitudes compared to those whose mothers had primary school, middle school, high school, or college degrees.

Gender Role Attitudes in the International Social Survey Programme: Cross-National Comparability and Relationships to Cultural Values

Differences in societal views on the roles of men and women have been addressed in many large-scale comparative studies by employing indicators of gender roles attitudes from cross-sectional surveys. Assuming that cross-country differences in gender role attitudes are linked to the prevailing cultural value orientations in each society, this study aims at investigating the association between societal views on gender roles, as measured by the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), and the prevailing cultural values, as defined by Schwartz’s theory. However, to carry out meaningful comparisons, we first assessed the prerequisite of measurement equivalence between countries. The comparability of gender role attitudes is limited when using traditional methods based on the concept of exact equivalence (multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis). However, the recently established alignment optimization procedure reveals approximate measurement equivalence and suggests that the mean comparison is trustworthy. Based on these results, we correlate the national mean levels of gender role attitudes with the cultural values of embeddedness, hierarchy and egalitarianism, showing that traditional gender roles are displayed in societies emphasizing hierarchy and embeddedness while progressive views are more expressed in egalitarian societies.

Exploring Ethnic and Generational Differences in Gender Role Attitudes among Immigrant Populations in Britain: The Role of Neighborhood Ethnic Composition

Divergent gender role attitudes among ethnic groups in Britain are thought to contribute to ethnic disparities in many socio-economic domains. Using nationally representative data (2010–2011), we investigate how ethnic minority gender role attitudes vary across generations and with neighborhood ethnic composition. The results show that while Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indians, and Black Africans have more traditional attitudes than Black Caribbeans, the attitudes of the former groups are more traditional in the first than in the second generation. We also find that the gender role attitudes of Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Indians become more traditional as the local share of co-ethnic neighbors increases or the share of White British residents decreases. Importantly, these patterns are more pronounced for second-generation Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, whose gender role attitudes are more sensitive to variations in neighborhood ethnic composition than are those of the first generation. Taken together, these findings indicate that migration researchers must conceptualize and study how immigrants’ cultural values are heterogeneous, fluid, and dynamic characteristics that can vary spatially across host societies.

The Role of Gender Role Attitudes and Immigrant Generation in Ethnic Minority Women\u2019s Labor Force Participation in Britain

Although substantial research shows that in Britain some ethnic minority women have significantly lower labor force participation (LFP) rates than White British women, even after controlling for demographic characteristics and education levels, little is known about the reasons underlying the remaining ethnic differences. Using nationally representative data (2010–2011), I investigate the role of gender role attitudes in explaining the ethnic as well as generational differences in women’s LFP rates. The results show that after controlling for demographic characteristics and education levels, LFP rates of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women are significantly lower than that of White British women and about half of the ethnic gap can be explained by differences in gender role attitudes. Moreover, I show that the ethnic gap is less pronounced for second generation Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian women whose LFP rates are significantly higher than those of their first generation counterparts. Importantly, the higher LFP rates of second generation South Asian women can be largely explained by their relatively less traditional gender role attitudes. Drawing on my results, public policies could provide appropriate childcare services and flexible work arrangements to alter traditional gender role attitudes, thereby improving minority women’s labor market opportunities.

Explaining differences in gender role attitudes among migrant and native adolescents in Germany: intergenerational transmission, religiosity, and integration

ABSTRACTThis study examines gender role attitudes of native and migrant adolescents in Germany and attempts to explain why adolescents of Turkish, former Yugoslavian, and Eastern European origin tend to have more traditional attitudes than their native peers. In order to do so, it combines a migrant–native comparative approach that highlights the impact of religiosity and host society integration with an intergenerational transmission perspective that emphasises the continuity of gender role attitudes across generations. The empirical analysis relies on dyadic parent–adolescent data (N = 2744) from the first wave of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries. It demonstrates the importance of incorporating intergenerational transmission processes to fully understand attitude differences between natives and migrants: a substantial part of native–migrant gaps in gender role attitudes can be attributed to migrant parents’ more traditional attitudes and a strong transmission of attitudes across generations. Once intergenerational transmission and the influence of religiosity and integration have been accounted for, the remaining differences between gender role attitudes of native and migrant adolescents are small.

