Evolution of Gender Stereotypes in Spain: Traits and Roles

The aim of this study is twofold: to determine whether (and how) gender stereotypes have changed over time through a comparison of two different sets of data collected in 1993 (N = 1255) and 2001 (N = 1255) from a representative sample of the Spanish population, and to examine the relation between gender traits and roles and its stability over time. In addition, special attention is paid to the psychometric properties of the measures of gender traits and roles used in the study. The content of gender stereotypes was found to remain stable over the target period of time, confirming the classical typology (a higher assignment of expressive-communal traits to women and of instrumental-agentic traits to men). The structure of the gender-role questionnaire allows us to distinguish between family-role and work-role stereotyping. Gender-role stereotyping shows a marked decline between 1993 and 2001, a result that contrasts with the stability of trait-role stereotyping. The fact that a very low correlation is observed at the two time points between these two components of gender stereotyping strongly suggests their independence. En este estudio se persigue un doble objetivo: comprobar la evolución de los estereotipos de género en dos aplicaciones, efectuadas en 1993 (N = 1255) y 2001 (N = 1255), ambas con muestras representativas de la población española, y analizar la relación que existe entre rasgos y roles, examinando si se han producido cambios en esa relación con el paso del tiempo. Asimismo, se analizan las propiedades psicométricas de las medidas de rasgo y de rol empleadas. Los resultados muestran que el contenido de los estereotipos de rasgo no se ha modificado, confirmándose la clásica tipología en la que se asignan más rasgos expresivo-comunales a las mujeres que a los hombres y, por el contrario, más rasgos instrumental-agentes a los hombres. La estructura del cuestionario de roles, permite diferenciar entre estereotipia de rol familiar y estereotipia de rol laboral. Al comparar la evolución de los estereotipos en este periodo, se observa un descenso en la estereotipia de la población española, más acusada en el componente de rol que en el de rasgo. La correlación entre ambos componentes es muy baja o no significativa, sin que se observen cambios importantes en la evolución de esa relación. Estos resultados parecen corroborar la independencia entre los componentes de rasgo y de rol.

[1]  A. Eagly,et al.  Stereotypes as Dynamic Constructs: Women and Men of the Past, Present, and Future , 2000 .

[2]  S. Fiske,et al.  Beyond prejudice as simple antipathy: hostile and benevolent sexism across cultures. , 2000, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[3]  A. Eagly,et al.  Explaining Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Perspective , 1991 .

[4]  P. Glick,et al.  Education and Catholic Religiosity as Predictors of Hostile and Benevolent Sexism Toward Women and Men , 2002 .

[5]  Mercedes López Aguado,et al.  Estereotipos de género y valores , 1994 .

[6]  A. Eagly,et al.  The origins of sex differences in human behavior: Evolved dispositions versus social roles , 1987 .

[7]  R. Helson.  Masculinity and Femininity: Their Psychological Dimensions, Correlates, and Antecedents , 1979, Psychological Medicine.

[8]  M. White,et al.  Implicit and Explicit Occupational Gender Stereotypes , 2006 .

[9]  P. Glick,et al.  Evaluations of Sexy Women In Low- and High-Status Jobs , 2005 .

[10]  C. Martin.  A ratio measure of sex stereotyping , 1987 .

[11]  M. Brewer,et al.  The primacy of age and sex in the structure of person categories , 1989 .

[12]  H. Markus,et al.  Self-schemas and gender. , 1982 .

[13]  Milagros Sáinz Ibáñez,et al.  Mujeres ingenieras: percepciones sobre su vida profesional , 2004 .

[14]  E. Borgida,et al.  Who women are, who women should be: Descriptive and Prescriptive Gender Stereotyping in Sex Discrimination , 1999 .

[15]  J. Spence,et al.  Instrumental and Expressive Traits, Trait Stereotypes, and Sexist Attitudes: What Do They Signify? , 2000 .

[16]  J. Morales,et al.  Bases para la construcción de un sistema de indicadores sociales de estereotipia de género , 1993 .

[17]  A. Eagly,et al.  A cross-cultural analysis of the behavior of women and men: implications for the origins of sex differences. , 2002, Psychological bulletin.

[18]  T. Eckes,et al.  A closer look at the complex structure of gender stereotypes , 1991 .

[19]  R. Helmreich,et al.  Masculinity & femininity: Their psychological dimensions, correlates, and antecedents , 1978 .

[20]  S. Fiske,et al.  Sexism and other "isms": Independence, status, and the ambivalent content of stereotypes. , 1999 .

[21]  S. Bem.  Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing. , 1981 .

[22]  Jane D. Parent,et al.  Gender and Managerial Stereotypes: Have the Times Changed? , 2002 .

[23]  B. P. Allen.  African Americans’ and European Americans’ Mutual Attributions: Adjective Generation Technique (AGT) Stereotyping1 , 1996 .

[24]  C. E. Seta,et al.  Compensation for Inconsistencies: The Effects of Stereotype Strength on Expectations of Applicants’ Job Success and Satisfaction , 2005 .

[25]  A. Eagly,et al.  Envisioning Oneself as a Leader: Comparisons of Women and Men in Spain and the United States , 2006 .

[26]  Gender-related traits and gender ideology: evidence for a multifactorial theory. , 1993, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[27]  Charles Stangor,et al.  Categorization of individuals on the basis of multiple social features. , 1992 .

[28]  K. Deaux,et al.  Structure of gender stereotypes: Interrelationships among components and gender label. , 1984 .

[29]  Neil Selwyn,et al.  e-Learning or she-learning? Exploring students' gendered perceptions of education technology , 2007, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[30]  J. L. G. Castro,et al.  The impact of context on gender social identities , 1999 .

[31]  S. Trentham,et al.  Should We Take “Gender” Out of Gender Subtypes? The Effects of Gender, Evaluative Valence, and Context on the Organization of Person Subtypes , 2001 .

[32]  K. Deaux,et al.  Level of categorization and content of gender stereotypes. , 1985 .

[33]  C. Ximénez,et al.  Comparación de los métodos de estimación de máxima verosimilitud y mínimos cuadrados no ponderados en el análisis factorial confirmatorio mediante simulación Monte Carlo , 2005 .

[34]  S. Karau,et al.  Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. , 2002, Psychological review.

[35]  J. Leyens,et al.  El efecto del estatus en la atribución de las dimensiones estereotípicas de sociabilidad y competencia , 2005 .

[36]  Clark McCauley,et al.  Stereotyping: From prejudice to prediction. , 1980 .

[37]  S. Bem.  The measurement of psychological androgyny. , 1974, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[38]  Birgit Schyns,et al.  Gender Stereotypes and the Attribution of Leadership Traits: A Cross-Cultural Comparison , 2004 .

[39]  Aaron C. Kay,et al.  Exposure to benevolent sexism and complementary gender stereotypes: consequences for specific and diffuse forms of system justification. , 2005, Journal of personality and social psychology.