Changes in Men's Conservative Gender Ideologies

7/28/2019 Changes in Men's Conservative Gender Ideologies

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Changes in Men's Conservative Gender Ideologies: Cohort and Period InfluencesAuthor(s): Teresa CiabattariSource: Gender and Society, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Aug., 2001), pp. 574-591Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3081923 .Accessed: 08/07/2011 04:45

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CHANGESIN MEN'S CONSERVATIVEGENDER IDEOLOGIESCohortand PeriodInfluences

TERESACIABATTARIWakeForestUniversity

Men'sgender ideologieshavechangedmoreslowlythanwomen'ssince the1970s; this articleanalyzestheperiodandcohortprocessesthat underliemen's attitudechangeand how theindividual-level har-acteristicsof conservativemendifferbybirthcohort.Usingmultidimensionalmeasuresof genderroleattitudesfromthe 1974-1998 GeneralSocial Surveys, he author inds thatchangesin men's attitudeshavebeenbroughtabout bothbyperiod influences,especiallyduringthe1970s, andbycohortreplace-ment.Analysesof multivariate nteractioneffectsdemonstrate hat educationhas become a much esssignificantpredictorof attitudesor men bornafter1945.

In 1960, 19 percentof marriedwomen with preschool-agechildren were in thepaid aborforce(U.S. Bureauof theCensus1999).By 1998,it was 64 percent.Thismovement of mothers nto the workforceover thepast40 yearshas hadprofoundeffects on expectationsand attitudes owardwomen's activitiesin the public andprivate pheres.The vastmajorityof Americanmenandwomenapproveof womenworkingoutside thehome,and most menexpecttheirwives to beactivein thepaidlaborforce(South 1991).At the sametime,theprovider oleideology continues ohavesignificant nfluence.Althoughmen and womentodayare moreacceptingofwomen'sparticipationn thepublic sphere hantheywerein the 1970s,manystillconsiderthe breadwinner/homemakeramilymodel the ideal (Wilkie 1993).Thisnostalgiaforthe "traditional" readwinner/homemakeramilytends to bemore commonamongmen thanwomen(MasonandLu 1988).Althoughsomemenare rejectingnarrowdefinitions of masculinitythatconfine theirfamily roles toeconomicprovidership,manycontinue o define themselvesprimarilyasprovidersand-resenthesocialchangesthatmakethis definitionmoredifficult(Gerson1993;Kimmel 1996). A significant minority of U.S. men have resisted changes inwomen's roles andsees these changesas harmful o children, amily,andsociety(Gerson 1993; Kimmel 1996). Overall,men tend to express more conservativeAUTHOR'SNOTE:I would like to thankAveryGuest,JulieBrines,PaulBurstein,JudithA. Howard,and anonymousreviewersor theirhelpfulcommentson earlierdraftsof this article.REPRINTREQUESTS:TeresaCiabattari,Departmentof Sociology,WakeForestUniversity,PO Box7808, Winston-Salem, C 27109.GENDER&SOCIETY,ol.15No.4, August 001 574-591? 2001SociologistsorWomennSociety574


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Ciabattari MEN'SGENDER DEOLOGIES 575

gender deologies thanwomen,andthepaceof attitude hangesince the 1970s hasbeen slower formen than forwomen(BrewsterandPadavic2000; Mason andLu1988). Infact,the morerapidchange nattitudesamongwomenhasled to awiden-ing gapin men's and women's attitudes-there is a largergenderdifferencein atti-tudes todaythan there was 25 years ago (BrewsterandPadavic2000). Given theslow paceof change n men'sgender deologies,this articleanalyzestheperiodandcohortprocessesthatunderlieattitude hangeandhowtheindividual-level harac-teristicsof conservativemen differby birthcohort.

PERIOD AND COHORT INFLUENCESON MEN'S A'IlITUDES TOWARD WOMEN'S ROLES

Changes in attitudes owardwomen's roles can be viewed from two perspec-tives. The first focuses on change as a periodeffect, as a resultof "society-wideshiftsthatappear o affect allgroupsatthesametime,as if thereweresomething nthe airthat influencedeveryone'slives"(Cherlin1992, 31). In the case of genderrole attitudes, he "something n the air"was theresurgenceof the feminist move-mentin the 1970s and thechangesin women's educationalandlaborforceexperi-ences thatpreceded t. This perspectiveargues hat a new social context resultsinchanged ndividual-levelattitudes,which arethenreflected nsociety-wideattitudeshifts.A cohortperspective,on the otherhand,emphasizesthe "distinctivecomposi-tion and character"of individual cohorts that reflect "the circumstances of itsunique originationandhistory" Ryder1965, 845). Characteristics f a particularhistoricalperioddo not affecteveryone n thesameway;thiseffect will dependonone's cohort and one's life course stage when these period changes occurred.According to this perspective,the unique histories of specific cohorts will bereflectedin their attitudes.Forexample,men in differentcohortsexperiencedthe1970s feminist movementsdifferently,and their attitudeswill reflect these differ-ences. Thiscohortperspectiveemphasizesthe role of cohortreplacement n socialchange.As oldercohorts die out and arereplacedby youngercohorts,changes inculturalexperienceandideologies atthepopulation evel occur.Shifts in the rela-tive size and influence of particularcohorts in a population, independent ofindividual-levelattitudechanges, representone way thatsocieties can change.Bothperiodand cohort nfluences canexplainthechanges n men'sgender de-ologies that have occurredsince the early 1970s (Brewsterand Padavic 2000;Firebaugh1992;Mason and Lu 1988;Wilkie 1993). Changesin attitudes owardwomen's roles resultnot only fromrevolutionary hangein individuals'attitudes(periodeffects) butalso fromchangesin the relativesizes of the most egalitarianandmost traditional ohorts.As younger,moreegalitarian ohortshaveaged intothe adultpopulation,replacingthe oldest, most traditionalones, population-levelshifts in attitudeshaveoccurred.


