Gender-Role Attitudes

Measuring Gender-Role Attitudes

Several widely used scales assess gender-role attitudes. Each of these scales measures slightly different aspects of gender-role attitudes. The scale most often used by researchers is the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS), originally published by Janet Spence and Robert Helmreich in 1972. This scale measures agreement with the traditional division of labor, with women being housewives (sample items: “It is ridiculous for a woman to drive a truck and for a man to dust furniture” or “Women should worry less about their rights and more about becoming good wives and mothers”) and men being supported in their roles as workers (a sample reverse coded item is, “There should be a strict merit system in job appointment and promotion without regard to sex”). Other items include these: Telling dirty jokes should be mostly a masculine prerogative, the initiative in dating should come from a man, and the husband has in general no obligation to inform his wife of his financial plans. Other items include that a woman should not expect to go to exactly the same places or to have quite the same freedom of action as a man. Thus, the emphasis is on male dominance in relationships. A person who agrees with these traditional attitudes is labeled as “sexist” by researchers using this scale. Those who disagree with these ideas and prefer that women and men be treated equally in the workplace and believe that women should have equal rights with men in the home are labeled as egalitarian or nonsexist. Although the original version had 55 items, most researchers prefer to use a briefer 15-item version of the AWS.

Many newer scales have been published, but none has been widely used. In selecting an appropriate scale for measuring gender-role attitudes, it is important to assess exactly what the scale is measuring. The AWS focuses on views of equality for women and men in the workplace and of division of household labor. A few items assess interpersonal communication or other aspects of relationships. Issues such as the acceptability of men engaging in nontraditional activities outside the workplace are not addressed, nor is general positivity toward women or men.

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