Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1988 > Committee on Women's Rights (2nd Committee) > Report No. 01 - Changing Attitudes to the Role of Women in Ireland Attitudes Towards the Role and Status of Women 1975-1986

APPENDIX

- Social Indicators of Equality -

CHANGING GENDER ROLE ATTITUDES IN IRELAND: 1975 - 1986

Vol. I: Attitudes towards the Role and Status of Women, 1975 - 1986

Margret Fine-Davis

Department of Psychology

Trinity College, Dublin

December 1987

- Report to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Women's Rights -

I INTRODUCTION

The purpose of the present study was to examine changing gender role attitudes during a period of rapid social change in Ireland, ie, the early 1970’s to the present, coinciding approximately with the United Nations Decade for Women. While similar phenomena have been occurring cross-culturally, for a number of unique reasons, Ireland, as compared with most other developed Western societies, has relatively more recently been coming to terms with issues related to the status of women.

Part of this lag may have been due to Ireland’s island status and consequent geographic isolation from the rest of Europe. Ireland has also been primarily an agrarian society, and its economic and industrial development did not gain momentum until the early 1960’s. The agrarian nature of the culture had a historical impact on the nature of gender roles in the society by virtue of economic considerations (Lee, 1978). A further important factor influencing the role and status of women in this country has been the strong influence of the Roman Catholic Church, to which 95% of the population belong. In many cultures religious teachings have helped to shape, and been a prime reinforcer of, traditional gender roles. The influence of the Judaeo-Christian tradition on the development and perpetuation of traditional sex-role attitudes and behaviour has been well documented (e.g., Reuther, 1974; Daly, 1975; Farley, 1976). However, even among Catholic countries in general, in Ireland the Church has had a particularly strong influence on the formation and maintenance of traditional values surrounding women’s roles (Robinson, 1978; Flanagan, 1975).

The influence of Church teachings on the norms and values of the society have been complemented by laws of the State, and underpinned by passages in the Irish Constitution (drafted in 1937 and still in force) concerning the role of women:

2.1In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.

2.2The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers should not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.

(Article 41.2)

Thus, for a number of reasons, progress toward the attainment of equal status for women has not been as rapid in Ireland as it has been in most other European countries or in the United States. However, these factors, while they may help to explain the reasons for Ireland’s relative traditionalism in this sphere and lag in progress vis á vis other European countries and the U.S., do not explain the context from which the attitudes toward women arose. In order to more fully understand attitudes toward the role and status of women today, it may be helpful to see where they “come from” historically. The present study is not a historical one, but rather a social psychological one. Nevertheless, it would appear useful to step back into Irish history - if however briefly and sketchily - to overview the chronology of key facts and events which may help us to better understand the socio-cultural sources of present day attitudes toward the role of women.

A. Socio-Cultural and Historical Context

The earliest information about the role and status of women in early Irish society comes from mythology and folklore. Irish mythology began to be written down in the sixth century; however, there is little agreement as to the dating of the culture being written about and, in fact, a potential span from 1,000 B.C. to 1,000 A.D. is possible, although there is general agreement that Irish mythology involves much pre-Christian information (Wood, 1985).

It is clear that in Ireland goddesses were worshipped, as well as gods. These goddesses were primarily associated with fertility, protection of flocks and herds and with the security of land and people. The principal goddess referred to in Irish myths was the goddess of sovereignty, who symbolised the land of Ireland. “.... in these stories .... the prospective king was required to perform the ’banfheis rigi, or marriage of sovereignty, with the goddess of the land to ensure the acceptance of his kingship by its people” (Ibid., p.16, citing MacCana, 1980). This may be the original source of the perception of the country as feminine in gender.

However, not all of the goddesses were gentle and protective. There is a rich history of Irish war goddesses. One “triple” goddess who is well-documented in Irish history was the triad of Morrigan, Badb and Macha. Their role in war was, however, not a combative one but rather involved tactics of “psychological warfare”. They apparently instilled terror and panic in the opponent through magical powers and by their very presence (Wood, 1985). This tactic would appear to have been mirrored in the Sheela-na-gigs of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These blatant images of female sexuality were put high up over doors and windows in churches and castles in the probable hope that they would give protection against destructive forces (Ibid.).

While some of the warrior goddesses did not fight, others did. The most famous of these was Queen Medb (Maeve), who is generally accepted as a goddess in human form. She was commander of her army, expert in the use of weapons and an active participant in battle. Another famous legendary figure in this tradition, though from a somewhat later period, was Grace O’Malley, better known as Grainne Mhaol, who was a “pirate queen” and power-broker. Like the mythical Macha, who had to race against horses (and won), she too was roused from childbirth to fight (Ó hÓgáin, 1987). The historical evidence for women engaging in battle in Celtic societies occurs not only for Ireland, but also for Britain and Gaul and apparently in Ireland this behaviour is documented until well into the Christian era (Wood, op cit.).

Historical evidence further reveals that from the tenth century on queens emerged in their own right. Whereas prior to that time the terminology used was “the queen of the king of Tara”, after that point the usage was simply “the queen of Tara”. Ó Corráin (1978) sees this as reflecting a major rise in the status of women. The queens of this time exercised considerable political and social influence (Ibid.).

It is clear from this, that female images - whether they were goddesses or actual living people who took on a legendary character - were seen as powerful. Indeed women were believed to have special powers that men did not have (Ó hÓgáin, op. cit..). This power can also be seen in the mythical figure of the banshee - “a solitary, crying, female supernatural being” who has the power to “proclaim deaths which are imminent or have just occurred” (Lysaght, 1985). However, while many legendary female figures were portrayed as powerful, Irish folklore also provides evidence that the average woman’s primary responsibilities were indoors and those of men outdoors. In describing women’s lives in the fairy legends, Bourke (1987) observes that women’s power is “emotional and moral”, whereas men’s is “economic and political”. Women are the “interpreters”. They “know what is going on” (Ibid).

Ó Corráin notes that “early Irish society was patriarchal: the legal and political life was governed by men” (1978, p.1). This state of affairs apparently held for the earliest period for which there are written records - the sixth and early seventh centuries. However from the late seventh and early eighth century the situation changed fairly rapidly. The reasons for this are a matter of debate among scholars (Ibid). Women were granted extensive rights during this period, particularly in regard to marriage, divorce and property rights. It is to be emphasised that we are referring here to secular law. Under early Irish Church law, while separation or divorce was possible in the case of adultery, one could not take another spouse during the lifetime of the first. Ó Corráin observes that

.... the balance of the evidence, secular and ecclesiastical alike, would tend to indicate that at least among the aristocracy the older customs remained the norm. And despite the intense activity of the 12th century reformers, secular marriage, with its tolerant attitude to divorce continued in Ireland until the close of the middle ages. (Ibid., p.7).

The wide ranging and flexible grounds for divorce available to women under the Brehon Laws “served as a guarantee of extensive women’s rights and protected women in a way which was remarkably different from the customs of other European countries” (Ibid., p.8). Quoting the German scholar Knock (in Binchy, 1936, p.262), Ó Corráin goes on to state: “‘The possibility of more or less easy dissolution of marriage will be evaluated differently according to one’s outlook, but the care which is evident for the individual personality of the woman in Irish marriage law is a widely shining landmark in this early period of western history as compared with the unrespected position of women in earlier times and other societies’ ” (Ibid.).

Ó Corráin believes that historical developments which followed, beginning with the Norman invasion in 1169 and followed by the imposition of English law in the early seventeenth century had the effect of curtailing the natural development of these Gaelic customs:

As a result, in its attitude to women and their place in society - as in its attitude to many other matters - modern Ireland enjoys no continuity with its Gaelic past.

