What Makes a “Good Job”? Gender Role Attitudes and Job Preferences in Sweden

Abstract

Previous studies have documented an increasing number of women entering into the paid work force, yet little research has examined the gendered meanings of work for men and women. Using a sample of 1986 Swedes from the 2009 Young Adult Panel Study, this paper investigates the effects of gender role attitudes on job attribute preferences in order to understand what makes a ''good job'' for Swedish men and women. Results show that men and women with more egalitarian attitudes have different perspectives than their more traditional counterparts. More egalitarian women place greater importance on the possibility of advancement and being proud of their work and less importance on family-friendly work policies. On the other hand, more egalitarian men place greater importance on family-friendly work policies and less importance on having a high salary and workplace security. The implications of these findings are discussed, and we suggest that egalitarian women's emphasis on advancement and pride at work combined with egalitarian men's de-emphasis on pay and emphasis on family-friendly job attributes point to potential changes in gender norms and roles.

Can Regional Gender Ideologies Account for Variation of the Gender Pay Gap? The Case of Germany

“…Steinhauer (2018) provides evidence for contextual ideologies causally shaping mothers' withdrawal from employment by exploiting road distance to the German-French-language barrier in Switzerland as exogenous variation in norms. Such associations may derive from traditional contexts providing less family-friendly policies (Chung and Meuleman 2017) or raising women's preference for part time work by normatively assigning care-work to them (Kaufman and White 2015). Thus, I hypothesize that regions with traditional gender ideologies display greater gender disparities in full-time employment (H2a) and in labor market experiences (H2b).…”

Sexual Division in Parenting: A Normative Context That Hinders Co-Responsibility

“…However, the activities that are more equally shared by both parents are teaching them manners and instilling values, spending time with their children, and supporting them. These clearly differentiated gender roles explain why, as Kaufman and White (2015) show in their literature review, empirical evidence suggests that men attach more importance to extrinsic values when evaluating employment, such as money and status. They face greater social pressure to play the role of the family's main economic provider.…”

“…These clearly differentiated gender roles explain why, as Kaufman and White (2015) show in their literature review, empirical evidence suggests that men attach more importance to extrinsic values when evaluating employment, such as money and status. They face greater social pressure to play the role of the family’s main economic provider.…”

Can Regional Gender Ideologies Account for Variation of Gender Pay Gaps? The Case of Germany

“…Steinhauer (2018) provides evidence for contextual ideologies causally shaping mothers' withdrawal from employment by exploiting road distance to the German-French language barrier in Switzerland as exogenous variation in norms. This effect may derive from traditional contexts providing less family-friendly policies (Chung and Meuleman 2017) or raising women's preference for part time work by normatively assigning care-work to them (Kaufman and White 2015). Thus, I expect: Hypothesis 2.…”