Social identification and gender-related ideology in women and men

The nature of women's and men's gender‐derived social identification was examined with a focus on the relationships between aspects of identity and gender‐related ideology. Measures of social identification, sex‐role ideology, and the perception of women's collective disadvantage were completed by 171 women and 91 men who categorized themselves as either traditional, non‐traditional or feminist. Factor analysis provided support for a multidimensional conception of gender‐derived social identification, with viable subscales reflecting in‐group ties, cognitive centrality, and in‐group affect. For self‐identified non‐traditional and feminist women, the cognitive centrality of gender was greater, and more consistently related to gender‐related ideology, than for traditional women. Traditional men reported stronger in‐group ties and more positive gender‐linked affect than did non‐traditional men, but men's levels of identification were generally weakly related to gender‐related ideology. The utility of considering both multiple dimensions and ideological correlates of group identification is discussed with reference to social identity theory