Gender Ideology in Europe: Plotting Normative Types in a Multidimensional Space

Abstract

Two recent articles (Grunow et al. in J Marriage Fam 80(1):42–60, 2018; Knight and Brinton in Am J Sociol 122(5):1485–1532) suggest that gender ideology is multidimensional. Such a finding is of utmost importance because, if robust, it can be used in future comparative (multilevel) research. However, these two articles present different results on which gender ideology profiles are dominant in Europe. Using the European Value Study, we replicate and extend these Latent Class analyses and address the question of generalizability and content- and criterion-related validity. We come to a five-cluster solution that not only synthesizes theoretically and empirically the results of the two articles, but also contributes to the literature by clarifying the place of these five gender ideology types in a multidimensional space. We suggest that in Europe five ‘worlds of norms’ exist that are mutually influenced by the general institutional context of welfare states.

Making Women Visible: How Gender Quotas Shape Global Attitudes toward Women in Politics

“…Maybe quotas do not increase support for women, but rather, people where quotas exist are more egalitarian. Because agreement that “being a housewife is just as fulfilling as working for pay” implies endorsement of separate spheres ideology (i.e., the idea that women belong to the private household sphere because of innate differences in traits and preferences) and is highly correlated with traditionalism (van Damme and Pavlopoulos 2022), we evaluate quota effects among respondents agreeing with this statement. Although other survey items may similarly and perhaps even more acutely capture traditionalism (e.g., “all women really want are kids”) (van Damme and Pavlopoulos 2022), unfortunately, only this question appears in all four WVS waves.…”

Beyond the continuum: a micro-level analysis of the gender equality-fertility nexus in three Nordic countries

“…Moreover, when developing theoretical arguments about how fertility outcomes are related to gender equality attitudes, what it means for individuals to have attitudes that lie halfway between the non-egalitarian and egalitarian endpoints of a one-dimensional continuum remains unclear. Thus, we build upon a body of work that has emerged in the past 10 years that uses a multidimensional conceptualization of gender attitudes (Brinton and Lee, 2016, Knight and Brinton, 2017, Begall et al, 2023, Grunow et al, 2018, Scarborough et al, 2019, Barth and Trübner, 2018, Kleinschrot et al, 2023, Sievers and Warner, 2022, van Damme and Pavlopoulos, 2022. Our approach captures respondents' attitudes in profiles, rather than averaging gender equality attitude components into scales.…”

Multiple Dimensions of Gender Ideologies: How They Relate to Normative Judgments of the Gender Division of Parental Leave

“…Mostly, three dimensions of gender ideologies are considered including i) a joint vs. separate public sphere, ii) a joint vs. separate private sphere, and iii) gender essentialism (e.g., Grunow, Begall, and Buchler 2018;van Damme and Pavlopoulos 2022). It is however less clear whether support for individual choice of gender roles constitutes a distinct dimension of gender ideologies.…”

“…Latent class analyses identified an egalitarian essentialist belief profile that supports a joint public sphere while rejecting a joint domestic sphere. This is combined with an essentialist belief in gendered traits (Grunow, Begall, and Buchler 2018;van Damme and Pavlopoulos 2022), legitimizing the separate private sphere and indicating that maternal employment is supported only if mothers work in occupations that match their "natural" skills. At the same time, support for maternal employment and female homemaking is also combined with anti-essentialist beliefs (Begall, Grunow, and Buchler 2023;Knight and Brinton 2017;van Damme and Pavlopoulos 2022), which has been interpreted as support for individual choice in opposition to essentialist beliefs in gendered traits.…”

“…Accounting for the multidimensionality of gender ideologies, I explore whether the degree of conditionality with respect to the sharing of parental leave varies across different dimensions derived from theoretical perspectives and existing empirical evidence. Previous studies mostly referred to the dimensions of a joint vs. separate public sphere, a joint vs. separate private sphere and gender essentialism (e.g., Begall, Grunow, and Buchler 2023;van Damme and Pavlopoulos 2022), whereas individual choice has rarely been considered (for an exception, see Knight and Brinton 2017). I add to earlier research by using more explicit indicators of gender essentialism and individual choice to explore multiple dimensions of gender ideology.…”