(Ó Corráin 1978, p.11)

Following the Norman invasion, Ireland was partly conquered and colonised. For approximately four hundred years two different communities - the Gaels and the Anglo-Normans lived side by side, each with their own legal system. The Gaels continued to live under the Brehon Laws, although these were modified to some extent in the later period, and the Anglo-Normans lived under the system of English Common Law. The latter, which reflected standard practice in most of Western Europe, was less egalitarian than the Brehon Laws in the rights it accorded to women (Simms, 1978).

Thus the position of Irish women did not deteriorate until the conquest and plantations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by the English. From then until the Famine, women

were totally without formal political rights; … their property and inheritance rights both within and outside of marriage were now governed by English common law, and … theirs was a subject and subsidiary role to the male, and it was performed, for the most part, within a domestic context (O Tuathaigh, 1978, p.26).

The Great Famine of 1846 further weakened the position of women in Irish society. Prior to the Famine women had had an important role both in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. The famine affected this situation in various ways. One major effect was to essentially wipe out domestic spinning, which had been the major source of women’s independent income. Women’s role in agriculture also diminished as it became more focussed on livestock and less on tillage, and thus became less labour intensive. These and other effects are discussed in detail by Lee (1978).

The deterioration in the economic status of women affected their marriage prospects and made them vulnerable to male dominance. This helped to explain the growing importance of the dowry after the Famine. As the woman made what was perceived as a lesser contribution to the farm, her “capital” became more important. Thus, daughters became more dependent on their fathers and had less independence in choosing a mate (Ibid). In discussing the position of women in Irish society following the Famine, Lee (1978) explains that:

Farmers would not normally dower two daughters. That would dissipate their savings, and drag the family down in the social scale. Marriage might be a sacrament, but for the farmer the marriage contract was essentially a commercial transaction, and it devalued the family currency to put two daughters on the marriage market. A society dominated by strong farmers, and providing little female employment, inevitably denied most of its children the chance of rearing a family in the country. It was therefore crucial to maintain the economic dominance of the new order that all thoughts of marriage in Ireland should be banished from the minds of the majority of Irish youth. Temptation must not be placed in their way. Sex, therefore, must be denounced as a satanic snare, in even what had been its most innocent pre-Famine manifestations. Sex posed a far more subversive threat than the landlord to the security and status of the family. Boys and girls must be kept apart at all costs. Economic circumstances therefore conspired to make Ireland an increasingly male dominated society after the Famine. (p.38).

Lee notes that the rise of the strong farmer coincided with the growth in clerical power and a new public obsession with sex. Whereas in 1840 there was only one Catholic priest to 3,000 lay people, by 1960 this had risen to 1 priest for every 600 people. Similarly the ratio of nuns to lay persons increased from 1 to 7,000 in 1841 to 1 to 400 a century later (Ibid.).

Lee observes that

the doctrines inculcated in Maynooth and other seminaries, in the convents, and in Trinity college, Dublin, where the Church of Ireland clergymen were educated, reinforced the assumptions the young aspirants brought with them. In Maynooth sex was equated, for all practical purposes, with sin. Trinity College Divinity School … produced clergy who suspected sex and Catholicism with equal fervor. It is therefore hardly surprising that the post-Famine clergies displayed a much greater preoccupation with sex than earlier clerical generations. … It is one of the ironies of the intellectual history of modern Ireland that at a period when Catholic propagandists … were prone to denounce England as decadent, they imbibed unconsciously … the prudish values of Victorian middle class morality, which simultaneously idealised and repressed women.

(Ibid., p.40).

Echoing the sentiments of Ó Corráin (1978) to the effect that Ireland does not enjoy a continuity with its Gaelic past with regard to its attitude to women, Lee (1978), in reference to the Irish clergy points out that

They are adapting, and will continue to adapt … particularly as it comes to be realised that there was nothing natural or normal or even inherently Irish about the ‘traditional’ values. The wheel is coming full circle, as women begin once more to enjoy something of the economic independence many of them knew before the Famine. Men are adapting, however reluctantly, to the implications of this change, and the clerical image of women, like the male image of woman in general, is being refurbished accordingly. The past century may soon come to be seen as no more than a sharp but temporary deviation from the main course of the history of women in Ireland (pp. 44-45).

As we have seen, the number of nuns increased dramatically after the Famine, probably in part as a result of the decreased marriage prospects for women. This coincided with the expansion of the educational system and the greater involvement of the churches in education. Lee points out that “it is ironic that at a moment when educational opportunities increased for Irish women, the educational system began to be more systematically used to indoctrinate them into adopting as self-images the prevailing male image of woman” (Ibid., p.41). These traits included those of “obedience, docility and resignation to the role assigned to them” (Ibid., p.42).

Political scientists, as well as historians have also written about religion and related values and attitudes in Ireland. Chubb (1971) compared Irish Catholicism with continental Catholicism and found it to be more anti-intellectual in character than that in other Catholic countries. He also points to the Augustinian tradition in Ireland, which involves abstemiousness. Chubb (Ibid.) and Whyte (1971) also discuss the presence of authoritarianism in Irish culture. Robinson (1978), commenting on Chubb’s identification of authoritarianism, loyalty and anti-intellectualism in Irish political culture finds it quite suprising that his analysis

… does not dwell at all on the position of women in this whole structure. The analysis is a completely male orientated one … Yet it is clear that the characteristics of authoritarianism, loyalty and anti-intellectualism reinforced prevailing attitudes about the different roles of the sexes in society … (p.60).

A different and yet rather analogous critique was made by Flanagan (1975) of the Report of the Commission’s on the Status of Women (1972):

It is a fascinating thing that in all its length the Report on the Status of Women never once mentions the word ‘religion’ or ‘religious’, not even under the heading ‘education’ in the Index. This is a notable and significant omission in an Irish context where ‘traditional values’ are so carried and formed by religion and where the system of education is so dominated by conservative and traditionalist religious values. Religion in Ireland may be, in fact, the ultimate source and sanction of many of those traditional discriminatory thought-patterns which exist undetected in the Irish mind. (p.235).

Thus, it would appear that analysis of the position of women has not always been integrated into analyses of other key aspects of Irish life (e.g., politics and religion) and vice versa. The position of women would clearly seem to be the result of multiple forces - historical, economic, political, social and religious. To understand it, one needs to be aware of and examine the inter-connections among all of these effects.

Concerning the link between religion and attitudes toward the role of women, Flanagan (Ibid.) points out that discriminatory attitudes toward women are in part rooted in a belief that women are inferior to men. Many of these attitudes have a scriptural basis: e.g. “women were created for the sake of men (1 Cor. 11:10) and are a reflection of man’s glory. (1 Cor. 11:8). Man did not come from woman but woman from man (1 Cor. 11:8; cf. Gen. 2:21f). Adam was formed first and Eve afterwards (1 Tim. 2:14)” (Ibid. p.237). Flanagan suggests that the inegalitarian approach to women in the Church was influenced in part by a basic fear of women as evil. He notes that in the patristic record women are described as “volatile, shallow minded, morally weak” (Ibid., p.238). He asserts that this misogyny has deep roots in the Christian ascetic tradition and touches not only males, but females as well who have come to see themselves as second-class citizens.