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576 GENDER& SOCIETY August2001

Despitetheselargechanges, significantpocketsof resistanceremain.Althoughmost men expect thattheirspouses will be active in the paid laborforce, manyremain reluctant o accept full flexibility in women's roles (Taylor,Tucker,andMitchell-Kernan1999). A substantialproportionof men support he ideology ofmale providershipand the breadwinnernorm(Wilkie 1993) andexpressconcernwith thewell-beingof childrenof employedmothers MasonandLu 1988).Even asmen have become much moreacceptingof women'slaborforceparticipation ndmore ikelyto advocateequalitybetweenmenandwomen nthepublicsphere, heyremain ess criticalof inequality n thehome (Kaneand Sanchez 1994).Thisresistance o fullequality or women n allspheresdemonstrates hecontra-dictions thatmanymenexperienceasthey trytoprotect heirwomen(wives,moth-ers, daughters) romgenderdiscriminationwhile simultaneouslydefendingtheirown masculineprivilege(Connell 1998;Goode 1982).Connellarguesthatmen'srelationshipswith women-as wives, mothers, friends,coworkers,neighbors-canprovidea "basis ormen's relationalnterest n reform" 1998, 227). For exam-ple,menmayhave an interest ntheirdaughtershavingopportunitiesowork n anyfield, or in theirmothersbeingfree fromthe threatof rape(1998,227). These rela-tionshipscanprovidemen withan interest ngenderequalityandwith a foundationto begin reform.However,these relational nterests often contradictmen's self-interest nprotecting hegenderhierarchybecauseof the benefits heyreceivefromit. Of course,there is great diversity n the extent to which men benefit from thishierarchy.Men's experiencesanddefinitionsof masculinityandfemininitydifferacross"racial, thnic,class, sexual,andregionalboundaries"Blee andTickamyer1995, 21). Men's positions in the social structurewill affect how they react tochangesin workandfamilynorms.Forexample,white men tend to be less accept-ing of mother's aborforceparticipation,whereas hehistoryof AfricanAmericanwomen's labor forceparticipation reatesa contextwhere AfricanAmericanmen(andwomen)tend to view economicprovidership s acentralpartof themotheringrole (Blee and Tickamyer1995; Kiecolt and Acock 1988; Ransfieldand Miller1983).To understand etterthe characteristics f men who expresstraditional enderideologies, I askwhether herearecohortdifferences n the characteristics ssoci-atedwithgenderroleconservatism. focuson men in threeU.S. cohorts:pre-babyboom (men born 1925 to 1944), baby boom (men born 1945 to 1964), andpost-baby boom (menborn1965 to 1980).Theimportanceof cohorts n affectingattitudechange is reflected in the differing ideological, socialization, and lifecourse contexts for each. Because of these differentcohortexperiences,I expectthatthe factorsassociated withmen's conservatismwill differby cohort.I expect that men bornpriorto the babyboom will be most traditional.Theycame of age duringthe peakof the breadwinner/homemakeramily of the 1950sandearly 1960s. Their socializationandlife courseexperienceswould have rein-forcedwomen'sresponsibility or homeand amily.Manyhadfinishedraising heirfamilies by the time the 1970s feminist movement was in full force. Thus, the


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Ciabattari / MEN'S GENDER IDEOLOGIES 577

changesadvocatedbyfeministactivistsdid not have as directaneffecton their ivesand lifestyles as it did for men coming of age during this period-the babyboomers.Men bornduring hepost-warbabyboomexperienced irsthand hestruggles orwomen'srightsin the 1970s.Althoughtheir socializationexperienceswould sug-gest support or thebreadwinner/homemakeramilymodel, their own family for-mationexperienceswereinsharp ontrast.Menin thiscohortwerestarting amiliesduringa periodwhen it was morelikely that their wives would be employed andhave educationalattainments imilarto theirs. These employmentchanges led torelationaldifficulties, such as the struggle over the "second shift" (Hochschild1989), that would help shapemen's attitudes owardwomen's roles in home andfamily.Inaddition,becausethese men reachedadulthoodat thepeakof the feministmovements,the ideological influences of this periodwould be especially salient.Post-baby boom men have grown up in an erawhen it is widely assumed thatgenderequalityhas been achieved.Althoughmostmen(andwomen)of this cohortagreewiththe idealsof thefeministmovement,mostarereluctant o identifythem-selves as feminists (Twengeand Zucker1999). In addition, hese men have beenreared n a context where women's labor force participations normative.At thesametime,manyof theseyoungmenhave notyet started amilies,so they maybemore idealisticabouthow families "should"be withoutregard or the realities offamily life.Becauseof these diversecohortexperiences, expectthatmen'sattitudeswill bedifferentiallyaffectedbytheirsociodemographic,amily,andsocializationcharac-teristics.Forexample, it would have been uncommon or pre-babyboom men tohavehademployedmotherswhiletheyweregrowingup.Thus,menof thisgenera-tion may be especially affectedby theirmother's abor force status. On the otherhand,aswomen of all classbackgrounds avemoved ntothe labor orce andnormsaboutmother'semploymenthave changed,mother'semploymentmay not be animportant orrelateof attitudes orpost-baby boom men.

