Traditional Gender Role Ideology Research Articles

COVID-19 Pandemic, Economic Livelihoods, and the Division of Labor in Rural Communities of Delta and Edo States in Nigeria

The COVID-19 pandemic affected economic, social, health, and political aspects of most global, national, and local populations, including urban and rural communities. Government measures like lockdowns resulted in the closure of schools and businesses, while social distancing preventing group gatherings impacted public and private spaces. Based on key informants’ interviews with 36 participants drawn equally from three senatorial districts of Edo and Delta states of Nigeria, we analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the type of work men and women do and division of household activities, such as cooking, child, and family care. The findings show that traditional gender role ideology (GRI) defines and shapes rural men’s and women’s work, with women more engaged in farming, rearing livestock, and trading while men are engaged in farming, rearing livestock, and carrying out skilled jobs like carpentry, plumbing, and blacksmithing. The lockdown of schools and workplaces resulted in women disproportionately bearing the burden of cooking and caring for children, the elderly, and the sick. A few rural men shared childcare, while women spent more time on housework and childcare activities than in the pre-pandemic period when children were in school for 6–7 h daily. During the pandemic, rural men and women spent more time with the children, such that rural women stayed at home or took children to the farms and marketplaces where possible. Older siblings and the elderly also provided support for women. In conclusion, work and family activities during COVID were, to an extent, difficult to manage as parents had to cope with increasing food insecurity, economic and transportation costs, and social deprivation fostered by social norms, values, and practices that perpetuate gender inequality and marginalization of women.

Walking on a thin line! Empirical examination of work–home boundary violations faced by employees during forced work from home

PurposeThis research aims to study employees' pandemic-induced work–home boundary violations using the work–home boundary model. Boundary theory and social theories provide the theoretical underpinnings for this study. The authors study the role of gender, gender role ideology, and fear of COVID-19 in explaining the relationship between work–home boundary violations, work–family conflict (WFC), and subjective well-being (SWB) among working professionals.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered using an online survey on married and working individuals (N = 354) and analyzed using the multi-group analysis technique in structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsResults show that men faced higher WFC due to job insecurity, while women reported higher WFC due to traditional gender role ideology. Surprisingly, men reported lower subjective well-being due to WFC compared to women, when fear of COVID-19 was low. One promising finding is the potential in using problem-focused coping strategy (PCS) as a boundary-work tactic for both men and women to ensure boundary control (BC) to reduce WFC and improve SWB during the new normal.Practical implicationsThis study contributes to boundary theory, social role theory, and social support resource theory, along with practical implications for employees, organizations, and policymakers.Originality/valueThis study dissects the primary role of problem-focused coping as a valid coping mechanism for managing the issues arising from the pandemic-induced unfavorable working conditions.

What Matters When Examining Attitudes of Economic Abuse? Gender and Student Status as Predictors of Blaming, Minimizing, and Excusing Economic Abuse.

Extensive research has been conducted regarding attitudes toward various types and patterns of violence against intimate partners, but there is a lack of research on attitudes toward economic abuse in general. In the current study, we examined attitudes toward economic abuse by examining how participants blamed the victim, minimized the economic abuse, and excused the perpetrator in hypothetical scenarios. We also examined two characteristics of participants: binary gender differences (i.e., woman, man) and differences between students and non-students. Participants (N = 239) were recruited via the SONA system of a private university (n = 120) and via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (n = 119). Participants were randomly assigned to read one of two hypothetical scenarios to evaluate how scenario condition (i.e., victim employed, victim unemployed), participant gender, and participant student status predicted attitudes toward economic abuse involving blaming, minimizing, and excusing. Moreover, we also examined ambivalent sexism and gender role ideology as predictors. A 2 (scenario condition: job, no job) × 2 (participant gender: woman, man) × 2 (student status: college student, non-college student) MANOVA indicated main effects of both participant gender and participant student status. Follow-up ANOVAs revealed that men were more likely to blame victims, minimize the economic abuse, and excuse perpetrators compared to women. Additionally, students were less likely to minimize the economic abuse compared to non-students. Moreover, both hostile sexism and traditional gender role ideology were significant predictors. Implications of the findings and future directions for researchers are discussed.

