Gender attitudes: acceptance or choice Ko Oudhof Statistics Netherlands

Gender attitudes: acceptance or choice

• Ko Oudhof

• Statistics Netherlands

Steps

• Attitudes and measurement

• Theory of Hakim

• What’s the problem?

• Research design

• Results

• Conclusions

Attitudes (common elements in most definitions)

• Oriented on object, person, institution or event

• Evaluative component

• Cognitive component

• Affective component

• Stable condition or construct

• Intermediary between object stimulus and behavioural response: consistency

Hakim - preference theory

• Publication: Work-Lifestyle Choices in 21st Century (2000) etc.

• Heterogeneity of lifestyles of women possible because of new scenario

• Contraceptive revolution
• Equal opportunities revolution
• Expansion white collar occupations
• More jobs for secondary earners
• Subjective elements in lifestyle choices more important

• Three groups of preferences (of women)

• home-centred
• work-centred
• adaptive

Hakim on attitude measurement

• Preferences versus attitudes

• Subjective factor too often ignored

• More holistic approach (?)

• Researchers should measure more often values and attitudes by fewer questions

• Low predictability of behavior from attitudes

• Main reason: in attitude measurement public beliefs are confused with personal goals

Public moral versus personal preferences

• One should not discriminate xxx

• Which neighbour will you prefer…xxx or yyy

• People should use more often public transport

• From now on I will go to my work by public transport

• Women and men should divide paid work equally

• I/ my wife will go looking for a job tomorrow

• Men should do more housework

• From now on I/my husband will do ……

Testing public versus personal

• Both man and woman should contribute to the family income

• Man should earn the money, the woman should take care of household and family

• Men should do a larger part of the household chores than nowadays

• How we should divide our tasks at home has been subject of discussion

• I prefer to be the one who is working outside the home and will be responsible for the household income

• My partner thinks it's important that we divide paid work and caring tasks equally among ourselves

Testing criterion

• Assuming that persons in different situations will differ in relevant attitudes concerning that situation: which items will distinguish (explain, predict) better?

• Paid work

• Housework

• Child care

• All three: today + tomorrow

Multinomial logistic regression

• In logit analysis dependent is binary

• having job (yes/no)  odd (yes)=p/p-1

• When independent is binary (m=1/f=0)

• Odd (men)=p1/1-p1 and odd(women)=p2/1-p2 
• Odd ratio (men/women) = (p1/1-p1)/(p2/1-p2)

• When independent is multinomial

• Dummies: odd ratio is relative to reference category

• When dependent is multinomial

• Dummies: odd ratio is relative to reference category

• When independent is interval

• Coefficient is change in odds by change per unit

• So, odds ratio = 1 means (relatively) no effect

Analysis of items

• No assumptions on level of categories (as in PC or factoranalysis)

• HOMALS-analysis indicates

• Ordinality in scale in public items
• contrasts between neutral categories and one or two extreme categories in personal items
• Interpretation difficult: a) different situations in which issues are not very relevant b) preference less important than arrangements by mutual agreement

Conclusions

• Effect public as well as personal items

• Shortcomings in quality of items and answering categories: attitudes?

• Comparibility of public and personal items?

• Other relevant factors in personal choices?

• Conceptual issue: Choices on paid work and homework as one-dimensional problem?