Gender Differences in Identity Processes and Self-Esteem in Middle and Later Adulthood

ABSTRACT

Gender differences were examined in the identity processes of identity assimilation (maintaining identity despite age changes), identity accommodation (changing identity) and balance (using both processes) and in the relationship of these processes to self-esteem. We tested a community sample of 222 adults (131 females and 91 males) ranging from 40 to 84 years of age (M = 57.5, SD = 12.1). Analysis of variance yielded evidence showing greater use of identity accommodation for women. Identity accommodation was negatively associated with self-esteem for both genders, while identity assimilation was positively associated with self-esteem for women only. For both men and women, identity balance was positively related to self-esteem. Women's use of the identity processes in relation to self-esteem is discussed. Societal views on aging are suggested to impact women, such that they engage in identity accommodation while benefiting from identity assimilation. From these findings, it appears that examining the processes contributing to the maintenance of self-esteem may be a more useful approach to characterizing the aging process and gender differences than focusing on mean differences alone.     

Gender and migration on the labour market: Additive or interacting disadvantages in Germany?

Despite substantial differences in labour market attainment according to gender and migration status, gender and ethnic differences in labour market behaviour are most often studied separately. In contrast, this study describes and analyses interactions between gender, ethnic background and immigrant generation with regard to labour market participation, part-time work, and occupational status. The double comparison aims to reveal whether gender gaps in these labour market outcomes among the majority population generalise to ethnic minorities. Moreover, we ask whether variation in gender gaps in labour market behaviour follows the patterns in migrants’ origin countries, and whether gender gaps show signs of intergenerational assimilation. Our heterogeneous choice and OLS regressions of 2009 German Microcensus data reveal considerable variation in gender gaps in labour market behaviour between East and West Germany, across ethnic groups and across generations. Intergenerational comparisons show that most ethnic minorities assimilate towards German patterns of gendered labour market attainment.     

Housework: Cause and consequence of gender ideology?

Nearly all quantitative studies examining the association between the division of housework and gender ideology have found that gender egalitarianism results in less housework for wives, more for husbands, and more equal sharing of housework by couples. However, a few studies suggest housework has a nontrivial influence on gender ideology. An overreliance on single-direction, single-equation regression models and cross-sectional data has limited past research from making strong claims about the causal relationship between gender ideology and housework. We use data on married couples from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households and nonrecursive simultaneous equation models to assess the causal relationship between housework and gender ideology. Results show a mutual and reciprocal relationship between the division of housework and gender ideology for both husbands’ and wives’. Reciprocity is strongest for husbands while for wives the relationship is partially indirect and mediated through their husbands’ gender ideologies.     

Flowers for Mom, a Tie for Dad: How Gender is Created on Mother’s and Father’s Day

Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations were investigated to understand how gender is created on these two occasions. Fifty-three heterosexual couples were interviewed about family holidays. Mother’s Day was given more attention than Father’s Day. Families spent more time celebrating; they were more likely to eat out, and were more likely to celebrate with others. Mothers were also more likely to receive gifts than fathers. The gendering of the holidays was reflected in the more stereotypical gifts received on Mother’s and Father’s Day than on birthdays, and in that mothers were more likely to report relief from chores on Mother’s Day than fathers were on Father’s Day (p < .01). Families in which women worked full-time and whose husbands contributed substantially to domestic labor were as likely to celebrate in gendered ways as traditional families were. These holidays reflect and promote hegemonic notions of the gendered nature of motherhood and fatherhood.

Gendered Careers in Post-Soviet Society: Views on Professional Qualifications in Surgery and Pediatrics

This study examines the medical profession in post-Soviet society, where women have been in the majority of the physicians for almost seven decades. It examines pediatricians’ and surgeons’ definitions of the professional skills and qualities needed for “good” work. Lithuania is used as a case study. Thirty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2005 with male and female surgeons and pediatricians in Lithuania. The results show that the gender composition of the specialty—surgery being a male-dominated and pediatrics a female-dominated specialty—tended to influence the way that physicians perceived the qualities needed for good work. For surgeons, male-gendered qualities were prerequisites for being a good surgeon: physical strength and being in control. Female surgeons added a female-gendered quality—empathy and compassion—that made them good surgeons. A good pediatrician had a holistic and empathic approach and an ability to communicate, which were seen as female-gendered skills. Male pediatricians experienced otherness in this specialty but did not, as women surgeons did, offer a counter discourse in order to legitimate themselves as being as skilled as women.