Although the characteristicsassociated with gender role conservatismhavebeenwell established, herehas been littleattempto test whether hesecharacteris-tics differ by birth cohort. One exception is Brewster and Padavic(2000), whoaddress hese cohortdifferences ncorrelatesof gender deologies.Thisarticledif-fers from theirworkby using a more diverse set of attitude tems to capture hemultidimensionality f genderroleattitudesandbytestingmodelsonthreespecificcohortsof U.S. men.

DATA AND METHODData for this analysisarefrom the 1974to 1998 GeneralSocial Surveys(GSS)conductedby the NationalOpinionResearchCenter(NORC).Each surveyis anational,cross-sectionalsampleof noninstitutionalized, nglish-speakingpersonsage 18 yearsandolder in the contiguousUnited States.Repeatedsurveyssuch as


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TABLE1: GSS Questions MeasuringAttitudes TowardWomen's RolesEmployedwomen and children1.Aworkingmother annotestablish ustas warmandsecurea relationshipwithher chil-dren as a motherwhodoes not work.a'2. A preschoolchild s likely o suffer f his orher motherworks.' bSeparate spheres ideology3. Mostmen are bettersuitedemotionallyorpolitics han are most women.' d4.Women hould akecareofrunningheirhomes and leaverunninghecountryo men.'d5. It s more mportantora wife ohelpherhusband's areerthan ohave one herself.ad6. Doyouapproveof a marriedwomenearningmoney fshe has a husbandcapableofsup-portingher?be7. It s muchbetter oreveryone nvolved f he man s the achieveroutside hehome andthe

womantakes careof the home andfamily.a'SOURCE:GeneralSocialSurveys1974 to 1998 (Davisand Smith1998).NOTE:temshave been recodedso thatagreeingwith hestatement ndicatesa moreconser-vativeresponse.a. Response categories:stronglyagree, agree, disagree, stronglydisagree.b.Surveyyears:1977;1985 to 1998, except 1987.c. Response categories:agree, disagree.d. Surveyyears:1974; 1975;1977;1982; 1983;1985 to 1998, except 1987.e. Response categories:approve,disapprove.theGSSareespeciallywell suited ostudyingcohortsandsocialchange.Thesesur-veys can be used to studymacro-levelchanges, cohortreplacementeffects, andchangesin individual-levelparameters Firebaugh1997).The GSS also asksques-tions thatcapture everaldimensionsof attitudes owardwomen's roles.However,theseitems are imited n that heyaskonlyaboutwomen'sroles,notmen's,and donot address ssues of powerandinequality(Masonand Lu 1988). The sampleofrespondentsanalyzedhere includes all menborn 1925 to 1980.Thissample s fur-therdividedinto three birth cohorts:pre-baby boom (born 1925 to 1944), babyboom (born1945 to 1964), andpost-babyboom (born1965 to 1980).Dependent Variables

The sevenitemsmeasuringattitudes owardwomen's roles thathave been askedmost consistentlyoverthe GSS survey yearswill be used as dependentvariables(see Table1).For all sevenitems,respondentswhoanswered"don'tknow"orwhodidnot answer hequestionsareexcluded rom heanalysis.This results n asamplesize of 3,575 men, including 1,036 pre-babyboomers,1,934 babyboomers,and605 post-babyboomers.Because some attitude temshad tworesponsecategoriesandothershadfour(see Table1),Irecodedeach item into a dichotomousmeasure.1For items with two response categories, the more conservativeresponse wascoded 1 andthe otherwas coded 0. For tems with fourresponsecategories,respon-dents whoreported greeorstronglyagreeare abeledconservativeandcoded as 1.Othersare coded 0.Analyzing attitudesas a single genderrole attitude cale may maskimportantdifferences n how men perceivewomen'srightsandresponsibilities;attitudeson


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one dimensionare notnecessarilyconsistentwithattitudeson another. naddition,menmightbe likely to supportequality n the abstractbutbe unwillingto supportchangesthatalter heirplacein thefamilyandhome.Forexample,onemayapproveof women's laborforceparticipationwhile atthesame timeagreeingthatchildrensuffer if their mothers are in the paid labor force. To test for this multi-dimensionality, ranexploratoryactoranalysiswith varimax otation o determineif thesevenattitude tems were related nparticularways.The items loaded on twofactorswith eigenvaluesgreater han 1.0. The two items dealing with employedmothers oadedstronglyon one factor,and the otherfive itemsloadedstronglyonthe other. Based on this, I createdtwo additivescales. The first includes the twoitems askingabouttheeffects of women'semploymenton children(alpha= .63)2andrangesfrom 0 to 2. The second scalecapturesmen's attitudes oward he ideol-ogy of separate pheres3 alpha= .71) andrangesfrom 0 to 5. In bothcases, highervalues indicate moreconservativeattitudes.IndependentVariables4

Men's attitudes owardwomen's roles are relatedto theireconomic resources,family context, socialization experiences, religious and political ideologies,race/ethnicity,andregional/historical ontexts(see Table2). Althoughtheserela-tionshipshave been well established n the empirical iterature, his researchwillassess how theserelationshipsdifferby men's birthcohort.

