Under what conditions do gender differences exist in power and achievement values? The moderating role of gender ideology

Abstract

AbstractPrevious studies revealed differences between men and women in value priorities. It has been asserted that men do inherently attribute more importance than women to power and achievement values. Our study brings a sociocultural lens into account employing gender ideology as a moderator of the gender differences in these values. Specifically, we hypothesized that internalization and endorsement of gender role ideology shape gender differences in power and achievement values. We focused on two components of gender ideology as moderators of the gender differences in values: primacy of the breadwinner role, and acceptance of male privilege. We used data from the World Values Survey wave six (89,565 participants from 60 countries). Results indicated that gender ideology moderated the relationship between gender and the endorsement of achievement and power values. Specifically, the relationship between gender and achievement was significantly moderated by acceptance of male privilege, but not of primacy of the breadwinner role. In addition, the association between gender and power was significantly moderated by primacy of the breadwinner role, but not by acceptance of male privilege. In other words, when participants endorse egalitarian gender ideologies, gender differences in power and achievement disappear or even reverse. We contrast previous perspectives assuming inherent gender differences in human values and argue that such differences are related to beliefs in gendered separate spheres.