Multidimensionality of Gender Ideology and Relationships With Gendered Practices: An Exploratory Analysis Across Europe in 2002 and 2012

Many researchers assume a one-dimensionality of gender ideology constructs and/or stability of dimensions across countries and time, yet these assumptions have rarely been tested. WE apply factor analyses on two waves of the International Social Survey Programme in 2002 and 2012, and comparable European countries to test this. Our results show that gender ideologies can be distinguished into distinctive domains that relate to mother’s employment, women’s work, men’s role in the family, and finally women’s breadwinning. These dimensions have be found to be relatively stable across countries and time. Results from regression models investigating different aspects of the gender division of labour suggest that distinguishing dimensions is less important when considering gender ideologies at the individual level but can make a big difference when examining gender culture at the country level.