Farley (1976) elaborates upon some of these ideas noting that “Eve had not only been an agent in Adam’s sin, she was by nature derivative from Adam and hence by nature subordinate to him. The identity of every woman could easily be seen as derivative, then, in some way from a man” (p.167). This implication, of female inferiority was, of course, reinforced by the “refusal by Christian theology to attribute the fullness of the imago Dei (the image of God) to women” (Ibid., p.166). Farley also emphasises that the sources of Christian misogynism are very much related to “ancient myths identifying women with chaos, darkness, mystery, matter and sin…” (Ibid, p.164). These notions became echoed in Christian interpretation” of the body as defiled, of sexuality as contaminating, and thence of woman as temptress, as a symbol of sin” (Ibid). Other sources of misogynism can be found in ancient blood taboos and Hebrew connections between nakedness and shame (Ibid., p.165). Paradoxically, Farley points out, “Christian theology exalted woman and her role at the same time that it made her inferior. She was at once the symbol of sin and the symbol of all virtue” (Ibid, p.166). “When woman was placed on a pedestal … what was perceived too easily as sacred was also perceived too easily as profaned” (Ibid.).

Because of the increasing influence of the Church since the Famine, it was inevitable that many of these underlying ideas would find their way into the psyches of Irish people, men and women alike, and thereby have a profound effect on shaping attitudes toward the role of women and indeed on shaping the role itself.

To return to our historical journey, as we noted earlier, in traditional Irish life, there was no rigid distinction between domestic duties and other types of work and women performed a wide variety of duties (O Corrain, 1978; Daly, 1978). With the Industrial Revolution beginning in the late 1800’s many jobs which had once been performed in the home were now performed in factories. In 1841 there had been half a million female textile workers, mainly outworkers, in Ireland. By 1881 this had dropped to just 100,000. The only growth area for women’s employment was domestic service. In 1911 one out of three working women was a servant. The other large group of women workers was in agriculture. During the 1930’s the number of women employed in factories grew steadily, however they tended to be concentrated in lower paid jobs (Ibid.).

At at time when women began to become involved in the trade union movement, it is ironic, Daly points out, that restrictions against women in employment began to appear (Ibid.). In 1932 the Government proposed to ban the employment of married women as national teachers. While this move was strongly opposed by the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), they eventually acquiesced, on the condition that existing teachers be exempted (Ibid., pp. 75-76).

A ban on married women in the civil service was also under active discussion in the 1930’s and was later implemented. In the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Civil Service 1932-5 (the Brennan Commission) it states:

If a woman recruited to the post married after eight or ten years service the main purpose for which she has been employed entirely fails and she has moreover during that time been blocking the way of a man who could give the State good value for the service in question (para. 180).

Thus, Daly (1978) points out, the marriage ban in the civil service also proved detrimental to single women, as it destroyed their promotion prospects, since they were treated as if they were going to marry and leave at any time.

Attitudes in the civil service toward equal pay for women were also pretty hard-line, reflecting, according to Daly, public opinion on this issue. Citing the Brennan Commission again, she quotes:

In those cases in the Civil Service where men and women may be employed indifferently we find special reason for supposing that on the whole when all relevant aspects are taken into account the woman does not give as good a return of work as a man (Commission of Inquiry into the Civil Service 1932-5, Para. 180).

Daly also notes that “they also argued that differential rates of pay between men and women were accepted by Irish society and that it was not the role of the Civil Service to alter this practice: ’if the Government were to grant equal pay the result would be a disproportionate influx (of women) into State employment’ ” (Daly, 1978, p.76).

Daly sums up:

Attitudes towards women working were extremely hostile - the Brennan Commission could actually raise the suggestion of barring women from Executive Grades in the Civil Service. In a climate of job shortages, many male trade unionists were equally hostile towards women working and their attitudes reflected the conventional opinions of contemporary society.

(Ibid., p.77)

The job shortages during this period, which influenced the attitudes toward women working would seem to have been caused by at least two factors: 1) the rapid changeover from an agricultural to a non-agricultural society and 2) the failure of economic policies at that time. The period from Independence to the mid-fifties was characterised by policies of “self-sufficiency, protectionism, home-market orientation, in short economic nationalism” (Redlich, 1978, p.84).

Other retrograde measures which affected women also emerged during this period. Prior to 1937, while there was no divorce law, it was theoretically possible to obtain a divorce by means of a private bill in the Irish Parliament; but this recourse was effectively blocked by an amendment to standing orders introduced in 1925 by the Taoiseach of the time, W. T. Cosgrave (Whyte, 1971). However, in the 1937 Constitution (Article 41.3.2), a prohibition on divorce law was officially enacted. Indeed attitudes concerning appropriate gender roles were enshrined in the 1937 Constitution (Article 41.2.1 and 41.2.2), reference to which has already been made.

In spite of the introduction of the marriage bar and the probibition on divorce, many important gains for women were made in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including obtaining the vote, the right to hold political office and to become cabinet ministers (MacCurtain, 1978).

Following the 1950’s which were characterised by economic depression, gloom and high emigration, the sixties ushered in a period of economic development, expansion and optimism, as well as a greater openness to the rest of the world; and the early 1970’s marked the beginning of the women’s movement in Ireland (see Beale, 1986, for a detailed discussion of this period). With Ireland’s entrance into the European Community in 1973, together with an increasing awareness on the part of the population, as a result of such factors as exposure to British and American television, greater opportunities for foreign travel, etc., a period of rapid social change began to occur in the early 1970’s and has continued to the present day.

1972 was a significant year for women’s equality in Ireland, as it marked the publication of the Report of the Commission on the Status of Women. This report, to the Minister for Finance, documented areas of discrimination in all areas of Irish life and made wide-ranging recommendations for policy changes. However, in addition to such concrete recommendations, the Report also recognised the important role played by attitudes in perpetuating discrimination:

… the removal of … actual discriminations leaves untouched a larger and more subtle area of discrimination consisting of those factors which limit women’s participation even in the absence of formal discrimination, that is, the stereotyped role that is assigned to women, the inculcation of attitudes in both boys and girls in their formative years that there are definite and separate roles for the sexes … It is from this type of cultural mould that formal discrimination arises … (p.12).

Subsequent to the publication of the Report of the Commission on the Status of Women (1972), there followed a series of significant administrative and legislative changes which would have far-reaching consequences for gender role behaviour in Ireland and would also be expected to have affected attitudes. These included:

1) The Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act of 1974 (implemented in 1975); 2) The Employment Equality Act of 1977; 3) The establishment in 1977 of the Employment Equality Agency, whose role it is to enforce the Anti-Discrimination legislation and to promote equality in the workplace; 4) The Supreme Court Decision of 1980 removing the discriminatory tax laws against married women; and 5) The 1980 legislation legalising the sale of contraceptives; 6) In addition, the 1973 removal of the marriage bar, which had required that women resign from their jobs upon marriage, would have had continuing and increasing effect on attitudes and behaviour.

Parallel with, and probably to a great extent as a result of, the many administrative and legal reforms referred to above, the labour force participation rate of married women increased significantly, rising from 7.5% in 1971 to 19.5% in 1984. The increase among young married women of childbearing age (25 - 34) was particularly striking (8.8% in 1971 to 26.9% in 1984) (Blackwell, 1986, Table 3.5, p.22). This trend has also been manifest in other European countries (Eurostat, 1981) as well as in the U.S. (Nye, 1974, Klein, 1975). However Ireland is unique in that, as late as 1961, the base was unusually low - 5.2% (Blackwell, op. cit.) - and the rate of increase has been particularly rapid - quadrupling in just over two decades. However, whereas in the United States, the boom in married female labour force participation occurred during the period 1940 to 1960 and involved an increase from 17% to 37% during this period, the Irish increase from 5% to 20% occurred some twenty years later, i.e., from 1961 to the early 1980’s. While the participation rate is still quite low compared with the U.S. and most other European countries, it is expected that the Irish level will continue to increase and approximate European norms (Sexton, 1981; Working Party on Child Care Facilities for Working Parents, 1983). Concomitant with the increasing participation of married women in the labour force has been a decrease in the fertility rate (Sexton and Dillon, 1984), which is particularly notable in the Irish context, since this country has the highest fertility rate in Europe.