Economicresources.Ingeneral,men with lower levels of educationand incomereportmore conservativegenderrole attitudes MasonandLu 1988;Wilkie 1993).Men withdiminishedaccess to resourcesmaybe especiallyconcernedabouttheirrole as providersandmaybe reluctant o share his role with women(Tayloret al.1999). This concern aboutthe providerrole may makeeconomically vulnerablemen more resistant o changes, such as women's more active involvement n thepublic sphere,that wouldalter theirplace as householdhead.Three measuresof men's access to economic resources are included in theseanalyses-education, subjective class level, and work status. Education is aninterval-levelvariablemeasuredbytheyearsof schoolcompleted.Subjectiveclasslevel is measuredby a questionthatasks respondents o identify themselves asmembersof the lowerclass(1),working lass(2),middleclass(3),orupper lass(4).Finally, respondent's work status is measured by three dummy variables-respondentworks full time (referencecategory);respondentworksparttime;andother,which includesrespondentswhoidentify hemselvesasunemployed,retired,in school, keepinghouse, or other.5

Currentfamily ontext.Marital tatusandspousalworkstatusaretwoimportantinfluenceson men's genderrole attitudes.Marriedmentendto be more conserva-tive thanthosewho are notmarried Rice and Coates 1995;Wilkie 1993). In addi-tion, marriedmen whose wives are employed full time report ess conservative


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580 GENDER&SOCIETY August2001

TABLE : Descriptive Statistics for All IndependentVariables,by CohortPre-Baby Baby Post-BabyBoom Boom Boom

EconomicresourcesMeanyears of educationSubjectiveclass level(1 = lower,2 = working,3 = middle,4 = upper)PercentageworkingFull imePart imeOtherFamily ontextMarital tatus

Married,pouse employed ull imeMarried,pouse employedpart imeMarried,pouse notemployedDivorced, eparated,or widowedNevermarriedMeannumberof childrenSocialization xperiencesMeanyears of fatherseducationMeanyears of mothers educationPercentagewhose mothersworked nthe paidlabor orceIdeologiesMean evelof fundamentalism(1 = liberal,2 = moderate,3 = fundamentalist)Mean evel of political onservatism(1 = extremelyiberalo 7 = extremely onservative)Race and ethnicityPercentageAfricanAmericanPercentagereportingHispanicoriginRegionaland historical ontext

Percentage iving nthe SouthMeanyearof birthMeanyearof interviewN

13.5 14.1 13.42.6 2.5 2.5

69.34.526.2

29.311.035.318.16.32.5

85.55.29.3

30.710.419.016.623.31.49.6 11.810.2 11.9

52.4 71.7

63.015.022.0

14.44.58.94.667.60.413.112.881.5

2.0 2.0 2.04.4 4.2 4.08.2 6.5 7.82.5 3.4 5.6

33.0193619891,036

31.7195519911,934

31.419701994605SOURCE:GeneralSocialSurveys1974 to 1998 (Davisand Smith1998).attitudes than men whose wives are employed part time or not at all (Banaszak andPlutzer 1993; Cassidy and Warren 1996; Mason and Lu 1988; Smith 1985; Wilkie1993). Because marital status and spousal work status have overlapping categories(i.e., men who are not married do not have a value for spousal work status), I con-structed a series of dummy variables to measure both characteristics: currently mar-ried, spouse employed full time; currently married, spouse employed parttime; cur-rently married, spouse not employed; previously married (divorced, separated, orwidowed); and never married. Currently married, spouse works full time is the ref-erence category.


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Also included as a measure of family context is the numberof children. Thepresenceof childrenoftenleads tochanges n afamily'sdivisionof paidandunpaidlabor, and concerns about the effects of maternalemployment on children'swell-being may be especially salientfor men with children.

