Poll trends-Opinion about women role equality in

US
Shrenik Bohra and Dr. Mohammad Arshad Rahman

E-mail: bohrashrenik@gmail.com; marshad@iitk.ac.in

Abstract
Gender role equality is one of the eight millennium goals set up by United Nations(2003). Gender equality is an important goal because it helps to achieve other
goals set up by UN like universal primary school education for all, reducing child mortality, reducing poverty and hunger, and achieving environmental sustainability. From
1972 to 2008, opinion regarding gender role equality rose up from 40% about to about
80% in US. This report discusses the importance of gender role equality and the factors
responsible for this change over the years in the context of US.

Introduction
According to United Nations (UN), gender equality refers to ensuring of equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Gender role equality
means that roles of men and women would be defined biologically, not socially. As per UNs
sustainable goals for 2030 (September 2015), Achieving gender equality and empowering all
women and girls is on fifth priority, more important than Achieving access to affordable,
reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Its primary target is to eradicate all forms
of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
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Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (January 2015), UN women executive director quoted To make

the radical changes we want to see in the empowerment of women and gender equality, we
need to mobilize not just parliaments but populations, not only civil society but all society.
Before implementing any policy or doing any strategic intervention, it should be the mindset/opinion/beliefs/notions of people which should be changed.

Why Gender Equality is important?

Following points brief up the importance of gender role equality today:
Poverty Reduction
National Womens Law Center report of October 2015 stated that out of 23 million low-wage
workers, two-third are women, despite the fact that women are less than half of the overall
workforce. As per National Womens Law Center report of September 2015, more than one
by seven of womens population in the Unites States and about 18 million, lived in poverty
in 2014.
Education Empowerment
According to UNESCOs statistics on literacy and education(2015), 17% of worlds population is illiterate; two-third of them women, making gender equality harder to achieve; an
estimated 122 million youth globally are illiterate, of which young women represent 60.7%.
Their education deprivation disables them to access opportunities and make full use of their
talent. Enhancement of womens education made the single largest contribution to reduce
malnutrition in 63 countries over a 20 year period from 1975-1995. (Herz and Sperling, 2004)
Political Empowerment
Achieving gender equality would be very difficult without direct intervention of women in politics. To speak against discrimination, crime and violence against them, institutional participation is of utter importance for them. According to data compiled by Inter-Parliamentary
Union(IPU) in September 2015, out of 45,113 members of parliament(both houses) through2

out the world, only 10,162 members are women, which accounts for only 22.5% of the total.

Womens Right Movements in US

In 1920, the nineteenth amendment to the United States constitution granted voted rights to
women. Also, the Womens Bureau of the Department of Labor was formed to have a check
on working conditions for women and collect data regarding it. Presidents Commission on
the status of women was established in 1961, initially chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt. This
commission highlighted the gender discrimination for women at workplace. The Equal Pay
Act was passed in 1963, which forbid the discrimination on pay on the basis of gender. The
Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegitimate to have gender discrimination in hiring. In
1972, Supreme Court passed Title IX of the Education Amendments, which says No person
in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied
the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity
receiving federal financial assistance. This amendment was introduced in 1923, but it took
over 50 years to sucessfully pass it. The amendment died in 1982 as it failed to be ratified
by an adequate number of stated. In 1973, Supreme Court ruled by Roe v. Wade ratified
womens right to safe and legal abortion. According to United Nations Treaty Collection
(UNTC) United States has only signed the treaty of UN Convention on the elimination of
all Forms of discrimination against women, but is not ratified till date.

Data
The study uses the data collected from American National Election Studies. This report
will study various demographic variables responsible for this dramatic change in opinion
regarding role equality over the years. Demographic Variables includes personal information
of a person like age, sex, race, religion, census region, family income, work status, education
level, marital status, etc.

American National Election Studies collects data every 2 years. 30757 entries were taken
during the period of 1972 to 2008. Out of these 30757 entries, 25475 entries have rated
their opinion on 7 point scale. Weights for every entry are taken into account. Opinion
was collected on a 7-point scale, where 1 means Men and women should have equal role
consideration, whereas 7 means that Womens place is in home. This report takes response
values only 1 and 2 as favorable values for equal role consideration.

