Gender Role Equality Research Articles

A study on the relationship between gender role equality attitude and burden of home chores and life satisfaction: Focusing on dual-earner couples

A study on the relationship between gender role equality attitude and burden of home chores and life satisfaction: Focusing on dual-earner couples

A field research on the effect of consumer sensitivity to equality in gender roles on their involvement in advertisements

A field research on the effect of consumer sensitivity to equality in gender roles on their involvement in advertisements

A Cross-Cultural and Trans-Generational Study: Links between Psychological Characteristics and Socio-Political Tendency amongst Urban Population in Afghanistan.

Aim: This study examined how psychosocial characteristics might relate to adherence to democratic values among young and older people within two different cultural contexts in Afghanistan. Method: Self-report questionnaires were employed to measure empathy, theory of mind, gender role equality, openness to experiences, suggestibility, authoritarianism and support for democracy. A sample of 669 people from younger (18–25 years) and older (45 years and above) age groups from different cultural backgrounds in Afghanistan participated in the study. A series of MANOVAs were conducted to examine the cultural (Dari, Pashto), generational and gender differences on the study variables. Dari and Pashto speakers showed equal degrees of support for authoritarianism regardless of age difference. Results: The findings reveal that Dari speakers scored more highly on empathy, theory of mind, openness, gender role equality, democratic values and lower on suggestibility than Pashto speakers. Older Pashtun participants had lower scores on theory of mind than their younger counterparts. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis yields that gender role equality, openness and suggestibility predict support for democracy with gender role equality being the strongest predictor. Conclusion: The knowledge gained here would potentially be incorporated into the development of practical guidelines to be used by policy makers, education systems and the media to facilitate the process of democratization.

Are Men Who Pay for Sex Sexist? Masculinity and Client Attitudes Toward Gender Role Equality in Different Prostitution Markets

Prostitution clients’ attitudes toward gender equality are important indicators of how masculinity relates to the demand for commercial sexual services. Research on male client misogyny has been inconclusive, and few studies compare men in different markets. Using an online survey of 519 clients of sexual services, we examine whether male client attitudes toward gender role equality are related to the main methods customers used to access prostitution services (i.e., through print or online media vs. in-person contact). We found no differences among men in these markets in attitudes toward gender role equality in the workplace and home. This is in a context where all clients had more egalitarian attitudes toward women’s roles than the U.S. male population in the General Social Survey (GSS). However, clients in in-person markets were less supportive of affirmative action than in online markets in a context where all clients were less supportive compared to the national average. These findings point to need to rethink how masculinity and gender role attitudes affect patterns of male demand for paid sex.

The moderating influence of national culture on female and male entrepreneurs’ social network size and new venture growth

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to disentangle individual-level gender differences and norm-based gender roles and stereotypes to provide a finer-grained understanding of why female and male entrepreneurs experience different growth returns from their social networks across different national cultures.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a survey of 637 (278 female and 359 male) entrepreneurs across four nations varying on relational culture (importance of social relationships) and gender egalitarianism (importance of gender equality or neutrality in social and economic roles).FindingsThe authors find evidence that male entrepreneurs in high relational cultures benefit the most in terms of growth in revenues from larger network size while women in low relational cultures benefit the least. In cultures with low gender egalitarianism, male entrepreneurs benefit more from their larger social networks than did the female entrepreneurs.Practical implicationsThe study presents implications for female entrepreneurs’ behaviors to gain more benefits from their social networks, especially in cultural contexts where relationships are important or where there is equality in gender roles. In these contexts, they may need to develop other strategies and rely less on social networks to grow their ventures.Social implicationsThis research suggests that female entrepreneurs still are disadvantaged in some societies. National policy may focus on developing more opportunities and providing more support to women entrepreneurs as a valuable contributor to economic growth of the nations.Originality/valueThe authors disentangle the effects of gender differences, norm-based gender stereotypes and networks on entrepreneurial outcomes.

Rozdělení domácí práce a hodnocení jeho spravedlnosti v České republice: existují rozdíly mezi manželskými a nesezdanými páry?

