Rethinking Feminine Gender Roles and their Related Cultural and Social Determinants A Case Study of Married Women in Shiraz, Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Corresponding Author: Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Kashan

2 Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, University of Kashan

3 Full Professor of Sociology, University of Kashan

4 Full Professor of Sociology, University of Shiraz

Abstract

In the last few decades, women have sought an identity beyond their roles at home and in the family by challenging their traditional roles and redefining their gender roles. Rethinking gender roles depends upon one’s attitude and beliefs about it. The purpose of this study was to investigate women's attitudes to gender roles and to explain the cultural and social factors affecting them. This study has been conducted quantitatively using the causal-correlational descriptive method in the years 2018 and 2019. In this study, 600 married women were selected from the eleven districts of Shiraz using a questionnaire and the proportionate stratified sampling method. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS software, descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation, t-test, analysis of variance and multivariate regression). The results showed that 21.5% of the respondents considered the traditional feminine roles in social, occupational and family areas to be the most important roles of women; rethinking highly, 13% believed there is the least difference in masculine and feminine roles; and 65.5% had a moderate attitude. It was further revealed that there is a significant relationship between the variables of age, employment status, education, income, socioeconomic status, duration of marriage, extent of using mass media and women's virtual communication networks, as well as their husbands’ income and occupational status, on the one hand, and their rethink of gender roles, on the other. The results of simultaneous multivariate regression also indicated that education, economic and social status, use of Instagram and television and husbands’ occupational status are the most important factors which explain women's rethinking of gender roles.

Keywords

References

Barber, J. S., & Axinn, W.G. (1998). Gender Role Attitudes and Marriage among Young Women, the Sociological Quarterly, 39, 1, 11-31.
Break Well. Glynsm.M (1990). Social beliefs aboat gender diffrencese in Colin Fraser and Gorge Gaskell. The social Psychological Study of Widespread beliefs, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Brewster, K and Padvic, I (2000). Change in Gender-Ideology1977–1996: The Contributions of Intracohort Change and Population Turnover, Journal of Marriage and the Family 62: 477–487.
Burt, M. (1991). Rape myths and acquaintance rape. In A. Parrot & L.Bechhofer (Eds), Acquaintance rape: The hidden. New York: Wiley. 26-40.
Carr, J. L., & VanDeusen, K. M. (2004). Risk factors for male sexual aggression on college campuses. Journal of Family Violence, 19, 5, 279-289.
Cunningham, M. (2008). Influences of gender ideology and housework allocation on women’s employment over the life course, Social Science Research, 37, 254–267.
Cunningham, M., Beutel, A.M., & et al. (2005). Reciprocal relationships between attitudes about gender and social contexts during young adulthood, Social Science Research, 34, 862–892.
Fung Anthony and Eric Ma (2000). Formal value, Informal use of Television and sex role stereo typing in Hong Kong statistical data, sex roles, 42(1):57-81
García-C. E, Francisco Javier Rodríguez-Díaz , Carolina Bringas-Molleda, Javier López-Cepero, Susana Paíno-Quesada, Luis Rodrígue-Franco. (2015). Development of the Gender Role Attitudes Scale (GRAS) amongst young Spanish people, International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 15, 1, 61:68.
Gerson, K (1991). Coping with commitment: dilemmas and conflicts of family life, Wolfe, America at century's end, Berkeley:  university of California press.
Glick, P., Sakalli-Ugurlu, N., Ferreira, M. C., & Aguiar de Souza, M. (2002). Ambivalent sexism and attitudes toward wife abuse in Turkey and Brazil, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 4, 292-297.
Glover, D. &Sheelagh Strawbridg, Mohamad Tavakol.(2015) Translators: S.Behyan.  H.HAJI heydari, J. MohamADI, M.Mehdizadeh, H.Malek, The sociology of Knowledge & science, Swmat.
Guilbert, D.E. & Vacc, N.A. & Pasley, K. (2000). The relationship of gender beliefs, negativity, distancing, and marital instability Journal of the family, 8,124.
Heck, J. V. P., & Malamuth, N. M. (1983). Sex role stereotyping and reactions to depictions of stranger versus acquaintance rape. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 344-356.
Heilman, E (1998). The struggle for self power and identity in Adolecent Girls, Youth & society, 30, 2, 182-208.
Horkheimer, M. (1972). Critical Theory, translated by Matthew J. Oconnell and others, Continuum: New York.
Katz-Wise, S.L., & Priess, H.A and Hyde, J.S. (2010). Gender-role attitudes and behavior across the transition to parenthood, American Psychological Association, 46, 1, 18–28.
Kulik, L. (2006). Personality profiles, life satisfaction and gender-role ideologyamong couples in late adulthood: The Israeli case, Personality and Individual Differences 40(2), 317–329.
Lash, S., & Urry, J. (1994).  Economies of Signs and Space. London: Sage Press..
Liao, T. F., & CAI, Y. (1995). Socialization, life situations, and gender-role attitudes regarding the family among white American women. Sociological Perspectives, 38, 241–260.
Longman, L. (2003). Culture, Identity and Hegemony: The Body in a Global Age. Current Sociology, 51(3-4), 223–247.
Lovell. T. (2000). Thinking feminism with and against Bourdieu. Feminist theory. 1. 1, 11-32
Moony. Linda A. David. Knox and Carolin Schacht (2002). Understanding Social perablems. USA: Wadswordth Group.
Murray, C. C (2009). Adolescent and adult reasoning about gender roles and fairness in Benin, West Africa, Cognitive Development , 24 (2009) 207–219.
Parsons, T. (1995). Family Socialization and Interaction Process, NewYork.
Penn Lendon. P & Silverstein. M (2012). Gender role ideology and life course transitions of baby-boom women, Advances in Life Course Research, 17 191–198.
Turner, J.H. (2003) the Structure of Sociological Theory. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company
 
 
The Women and Families Cultural-Educational
Volume 14, Issue 49
Winter Quarterly 1398
March 2020
Pages 87-111

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 18 June 2019
  • Revise Date: 23 September 2019
  • Accept Date: 02 October 2019
  • Publish Date: 20 February 2020

Share

How to cite

Statistics