Dependent Variables Examined

The dependent variable examined in this research paper were women’s attitudes towards sex roles in the workplace, the home, and in politics, as well as women’s perceptions of the treatment of women, as measured in the General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by the National Opinion Research Center. This included women’s answers to some of the following questions or the extent of their agreement (agree strongly, agree somewhat) or disagreement (disagree somewhat, disagree strongly) with the following statements. (Some edited for conciseness):
• It would be a good thing if women were allowed to be ordained as priests. (FEPRIEST)
• Do you favor or oppose women as pastors, ministers, priests, or rabbis . . . ? (FECLERGY)
• Women should take care of running their homes and leave running the country up to men. (FEHOME)
• Do you approve or disapprove of a married woman earning money in business or industry if she has a husband capable of supporting her? (FEWORK)
• If your party nominated a woman for president, would you vote for her? (FEPRES)
• Most men are better suited emotionally for politics than are most women. (FEPOL)
• How important is the women’s rights issue to you? (FEIMP)
• A working mother can establish just as secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work. (FECHLD)
• It is better if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and family. (FEFAM)
• If the husband in a family wants children, but the wife decides that she does not want any children, is it all right for the wife to refuse to have children? (FEBEAR)
• Do women have too much or too little influence in American life and politics? (FENFLU)
• What is the best way for women to improve their position: through women’s rights groups or for each individual woman to become better trained and more qualified? (FEGAINS)
• Does being a woman make your promotion opportunities better or worse? (SEXPROMO)
• Should women be given preference in hiring and promotion? (FEJOBAFF)
• How likely is a man not to get a promotion so a less qualified woman does? (DESCAFFM)
• How likely is a woman not to get a promotion so a less qualified man does? (DISCAFFW)
• Do you think of yourself as a feminist or not? (FEMINIST)
• When watching the news, how often do you pay attention to women’s issues? (FENEWS)
• How has the women’s to get preferential treatment when applying for jobs? (FEHLPCOL)
• What most women want is a home and children. (HOMEKID)
• Being a housewife is as fulfilling as working for pay. (HOUSEWRK)
• A man’s job is to earn money; a woman’s is to look after the home and family. (HUBBYWKI)
• It is bad if the man cares for the children and the woman goes out to work. (MRMOM)

A review of the results indicated that there was a lot of replication, so respondents’ agreement or disagreement with the following statements were selected for illustrative purposes and are discussed below:
• It is better if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and family.
• A working mother can establish just as secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work. 
These two statements cover, directly or indirectly, the issues of marital equality between men/husbands and women/wives and attitudes towards working mothers (now the majority of mothers with young children) and balancing obligations and responsibilities at home and work.  The results not reported in this document for agreement or disagreement to other attitude statements were consistent with the results to these two questions.