Attitudes Towards the Role of Women in Society

World Values Survey: 2010-2014

Benjamin S. Knight

June 12, 2016

Are Gender Roles Culturally Prescribed or Economically Derived?

 

   

- A striking correlation exists between between economic development (measured in Gross national income (GNI) per capita) and gender inequality (mmeasured by the U.N. Gender Inquality Index (GII).

- Outliers such as Qatar and Kuwait suggest that cultural factors are also at work.

The World Values Survey

    - A global research project that explores people’s values and beliefs

- Pioneered by Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel (2005)

- Posits 2 dimensions: Traditional versus Secular-rational and Survival versus Self-expression

Subsetting the Confucian Cultural Sphere

 

X-Axis: Extent of disagreement with the notion “Men are more entitled to employment than women.”

Y-Axis: Extent of disagreement with the notion “Women out-earning men certainly causes problems.”

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Gross National Income in East Asia

  Gross National Income (GNI) Per Capita (Purchasing Power Parity, 2013)

 

 

- Japan: $37,790

- South Korea: $33,440

- China: $11,850

Summary

  • Limiting the analysis to China, Japan, and South Korea, we observe an inverse correlation between gross national income (G.N.I.) per capita and the national mean level of support for traditional gender roles.

  • In 2013, Japan's G.N.I. per capita was more than 3 times that of China. However, Japanese respondents to the World Values Survey expressed higher levels of support for the idea that men are more entitled to employment vis-a-vis women, and lower levels of disagreement with the notion that women earning more than their husbands is intrinsically a cause of problems.

Summary

  • One possible explanation is that the samples are biased, and may have unequal ratios of female and male respondents. Further study will need to ensure that this potential confounder is taken into account.

  • A more intriguing hypothsis is that economic development may ENABLE traditional gender roles. In other words, families in developing economies may be less likely to be able to afford single-income households.

  • In sum, depending on the country in question, economic devlopment may strengthen traditional gender roles despite the fact that economic development broadly correlates with more egalitarian attitudes towards men and women's places in society.