Differences in Gender-Role Attitudes between China and Taiwan

Differences in Gender-Role Attitudes between China and Taiwan

Home behavioral economics: Childcare decisions in the United States and Norway

This research investigated how a couple decides which parent stays home as a childcare provider by attempting to determine the economic value on maternal care versus paternal care while examining the potential effects of nationality, gender role attitudes, and social support. We collected data from 240 American participants and 250 Norwegian participants who were asked to decide how much a mother needs to earn to allow her husband to stay at home to provide childcare and how much a father needs to earn to allow his wife to stay at home and provide childcare, in addition to items assessing gender role attitudes. No effect of social support was found, but Norwegians were slightly more likely than Americans to place a heavier earning burden on the husband. There were few differences in gender role attitudes by nationality. The impact of public policy and social desirability on the results and childcare decision making are discussed.

Traits and Roles in Gender Stereotypes: A Comparison between Moroccan and Spanish Native Samples

This study examines gender role attitudes and attitudes toward “man” and “woman” in two native samples from Spain and Morocco. The samples were made up of 400 participants, 200 in each country, containing the same number of men and women and selected with a similar procedure. We expected differences based on the independent variables of nationality, gender and educational level. The Spanish sample, female and student participants were predicted to present more egalitarian gender role attitudes and more positive attitudes toward “woman” than participants in the Moroccan sample, male and non-student participants. Overall MANOVAs were used to show the differences in gender role attitudes and attitudes toward “man” and “woman”. Results confirmed the role of the nationality variable in the expected way. The Spanish sample showed a more egalitarian view and more favorable attitudes toward “woman” than the Moroccan one. Educational level and gender showed significant effects on the Moroccan sample but only partially. Moroccan student females and non-student males presented a more egalitarian view than non-student females and student males respectively.

Gender-Role Attitudes and Reproductive Health Communication among Female Adolescents in South Nyanza, Kenya1

In this paper, we use data from three districts of Nyanza Province in Kenya to examine gender-role attitudes and reproductive health communication among adolescent females aged 12-19 years. We test for differences in gender-role attitudes between younger (12-15) and older (16-19) adolescents. We explore the possible association between educational attainment and gender-role attitudes by estimating a random effects model. We also examine the association between gender-role attitudes and reproductive health communication via an unordered multinomial logit model. The results show that adolescent females in this setting hold conservative views on decision making within the home and at the same time portray less conservative views concerning marriage and reproductive behaviour. We also find some differences by age regarding gender-role attitudes and reproductive health communication. Our findings further indicate that educational attainment is significantly associated with gender-role attitudes, which in turn are significantly associated with reproductive health communication.

Age and sex differences in gender role attitudes in Luxembourg between 1999 and 2008

This article uses European Values Study (EVS) data from 1999 and 2008 to examine the evolution of gender role attitudes in Luxembourg. The article focuses on three aspects of attitudinal change. First, it analyses whether the gender role beliefs have changed during the past decade. Second, it examines whether these changes have been equally experienced by men and by women of different age categories. Third, it analyses whether the gender gap in attitudes towards gender roles diminishes over time. The outcomes of the analysis reveal that during the past 10 years Luxembourg’s residents have become significantly less traditional when it comes to attitudes towards the childcare and economic aspects of gender roles. Young women are the strongest supporters of more egalitarian division of labour between the sexes, while young men lag behind their female counterparts. This gender gap appears to persist especially in the case of attitudes towards women doing homemaking.