Socializationexperiences.Men'sgender deologies also are nfluencedby theirsocializationexperiences(Powelland Steelman1982;Ransfieldand Miller 1983).Men whose mothersworked n the paidlabor force tend to be moreacceptingofwomen'sparticipationn thepublic sphereand less concernedaboutthe effects ofmother'semploymenton children.Maternalemploymentmay shape children'sgenderrole attitudesby exposingthemto nontraditional ole models (Kiecolt andAcock 1988; Powell and Steelman1982;Tallichetand Willits 1986). Such expo-suremayencourageacceptanceof a broader angeof rolesfor womenthatchildrenin a more traditionalhouseholdarrangementmay not experience.In additiontomaternal mployment,parental ducationalso is expected o have an effect on one'sattitudes.Educationhas consistentlybeen found to have a liberalizingeffect onone's own attitudes,and some suggest that these liberalized attitudes are thenpassedon to children PowellandSteelman1982; Thornton,Alwin, andCambur1983).Threevariablesmeasuringparental haracteristics re ncluded.Father's duca-tion andmother's educationaremeasuredby the years of school completed.Themeasure of mother's work status was constructed rom two items on the GSS.Before 1994,respondentswere askedwhether heirmotherworked orlongerthanone yearafter she was married.After 1994, the questionwas changedto whethertherespondent'smotherworked orlongerthanoneyearwhile he or she was grow-ing up.Thosewhoresponded"yes" o thesequestionswere coded 1 onthe mother'sworkstatus variable.6

Political and religious ideologies. Religious and political views are oftenstronglyassociatedwithgender deologies(LyeandWaldron1997).Those whoarereligiously and politically conservativealso tend to have conservative attitudestowardwomen's roles.I includetwo variables ocapture hesecharacteristics.Thefirst s a GSS variable hatclassifies therespondent's eligiouspreferenceasfunda-mentalist,moderate,or liberal.7 recoded his item so that"fundamentalist"as thehighest value (3). I also include a measure of the respondents'political views,wherethey are asked to place themselves on a scale fromextremelyliberal (1) toextremely conservative (7). Respondents who answered "don't know" areexcluded.

Race and ethnicity.The effects of race andethnicityon genderrole ideologiesreflect themultidimensionalnatureof these attitudes.AfricanAmericanmentendto be more traditional han white menregardingwomen in leadershipandpoliticsbutnotregardingwomen inthepaid abor orce(Blee andTickamyer1995;KiecoltandAcock 1988;RansfieldandMiller1983;Wilkie1993).Inaddition,popular,but


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stereotypical,views of Hispanic men tend to overemphasizestatic notions of"machismo"and underestimatehe extent to which Hispanicmen have adaptedtheirattitudes ochangingstructuralndcultural onditions.Forexample,Tayloretal. (1999) find that Mexican Americanmen emphasizetheirduty to providefortheir amilies,eventhough heyalsoacceptthatwomenwill often share his burdenwiththem.Totest whetherAfricanAmericanandHispanicmensignificantlydifferfromnon-Hispanicwhite men in theirattitudes, wo dummyvariablesmeasuringidentificationas African AmericanandHispanic-originare included.8Regionalandhistorical context.Regionof countryalso affectsgenderrole atti-tudes, with Southerners reporting more conservative attitudes than non-

Southerners Rice and Coates 1995). This is especially true on attitudestowardwomenin politicsand thedesirabilityof womenworkingoutsidethehome.In thisanalysis,Southerners re definedas thosemenwho, atthe time of interview, ivedin one of the followingU.S. Census Bureaucategories:SouthAtlantic,East SouthCentral,and West South Central.Cohort effects are tested for with a series of dummyvariablescapturing herespondents'membership n one of threegenerations,based on birthyear:pre-babyboom,babyboom,andpost-babyboom.Theyearof interview ariable ssessesthe role of periodeffects on attitudes-to whatextenttheexpressedconservatismsa resultof the context of the time period, independentof men's individual-levelcharacteristics ndexperiences.The analysis begins with a descriptive ook at the proportionof men in eachcohortwho provideconservativeresponsesto the sevengenderrole attitude temsin each of thethreedecadescoveredbythesurveys.Thisanalysisdemonstratesheimportanceof attitude hangeasbothaperiodand cohortphenomenon. thenpro-ceed to a multivariateanalysisof the two attitudescales on the entiresample ofmen.9Finally, to determine how the correlatesof men's conservatismdiffer bycohort,Itestforsignificant nteractionsbetweenmen's cohortandeach of theinde-pendentvariables.

RESULTSU.S. men have become substantially ess conservativeabout women's rolessince the 1970s(see Table3). Thischangeresults rom bothperiodandcohortpro-cesses. Periodeffects areevident n thateach cohorttended o become less conser-vative over the three decades.Forexample,in the 1970s, 46 percentof pre-baby

boom menagreed hatmen arebettersuitedforpoliticsthanwomen.By the 1990s,thispercentagehaddropped o 26. Similarly,58 percentof babyboom men in the1970sagreed hatpreschoolchildren uffer f theirmother s employed,whereasbythe 1990s, only 48 percentdid. This patternholds true for each cohort on eachitem-more men were conservative n the 1970s thanin the 1990s.