B. Background and Purpose of Study

Shortly after the publication of the Report of the Commission on the Status of Women (1972), a detailed and comprehensive study of attitudes toward the role and status of women in Ireland was carried out during the period 1973-1975, with main test data collection taking place in 1975 (Fine-Davis, 1976, 1977). This study examined the nature and dimensions of such attitudes (Fine-Davis, 1983b), their demographic determinants (Ibid.), and personality and other social psychological correlates (Fine-Davis, 1979) - as well as the social psychological predictors of labour force participation of married women (Fine-Davis, 1979a). The study provided baseline data at the approximate beginning of a period of rapid social change concerning gender roles in Ireland.

Because of the major legislative and administrative changes which occurred in Ireland from the early 1970’s until the early 1980’s, as well as the changing gender role behavioural patterns, as exemplified by the increased labour force participation of married women and decreasing fertility rate, it would be expected that attitudes concerning gender roles would also have changed. Tentative evidence from two subsequent Irish surveys carried out in 1978 (Fine-Davis, 1983) and in 1981 (Fine-Davis, 1983a) which replicated several sets of items contained in the 1975 study, indicated that attitudes seemed to be moving in a more egalitarian direction (Fine-Davis, 1983), at least on the part of women. However, the persistent and increasing high rates of unemployment in Ireland might well have created a backlash effect and a counterforce on attitudes. The earlier research indicated that negative attitudes toward married female labour force participation were linked to a fear of job loss for men. The belief seemed to be that men were more entitled to jobs than women (Ibid.).

Further evidence pointing to a possible reversion to earlier attitudes was manifested by two recent national referenda on abortion (1983) and divorce (1986). In both cases, the conservative option was chosen: a Constitutional amendment, recognising the equal right to life of the unborn child, was passed, thereby strengthening the already illegal status of abortion. The referendum on divorce similarly yielded a result in which two - thirds rejected introducing divorce in this country - leaving Ireland among the handful of countries in the world which do not allow divorce.

In view of the counter-vailing trends cited above, it would not be possible to state with any degree of accuracy how people felt today and, thus, to be able to assess the attitudinal effects of the major legislative and other social changes which have occurred in the interim period, unless the attitudes involved were actually measured.

In addition to measuring change in attitudes from 1975 to 1986 in the area of gender roles and discrimination in employment, the present study also examined attitudes to other issues of current importance. These included such issues as parental leave, flexible working hours, child-care arrangements, men’s participation in household activities and child-care, and perceived barriers to women’s career advancement. In addition, several sets of items were included in the study with dealt with the recent divorce and abortion issues, which, it is hoped will help shed further light on the reasons underlying the recent referenda results. These were examined in the broader context of attitudes to moral issues generally. Finally two sets of questions were included measuring people’s attitudes toward environmental and peace issues and the gender-related implications of these were explored.

C. Social Indicators of Equality

The purpose of a study of this kind is not merely however, to assess social change for one particular decade, which happened to have witnessed rapid social change. Rather, such information should be seen as part of the usual statistical data that is collected on a regular basis in a society. For a variety of reasons, there has been a greater emphasis in Ireland, as in many other countries, on economic, rather than social issues. Hence, there has been greater emphasis on the collection of economic indicators. Such information as unemployment rates, the rate of inflation, the balance of payments, etc. are all collected regularly, seen as essential information and their collection is taken for granted. The same cannot be said for social indicators.

In an address to the first meeting of an EEC Working Party on Subjective Social Indicators held in Luxembourg in 1975, the then Director-General for Social Affairs of the European Community, stated quite unequivocally that -

.... the Communities and the Commission are fundamentally concerned with people and their well-being in the widest sense. Of course we are an economic community, but let there be no mistake about our social purpose - economics is the means and not the end of endeavours (Shanks, 1975, p.1).

Consequent upon this increased interest in the social well-being of nations came the development of social indicators. Such indicators may be seen as analogous to the more familiar economic indicators, such as GNP, the rate of unemployment, the balance of payments deficit, etc.

The first large scale effort to measure and evaluate systematically the social well-being of a nation took place in the late 1960’s in the United States and resulted in a document entitled Toward a Social Report (1969). This consisted largely of aggregate statistics describing the nation as a whole, including statistics such as income distribution, housing density, life expectancy, crime rates, etc. Other nations followed suit and within a few years some nations had produced several annual social indicator reports reflecting a time series. The indicators included in these national reports are selected from the available aggregate statistics of each country. These statistics have come to be known as objective social indicators.

Such statistics have many useful purposes. They enable comparison between different geographic regions and among different sub-groups of the population on a particular index. They also allow for measurement of change over time, thus enabling progress in a particular area of human welfare to be charted. Such indicators are also used to assess quality of life. It is argued that as the adequacy of medical care, education and housing improve, as the life span increases and as the quality of air and water is made purer, the quality of life is thereby improved. In the interpretation and application of such data there has been a tendency to “generalize to more abstract quality of life statements and to equate the observed patterns in objectively measured conditions with actual differences in the life experience of people” (Schneider, 1976, p. 298). If the quality of life lies in the objective circumstances of life, then these objective measures will tell us all we need to know. However, it is equally arguable that actual individual welfare and sense of well-being is a far more complex and subjective condition than implied by descriptive social indicators based on aggregate data (Ibid.).

This kind of thinking, with supporting research evidence, led to greater emphasis on the development of subjective social indicators, which are not based on aggregate national data, but rather are obtained by means of surveys into subjective perceptions, attitudes and evaluations by individuals of aspects of their life, including perceptions of their objective conditions. A more detailed discussion of this area of research is contained in Fine-Davis and Davis (1977). Results of the first nationwide survey of subjective social indicators carried out in Ireland, focussing on peoples’ perceptions of their health, health services, housing and life in general, are reported by Davis and Fine-Davis (1988, in press).

One of the major advantages of subjective social indicators is that they facilitate the identification of problems which merit special attention and social action, both with regard to particular aspects of life and for particular sub-groups of the population. Social indicator surveys provide a channel through which disadvantaged and other minority groups can express needs which may not be picked up by other means (Liepelt and Schacht, 1975).

The present study is such a survey of subjective social indicators. Its particular focus is on equality. Data of the kind collected in the present study is attitudinal in nature and reflects peoples feelings, perceptions and concerns. It provides a further dimension to understanding social phenomena and, in some cases, may complement other statistical data of a more “objective” nature, such as figures relating to women’s employment. It is hoped that, in time, the collection of social indicator data in the area of gender equality, as well as in other areas of social concern - health, housing, working life, etc. - will become as commonplace as the collection of the more familiar “economic indicators”.

II METHOD

The survey was carried out in September - December 1986 as an 11 - year follow-up to a survey of attitudes toward the role and status of women in Ireland, carried out in 1975.

