You've Come a Long Way Buster: Feminist Identification by Gender and Generation, 1996-2010

• In Event: 512 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 11. Shifting Gender Ideologies

Abstract

Recent attention to the “stalled revolution” in gender inequality calls attention to the question whether individual identification with gender egalitarianism may have eroded. This paper addresses that issue by examining differences in feminist self-identification between 1996 and 2010 across gender and generational groups. Utilizing data from the General Social Survey, we show that overall levels of feminist identification remained relatively constant over
this period. Only “baby bust” men showed any statistically significant evidence of increased
feminism, and that change was only to the levels of earlier male cohorts. While there has been
no substantial rise in feminist identification over this period, neither has there been a wholesale collapse.

Authors

• David A. Cotter, Union College

• Joan M. Hermsen, University of Missouri

• Reeve Vanneman, University of Maryland