Gendered beliefs and behaviors in couple relationships as predictors of physiological stress functioning

AbstractObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate associations among egalitarianism and marital equity with patterns of diurnal cortisol.BackgroundGender role ideology (i.e., beliefs about gender roles on a spectrum from egalitarian to traditional) and marital equity (i.e., fairness in the division of marital tasks) are distinct constructs that are related to relationship outcomes as well as health, and stress physiology is a potential mechanism linking egalitarianism and marital equity to health.MethodsSixty‐two heterosexual couples with children completed several questionnaires, including gender ideology and division of household tasks (a measure of marital equity). Diurnal cortisol concentrations were assessed from saliva samples at four time points across 2 days.ResultsResults suggested that men's more traditional gender ideologies significantly predicted more dysregulated physiological stress functioning for both men and women, as indicated by lower cortisol levels at awakening as well as flatter cortisol slopes throughout the day. Women with more traditional gender ideologies had steeper slopes, an indicator of more regulated physiological functioning, when they reported engaging in greater traditional feminine tasks.ConclusionThese results suggest that men's greater traditional gender role ideology is linked to physiological stress dysregulation. In addition, when women have more traditional expectations, having more clearly delineated gendered roles in the home may relieve stress.ImplicationsThis research highlights the importance of addressing gender roles and ideologies in interventions for couples, including couples therapy. The inclusion of the assessment and discussion of gender roles and ideologies in couples therapy may help to alleviate physiological stress.

Exploring anti-asexual bias in a sample of Australian undergraduate psychology students

ABSTRACT Research on attitudes towards asexual people is a relatively new focus within the discipline of psychology, and to date has not been a topic of focus in the Australian context. This study focused on Australian undergraduate psychology students, and their attitudes towards asexual people. The study recruited 231 participants from undergraduate psychology programmes to complete an online survey assessing their attitudes towards asexual people, bias against single people, and gender ideologies. In addition, participants rated how comfortable and confident they felt about working with asexual people within mental health settings in the future. Participants who reported greater endorsement of traditional gender role ideology, and negative bias against singles, also reported greater levels of anti-asexual bias. Participants who hoped to pursue a career in psychology reported lower levels of anti-asexual bias and less negative attitudes towards single people, and reported moderate levels of both comfort in working with asexual people in the future, and capacity to provide safe care to asexual people in the future. Drawing on these findings, the paper concludes by discussing areas that require ongoing attention in the study of anti-asexual bias, and makes recommendations for the training of psychology students and clinicians.

Home is Where the Heart is: Factors Determining Family Demand and Its Implications for HRM Practices

A plethora of studies on family demands that have been investigated in the Western countries are reflective of such cultural contexts limiting its applicability toanother cultural context. The factors determining family demand whereconflict originatesarecountry-culture specific and consequently, anchored in the conservation of resource theory, the present study aims to discoverthe factors making a significant variance in family demand. Strongly based on the ontological and epistemological assumptions, the study adopted a survey strategy with a deductive approach in a cross-sectional time horizon. Data were garnered from 487banking employees with a self–reported questionnaire. The present study reveals that hours spent on household chores, hours spent on childcare, hours spent on dependents, and gender have significantly impacted family demand, nonetheless, formal and informal organisational supportshave alleviated the level of family demand.Remarkably, the study affirms the prevalence dogma of traditional gender role ideology and women’sposition in a collectivist cultural context. Surprisingly, the number of children, number of dependents, marital status and age were not found as predictors of family demand. The findings of the study have proffered many useful practical implications for HRM practices.