A. Data Sets

The primary comparisons were made between the 1975 and 1986 data sets. These, as well as two secondary data sets, are described below:

1 1975 Study

The 1975 study was based on a sample of 420 Dublin adults, aged 18 to 65, who were selected using stratified quota sampling procedures. Names and addresses from high and low SES neighbourhoods, randomly selected from the Dublin Electoral Register, were used as starting points, in order to optimise randomness. The sample was stratified on the basis of sex, age, socio-economic status and marital status. It included an oversampling of married women (N=240) who were further stratified by employment status and presence or absence of dependent children. Interviewing was conducted by trained interviewers of the Survey Unit of the Economic and Social Research Institute in the respondents’ homes.

2 1986 Study

The 1986 study involved a replication and extension of the original 1975 study. The sampling and data collection procedures were identical to those used in the original study except for the addition of 300 rural subjects and a consequent slight diminution of the n of urban Ss, from 420 to 300, resulting in a total of 600 respondents. The content of the 1986 questionnaire was identical to that used in the 1975 study with regard to the key sets of items, and additional items concerning more current issues were added.

The sample employed was based on stratified quotas, specified so as to meet the requirements of a factorial design. For this reason, it does not constitute a national representative sample; however, every attempt was made to maximise randomness in subject selection within the context of the stratification design. Starting addresses were generated from the Electoral Register by means of the ESRI’s random sampling system, RANSAM. In adddition, when percentage results for the total sample are presented they have been re-weighted so as to reflect the exact proportions of the groups as they actually exist in the population. Thus any re-weighted results presented are representative of the groups which were studied in the survey, i.e., men and women aged 18 - 65 from Dublin and rural Ireland. The survey includes employed and non-employed married women, employed single women, and employed married and single men. It does not include other groups such as the retired, the unemployed or non-employed single women. Thus, as stated above, the results may be generalised to the groups studied, but not to the country as a whole. Differences measured between groups are quite reliable indicators since the sampling techniques used to obtain respondents within categories were essentially random, using strict quota sampling procedures.

The sampling, fieldwork and data processing for the study were carried out by the Survey Unit of the Economic and Social Research Institute. Final responsibility for the design of the study and the interpretation of the results rests with the author.

3 1978 Study

Several key items measuring attitudes toward gender roles from the original 1975 study were replicated in a larger nationwide representative study (N=1862) of the quality of working life and attitudes to social issues in Ireland, which was carried out in 1978 (Fine-Davis et al., 1981; Fine-Davis, 1983). The availability of this data enabled nationwide comparisons to be made between 1978 and 1986 and specifically enabled rural - urban comparisons to be examined with regard to attitude change during this period.

4 1981 Study

In 1981 a nationwide survey of mothers’ attitudes to child care and employment was carried out on behalf of the Government Working Party on Child Care Facilities for Working Parents (Fine-Davis, 1983b). This involved a sample of 581 employed and 440 non-employed mothers. Items from this survey concerning potential changes in the workplace and community were replicated in the 1986 survey, thus enabling change to be measured on these issues.

B Data Analysis Techniques

The nature of this piece of research is that it measures phenomena in a natural social setting. As such it is not amenable to a strict experimental design, with control groups, etc. However, as a quasi-experimental design, its major strengths involve the randomness of subject selection, the availability of data in a time series and the use of identical measuring instruments over time (Campbell and Stanley 1963).

In order to measure change in attitudes over time, the mean composite scores representing the attitudinal dimensions, identified by factor analysis in the 1975 study were compared using t-tests and analysis of variance with the comparable 1986 data for Dublin respondents. Comparable data for the 1978 and 1986 Surveys were compared for Dublin and rural Ireland.

Factor analysis was used to explore the dimensionality of new sets of items in the 1986 survey, including items measuring new gender role attitudes, attitudes to divorce and attitudes to moral issues. Other bi-variate and multivariate procedures were also used where appropriate.

III RESULTS

A. Attitude Change Concerning the Role and Status of Women: Dublin 1975 - 86

In the original 1975 study extensive preliminary work was carried out to develop and pre-test measures of attitudes toward the role and status of women in Ireland. This developmental work is fully described in Fine-Davis (1976). In the main 1975 study, 33 items were administered to respondents to tap these attitudes. These had been found in the preliminary work to be the most representative of a larger group of items, which measured different dimensions of peoples’ attitudes. These dimensions (which we shall refer to as “factors”) were further refined in the main 1975 study. Each factor, of which there were eight, was given a name which summarised the content of the items which comprised it.

In the 1986 study 27 of the 33 original items were included in the questionnaire. Six items were omitted which had not loaded clearly on any of the eight factors.

Table 1 presents percentage data for each of the 27 items, grouped by factor, both for 1975 and 1986, making it possible to see if shifts have occurred over this 11 year period. While it is to be emphasised that the samples are not representative of Dublin as a whole, since the respondents were selected on a quota basis, the two samples themselves are identical (1) and thus the magnitude of shift is reliable.

All of the six items in the first factor, entitled Traditional Sex-Role Orientation, showed sizeable shifts from 1975 to 1986, and all were in the egalitarian direction. The item which showed the greatest shift was “Being a wife and mother are the most fulfilling roles any woman could want”. Seventy per cent of the sample agreed with this in 1975, whereas only 39% did so in 1986 - a shift of 31%. The fact that such a large shift occurred on this item - the largest shift of any item studied - would seem to indicate that people began to realise during the decade that women could be fulfilled by roles other than those of wife and mother.

Another large shift occurred on the item concerning a husband’s right to expect his wife to be “obliging and dutiful at all times”. Agreement with this fell from 52% in 1975 to 25% in 1986 - a shift of 27 percentage points. In 1975 close to one-half felt that “… by and large the husband ought to have the main say in family matters”. This fell to less than one-quarter in 1986.

It was also widely believed in 1975 that if equal job opportunities were opened to women, this would take away jobs from men who needed them more. This belief also changed radically over the decade, from

TABLE 1

RESPONSES TO ITEMS MEASURING ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ROLE AND STATUS OF WOMEN, GROUPED BY FACTOR:

PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTIONS FOR DUBLIN SAMPLES 1975 - 1986

(N=720)

51% agreement in 1975 to only 28% agreement in 1986. Although a majority did not believe in 1975 that the political and business leadership of the community should be largely in the hand of men (only 34% supported this view), this became even more a minority view in 1986, endorsed by only 21.5%.

Attitudes to contraception changed somewhat over this period, but not nearly as much as some of the other attitudes. The item showing the greatest shift on this factor concerned birth control as a basic human right. A large majority had endorsed this in 1975 (71%); however, an even larger one did so in 1986 (84%). This shift undoubtedly reflects the legalisation of the sale of contraceptives which took place during this time and probably the extensive discussion in the media of this issue.

Support for equal opportunity was very widespread in 1975, with 94 - 95% endorsing the items on this factor. There was little room for shift, yet some did take place in the direction of greater support for equality of opportunity. By 1986, 97 to 98% of the sample were expressing support. A close examination of where these shifts took place indicates that whereas the overall shifts were only about 3%, that within the agreement side of the continuum, more sizeable proportions (7 - 10%) shifted from moderate to strong support for equal opportunity.

The issue of maternal employment was quite controversial in 1975 and remained so in 1986. Yet in spite of this there were large shifts in attitude in a more accepting direction. For example, in 1975 68.4% believed that it was bad for young children if their mothers went out to work, even if they were well taken care of by another adult. In 1986 this level of support had fallen to 45.7%. Similarly, in 1975 58.5% expressed the view that “women should be more concerned with housekeeping and bringing up their children than with desires for careers”. In 1986 only 37.7% held this view. There was a strong belief in 1975 that “in times of high unemployment, married women should be discouraged from working” (65% agreed with this). Although approximately half of the sample still held this view in 1986, the level of support had fallen by close to 14%, in spite of the fact that the level of unemployment was even higher in 1986 than in 1975.

