Abstract
We investigate women's and men's willingness to engage in action on behalf of women, and we identify two distinct categories of behavior: action that aims to challenge gender inequality (feminist action) and action that aims to protect women from violence (protective action). Three online studies were conducted. For each study, a U.S. community sample was recruited. In Study 1 (n=602), women reported greater intentions to engage in feminist action than men did. Men, however, were just as willing as women to participate in protective action. In Study 2 (n=726), we replicated these gender differences and found that protective action was positively predicted by benevolent sexism among men. In Study 3 (N=582), we investigated why women reported greater intentions to engage in feminist action compared to men. We found that women were more aware of gender inequality, which was associated with identification as a feminist, and through this, intentions to engage in feminist action. Awareness of gender inequality also predicted intentions to engage in protective action among women. Men, however, were less aware of gender inequality, which was associated with the belief that feminist action leads to women having more rights than men do and subsequently greater willingness to participate in protective action. Our results can assist social policymakers and activists to develop appropriate campaigns for gender equality if their goal is to challenge, rather than protect women from, the status quo.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 505-518 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Sex Roles |
Volume | 79 |
Issue number | 9-10 |
Early online date | 6 Jan 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2018 |
Keywords
- sexism
- gender
- feminism
- collective action
- feminist consciousness
- zero-sum
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Helena Radke
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences - Lecturer in Social Psychology
- Edinburgh Neuroscience
Person: Academic: Research Active