Figure 1

Factors responsible for changing opinion

Age Group
From the table given below, we can see that in the year 1972, about 52% of people of age
17-24 were in the favor that Men and women should have equal role consideration, on the
other hand only 34% of people of age 75 and above believed in role equality. Similarly, in
the year 2008, about 85% of people of age 17-24 had opinion that Men and women should
have equal role consideration, whereas only 64% of people of age 75 and above believed in
role equality. (Bolzendahl and Myers,2004) Younger people are more open towards feminism
ideas because they have energy to change society and change the traditional setting. On the
other hand, as people grows old, it becomes difficult to change ideology of person at that
age. Thus, old people have thoughts which they used to have when they were young, which
makes them less supportive for gender equality ideas.

Table 1: Age-Group vs Gender Equality Opinion (in %)

Age-Group/Year

1972

1976

1980

1984

1988

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

17-24

52

54

56

50

67

79

72

76

80

85

25-34

43

55

61

58

67

72

75

76

79

88

35-44

42

49

52

55

67

72

72

73

73

80

45-54

36

41

51

51

58

68

72

76

79

77

55-64

39

38

36

39

45

56

64

66

73

79

65-75

39

33

43

32

45

56

52

66

70

75

75-99

34

32

47

28

33

53

48

59

52

64

Religion
From the table, we can see that on one hand only 40 percent of protestants believe in gender
role equality in 1972. However, in 1972, 74 percentage of jews believed it. In 2008 also,

similar pattern were observed. On one hand, only 77 percentage of protestants believed in
this concept, whereas on other hand 92 percentage of jews believed in it. Impact of religion
on opinion regarding role equality can be seen. From the data, we can see that jews are
seen to be more open in accepting this attitude as compared to Christians (both protestants
and catholics). Hoffmann and Miller(1997) made similar points that regardless of education
protestants are more conservative than jews, and catholics are somewhere between them.

Table 2: Religion vs Gender Equality Opinion (in %)

Religion/Year

1972

1976

1980

1984

1988

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

Protestants

40

41

47

44

55

62

64

67

68

77

Catholics

41

48

51

54

62

72

74

76

77

79

Jews

74

71

69

60

68

80

92

77

95

92

Others

49

66

66

62

74

76

76

78

84

86

Education
From the table given below, we can see that in the year 1972, about 33% of people having
education only from grade school or less were in the favour that Men and women should
have equal role consideration, on the other hand 56% of people having college or advanced
education believed in role equality. Similarly, in the year 2008, about 64% of people having
education only from grade school or less had opinion that Men and women should have
equal role consideration, whereas about 84% of people having college or advanced education believed in role equality (Cassidy and Warren, 1996). Education brings more liberal
ideas and remove myths behind gender stereotypes about roles.

Table 3: Education vs Gender Equality Opinion (in %)

Education/Year

1972

1976

1980

1984

1988

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

0-8 Grade

33

32

36

33

34

51

60

41

35

64

8-12 Grade

38

40

44

39

55

62

64

68

70

75

13-above (no degree)

50

56

63

58

63

72

72

77

79

85

Advanced Degree/College Pass

56

62

65

69

71

76

75

79

81

83

Church Attendance
Church Attendance is an important factor responsible for gender equality opinion. Only
68 percent of people who go to church have positive opinion regarding gender equality. On
the other hand, 84% of people who visit church only few times a year believe positively in
gender equality. Church as an institute believes in continuing the traditional tradition, and
are less open for new ideas. The results from the data support the points made by Hertel and
Hughes(1987) that church attendance is directly related to conservative mentality of family.