Attitudes toward Equal Pay also showed major change over this period. A majority had favoured equal pay in 1975 but this became an even larger majority in 1986. For example, in 1975 41.4% believed that a married man should be paid more than a woman for performing the same job. This fell to just 18.6% in 1986. Three-quarters of the 1975 sample believed that “even if it means financial difficulties for some companies, equal pay should be given immediately. This percentage increased to 93% (an increase of 19%) by 1986, a decade after the implementation of the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act. These shifts are a clear example of how attitudes change to become consistent with social norms and behaviour. As cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957) would predict, if the individual holds attitudes which are inconsistent with prevailing norms and practices, this will produce cognitive dissonance and such dissonance is uncomfortable for the individual. If attitudes are out of synch with new policies and procedures, they generally change to be congruent with the new situation. As Deutsch and Collins pointed out many years ago, in the context of research on race relations in the U.S:

The implication of our study is that official policy executed without equivocation, can result in large changes in behaviour and attitudes despite initial resistance to that policy (1958, p.622).

The case of the equal pay legislation is a very clear-cut example of how legislation can affect attitudes. There are other examples in the data which also reflect this effect.

For example, the items concerning taxation of married women illustrate that support for higher taxation of married women was stronger in 1975, prior to the 1980 High Court Case. In 1986, some 6 years later, there was less support for this policy, since it was no longer the de facto situation, although, it should be pointed out that even in 1975 a majority was opposed to the then current tax policy, which no doubt helped to set the stage for the High Court case itself.

Because of the centrality of the belief in female inferiority to the traditional system of gender role attitudes and behaviour, several items were included in the original study and replicated in 1986. They, indeed were found to form an identifiable cluster and were also found to correlate with traditional gender role attitudes and opposition to social policies of equal pay, equal opportunity, etc. (Fine-Davis, 1976, 1977, 1979).

The three items on this factor all showed shifts from 1975 to 1986 in the direction of a lesser likelihood of seeing women as inferior. While in no case did a majority of respondents agree with one of the statements, even in 1975, the percentages agreeing were by no means negligible. It should also be noted that the response continuum offers six options, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. It could be argued with regard to this factor - and indeed with regard to the other factors as well - that the only really egalitarian response could be “strongly disagree”, which is unequivocal. Bearing this in mind, it is instructive to examine the full range of responses in order to see that perceptions which a respondent may find socially unacceptable to express too strongly, are expressed in a milder, yet still explicit, way.

In 1975 22.5% endorsed the statement: “Generally speaking, women think less clearly than men”. This level of agreement was reduced to 13.7% in 1986. However, only 52.8% strongly disagreed with the statement. Thus 47.2% apparently still harboured a residue of this stereotype even in 1986. The point is made with regard to this factor - although it could equally be made about others - because the relatively low level of agreement may lead one to believe that there is no problem here. That is not actually the case, as the other items illustrate. In 1975 40.9% believed that “women are too highly strong to hold certain jobs”. The percentage endorsing this fell by 13% in 1986 to 27.7%. However, only 41.7% strongly rejected the statement; 58.3% did not. Finally, 34% believed in 1975 that “Female workers even if qualified and experienced, are in some ways, less reliable, less committed and less serious than men”. Endorsement of this fell by 15% over the decade to just 19%, but with, however, only 52% strong rejection.

The last factor measures Perception of Limitations in the Housewife Role. On the item “housework is basically dull and boring, 54.8% agreed in 1975. This rose to 67.7% in 1986 (an increase of 12.9%). On the item “being at home with children all day can very often be boring for a woman” ’ 78.2% agreed in 1975. This percentage remained very much the same in 1986, showing a slight drop of 2%. The responses to the two items indicate that two-thirds to three-quarters of the sample perceive limitations in the role of housewife. This attitude is consistent with the changes reflected in some of the other items, in particular the item “being a wife and mother are the most fulfilling roles any woman could want” with which 70% had agreed in 1975, but only 39% had in 1986.

While it is clear, that, overall, there were significant shifts in attitudes of Dublin adults from 1975 to 1986, it is also of interest to examine to what extent these shifts were similar or different among different groups in the population. To do this, summary scores (also known as composite scores) were computed for each respondent on each of the eight attitude factors and these were compared for each of five groups for 1975 and 1986. Table 2 presents these comparisons.

On the first factor, Traditional Sex-Role Orientation, the most global indicator of gender role attitudes, all five groups shifted significantly from holding more traditional attitudes in 1975 to holding more egalitarian attitudes in 1986. The key things to look at in the table are the mean scores and the significance of the t-value. The mean scores can range from 1 to 7, with 1 being equivalent to “strongly disagree” with the items on the factor and 7 being equal to “strongly agreeing” with the items on the factor. A score of 4 is the mid-point, falling between disagree and agree. The t-value is the statistic which indicates whether the difference from 1975 to 1986 for a particular group is statistically significant. One asterisk indicates a low level of statistical significance (p<.05) two asterisks a moderate level of significance (p<.01) and three asterisks a high level of significance (p<.001). The initials N.S. indicate that any shift from 1975 to 1986 was non-significant. The initials S.D. stand for Standard Deviation. This is an indicator of how much variability there was in responses at each time period. These are less important to consider, but may be of interest in that a higher standard deviation indicates more diversity in people’s views and a lower one indicates more uniformity.

To return now to the results, it may be seen that those having the least traditional sex-role orientation in 1975 were employed women, both married and single (mean scores of 4.01 and 3.96 respectively), whereas non-employed married women were almost as traditional in their outlook (mean score = 4.45) as married men (mean score = 4.50), and single men were the most traditional (mean score = 4.69). However, if one looks at the results for 1986, one can see that the differences between employed and non-employed women have decreased markedly and all are in a very close range (2.87 to 2.97). While all three groups

TABLE 2

MEASURES OF ATTITUDE CHANGE FROM 1975 TO 1986 FOR 5 SUB-GROUPS OF DUBLIN RESPONDENTS ON MEASURES OF ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ROLE AND STATUS OF WOMEN

(N=720)

Factor I: Traditional Sex-Role Orientation

Notes:

N for 1975 = 420; N for 1986 = 300; Total N = 720

Potential Range of Mean Scores: 1 - 7

Factor II: Positive Attitude to Contraception

Factor III: Belief in Equal Opportunity

Factor IV: Positive Attitude to Maternal Employment

Factor V: Belief in Equal Pay

Factor VI: Belief in Higher Tax for Married Women

Factor VII: Perception of Females as Inferior

Factor VIII: Perception of Limitations in Housewife Role

shifted in a more liberal direction, the non-employed married women did so most markedly, shifting from 4.45 to 2.97 - almost 1½ points out of 7. The men also shifted quite a lot (married men from 4.50 to 3.42 and single men from 4.69 to 3.42), but it is still clear that a gender gap remains. Men are still more traditional than women in their perceptions about appropriate gender role behaviour, i.e. they are more likely to see a woman’s role as in the home and the man’s outside the home. They are also more likely to see women as dependent, and to believe that the wife and mother role is the most fulfilling one women could want.

