🦋 Meta-sexism
Matt Yglesias links this really interesting article in the Washington Post: Study Ties Wage Disparities To Outlook on Gender Roles. If I'm reading it correctly, it seems to be saying that traditional-minded sexist men earn substantially more money than "egalitarian" men, for similar work -- egalitarian men in turn earn more than egalitarian women, who earn more than sexist women. It would be interesting to see how the study separated people into "traditional-minded" and "egalitarian" baskets. With respect to the lowest-earning group, sexist women, the study's author asks, "If you were a traditional-minded woman, would you say, 'I am fine working the same hours as a traditional-minded man in the same industry with the same education but earning substantially less'? I don't think traditional-minded women would say that." This seems wrong to me -- it seems like the difference between "traditional-minded" women and the other groups is probably the easiest to explain in terms of self-image and expectations. (Caveat -- this depends on what is actually meant by "traditional-minded" in the context of the study. I am thinking of it as inoccuous shorthand for "misogynist," which was how the article seemed to be portraying it, but I have no idea how close to accurate that may be.)
 You can see more information about the study, including the participants form and a dissertation proposal, at Beth Livingston's site; Ms. Livingston is a co-author of the study.
posted afternoon of Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Interesting post---I thought I'd respond briefly since I'm a co-author of the study.
The study measured "sex role traditionalism" through a survey that asked 5 questions, like so: "How much do you agree/disagree with the following statements: 1. A woman's place is in the home. 2. Employment of wives leads to more juvenile delinquency. 3. Women are much happier if they stay home and take care of children" etc. Thus, traditional minded men thought that women SHOULD be responsible for the home sphere and men for work.
Hope that clears up some of the confusion! --all the best
posted afternoon of September 23rd, 2008 by Livingston
Thanks!
That sounds pretty close to what I was assuming was meant. I read "women SHOULD be responsible for the home sphere and men for work" (and particularly the statement "A woman's place is in the home") as a pretty clear proxy for classic patriarchal misogyny.
posted afternoon of September 23rd, 2008 by Jeremy
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