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Ciabattari MEN'SGENDERDEOLOGIES 583

TABLE : Percentage of MenProvidingConservative Relp,on=es to GenderRole Atti-tude Items,by Cohortand Survey DecadePre-Baby Baby Post-BabyBoom Boom Boom Total

Employedwomen and childrenAworkingmothercannot establish 1970s 60 43 52warmrelationshipswithherchildren. 1980s 51 37 32 411990s 50 38 32 40Preschoolchildren uffer ftheir 1970s 74 58 67motherworks. 1980s 63 48 52 531990s 63 48 41 50

Separate spheres ideologyMost men are bettersuitedemotionally 1970s 46 36 - 41forpolitics hanare most women. 1980s 37 32 35 341990s 26 20 21 22Womenshouldrun heirhomes and 1970s 34 22 - 29leave runninghe country o men. 1980s 25 18 14 201990s 20 12 12 14More mportantora wifeto helpher 1970s 54 31 43husband'scareer than to have one 1980s 39 21 22 27herself. 1990s 30 16 15 19Disapprove f a marriedwomen 1970s 28 19 24earningmoneyifshe has a husband 1980s 19 15 17 16capableof supportingher. 1990s 20 15 16 16Better oreveryoneif the man works 1970s 70 47 60and the womancares for home and 1980s 54 35 27 40family. 1990s 53 32 26 36

SOURCE:GeneralSocialSurveys1974 to 1998 (Davisand Smith1998).

Inaddition o these overallperiodchanges,the datasuggestthat the 1970s wasthe pivotal decade for attitudechange. For the pre-baby boom and baby boomcohorts,thelargestchangesonmostitems occurredbetween the 1970s and 1980s.The differencesbetweenthe most recentdecades were more modest. Forexample,the numberof men in the babyboom cohortagreeingthatit is better f men workandwomen tend to the homedroppedby 12 percentagepointsbetween the 1970sand 1980s butby only 3 percentagepointsbetween the 1980s and 1990s.Inaddition o theseperiodeffects,cohorteffectson men'sconservatismalsoareevident. Within each period, the oldest cohort is more traditional han the morerecent cohorts.The largestdifferenceis between the babyboomersand the pre-babyboomers,although here s also a small but substantialdifferencebetweenthebaby boomers and post-baby boomers on several items duringthe 1990s. Forexample, in the 1990s, 63 percentof pre-babyboom men agreedthatpreschoolchildrensuffer f theirmother s employed.Duringthis sameperiod,48 percentof


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584 GENDER&SOCIETY August2001

babyboomers and41 percentof post-baby boomersgave this same conservativeresponse.Thus,althoughthe proportion f pre-babyboom men providinga con-servativeresponseto this item decreased over the threedecades, the men in thiscohort remainedsignificantlyless egalitarian han did men in the more recentcohorts,even by the 1990s.These data demonstrate he importanceof looking at population-levelattitudechangeas both acohortandperiodphenomenon.The netchanges n attitudesat themacro-level between the 1970s and 1990s are due both to changesin individual-level attitudeswithin cohorts(periodeffects) and to cohortreplacement cohorteffects). These dataalso showthelargevariation n conservativeattitudesdepend-ing on the specific question being asked. Men areespecially concernedwith theeffects of mother'semploymenton youngchildren,with50 percentof men in the1990s agreeingthatpreschoolchildrensuffer f theirmotherworks. Also higharethepercentageof menin the 1990sagreeing hatemployedmothersdo not have as"warm" relationshipwith theirchildrenas motherswho arenotemployed(40 per-cent)andthepercentagewhoagree t is best foreveryone f men focusonworkandwomen focus on family (36 percent). Although men's gender ideologies havechangedoverthepast30 years, heseresultsemphasize hatconcernabout"workingmothers"remainsprevalentand separatespheresremainsa contentiousfamilyideal.MultivariateAnalysis

Given theperiodandcohortchanges n men'sattitudes, next testwhether heseeffects persistaftercontrollingfor individual-levelcharacteristics.First,I regressthe two scales-one measuringattitudes owardemployedmothersand the othermeasuringattitudestowardseparate spheres-on the independentvariables inTable2 for men in all cohorts (see Table4). Next, I test for interactioneffectsbetween each of these independentvariables and cohort category (regressionresults not shown).This tests whether he attitudesof men in differentcohortsaredifferentlyaffected by these characteristics.Statisticallysignificant interactioneffects areshown in Figures1 and 2.The characteristics ssociatedwith men's conservatismare similaracross thetwo attitude scales, although several importantdifferences also emerge (seeTable4). One of the strongestpredictorsof men's conservativeattitudeson bothscales is theirfamily context. Least conservativearemen whose wives work fulltime in thepaid abor orce. Meninall othercategorieshave moreconservativeatti-tudes towardemployedmothersandtoward eparate pheres.Numberof childrenalso has a significant,positive relationshipwith conservativeattitudes.Men's socializationexperiences,especially theirmothers'educationand workhistories,also affecttheir attitudeson both scales. Menwhose mothersworked nthe paid labor force and men with more educatedmothershave less conservativeattitudes. naddition,menwho define themselvesas membersof the lowerorwork-ing classes reportmore conservativeattitudes han others. Conservativepolitical


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TABLE : OrdinaryLeast Squares Regression Coefficients PredictingMen's Conser-vative Attitudes TowardWomen'sRolesScale of Attitudes Scale of AttitudesToward mployedMothers Toward eparateSpheres

IndependentVariables b p b PEconomicresourcesEducationSubjectiveclass levelWork tatusFull imeaPart imeOther

Family ontextMarital tatusSpouse works ull imeaSpouse workspart imeSpouse notemployedPreviouslymarriedNever marriedNumberof childrenSocialization xperiences