The results of research on domestic labour consistently show that women are responsible for more housework tasks than men. At the same time, there is growing public awareness of gender role equality. However, there is little evidence on whether there has been any change in the perception of fairness in the division of housework and whether this view differs in different families. Using data from the ISSP 2002 and 2011/2012, this article seeks to explore the relationship between the division of housework and its perceived fairness. Using latent class regression analysis four distinct types of housework division and perceptions and individual characteristics that predict cluster membership of housework division are identified. The most prevalent type are couples in which there is a traditional division of housework and who divide further into two groups based on whether they view this division is fair or unfair. Cohabiting couples are more likely than married couples to share housework equally and to see this arrangement as fair. Based on a distributive justice perspective, important predictors of cluster membership are found to be relative income, economic activity, gender, and partnership status. However, the findings provide only limited evidence of any change in the division of housework and perceptions about housework in the Czech Republic over the last decade.

Cereals and Gender Roles: A Historical Perspective

This paper examines the historical origins of contemporary differences in norms and beliefs about the role of women in society within Africa. I test the hypothesis that traditional cultivation of different crop types influenced the historical gender division of labor and the evolution and persistence of gender norms. Anthropological accounts suggest that societies that have relied historically on the cultivation of cereals (as opposed to root or tuber crops) for their diet have developed a specialization of production where women were tended to work within the home, and this, in turn, gave rise to less equality in gender roles. Using ethnicity to link individuals today to their ancestors' agricultural practices and exploiting variation in the cultivation of different crops across ethnic groups, I find that, consistent with existing hypotheses, women from ethnicities that derived their subsistence from the cultivation of cereals in the pre-colonial era are today less likely to be in the labor force, have higher levels of fertility, and are less likely to participate in household decisions. In addition, women belonging to these groups are more likely to have attitudes favoring gender inequality and domestic violence. To address causality, I use land suitability for cereals relative to suitability for roots or tubers as an instrument for the actual cultivation of cereal grains in the pre-colonial period. Examining the causal mechanisms, I show that cultural norms and beliefs, which are transmitted over generations and through the marriage market represent important channels explaining long-run persistence.

FEMALE SEXUALITY, NATIONALISM AND LARGE GROUP IDENTITY.

Nationalist movements are emerging today everywhere in the world. Many of them display a high level of aggression and a negative attitude toward sexuality and especially female sexuality. Along with this, erotic fiction with a sadomasochistic orientation has achieved great success and has hundreds of millions of readers in the world. This collective fantasy allows some integration of aggression in sexual life while questioning liberal morality and its equality in gender roles and conservative morality and its idea of control over passion. Both phenomena may represent different responses to the appearance of a new female sexuality threatening the social structure we know.

Modern gender roles and agricultural history: the Neolithic inheritance

This research proposes the hypothesis that societies with long histories of agriculture have less equality in gender roles as a consequence of more patriarchal values and beliefs regarding the proper role of women in society. We test this hypothesis in a world sample of countries, in a sample of European regions, as well as among immigrants and children of immigrants living in the US. This evidence reveals a significant negative relationship between years of agriculture and female labor force participation rates, as well as other measures of equality in contemporary gender roles. This finding is robust to the inclusion of an extensive set of possible confounders, including historical plough-use and the length of the growing season. We argue that two mechanisms can explain the result: (1) societies with longer agricultural histories had a higher level of technological advancement which in the Malthusian Epoch translated into higher fertility and a diminished role for women outside the home; (2) the transition to cereal agriculture led to a division of labor in which women spend more time on processing cereals rather than working in the field.

