The “Feminist” Mystique

Abstract

The authors examine the claim that the most recent cohort of U.S. women is reluctant to identify as feminist although it has egalitarian gender attitudes. Using two national surveys, they show that the most recent generation is no less likely than prior cohorts to identify as feminist. However, Baby Bust women are less apt to identify as feminist than are older women, once background characteristics and attitudes related to feminist identification are controlled. Analyses suggest this reluctance is not due to an aversion to feminism but reflects the “off” timing of the feminist movement in the lives of Baby Bust women. The authors also find important differences among cohorts in the correlates of feminist identity. Most notably, the relationships of political ideology and gender attitudes to feminist identity are stronger among Baby Boom women, who came of age during the feminist movement’s second wave, than among older and younger women.

Older and Younger Adults’ Attitudes Toward Feminism: The Influence of Religiosity, Political Orientation, Gender, Education, and Family

“…Religion and politics have also been found to be related to attitudes about women's roles (Bryant 2003). Although group identification, rather than specific political affiliation, may most impact views on feminism (Rhodebeck 1996), liberal political orientation are more likely to identify as feminist (McCabe 2005;Peltola et al 2004). …”

“…) However, attitudes towards gender roles also appear to be influenced by the education of family members, (Weinberg et al 1997), including the education of both mothers and fathers (Thornton et al 1983). Looking at multiple generations within a family, high education was a significant predictor of feminist self identity across cohorts (Peltola et al 2004). …”

“…2000). Perhaps the differences between age groups or generational attitudes may best be viewed through the lens of cohort effect, as differences have been found between cohorts in feminist self-identification (Schnittker et al 2003), rates of activism (Duncan and Stewart 2000), and correlates of feminist identity (Peltola et al 2004). Using Stewart and Healy's (1989) model linking development to social events, the age when a social event is experienced (i.e., childhood, early adulthood, mature adulthood, later adulthood) changes the impact of the event.…”

Different Paths to Different Feminisms? Bridging Multiracial Feminist Theory and Quantitative Sociological Gender Research

“…Schnittker, Freese, and Powell (2003), Peltola, Milkie, and Presser (2004), and Rhodebeck (1996), for example, investigate how sociodemographic characteristics affect feminist identities. Each of these studies includes race only as a dummy variable, and in none of these studies is race allowed to interact with any other independent variable.…”

“…Leaving aside those studies that focus solely on one racial group (e.g., Hunter and Sellers 1998;Ridley Malson 1983), almost all quantitative studies of feminist identification and ideology use race as only one of several control variables (e.g., Johnston Conover 1988;Kane and Schippers 1996;Peltola, Milkie, and Presser 2004;Rhodebeck 1996;Schnittker, Freese, and Powell 2003). In so doing, these studies assume that (1) the effect (or lack thereof) of any particular characteristic on women's relationship with feminism is the same for women of different racial or ethnic groups and (2) a woman's relationship with feminism can be measured by a particular set of indicators that themselves do not vary across racial groups.…”