Assessing Cultural Assimilation of Mexican Americans: How Rapidly Do Their Gender-Role Attitudes Converge to the U.S. Mainstream?*

Objective. This study assesses the pace of cultural assimilation of Mexican Americans by comparing changes in their gender-role attitudes over generations to the European-origin U.S. mainstream. Methods. Using cumulative data from the 1972–2004 General Social Survey, we examine the rate at which progressive generations of Mexican Americans approach the mainstream gender-role attitudes. We also employ a set of logistic regressions to assess the differences in gender-role attitudes between Mexican and European Americans. Results. For five out of the eight gender-role-related questions considered in the study, Mexican Americans of the third or later generations show more liberal or egalitarian gender-role attitudes than those of the first or second generations. A comparison between Mexican and European Americans suggests that Mexican Americans in the sample have more conservative gender-role attitudes than European Americans in terms of division of labor at home and women's participation in politics. Conclusion. Mexican Americans become more likely to adopt egalitarian gender-role attitudes as generation progresses. The differences between Mexican and European Americans in terms of gender-role attitudes are sensitive to the particular domains of attitudes under consideration.

Gender role attitudes and attitudes to abortion: Are there gender differences?

This study examines gender differences in gender role attitudes and attitudes to abortion in a sample of 141 undergraduate students. Religion and religiosity were treated as covariates. Using the short version of Spence and Helmreich's (1978) Attitudes to Women Scale (AWS) taken from Spence and Hahn [Spence, J. T., & Hahn, E. D. (1997). The Attitudes Toward Women Scale and attitude to change in college students. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 17–34] and the abortion attitudes scale developed by Stets and Leik [Stets, J. E., & Leik, R. K. (1993). Attitudes about abortion and varying attitude structures. Social Science Research, 22, 265–282], we found that females have more liberal attitudes to women and show stronger approval for women's autonomy in abortion decision-making. Given the low internal consistency of this three-item subscale, responses to the individual items were analyzed. More males than females feel that the father should have the right to prevent the mother from having an abortion. Most of the students indicate that the woman should have to tell the father before having an abortion and most disagree that the abortion is entirely a woman's decision. There were no gender differences on the moral acceptability and availability subscales. The overall results reflect somewhat conservative attitudes to women, and seemingly contradictory findings on the abortion issue in this sample of university students. Although they endorse the availability of abortion, at the same time they find it morally unacceptable and show weak support for women's autonomy in this decision. The implications of these findings for the advancement of women's rights in this country are discussed.

Race and Gender Differences in Self-efficacy: Assessing the Role of Gender Role Attitudes and Family Background

Research suggests race is associated with unique family structures and gender attitudes. Yet, extant research fails to examine how different gender role attitudes and family structures related to race impact other aspects of life. Self-efficacy refers to one’s belief in his or her abilities to achieve certain outcomes (Bandura, Self-efficacy: The exercise of control, Freeman, New York, p. 3, 1997). Using a sample of 486 traditional undergraduate college students from an American university in the middle south, we examine gender and race differences in self-efficacy and the impact of sex role attitudes and family structure on self-efficacy. We argue that gender differences in gender role attitudes and their impact on self-efficacy is moderated by race. For all but white males, sex role liberalism is positively related to self-efficacy. Mother’s full time employment is positively related to self-efficacy for whites. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Gender Differences in Gender-Role Attitudes: A Comparative Analysis of Taiwan and Coastal China

Previous studies have demonstrated that women are more likely than men to support egalitarian gender-role attitudes (Brewster and Padavic 2000; Katsurada and Sugihara 1999; Mason and Lu 1988; Rice and Coates 1995; Wilson and Smith 1995). While considerable attention has been paid to country differences in gender-role attitudes associated with women’s—especially married women’s—employment at the individual and societal levels, the industrialization hypothesis used in the previous studies has, however, yielded inconsistent results (Haller and Hoellinger 1994; Alwin, Braun, and Scott 1992; Baxter and Kane 1995; Crompton and Harris 1997; Hsieh and Burgess 1994; Panayotova and Brayfield 1997; Scott and Duncombe 1992). Several issues have remained unexplored. The first is a theoretical explanation for attitudinal gender differences varying by society when considering non-economic social forces, such as social-political ideology, national policy, and other institutional forces. The second is the extent to which factors corresponding to gender socialization at the individual, familial, and societal levels structure female and male attitudes differently. The third is national comparison focusing on non-Western populations; previously, attention has focused on Western societies.

The relationship of ethnic identity and gender role attitudes to the development of career choice goals among black and Latina girls.