Interaction Effects Between Exposure to Sexually Explicit Online Materials and Individual, Family, and Extrafamilial Factors on Hong Kong High School Students’ Beliefs About Gender Role Equality and Body-Centered Sexuality

This study examined the interaction effects between Hong Kong adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit online materials (SEOM) and individual, family, peer, and cultural factors on their beliefs about gender role equality and body-centered sexuality. Based on a survey design with a sample of 503 high school students in Hong Kong, the results indicated that adolescents’ frequency of accessing SEOM, their intrapersonal reactions to SEOM, their communication with parents about sexuality, their susceptibility to peer pressure, and their acceptance of cultural values regarding sex roles work jointly to affect their conceptions of gender and sexuality, although the main and interaction effects differ across variables. The results partially supported the hypotheses that individual responses to SEOM and relationships with parents and peers with regard to sexuality interact with SEOM exposure in affecting the outcomes. The study provided evidence for the adoption of an ecological perspective to guide the provision of sexuality education.

Conceptual considerations in studies of cultural influences on health behaviors

Conceptual considerations in studies of cultural influences on health behaviors

Mate Value and Self-Esteem: Evidence from Eight Cultural Groups

This paper explores self-perceived mate value (SPMV), and its association with self-esteem, in eight cultures. 1066 participants, from 8 cultural groups in 7 countries, rated themselves on 24 SPMVs and completed a measure of self-esteem. Consistent with evolutionary theory, women were more likely to emphasise their caring and passionate romantic nature. In line with previous cross-cultural research, characteristics indicating passion and romance and social attractiveness were stressed more by respondents from individualistic cultures, and those higher on self-expression (rather than survival) values; characteristics indicative of maturity and confidence were more likely to be mentioned by those from Traditional, rather than Secular, cultures. Contrary to gender role theory, societal equality had only limited interactions with sex and SPMV, with honesty of greater significance for male self-esteem in societies with unequal gender roles. These results point to the importance of cultural and environmental factors in influencing self-perceived mate qualities, and are discussed in relation to broader debates about the impact of gender role equality on sex differences in personality and mating strategies.

Gender role ideology and life course transitions of baby-boom women

Abstract This study investigated the interrelationship between attitudes toward gender role egalitarianism and family and human capital decisions among a group of baby-boom women from 1971 to 2005. Using latent growth curve and latent difference modeling of 294 women, we found that early egalitarian values decreased the risk of becoming a mother and marrying and increased the risk of graduating college and working in the labor force. A sharp increase in egalitarianism was found between 1971 and 1985 that was more characteristic of women who graduated college and worked in the labor force. The stall of the post-1985 period was predicted (inversely) by earlier attitudes toward egalitarianism, but not by life decisions. Results suggest that early values were consequential for life pathways taken by these women and that more advantaged women were at the vanguard of the surge in egalitarian gender values during the 1970s and 1980s that subsequently moderated from the mid-1980s onward. There appears to be a convergence among women in their attitudes over time, characteristic of an institutionalization of gender role equality that blends liberal and traditional orientations. This study offers a long-historical view into how women's gender role attitudes change over historical time and the role that family and human capital factors play in that change.

Gender Role Disruption and Marital Satisfaction among Wives of Chinese International Students in the United States

Chinese wives coming to the U.S. while their husbands study at American universities are cast in a untenable situation rooted in a conflict between Chinese socialization for gender roles and their status in the U.S. While China sanctions gender role equality in education and the workplace and paid work is expected of women and men alike, sojourning wives are thrust into a dependent position, at least for some unpredictable period of time during their stay in the U.S. This study examines what we refer to as gender role disruption, and how conflict between gender ideology and gender roles affects marital satisfaction, through the mediating effect of selfesteem, among wives of Chinese international students in the U.S. The study was framed by two theories–feminism and symbolic interactionism. A self-completion questionnaire and follow-up interviews were conducted with a sample of Chinese sojourning wives, generating both quantitative and qualitative data. Although the results of the quantitative data analysis did not find an association between gender role disruption and marital satisfaction, qualitative results suggested that gender role disruption was related to marital satisfaction, although indirectly, through variables illuminated in the in-depth interviews. In particular, individual characteristics, spousal support, and adjustment to the new culture seemed to be important to marital satisfaction in the sojourning context. Further research, using a larger sample and additional variables brought out through the qualitative data, would shed more light on this process. Implications for counselors, advisors, and others working with international students and their families are discussed.

Changes in knowledge and attitudes among junior secondary students exposed to the family life and HIV education curriculum in Lagos State, Nigeria.