The Privileged Sex? An Examination of Gendered Beliefs and Well-Being in Evangelical Men

The current study sought to investigate the relationship between benevolent sexism, gender role ideologies, and well-being in Evangelical men. Despite recent research that has established a relationship between restrictive gender beliefs and negative outcomes for women, few studies have addressed the relationship between these variables in men. Furthermore, Evangelical men’s specific experience has not been explored, in spite of religiosity’s association with these beliefs. Therefore, this study directly assessed relationship between well-being and two kinds of restrictive gender beliefs (i.e., benevolent sexism and traditional gender role ideology) in a sample of Evangelical men. Results showed that endorsement of benevolent sexism and traditional gender role ideology were related to lower levels of eudaimonic well-being for this population. Additionally, it was found that different patterns of relationship exist between restrictive gender beliefs and the two kinds of well-being: eudaimonic well-being (e.g., purpose and meaning) and hedonic well-being (e.g., pleasure and satisfaction) for this population. Specifically, the negative relationships with eudaimonic well-being were stronger than the negative relationships with aspects of hedonic well-being.

Contribution of gender role ideology to explaining emotional wellbeing among working parents

ABSTRACTThis study examined the contribution of gender role ideology to explaining emotional wellbeing among working parents as evaluated by positive and negative affect. The research sample included 611 working parents in Israel. Of these, 311 are women and 300 are men who were employed in diverse organizations. An egalitarian gender role ideology was found to be positively related to emotional wellbeing among both genders. It was further found that a large number of hours devoted to housework or to paid work is positively related to the emotional wellbeing of participants with a traditional gender role ideology. Family-work conflict was found to be negatively related to emotional wellbeing among participants with an egalitarian gender role ideology. The findings present an egalitarian gender role ideology as a resource that contributes to explaining emotional wellbeing. However, the power of a traditional gender role ideology in reducing the harmful effects of objective load on emotional wellbeing was found to be more salient than an egalitarian gender role ideology.

Ideología del rol de género, espiritualidad y religiosidad en contextos militares

Distintos autores observan que las concepciones en relación al género en contextos militares son reforzadas por los vínculos entre las Fuerzas Armadas y las instituciones religiosas, caracterizadas tradicionalmente por la promoción de roles de género más conservadores. Sin embargo, mientras que el apego a los roles tradicionales suele asociarse positivamente con la religiosidad, su relación con la espiritualidad permanece relativamente inexplorada. Por este motivo, el presente estudio se propuso identificar si existen relaciones entre la espiritualidad, la religiosidad y la ideología del rol de género en una muestra de 102 participantes de ambos géneros con experiencia militar. Se emplearon las escalas ASPIRES e IRG para la evaluación de los constructos de interés. Los resultados sugieren que mientras que la religiosidad se encuentra asociada positivamente a creencias vinculadas a una ideología del rol de género más conservadora, la espiritualidad no se encuentra relacionada en absoluto. Las implicancias del estudio aportan al esclarecimiento del modo en que se relacionan estas variables en contextos militares y religiosos, así como a la discriminación de la espiritualidad y de la religiosidad como constructos diferentes.AbstractDifferent authors observe that the conceptions in relation to gender in military contexts are reinforced by the links between the Armed Forces and religious institutions, traditionally characterized by the promotion of more conservative gender roles. However, while higher attachment to traditional values seems to be associated with religion, it´s relationship with spirituality remains unexplored. For this reason, this study aimed to explore the relationships between spirituality, religiosity and gender role ideology in a sample of 102 participants of both genders with military experience. The ASPIRES and IRG scales were used for the evaluation of the constructs of interest. The results show that while religiosity is found to be positively related to beliefs linked to a traditional gender role ideology, spirituality is not related to it at all. The findings of the study contribute to the clarification of the way in which these variables are related to each other in religious and military contexts, as well as to the discrimination of spirituality and religiosity as different constructs.

