The Influence of Religion on Gender Role Attitudes: A Twenty-Year Comparison

• In Event: 084 - Student Forum Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Student Forum Roundtable Session. Table 01. Gender and Self

Abstract

This paper updates and expands the study of gender role attitudes in the American population comparing religious adherents and non-religious people to predict attitudes among the general population. Religion has long been a major factor affecting attitudes toward gender relations and gender roles. Recent research suggests that religion still greatly influences gender role attitudes. Several questions emerge from a review of the literature. How much influence does religion have in contemporary American society? Have the gender-role attitudes become more liberal in the past twenty-years? Have the differences between religious believers and non-believers in their attitudes toward traditional gender roles widened, reduced, or remained constant in the past 20 years? Using data from the General Social Survey, this study examines the attitudes of religious (by religion type and strength of religiosity) and non-religious people about traditional gender roles of women. Two different years of the survey 1991 and 2012 were used to explore changes in society and opinions between the twenty-year timespan. The findings reveal that the attitudes of strong religious adherents remain constant in support of traditional gender roles for women. The findings also reveal that the attitudes of adherents with weak religiosity in the latter year were more likely to support traditional gender roles for women than non-believers of religion that was not evident twenty years earlier. Overall, religion continues to greatly influence opinions on gender roles even as the American society continues to liberalize.

Author

• Laraine McDonell, University of Hawaii