The second factor, Positive Attitude to Contraception also shows some shifts from 1975 to 1986 but only for two groups: employed and non-employed married women, of whom the latter shifted more than the former. Both groups had been reasonably positive to contraception in 1975 (5.61 and 5.35 respectively) but became even more so in 1986, with both groups having very similar scores in 1986 (6.07 and 6.10). The single women were less positive about contraception in 1975 than the married women were (their mean score was 4.88). They shifted in a more positive direction in 1986 (5.43) but the shift did not reach statistical significance. Men had, on the whole, been somewhat more supportive of contraception than women in 1975. Their attitudes stayed about the same in 1986, in fact being slightly less positive than those of married women, although the statistical significance of these differences is not measured in this table.

All groups had been extremely supportive of the concept of Equal Opportunity in 1975. The mean scores of all five groups ranged from 6.15 to 6.54. However, three of these five groups shifted even further in their support of equal opportunity in 1986. Those shifting most were non-employed married women, followed by employed married women, followed by married men. Singles did not show any movement on this factor.

Attitudes to married women working, particularly when they are mothers of young children, have been particularly sensitive and emotive in the Irish context. These were reflected in the percentage responses presented previously and they are, of course, reflected in the relatively low mean scores on Factor IV, Positive Attitude to Maternal Employment, which ranged from a low of 3.20 for single men to a high of 4.71 for employed married women. By the way, the employed married women differed markedly from the other four groups on this factor in 1975, all of whose scores fell in the range 3.20 to 3.77. There were, however, moderate shifts on this dimension for four out of the five groups, bringing scores of all groups, except employed married women, into the range 3.93 to 4.52. Employed married women still stood far above others in their support of maternal employment (mean score = 5.15), yet even this score only reflects, on average, a slight agreement with the items in this factor, indicating that this group, of whom approximately half had dependent children, shares some ambivalent attitudes about maternal employment which are prevalent in the society generally.

Equal pay legislation was brought into effect in Ireland in late 1975, a few months after the 1975 data collection. The 1975 respondents would thus have been aware of the notion of equal pay, but would not yet have experienced it or observed it in practice on a widespread basis, as would have been the case by 1986. The results show quite marked shifts for all groups in their attitudes to equal pay from 1975 to 1986.

Employed women were most supportive of it in 1975 (mean scores 5.41 to 5.44) and were also among the most supportive in 1986 (mean score for employed married women = 6.38, for employed single women 6.17). However, married men, who were somewhat less supportive than employed women in 1975 (mean score = 4.89) became essentially as supportive in 1986 as employed single women (mean score for married men = 6.15). Single men also shifted considerably (from 4.45 to 5.53), yet they had the lowest scores of any group at both points in time, as was the case concerning their attitudes to maternal employment.

On Factor VI, Belief in Higher Tax for Married Women, there were no shifts in attitude except on the part of employed single women. This group had been the most strongly in favour of higher taxes for married women in 1975 (mean score = 3.63), whereas other groups had ranged from 2.17 to 3.17. However, by 1986 their attitudes were more in line with those of other groups (their score fell to 2.82). This is explainable on the basis of the case brought in the High Court in 1980 (which was then appealed in the Supreme Court) concerning the constitutionality of the existing higher rates of taxation for married women. These were found to be unconstitutional and the tax laws were changed. Public opinion generally had been opposed to higher taxation of married women, as may be seen in this 1975 data and which was also evident in a 1978 nationwide representative sample (Fine-Davis, 1983). The effect of the case therefore did not have any substantial effect on attitudes, except for the one group of employed single women.

Factor VII, entitled Perception of Females as Inferior, is a very important one, since an examination of the inter-relationships among attitudes in the 1975 study revealed that such perceptions were significantly related to several other attitudes regarding women’s roles. As such, it may be said to be a key element under-pinning inegalitarian gender role attitudes and attitudes concerning social and economic policies of relevance to women.

While in no case did majorities endorse items concerning female inferiority, notable minorities, nevertheless, did. However, as may be seen in Table 2, three out of the five groups shifted significantly on this factor. Employed married women had been least likely to perceive females as inferior in 1975 and continued to hold this place in 1986. Their scores fell from 2.44 to 1.88. Non-employed married women had been more likely than employed married women to perceive females as inferior in 1975, but by 1986 their scores were quite close to those of the employed married women, having shifted from 2.83 in 1975 to 2.01 in 1986. Their shift was the greatest of any group on this measure and was statistically highly significant. This shift would seem to indicate a clear move in a healthier direction, indicating an increase in self esteem, which is no doubt due in part to the effects of the women’s movement, as well as those engendered by social legislation in the area of equality. Single women shifted slightly during this period in the same direction, but the shift did not reach significance. Their score in 1975 was slightly lower than that of non-employed married women; however in 1986 it was somewhat higher. Whatever positive effects accrued to non-employed married women during the decade apparently did not similarly affect single women on this dimension.

Men had notably higher scores on this factor in 1975 than did women (3.25 for married men and 3.63 for single men). However, the scores of married men shifted significantly by 1986 to 2.51, indicating that they were less likely to perceive women as inferior in 1986 than they had been in 1975. Single men showed a slight shift in this direction, but as in the case with single women, it did not reach statistical significance. In spite of their slight shift, single men continued to manifest attitudes which were considerably more discriminatory than those of other groups (score = 3.12). The more egalitarian attitudes of married men may thus reflect a positive process which occurs in marriage, in which men come to appreciate women more as equals. This interpretation is also supported by the results presented concerning married men’s attitudes concerning maternal employment and equal pay.

There was a wide diversity of attitudes concerning the factor, Limitations (or otherwise) of the Housewife Role. Interestingly enough, in 1975 men (particularly married men) were most likely to perceive limitations in the housewife role and to see it as involving boredom (scores for married men were 5.60 and for single men 5.22). Married women were far less likely than men to perceive limitations in the housewife role, but employed married women were somewhat more likely to (4.83) than non-employed (4.33), the latter of whom were in the role full-time themselves. Employed single women were least likely to perceive limitations in the housewife role (mean score = 3.97) and this may reflect an idealisation of marriage by the non-married (Bailyn, 1964), something which Bailyn referred to as the “traditional dream”. By 1986 some shifts in perceptions had taken place for two groups of women: non-employed married women and employed single women. Both became more likely to see the housewife role as limited. Non-employed married women shifted from 4.33 to 5.04 and single women from 3.97 to 4.69. Non-employed married women are now very close in their attitudes to employed married women on this factor, with both groups hovering around the 5.0 mark.

The fact that non-employed married women shifted to the level of employed married women on this dimension is quite significant and may possibly indicate a prelude to future exiting out of the full-time housewife role and into the labour force. The fact that this group also manifested large shifts in attitudes to maternal employment, equal opportunity, equal pay and self-esteem (as measured by perception of females as inferior) would seem to indicate that this group is no longer a passive, traditional one, content with a more delimited role, but is becoming attitudinally quite similar to their employed counterparts. The social implications of this are considerable.

B. Attitude Change Concerning the Role and Status of Women: Rural/Urban Comparisons 1978 - 1986

The previous sections have dealt with changes in attitude from 1975 to 1986 among Dubliners. As the 1975 survey was only carried out in Dublin, it was not possible to make rural-urban comparisons for this time period. However, in a nationwide representative survey carried out just some three years later in 1978 many of the same attitudinal items contained in the 1975 survey were replicated, thus making it possible to make an eight-year comparison with the 1986 survey results for rural Ireland, as well as to make rural/urban comparisons.