Table 4: Church-Attendance vs Gender Equality Opinion (in %)

Church Attendance/Year

1972

1976

1980

1984

1988

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

Every Week

34

34

34

38

47

52

51

61

60

68

Almost Every Week

40

40

50

45

61

68

73

78

74

83

Once or Twice a Month

45

48

49

50

58

68

72

73

70

82

A few time a Year

43

48

58

53

64

76

75

76

85

84

Never

47

58

58

54

57

74

74

74

79

82

Political Party Affiliation

Political party is also one of the factors affecting the opinion regarding gender role equality. As mentioned in the work of Levendusky and Matthew (2009) that liberals became
Democrats and conservatives became Republicans, similar could be inferred from the data.
Initially in the year 1972, there was not much difference in the percentage of people believing

in gender equality on the basis of political party affiliation, but in the year 2008, a difference of about 10% is seen between the Strong Republicans and Strong Democrats regarding
opinion about gender role equality.

Table 5: Party-Affiliation vs Gender Equality Opinion (in %)

Part Identification/Year

1972

1976

1980

1984

1988

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

Strong Democrat

40

46

53

54

58

71

72

78

81

82

Weak Democrat

42

47

50

50

58

71

77

78

75

80

Independent Democrat

52

49

60

57

67

75

77

73

84

84

Neutral

38

46

52

44

62

71

69

67

71

74

Independent Republican

43

52

54

46

57

63

69

68

72

81

Weak Republican

41

41

47

45

58

62

56

66

69

82

Strong Republican

37

38

42

44

52

52

52

64

62

73

Work Status
Work Status is an important factor responsible for gender role equality opinion. In the year
1972, 57 percentage of students believe positively for gender role equality. On the other
hand, in the year 1972 only 32 percentage of homemaker have positive opinion for gender
role equality. We can see the same in the year 2008, 93 percentage of students believe positively for gender role equality. On the other hand, in the year 2008 only 74 percentage of
retired and homemaker have positive opinion for gender role equality. Low opinion regarding
gender equality for retired people can also be traced from Table 1 as older people believe less
in gender equality. Davis and Robinson (1991) developed the argument that homemakers
are generally have less interest in maintaining gender equality because they are indirectly
benefited through their male spouses.

Table 6: Work Status vs Gender Equality Opinion (in %)

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Work Status/Year

1972

1976

1980

1984

1988 1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

Employed

44

50

53

55

64

71

73

74

77

82

Not Employed

48

50

52

49

55

63

65

69

76

78

Retired

47

39

46

36

43

57

54

66

66

72

Homemaker

32

32

42

29

45

58

58

70

60

74

Student

57

75

80

64

72

76

81

70

86

93

Conclusion
Tentative results show that factors like age, education,religion, church attendance, political
party affiliation, and work status affected the opinion regarding gender role equality in US.
The report has also looked on other factors like race, census region, marital status, etc. but
these factors not impacted this opinion.

References
(1) Anne Morrison and Katherine Gallagher Robbins.
Womens overrepresentation in low-wage jobs.
National Womens Law Center, Women in the low wage workforce chart book,October
2015.
(2) Barbara Herz and Gene B. Sperling.
What Works in Girls Education-Evidence and Policies from the Developing World.
Council on Foreign Relations, 2004.
(3) Catherine I. Bolzendahl and Daniel J. Myers.
Feminist Attitudes and Support for Gender Equality: Opinion Change in Women and
Men, 1974-1998.
Social Forces, Vol. 83, No. 2 (Dec., 2004), pp. 759-789.

(4) John P. Hoffmann and Alan S. Miller.

Social and Political Attitudes among Religious Groups: Convergence and Divergence
over Time.
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Mar., 1997), pp. 52-70.
(5) Margaret L. Cassidy and Bruce O. Warren.
Family Employment Status and Gender Role Attitudes- A comparision of women and
men college graduates.
Gender and Society, Vol. 10 No. 3, June 1996 312-319.
(6) Bradley R. Hertel and Michael Hughes.
Religious Affiliation, Attendance, and Support for Pro-Family Issues in the United
States.
Social Forces, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Mar., 1987), pp. 858-882.
(7) Nancy J. Davis and Robert V. Robinson.
Mens and Womens Consciousness of Gender Inequality: Austria, West Germany, Great
Britain, and the United States.
American Sociological Review, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Feb., 1991), pp. 72-84.
(8) Levendusky, Matthew.
The partisan sort: How liberals became Democrats and conservatives became Republicans.
University of Chicago Press, 2009.

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