Gender Differences in Work-Family Balance Factors

Influx of women in the paid labor force had been identified as one of the important factors in raising awareness about work-family balance in organizations in developed countries in the west. The same phenomenon also occurs in Malaysia. Malaysia is considered as having traditional gender role ideology, whereby men and women have separate role in the workplace and in the family. Specifically, this study aims to identify whether there are differences in perception between men and women in public sector towards factors associated with work-life balance. Work-life balance factors examined in this study are work demands, supervisor support, organization’s family-friendly policies, family demands, work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC). Sixty questionnaires were administered to employees in a government health training institution in Sarawak, Malaysia. Data were analyzed using SPPS version 17 and independent t-Test was employed in testing the hypotheses. The study found that men and women are significantly different in terms of supervisor support, work-family conflict and family demands. However, there was no significant difference between men and women employees with regard to work demands, family-work conflict and utilization of family-friendly policies. In line with previous Western findings, women experienced higher level of work to family conflict (WFC) than men employees. In addition, women also reported higher family demands than men. These findings strengthened the traditional gender role ideology ascribed by majority of Malaysians and lend support to the gender role theory. Therefore, the organization could provide relevant training, such as, time and stress management. Supervisors could be trained to be more aware of work-family balance issues faced by their employees and assist them accordingly.Keywords: work-family conflict; family-work conflict; gender

Does students' machismo fit in school? Clarifying the implications of traditional gender role ideology for school belonging

How much students feel at home in school predicts academic outcomes. In view of the gender achievement gap, it is worth examining the gendered pattern of this school belonging. Studies on school belonging, however, have barely acknowledged possible obstructive effects of traditional gender role attitudes of individual students and student cultures. This study examines the relationship between gender role attitudes and a sense of school belonging among a sample of 6380 students from 59 Flemish schools at the start of their secondary education. The results of multilevel analyses indicate that boys show less sense of school belonging than girls, as do students with more traditional beliefs about gender roles. Moreover, student attitudes related to gender roles are strongly shared at the school level, so that we can speak of a gender role student culture. Students enrolled in more traditional gender role student cultures reveal less school belonging.

Motivations for Providing and Utilizing Child Care by Grandmothers in South Korea

The purpose of this study was to construct a conceptual understanding of the motivations of grandmothers and mothers to provide and utilize child care by grandmothers in Korea. Grounded theory methods were used to collect and analyze interview data with 21 matched pairs of caregiving grandmothers and employed mothers. The grandmothers' motivations were concern for their adult children's well‐being and a feeling of responsibility to fulfill their parental responsibility for support. The mothers' motivations were the benefits they received as employed mothers and their trust of family care with prior expectations of the grandmothers' support. The core category integrating the findings was bilateral familism supporting traditional gender role ideology. The results suggest that changes from patrilineal to bilateral kinship interactions have been largely based on the influence of familism, which has created a cultural setting of expectations for downstream intergenerational support to maintain traditional gender roles despite increased maternal employment.

Reconstruction of Gender Role in Marriage: Processes among Chinese Immigrant Wives

Few studies of gender relations in immigrant families explore under what conditions gender role at one level of analysis is reproduced, revised, or resisted at another level of analysis. The current study aims to examine the complex processes of gender role reconstruction among the Chinese immigrant wives. In contrast to the findings in the studies of immigrant families, whereby traditional gender role ideology was challenged, the majority of Chinese immigrant couples in this particular sample re-created a traditional gender structure at home to respond to the structural constraints caused by immigration and to ease the tension brought by care deficit at work and at home. Marital interactions characterized by Chinese immigrant wives’ self-reflection and their husbands’ confirmation and disconfirmation significantly facilitated the gender role reconstruction.

