ERIC Number: ED184961
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1980-Apr
Pages: 20
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Relationships among Sex Role Orientations, General Attitudes Toward Women, and Specific Attitudes Toward Women in a Managerial Role.
Irvine, Jacqueline Jordan
Results are reported of a study to determine whether androgynous persons (characterized as lacking stereotypic concepts of maleness and femaleness) have more positive attitudes toward women than persons of other sex role orientations. Specifically, the study examines attitudes toward appropriate societal roles and the appropriate role of women in managerial professions. The sample consisted of 77 male and 124 female graduate students in education. Data were collected using 1) the Bem Sex Role Inventory which measured androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated sex role orientations; 2) the Attitude Toward Women Scale (Spence and Helmreich); 3) the Attitudes Toward Women as Managers Scale (Peters, Terborg, and Taynor); and 4) a questionnaire which measured subjects' perception of their androgyny on a scale from one to ten. Results indicated that androgynous students were not significantly more liberal toward women either in an unspecified or specified occupational role than were those identified as masculine, feminine, or undifferentiated. These results raised the issue as to whether the possession of sex-linked traits implies any particular type of attitude toward the role of women. The question of the validity of the Bem Sex Role Inventory is also raised. The conclusion is that more research is needed into how organizational variables such as superordinate, subordinate, and peer expectations, reward systems, and status systems influence attitudes and behavior toward women. (KC)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (Boston, MA, April 7-12, 1980).