Trait Judgments of Stay-At-Home and Employed Parents: A Function of Social Role and/or Shifting Standards?

Abstract

Primarily middle-class, White college students (n = 484) read a brief description of a stay-at-home or employed mother or father, estimated how often the target performed several parenting behaviors, and rated her/him on communion and parenting effectiveness. Results showed that respondents estimated more parenting behaviors for mothers than fathers in both roles, gave stay-at-home mothers and fathers similar trait ratings, and viewed employed mothers as lower in communion and parenting effectiveness than fathers. The behavioral findings indicate that social role does not override the effect of gender on trait judgments. It is likely that the observed null and counterstereotypical effects of gender are due to the operation of shifting standards of judgment that reflect within-gender expectations.Research on gender stereotypes has shown that attributes believed to be representative of women reflect a concern about the welfare of others, whereas those seen as typical of men are characterized by a desire for task completion and goal attainment (e.g., Spence & Buckner, 2000). Alice Eagly and her colleagues (e.g., Eagly, Wood, & Diekman, 2000) propose that these stereotypes stem from the long-term association of women with the domestic role and men with the provider role. According to their social role theory, the homemaker role, particularly its strong emphasis on childrearing, involves numerous caregiving behaviors, whereas the provider role demands instrumental activities. The differential role-related behaviors involved in the domestic and worker roles then give rise to different correspondent inferences about the internal dispositions of individuals in these roles. The greater involvement of women than men in domestic behaviors leads to the perception that women are especially communal, that is, concerned about the welfare of others. Correspondingly, men's longer history of workforce participation gives rise to the view that they are especially agentic or task-oriented.

Ambivalent sexism and perceptions of men and women who violate gendered family roles

“…Although social judgments and evaluations play an important role in facilitating or inhibiting the pursuit of greater gender equality, relatively few studies have explored people's perceptions of men and women who violate traditional family roles (e.g., Bridges et al, 2002;Part et al, 2008). These studies have mainly focused on the valence of people's responses, comparing participants' perceptions of individuals who conform to traditional gender roles and their perceptions of those who challenge these roles.…”

“…Ample research has been conducted in an attempt to account for the persistence of gender inequality in the home (see for a review Lachance-Grzela & Bouchard, 2010), which in turn also contributes to the gender pay gap (Gershuny, 2004). Many researchers have drawn attention to the important role played by gender attitudes and ideologies in inhibiting or facilitating changes in the division of labor (e.g., Bulanda, 2004;Gaunt, 2006;Greenstein, 1996), some of them specifically addressing people's perceptions of men and women who violate traditional family roles (e.g., Bridges, Etaugh, & Barnes-Farrell, 2002;Park, Smith, & Correll, 2008).…”

Communion and agency judgments of women and men as a function of role information and response format

“…An experiment by Bosak, Sczesny, and Eagly (2007) supported social role theory by showing that information about social roles reduced judged stereotypical communal and agentic sex differences on a common-rule measure that eliminated standard shifts. In contrast, an experiment by Bridges, Etaugh, and Barnes-Farrell (2002) The present research is therefore designed to investigate whether the tendency of social role information to reduce gender stereotyping can be accounted for by judges' shift to within-sex standards in the presence of role information. As in previous studies (e.g., Eagly & Steffen, 1984, 1986, participants rated male and female targets described as full-time employees or homemakers or without role information.…”

Perceptions of Mothers and Fathers Who Take Temporary Work Leave

“…Early research in the area of work and family largely focused on perceptions of working mothers (e.g., Orza 1992, 1993). Later research compared perceptions of working and stay-at-home mothers and fathers (e.g., Brescoll and Uhlmann 2005;Bridges et al 2002). More recently, researchers have begun to investigate taking family leave after the birth of a child as an additional option for working parents (e.g., Allen and Russell 1999;Bridges and Orza 1993;Wayne and Cordeiro 2003).…”