To address the needs of young people in Lagos State, Nigeria, for information about family life and HIV, the Lagos State Ministry of Education, in collaboration with Action Health Incorporated, began to offer the Family Life and HIV Education Curriculum in government junior secondary schools in 2003. Knowledge and attitudes were measured in a sample of 1,366 students in Lagos State, Nigeria, in November 2004, at the beginning of the school year, and again in July 2005 after receiving a year of the Family Life and HIV Education Curriculum. Students exposed to the curriculum significantly increased knowledge of sexuality and HIV, support for abstinence, and gender role equality.

Gender equality in university sportspeople's drinking

In large population-based alcohol studies males are shown consistently to drink more, and more hazardously, than females. However, research from some countries suggests that gender differences in drinking are converging, with females drinking more than in the past. Large population-based research may miss gender-based changes in drinking behaviours that occur in sub-populations most at risk of hazardous drinking. We examine gender differences in a sub-population where hazardous drinking is common and endorsed, namely university sportspeople. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and a drinking motives measure were used to assess hazardous drinking behaviours and drinking motives in 631 university sportspeople (females = 331, 52%). There were no gender differences in AUDIT scores. However, drinking motives differed between genders, with coping motives being a significant predictor of hazardous drinking in females but not males. Hazardous drinking, including binge drinking (46.3%) and frequent binge drinking (35%), in New Zealand university sportspeople is high for both males and females. New Zealand university sportspeople are one population where gender differences in drinking are not apparent and run counter to European population based research and research in US sporting populations. Gender role equality in the university systems, and endorsement of drinking in sporting culture, may account for the lack of gender differences in this New Zealand sporting population. Future research on gender differences in drinking should examine sub-populations where gender role differentiation is low, and socio-cultural/structural factors supporting gender equality are high.

Teaching and Doing Gender in African American Families

In this article, based on in-depth interviews with a nonrandom sample of 35 African American parents (25 mothers and 10 fathers), I explore the gender socialization of children in their families. Using the conceptual framework advanced by multiracial feminism, I explore how both race and class shape the gender ideologies and behaviors of parents. The findings reveal significant support for teaching children gender role equality; however, that support is mediated by social class status (defined by education) and patterns of social mobility. In this study, 21 respondents were classified as middle-class and 14 as lower-income parents. Social class status predicts religiosity, homophobia, and structural factors that may militate against full support for gender equality or foster contradictions between ideology and behavior. The results show the role of Black parents as active agents in the lives of their children and expand our knowledge about child socialization processes in Black families. The study also contributes to multiracial feminist theory and the emerging literature on the growing social class diversity among African Americans.

Single- and Mixed-Gender Colleges for Women: Educational, Attitudinal, and Occupational Outcomes

Critics argue that coeducation is ideologically egalitarian but effectively inegalitarian. This paper examines the effects of single- and mixed-gender schooling for women who attended both types of schools, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the high school class of 1972. Women’s colleges have a strong, positive influence on both educational and occupational achievement; moreover, students in women’s colleges hold more positive views on equality in gender roles and manifest higher levels of self-esteem and self-control than women from coeducational colleges.

Variations in gender-role equality among classes: A research note

A widely accepted view describes gender-role inequality as less prevalent among the middle class than the working class. Gender-role inequality within the intact nuclear family is asserted to be a syndrome characterized by unequal husband—wife authority, rigid division of household labor, and greater freedom in leisure pursuits for the husband. This view is generally unsupported by the findings of the present study, a secondary analysis of a sample survey conducted in Houston in 1969–1970. Two classes (working and middle) were compared, with ethnicity (Anglo, Black, Mexican-American) and sex controlled. Questionnaire items concerned leisure-time freedom for wives, gender differences in children's socialization, and sexual division of labor in the household. Differences between groups were generally small and inconsistent. In some cases, sexual and ethnic differences were greater than those of class. An intercorrelation matrix revealed few significant correlations between egalitarian responses to the various items, suggesting that egalitarianism or its opposite is not a syndrome.