As gender roles shift, more see benefits for women than for men
Since the 1970s, a greater share of women in two-parent families are working outside the home either full-time or part-time. At the same time, fathers report spending more time on child care and household chores. While there is some ambivalence among the public about the impact of these changing gender roles, more say these changes have made things easier for women than say they have made things easier for men.
Just over half of the public (54%) says changing gender roles – in particular, the fact that more women are working outside the home and men are more involved in housework and child care – have made it easier for women to be successful at work. Far fewer (25%) say these changes have made it easier for men to be successful at work; 49% say they haven’t made much difference and 25% say they have made it harder for men to be successful at work. And while about half (48%) say these changing gender roles have made it easier for women to lead satisfying lives, fewer (40%) say they have made it easier for men to lead satisfying lives.
When it comes to the impact of changing gender roles on family life, about half of Americans (47%) say these changes have made it easier for families to earn enough money to live comfortably; a quarter say they have made things harder and 27% say they haven’t made much difference.
About four-in-ten (41%) say changing gender roles have made it easier for parents to raise children, but a third say these changes have made parenting harder. Similarly, while 38% say these changes have made it easier for marriages to be successful, 30% say they have made this harder.
As with views about the state of gender equality, attitudes about the impact of changing gender roles on men, women and families vary sharply across party lines, with Democrats far more likely than Republicans to see benefits in many areas. For example, roughly six-in-ten Democrats (58%) say these changes have made it easier for women to lead satisfying lives; just 36% of Republicans share this view. Double-digit party gaps are also evident when it comes to views of whether changing gender roles have made it easier for marriages to be successful (a gap of 21 percentage points), for men to lead satisfying lives (18 points), for parents to raise children (16 points) and for families to earn enough money to live comfortably (14 points). Democrats and Republicans offer similar views on the impact of changing gender roles on men’s and women’s ability to be successful at work.
Attitudes about the impact of changing gender roles also vary sharply by education, and these differences mostly hold up among Democrats and Republicans alike. At least six-in-ten adults with a bachelor’s degree or more education say changing gender roles have made it easier for women to be successful at work (67%) and to lead satisfying lives (61%); about half or fewer of those with some college or less education say this is the case (49% say these changes have made it easier for women to succeed at work and 43% say the same about women leading satisfying lives).
Similarly, by double-digit margins, college graduates are more likely than adults with less education to say changing gender roles have made it easier for families to earn enough money to live comfortably (a gap of 14 percentage points), for men to lead satisfying lives (14 points) and for marriages to be successful (10 points).
For the most part, men and women offer similar views of the impact of changing gender roles on society, but there are striking gender differences among parents of children younger than 18 when it comes to the impact of these changes on raising children: 45% of mothers say they have made it easier for parents to raise children, compared with 29% of fathers.
And while similar shares of married and unmarried adults say changing gender roles have made it easier for marriages to be successful, there are gender differences among married women and men who say this is the case. About four-in-ten married women (42%) say changing gender roles have made it easier for marriages to be successful, compared with three-in-ten married men.
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