Student Teacher Attitudes to Sex Role Stereotyping: some Australian data

The sex role attitudes of 461 teacher education students were measured on a 32-item questionnaire. Chi-square analyses produced significant effects for gender on 22 of the items, showing that the females were more egalitarian than the males. However, most of the students adopted an egalitarian stance on many, though not all, of the items. Responses to some items (women getting drunk and swearing, corporal punishment, boys doing heavy chores, and boys dressing up and playing with dolls) suggest that some traditional stereotypes may be particularly resistant to change. The data also suggest that students may adopt egalitarian attitudes out of self-interest rather than as a matter of principle, and are more accepting of general principles of gender equity than of specific practices designed to achieve it. Finally, although there is some evidence of ambivalence among the students, particularly the males, it is more accurate to characterise these students as definite in their gender attitudes.