The Interaction of Race and Gender: Changing Gender‐Role Attitudes, 1974–2006^*

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to assess over-time trends in the interactive effects of gender and race on attitudes toward the changing roles of women in U.S. society. Copyright (c) 2009 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.

Family Work Through Time and Space: An Ecological Perspective

“…Finally, it is important to consider the broader historical and social time period in which these processes are occurring. As Carter, Corra, and Carter (2009) found in their study on changing gender-role attitudes over the past four decades, Blacks and women tend to have more egalitarian gender-role ideology toward women's roles; however, the intersection of race and gender revealed more complex findings. For example, White males held more traditional notions about women's employment when they had children than Black males did.…”

Marital Quality of Newlywed African American Couples: Implications of Egalitarian Gender Role Dynamics

“…In future studies we wish to address these methodological short-comings by examining: (a) time use data rather than relying on individuals’ perceptions of how frequently they participate in tasks; and (b) the degree to which gender role attitudes vary across different domains such as housework, paid labor, and child care, to determine whether these differentially link to marital quality. The latter direction may be particularly fruitful given that African American men have been found to hold traditional and egalitarian gender role attitudes in different domains simultaneously (Blee and Tickamyer 1995; Carter et al 2009; Ciabattari 2001; Hunter and Sellers 1998). …”

“…A review by Kane (2000) revealed that African American men’s beliefs are generally no more egalitarian than those of European American men. When African American men report on gender role attitudes in a domain specific way, however, they often endorse equality in the workplace while simultaneously favoring traditional roles within the family (Blee and Tickamyer 1995; Carter et al 2009; Ciabattari 2001; Hunter and Sellers 1998). Given that African American men’s gender role attitudes are not uniformly egalitarian, we expected that, similarly to European men, African American men who expressed traditional beliefs, compared to those who expressed egalitarian beliefs, would experience poorer marital quality.…”

Cohort change, diffusion, and support for gender egalitarianism in cross-national perspective

“…Previous studies have analyzed consecutive cross-sectional surveys in the United States (Bolzendahl and Myers 2004;Brewster and Padavic 2000;Carter, Corra, and Carter 2009;Mason and Lu 1988;Rindfuss, Brewster, and Kavee 1996;Spitze and Huber 1980), and several examine the influence of cohort on attitudes (Brooks and Bolzendahl 2004;Schnittker, Freese, and Powell 2003;Wilkie 1993). Several others have examined attitudinal differences across nations (Scott, Alwin, and Braun 1996;Treas and Widmer 2000).…”