Father's ducationMother's ducationMother'swork tatusIdeologiesFundamentalistPolitical iewsRace and ethnicityAfricanAmericanHispanicoriginRegionaland historical ontextSouthCohortPre-babyboomaBabyboomPost-babyboomYearof interviewConstantN

Adjusted R2

-.005 -.017-.086*** -.063

.068-.015

.226***.346***.136**.214***.034**

.008-.017**-. 104***

.020-.006

.078.169.057.110.063

.036-.062-.057.087*** .078.081*** .131

-.214*** -.065.026 .006.006 .004

-.182*** -.107-.223*** -.099-.006* -.04313.4133,575.101

-.063*** -.130-.110** -.050

.021.066

.268***.385***.252***.246***.061***

-.001-.034***-.218***

.004.018

.057.116.065.079.070-.027-.077-.074

.203*** .112.098*** .097

.094 .018.243* .032

.215*** .073

-.220*** -.080-.221* -.060-.032*** -.13766.0683,139.192SOURCE:GeneralSocialSurveys1974 to 1998 (Davisand Smith1998).a. Indicatesreferencecategory.*p


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1.5

o0J- Pre-BabyBoomLaefeS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ?(1925 to 1944)>i ---- Baby Boom'o 10 - E__ (1945 to 1964)00._o ....... Post-Baby Boom

oO - (1965to 1980)o- .................. ......-- ' = ""u

0.5 , ,10 12 14 16

Years of EducationFigure 1: Predicted Values on Scale Measuring Conservative Attitudes Toward

Employed Mothers, by Cohort and Education

t 2.00.t OP, Bre-BabyBoomc ' (1925 to 1944)? -\- - - BabyBoom1.5 - (1945 to 1964)

XO) - ...... Post-Baby Boom" -U*,-_...... ... \ (1965 to 1980)

... 1.010 12 14 16

Years of EducationFigure2: Predicted Values on Scale Measuring Support of Separate Spheres Ideol-ogy, by Cohortand Education

post-baby boom men are less conservative than pre-baby boom men, and men par-ticipating in more recent surveys report less conservative attitudes than others.In addition to these similarities across equations, several important differencesalso emerge. Most interesting is the effect of education. Although education is astrong and significant predictor of men's attitudes toward separate spheres, it doesnot have a significant effect on men's attitudes toward employed mothers. Theeffect of race/ethnicity also differs according to the attitudes being measured. Con-sistent with previous research, African American men are less conservative thanother men on attitudes toward employed mothers. Hispanic men do not differ fromothers on attitudes toward employed mothers but they are more conservativeregarding the ideology of separate spheres. Finally, men living in the South are


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Ciabattari MEN'SGENDERDEOLOGIES 587

more conservativeregarding eparate pheresbut do not differfrom other men onattitudes owardemployedmothers.To determinewhether the correlatesof men's conservativeattitudesdiffer bybirthcohort,I tested forsignificant nteraction ffectsbetweencohortcategoryandeachindependent ariableon each of the two scales. These tests wereconductedbytestingforsignificantchanges n R2betweentwoequations.Because of the numberof independent ariables, ranseparateanalysesfor each. Thefirstequation n eachset regressedeach scale on cohortcategoryand all the independentvariables nTable2, and the second equation ncluded these same main effects as well as aninteraction ermbetween cohortcategoryand the independentvariableof interest.Changes n R2betweenequations hatweresignificantat the .01 level arediscussedhere.For each scale, only educationinteractswith cohortcategoryto affect men'sgenderrole attitudes. n orderwords,therelationshipbetweeneducationandcon-servativeattitudesdiffersby cohort,while otherrelationshipsdo not.Figures1and2 demonstratehese relationships.These figuresshow thepredictedvalues on theemployedmothersattitude cale (Figure1) and the separate pheresattitude cale(Figure2) by education or each cohort.Tocompute hesepredictedvalueson eachscale, I use the coefficientsandsamplemeans for theequations ncludingthe inter-active term between cohort and education.It is clear fromFigure1thateducation nteracts ignificantlywithcohortto pre-dict men'sattitudes owardemployedmothers.There s a strongnegativerelation-shipbetween educationand attitudes orpre-babyboom men but not for youngermen.Thus,formenbornafter1945,educationhasbecomeaninsignificantpredic-tor of attitudes owardmothers n the labor force.A similarpatterns evident nFigure2, which shows thepredictedvaluesontheseparate pheresattitude caleby educationandcohort.For men in all cohortcate-gories, higher evels of educationareassociatedwith ess conservativeattitudes,yettherelationshiporpre-babyboom menis significantly teeper han t is forothers.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONThese analyses demonstrate the interplay of cohort and period effects onchanges in men's attitudes owardwomen's roles. The overall reduction n men'sgenderrole conservatismover the past30 yearsresults fromtwo processes.First,expansions n women's educationaland laborforceexperiencesandthe discourseof the 1970s feminist movementresulted n individual-levelattitudeshiftsduring

this period.Second,cohortreplacementalso contributed o these changes.As therelativesize and influence of thepre-babyboom cohorthaswaned,theproportionof men with the most conservativeattitudeshas decreased.Thus,cohortreplace-mentalsohas contributedo the overallattituderends, ompoundinghe individual-level attitudechangesof the 1970s.