Making men matter: exploring gender roles in prenatal blood screening

Men's involvement in pregnancy has become an increasing area of interest in research on gender and reproduction. However, little attention has been given to men's roles when their partners are undergoing prenatal screening. Drawing on the findings of qualitative research with pregnant women and their male partners in a northern city in the UK, this paper aims to explore the increasing significance of men's roles in prenatal blood screening. Findings reveal that men occupy a range of important roles in screening both as supporters of their pregnant partners and as potential fathers. They also revealed however that men's participation is often inhibited by existing institutional and organisational factors including the attitudes of health professionals and workplace norms, both of which continue to be influenced by traditional gender role ideology. The paper concludes by arguing that pregnant women and their male partners therefore find themselves caught in a gender paradox whereby the desire for greater equality in pregnancy and screening has yet to be fully realised in practice.

Volunteer Patterns of Mid- and Later Life American Couples

The expectation for older people to volunteer has increased, and married Americans are more likely to volunteer. Drawing on life course and couple decision-making theories, this research examines mid- and later life American couples' volunteer patterns. Ninety-five (95) couples are analyzed to determine characteristics of three groups of couples—both volunteer, neither volunteer, or only one spouse volunteers. Multinomial logistic regression comparing all couples simultaneously finds significant differences. Couples with no volunteers are more likely to report lower joint marital satisfaction and at least one spouse out of the labor force than couples where one spouse volunteers. Couples who have both spouses volunteer are more likely to have a husband with a traditional gender role ideology than those where only one spouse volunteers. Caregiving has no impact on couple volunteering. This paper addresses implications for volunteer recruitment.

Black and White women's perspectives on femininity.

The authors explore how Black and White women view three aspects of normative femininity, and whether self-rated femininity is related to feminism. Through telephone surveys, a nationally representative sample of women (N=1130) rated themselves on feminism and items derived from Collins' (2004) benchmarks of femininity: feminine appearance, traits, and traditional gender role ideology. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed both groups conceptualized femininity as including the same dimensions, although Black women rated themselves higher on items related to feminine appearance. Among White women, traditional gender ideology was negatively related to feminism; among Black women, wearing feminine clothes was positively related to feminism. Results are discussed in terms of possibilities for resistance to the hegemonic concept of femininity that both groups share.

Gender Role Ideology, Homophobia and Hate Crime: Linking Attitudes to Macro-Level Anti-Gay and Lesbian Hate Crimes

ABSTRACT The relationship between traditional gender role ideology and homophobia has frequently been suggested in social science literature. Few studies, however, have empirically examined the relationship between these cultural conceptions, and far fewer studies have linked gender roles and homophobia to actual behaviors. This study fills a gap in the existing literature by incorporating attitudinal measures of gender role ideology and homophobia from the General Social Survey with macro level indicators of gender stratification when examining acts of gay and lesbian hate crime victimization. Specifically we estimate whether macro level indicators of attitudes toward gays and lesbians and gender views have direct and indirect effects on incidents of hate crime. We find that homophobia and gender stratification directly influence the incidents of hate crime victimization. Although we also find an empirical relationship between gender role ideology and homophobia, homophobia does not mediate the relationship between gender role ideology and incidents of hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Implications of our findings are discussed.

Predicting Gender Role Ideology Among Husbands and Wives in Israel: A Comparative Analysis

In this study, differences in gender role ideology among middle-aged husbands (n=126) and wives (n=126) in Israel were examined. In addition, the contribution of several sets of variables were tested to predict gender role ideology. The sets of variables were background variables (personal background, education/employment, family variables), personality traits (self-esteem, tolerance for ambiguity), spouse's gender role ideology, and life satisfaction. The findings indicate that husbands have more traditional gender role ideology than their wives, even though the correlations between spouses were moderate and significant. In addition, the variables were found to contribute more significantly to predicting the gender role ideology of wives than of husbands. For both partners, self-esteem was the most significant predictor. Moreover, one partner's gender role ideology was found to affect the other partner's ideology. Education/employment and some personal background variables were significant predictors of wives' gender role ideology, whereas life satisfaction predicted gender role ideology only for husbands.