Cowboy of the World? Gender Discourse and the Iraq War Debate

In this article we examine the debate preceding the most recent war in Iraq to show how gendered framing can compromise the quality of debate. Drawing on a sample of national news discourse in the year before the war began, we show that both anti-war and pro-war speakers draw on binary images of gender to construct their cases for or against war. Speakers cast the Bush administration’s argument for invasion either as a correct “macho” stance or as inappropriate, out-of-control masculinity. The most prominent gendered image in war debate is that of the cowboy, used to characterize both President Bush and US foreign policy in general. The cowboy is positioned against a diplomatic form of masculinity that is associated with Europe and valued by anti-war speakers, but criticized by pro-war speakers. Articles that draw on gender images show a lower quality of the debate, measured by the extent to which reasons rather than ad hominem arguments are used to support or rebut assertions.

Part-Time Work and the Gender Division of Labor

In response to the incompatible demands of work and motherhood, many mothers seek out part-time work schedules. Although many mothers consider this option “the best of both worlds,” scholars are divided about whether part-time work is in women’s best interest because it is linked to the gender division of labor in the home, and hence, to gender inequality. In this paper, we investigate the mostly unintended consequences of part-time work on the gender division of labor within the household. Drawing on 54 in-depth interviews with mothers who voluntarily work part-time, we explore how mothers experience household work and child care arrangements when they work part-time. Three factors emerged as most important in understanding how part-time work can shape mothers’ experiences of the gender division of labor: pathway to part-time work, work location, and work schedule. Depending on these factors, part-time work may be experienced as either enhancing or undermining of the gender division of labor, and thus, as promoting or undermining gender equality in their families.

Gender Differences in Charitable Giving in Great Britain

The predominant part of the literature states that women are more likely to donate to charitable causes but men are more generous in terms of the amount given. The last result generally derives from the focus on mean amount given. This article examines gender differences in giving focusing on the distribution of amounts donated and the probability of giving using micro-data on individual giving to charitable causes for Great Britain. Results indicate that women are generally more generous than men also in terms of the amounts donated. Quantile regression analysis shows that this pattern is robust if we take into account gender differences in individual characteristics such as household structure, education, and income. The article also investigates differences in gender preferences for varying charitable causes. Results are presented separately for single and married people, highlighting the very different gender patterns of giving behaviour found in the two groups.

Diversity Management – Mittel zur Anti-Diskriminierung,neoliberales Phänomen oder alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen?

Diversity Management is getting more and more popular. This development is being criticized by agents of the gender-approach. They object that the diversity approach lacks a sufficient theoretical foundation and that it is a neoliberal concept. In this article we try to analyze the concept of diversity management with the means of the sociological systems theory and to put it in relation to the gender approach. Thereby we show that diversity management is an approach of organizational development which can proof useful for both the employees and the company.     

Gender preference,biased sex ratio,and parental investments in single-child households

This article investigates parental investments in single-child households. It shows that son preference triggers more parental investments in children and its effects are stronger on investments in sons. A rise in the sex ratio creates a marriage market squeeze. It, however, has ambiguous effects on investments in children, which depends on how strong these investments are as measures for influencing children’s marriage probability. A rise in the sex ratio may particularly raise investments in daughters and lower investments in sons, or vice versa, or it may induce more or less parental investments in both sons and daughters. If the sex ratio and preference of sons are correlated, then the effect of the preference for sons on investments in children is generally ambiguous. If the sex ratio is influenced by parental health investments, then son preference induces a higher sex ratio. However, the higher sex ratio has ambiguous effects on the subsequent parental investments before a child’s marriage. We also show that parental preference of child services over a child’s marital status may explain parental investments.