This study is a preliminary exploration of how individual differences in gender role attitudes and ethnic identity might be related to career decision self-efficacy and the gender traditionality of career choice goals in a sample of 102 9th-grade Black and Latina girls. Extending social-cognitive career theory, the authors examined 2 path models in which career decision self-efficacy mediated the effects of gender role attitudes and ethnic identity on the traditionality of the participants' career choice goals. Models depicting full and partial mediation were considered. The results of the path analyses provided confirmation for an extension of the social-cognitive career theory model, indicating that for this sample, career decision self-efficacy fully mediated the influence of egalitarian gender role attitudes and ethnic identity on gender traditionality in career choice goals. These findings offer support for consideration of the role of gender role attitudes and ethnic identity in career self-exploration and vocational guidance with Black and Latina girls. Limitations, implications for counseling, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The Gendering State and Citizens' Attitudes toward Women's Roles: State Policy, Employment, and Religion in Germany

This study explores how the state genders citizens’ attitudes toward women by examining differences between East and West Germany in gender role attitudes since unification. Compared to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was a stronger supporter of women’s employment, although the two countries did not differ greatly in their policies on women’s roles within the family. Using four waves of the German Social Survey, I examine whether East‐West differences in gender role attitudes are explained by: 1) institutional learning (socialization under a particular regime) or 2) compositional effects (variation in the distribution of causal factors, specifically women’s employment or religious affiliation). Analyses suggest that both types of factors influenced East‐West differences in gender role attitudes. Even when other characteristics are included in the model, East and West Germans continue to differ in their gender role attitudes. Women’s employment and religiosity—both heavily influenced by GDR policies—continue to play a large role in determining gender role attitudes even 15 years after unification. The results suggest that gendered state policies are reflected in citizens’ gender role attitudes both directly and through changes in the social characteristics of the population.

Gender Attitudes Mediate Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Adoption in Guatemala

Gender differences in gender role attitudes, including machismo, and attitudes toward adoption were studied in Guatemala, a country that provides a large number of children for international adoption. Guatemalan university students (N = 152) completed the machismo subscale of the Multiphasic Assessment of Cultural Constructs–short form (Cuellar, Arnold, & Gonzalez, 1995), the attitudes toward women scale for adolescents (Galambos, Peterson, Richards, & Gitelson, 1985), and an adoption beliefs scale developed for the present study. Men endorsed more machismo, more traditional gender role attitudes, and held less favorable attitudes toward adoption than women did. Gender differences in adoption attitudes were mediated by machismo and gender role attitudes. These results suggest that machismo and traditional gender role attitudes may serve as barriers in the promotion of intra-country adoption.

Race and Independent Living among Elderly Brazilians Since 1980

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.

Gender Differences in Gender-Role Attitudes: A Comparative Analysis of Taiwan and Coastal China

New reproductive technologies have the potential to radicalize family life, as they could blur kinship lines, separate biological and social parenthood, and encourage couples to create ‘designer babies’. On the other hand, these technologies could help more married couples create socially-acceptable nuclear families and reduce unwanted childless marriages. This article uses the ‘stories’ from qualitative interviews with couples seeking fertility treatments in New Zealand to interrogate motives for treatment, gendered experiences with procedures, and views about the future of marriage without children. The interviews show that, despite the potential of medically assisted conception, these participants use reproductive technologies as a vehicle to normality and social acceptance. The results of this study, combined with overseas research, suggest that medically assisted conception could reinforce pronatalism and patriarchal families rather than lead to a future revolution in family life.

Regional differences in gender—role attitudes: Variations by gender and race

In this paper, we use data from the General Social Survey (1985–1998) to examine the effects of region on gender-role attitudes, focusing on variations across time by gender and race. Regional differences in gender-role attitudes persisted into the 1990s for white men and women, with southern whites holding more traditional attitudes than those held by whites in other parts of the country. For white men and women and for black men, the effect of region changed little between the 1980s and 1990s. However, for black women, region was a prominent factor affecting their gender-role attitudes in the 1980s, but by the 1990s its effect had diminished considerably.