The Disapproval of Homosexuality at the Intersection of Gender and Education

• In Event: 20468 - Global Voices, Shifting Views: Exploring Trends in Public Opinion

Abstract

This article examines the social stratification of public opinion at the intersection of gender and education, focusing on the attitude against homosexuality in a socially conservative context. Around the world, gender divides in public opinions are increasingly polarized, especially among younger generations. Meanwhile, women have largely surpassed men in college education. While modernization theory predicts the liberating effect of college on homosexuality attitude, gender theories highlight the potentially gendered effect of education. Does college experience shape women and men’s attitude on homosexuality differently, and does the gender gap in homosexuality attitude differ for those with and without college education? We situate our study in the understudied Chinese context where the liberating effect of education may be limited due to authoritarian controls. Using nationally representative data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) 2010-2021, we predicted the disapproval on same-sex behavior by gender and education and explored the mechanism of gender ideology among those aged 25 and above born after 1970. Our preliminary analyses showed that most Chinese adults (77%) showed disapproval of homosexuality. Three major findings merged: 1) college education was associated with less disapproval against homosexuality among women and men, but the association was stronger among women; 2) the gender divide in homosexuality attitude was lacking among those without a college education, but present among the college educated, driven the progressiveness of college educated women; 3) among both men and women, gender ideology explained little of the attitude gap by education. Our robustness checks further considered the role of college major, variation by age groups, and urban-rural status. Women in college, once the forerunner of education equity, is once again leading the attitudinal change on homosexuality in conservative contexts. We end by discussing the policy implications in the Chinese context where progressive policies on same-sex marriage and non-discrimination protection are lacking.

Authors

• Haoming Song, Case Western Reserve University

• Man Yao, Denison University