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588 GENDER & SOCIETY / August 2001

Theresultsalsodemonstratehatdespitethese overallchanges, manymen con-tinue to expressconcernsabout he childrenof employedmothersandapreferencefor theseparate pheres deal.Acrosscohorts,marriedmenwhose spouseis unem-ployed aremost conservative,as arethose menwho expressconservativepoliticalandreligious ideologies. This influence is certainlyconsistentwiththe rhetoricofthe conservative"pro-family"movement hatargues hatAmerican amiliesshouldreturn to a norm of male providershipand female responsibilityfor home andfamily.Also apparents theimportanceof lookingatgenderrole ideologies as multidi-mensional.Menaremore ikelytoexpressconcern or childrenof employedmoth-ers thantheyare to express support orseparate pheres.Inaddition, here are dif-ferences n how men's structuralocationsaffect attitudesonthesetwodimensionsof genderideologies. For example,African Americanmen are less conservativethan other men regardingmother's abor force participation.This reflects a moreflexible definition of motherhoodamong African Americans(Sudarkasa1999).AfricanAmericanwomen have a muchlonger historyof laborforceparticipation,andeconomicproviderships consideredanimportant artof beinga goodmother(Collins 1991). Similarly,Hispanicmen are advocatesof theideology of separatespheresbut also rejectthe idea that children arenegativelyaffectedby mother'semployment.

Contraryoexpectations, heonlycohortdifferences npredictors f men's con-servative attitudes s the relationshipof education. Men bornpriorto 1945 arestrongly influenced by their levels of education on attitudestowardmother'semploymentand toward heideology of separate pheres.However,educationhaslittle effect for menbornafter 1945. Thissuggeststhatas educationalopportunitieshave expanded and men's educationalexperiences have become more similaracross structural oundaries,he attitudinal ifferencesbetweenmenwithvaryinglevels of educationhave diminished.The limitationsof theattitude tems usedin thisanalysis maycontribute ome-what to theweakeningrelationshipbetweeneducationand attitudes.Theyoungestmen show less variation n attitudes hando oldermen, and the inabilityof socialstructural nfluences such as educationto predicttheir attitudesmay reflect thereducedrelevanceof these particular ttitude tems. Items that more successfullyaddressthe complexitiesof women's andmen's roles andhow these attitudesarerelated to power and inequality in the public and privatespheres would helpresearchersbetterunderstand hese trends.

Althoughthe United States has witnessedvastchangesin women'sandmen'sroles in workandin thefamily,we remain n a periodof transition.Differencesinmen'seconomicexperiences,socializationexperiences,relationshipswithwomenand withchildren,andhistoricalcontextsproducedifferent deologies towardgen-der and family (Gerson 1993). Developing a complete understanding f genderstructuresn thetwenty-first enturyrequiresa morecomplex conceptionof men'sand women's behaviors and attitudes that incorporateperiod, cohort, and life


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course influences.Onlyby considering hese influences,and men's and women'sreactions/resistance o them,can genderequalitybe achieved.

NOTES1.Analysesthatdidnotcollapsetheresponsecategoriesalso were conducted.The resultsdo not dif-fer significantlyfromthe resultsreportedhere.2. Because this scale includesonly two items,the alphacoefficientis relatively ow. Analysesthattestedtheeffectsof theindependent ariablesoneachofthese itemsseparately howedresultssimilar othosereportedhere. Inaddition,creatingone seven-item scale masksseveralof the differenteffects of

independentvariables hatemergewhen two scales areused.3.Thesample s slightlysmaller or thescaleof attitudes oward eparate pheresbecausefewermenhad validresponsesforall five attitude tems included n this scale. Thesampleanalyzedon this scaleincludes3,139respondents: 93pre-babyboomers,1,720babyboomers,and526post-babyboomers.4. The organizationof this section is modeled after Hunterand Sellers(1998).5. The characteristicsof men in the Othercategorydifferby cohort. Most pre-baby boom menwhose work statusis otherareretired; orbabyboom men,most areunemployed;and for post-babyboom men, most are in school. Analyses thatexamined each of these work statusgroupsseparatelyinsteadof collapsingthem into a singleOthercategorywere conducted.The resultsdid notdifferfromthe groupedresults.6. Analysesto test for effects of thewordingchangewereconducted,andthe differencehas no effecton the resultsreportedhere.7. Less than0.5 percentof respondentsdid notreporta religious preference,andthey are excludedfrom the analysis.8. These arenotmutually xclusivecategories.Forexample,arespondentmay dentifyas both Afri-canAmerican andHispanic origin.9. Because allof thesevenitems were not asked neachsurvey, he scales excludethefollowingsur-vey years: 1974, 1975, 1982, and 1983.

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Ciabattari / MEN'S GENDER IDEOLOGIES 591

TeresaCiabattari sfinishingherPh.D. at the Universityof Washingtonnd will be an assistantprofessor of sociology at WakeForestUniversity n August2001. Her dissertation examinesgenderedhouseworkpatterns in marriage, remarriage,and cohabitation.In addition,she isdevelopingaprojecttoinvestigate heeffectsoffamilystructure n women spovertydynamics.

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Changes in Men's Conservative Gender Ideologies