Gender role ideology and the gender based differences in earnings

Much of the research on gender differences in occupational earnings still focuses on human capital and the structure of the labor market. However, these variables rarely explain even half of the gender gap in earnings. Most research has examined the impact of gender role ideology as it impacts occupational choice, which indirectly can impact earnings. Using data from the National Opinion Research Center General Social Surveys, this research focuses on the relationship between attitudes about gender roles and two variables: (a) earnings, and (b) occupational positions held by women and men. Findings show that traditional gender-role ideology contributes to lower observed earnings for both males and females, independent of the influences of human capital characteristics, occupational context, and ascribed characteristics. Results support socialization as a partial explanation for the gender-based earnings differences and suggest that, to the extent that economic rewards are used to assess the value of gender role expectations, traditional gender role attitudes might continue to change and lead to relatively equal earnings among women and men.

Married with Children: Protest and the Timing of Family Life Course Events

The purpose of this study is to compare the family life course transitions of activist and nonactivist youth who were first surveyed in 1971. Is it true, as other studies have suggested, that activists from the 1960s were likely to delay marriage and childbearing compared to their nonactivist age peers? If this was so, was it because the values, attitudes, and commitments expressed in the movements of the New Left influenced young adults to reconsider traditional family roles? PREVIOUS RESEARCH Previous research has shown that activists' family and occupational life is different from that of their peers. For example, research has shown that activists tend to remain single or have fewer children (Fendrich, 1977; Whalen & Flacks, 1984). In an intensive study of the life course of former activists from Santa Barbara who were arrested for the burning of the Bank of America, Whalen and Flacks (1989) found that political values and commitments of the New Left continued to guide occupational as well as political choices. Although some studies have suggested similar conclusions (Braungart, 1977; Fendrich, 1977), most were not designed to examine the effects of activism on other areas of life and did not include detailed information on activists' subsequent family or career histories. Also, most of the investigations were conducted over a relatively short time period, allowing too small a time for activists to have completed transitions to marriage and parenthood. Another neglected aspect of activists' lives has been social class. Because activists were most likely to come from middle-class, professional families (Flacks, 1970), differences in the timing of family transitions may be due to social class differences rather than to the experience of protest itself. Working-class and blue-collar young adults tend to marry earlier (Elder, 1978) and are already burdened with competing role obligations. They are less likely to attend college and are more likely to marry immediately after high school (McLaughlin et al., 1988; Rubin, 1976); therefore, they are less likely to be exposed to political activism. Working-class young adults do not have the time and resources to protest, they do not participate in the social world where protest is salient, nor are they socialized to those values that promote protest. Most studies have not made comparisons between class experiences but rather have confined their analyses to comparisons of middle-class college students (Fendrich & Tarleau, 1973; Whalen, 1980). There is evidence that attitudes, especially gender role attitudes, also affect family events timing decisions (Mott & Mott, 1984). Women who have less traditional gender role attitudes have more successful contraception and men who have less traditional gender role ideology are more likely to use contraception themselves (Hedin-Poureghasian, 1977). Timing decisions are also related to the amount of power a woman has to control her own fertility. One factor that limits a woman's power in the family is the presence of small children (Blood & Wolfe, 1960). Women who are political activists, and are likely to desire more social power and independence, would be expected to maximize their advantage by having fewer children. SAMPLE AND METHODS Data for these analyses are taken from a longitudinal study of 2,044 members of three-generation California families (for a detailed description of the study, see Bengtson, 1975). The individuals used in this research are a subset of young adult grandchildren (G3s) who participated in the 1971 and the 1985 waves of data collection. Individuals who were active in demonstrations (n = 193 in 1971 and n = 143 in 1985) were compared with other G3s in the sample (n = 341 in 1985). This was a generation of young adults in 1971 who ranged in age from 15 to 29 (mean age 19 in 1971 and 33 in 1985). There were 50 individuals who were active in demonstrations in 1971 but did not participate in the 1985 survey. …