For the purpose of this comparison, the 1978 nationwide representative sample (1) was modified so as to be comparable to the 1986 sample, i.e., it was limited to Dublin and rural Ireland, to individuals 18 to 65 and to respondents in the five categories studied in the 1986 survey. Furthermore, for this analysis the “weighted” version of the 1986 sample was used, which re-weighted each category of respondents in terms of their actual proportions in the population. These procedures enabled us to carry out comparisons on the 1978 and 1986 data which are completely comparable and thus any measures of change detected are reliable for the populations and areas studied.

The 1978 survey contained 11 items in common with the 1986 survey. These 11 consisted of three items on each of three of the attitude factors and two on a fourth factor. New composite scores were created based on these common items, which are either completely identical to those factors examined previously or slightly abbreviated versions of the same factors.

The effect of year (1978 versus 1986) was examined, while controlling for the effects of five important demographic variables: sex, age, socio-economic status, marital status and rural vs. urban location. Table 3 presents the main results of this analysis. The data of primary interest is that for year. It may be seen that there were highly significant shifts from 1978 to 1986 for rural areas as well as for Dublin on three of the four factors:

1Traditional Sex-Role Orientation

2Positive Attitude to Maternal Employment, and

3Perception of Females as Inferior

There was also a shift, but of much lesser magnitude on the factor, Belief in Higher Tax for Married Women.

As we are particularly interested in comparative rural/urban shifts, let us examine the mean scores for rural and urban respondents for the two time periods:

Traditional Sex Role Orientation

TABLE 3

AN EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECT OF YEAR (1978 TO 1986) ON 4 FACTORS MEASURING ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ROLE AND STATUS OF WOMEN, WHILE CONTROLLING FOR 5 DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES²: WEIGHTED NATIONAL SAMPLES FOR 1978 AND 1986¹ (N=1766)

It may be seen that rural respondents became less traditional by 0.99 scale points, moving from 4.42 to 3.43. Dubliners moved essentially the same amount (1.00 points) over the same time period. Rurals were somewhat more traditional than Dubliners in 1978 and they remained somewhat more traditional in 1986, yet they made as much movement as Dubliners did during this time period. It is also interesting to note that rural respondents now are less traditional than Dubliners were in 1978.

On the second factor, Positive Attitude to Maternal Employment, a similar pattern is evident:

Postive Attitude to Maternal Employment

Both rurals and Dubliners became more positive toward maternal employment during this period (a movement of 0.55 for rurals and 0.45 for Dubliners). The gap between rural dwellers and Dubliners of 0.33 in 1978 closed slightly by 1986 to just 0.23.

On the factor, Belief in Higher Tax for Married Women a different pattern is evident than in the previous two cases. As may be seen from the figure below, rural respondents became even more opposed to higher taxation of married women that they had been in 1978, whereas Dublin respondents became slightly less opposed. Although the rural respondents remained slightly more in favour than Dubliners of higher taxation of married women in 1986, this difference was negligible. What is interesting is that rurals moved in a more liberal direction, whereas urbans moved in a less liberal direction. What may be happening here is that attitudes have been reaching a common level nationally following the Supreme court case on taxation of married women.

Belief in Higher Tax for Married Women

(F = 9.92; p = .002)

Factor IV, Perception of Females as Inferior, shows a very interesting pattern, which like the one above is statistically significant. It

Perception of Females as Inferior

F = 7.20; p = .007

indicates that rurals have shifted even more than Dubliners and are slightly lower than them on this dimension.(1) The rural-urban distinction is clearly no longer apparent. Whereas rurals shifted 0.83 scale points, Dubliners shifted only 0.48 scale points on this factor. It is not clear what influences have caused this liberalisation of rural views, but what is clear is that the rural-urban divide on gender role attitudes would appear to be beginning to disappear.

A more detailed analysis of where the rural shifts are occuring is illustrated below:

Perception of Females as Inferior

(F = 7.26; P = .007)

(higher score = greater likelihood of seeing females as inferior)

It may be seen that rural women, particularly younger ones have shown dramatic shifts on this factor, being significantly less likely to see women as inferior in 1986 than they did in 1978. In fact the score for young rural women in 1986 of 1.57 was lower than that of any other group in the sample. Young rural males also showed a large shift (from 3.57 to 2.84) but the gap between young rural men and women widened from 1.17 to 1.27, on this dimension, indicating a potential source of conflict for them. Older rural men and women also shifted in the same direction, but the gap in their attitudes narrowed to just 0.69 points. Thus, while older men and women still have some differences in perception, the discrepancy is not as great as for the younger rurals.

In looking at the urban data, it is interesting to note that young urban women did not move at all on this measure. Their scores were already quite low (1.94) in 1978 but it is somewhat surprising that no movement was registered, whereas other urban groups showed rather noticeable shifts. Young urban males, in particular, showed a rather large shift from 3.59 to 2.67. Thus the very large gap in attitude between young urban men and women of 1.65 scale points, which existed in 1978, diminished to just 0.70 points, which is indicative of greater congruence and potential harmony.

The percentage responses to the individual attitude items are presented in Table 4. Data are presented for the re-weighted 1986 sample (reflecting the proportions of respondents as they actually exist in the population), as well as from the 1978 modified nationwide representative sample, where comparable data were available. A comparison of the 1978 data and the 1986 re-weighted data indicates the magnitude of change on individual items over this period. The magnitude of shift is quite similar to that already observed in the Dublin-only comparison (1975 - 86). However, there was some tendency for the shifts in the Dublin only comparison to be somewhat larger, except in the case of Perception of Females as Inferior, in which the shifts were larger in the national sample. Where shifts were somewhat different to those seen in the 1975-86 Dublin comparison, this can be attributed to the fact that: 1) the Dublin comparison covered a longer time span (11 years vs 8 years); 2) the 1975-86 comparison was restricted to Dublin only, whereas the 1978-86 comparison included rural as well as urban respondents; 3) the Dublin sample contained a higher proportion of women than the national sample.

TABLE 4

RESPONSES TO ITEMS MEASURING ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ROLE AND STATUS OF WOMEN, GROUPED BY FACTOR:

PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTIONS FOR DUBLIN AND RURAL IRELAND IN 1986, WITH SOME 1978 COMPARISONS

(N=1773)

C. Attitudes Toward the Role and Status of Women: Differences Among Groups in 1986

Turning now to the 1986 data on its own, a detailed analysis was carried out to see how various groups in the population differed. This analysis doesn’t look at the shift over time, but rather at where are the outstanding trends among, and differences between, sub-groups.

Table 5 presents the mean scores for key sub-groups on the eight attitudinal factors. Since many of these differences have already been touched on indirectly earlier, we shall summarise the main trends.

Male-female differences continue to persist, even though significant shifts have occurred. Men and women differ most markedly on the factor, Perception of Females as Inferior, with men being more likely to hold this view. There is also a very large gender gap on the factor, Traditional Sex-Role Orientation, with men being significantly more likely to have a traditional view of gender roles. There also still remain very significant gender gaps concerning attitudes to maternal employment and equal pay and, to a lesser extent, equal opportunity. Men are also more likely to perceive limitations in the housewife role, which may contribute in part to their view of appropriate gender roles. Since housework and child care are less appealing to them, they may prefer that someone else do this work. Their attitudes to maternal employment and to gender roles generally -while not necessarily a result of their attitudes to housework and childcare - are certainly consistent with them, since if women were to move out of the housewife role in a more dramatic way, men might fear having to take on some of this domestic work. Research on this in other

TABLE 5

THE EFFECT OF FIVE DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS ON EIGHT FACTORS MEASURING ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ROLE AND STATUS OF WOMEN: 1986

(N=600)