Holding the Belief That Gender Roles Can Change Reduces Women’s Work–Family Conflict

Abstract

Across four studies ( N = 1544), we examined the relationship between individuals’ gender role mindsets, or beliefs about the malleability versus fixedness of traditional gender roles, and work–family conflict. We found that undergraduate women (but not men) business students holding a fixed, compared to growth, gender role mindset anticipated more work–family conflict. Next, we manipulated gender role mindset and demonstrated a causal link between women’s growth mindsets (relative to fixed mindsets and control conditions) and reduced work–family conflict. We showed mechanistically that growth gender role mindsets unburden women from prescriptive gender roles, reducing work–family conflict. Finally, during COVID-19, we demonstrated a similar pattern among working women in high-achieving dual-career couples. We found an indirect effect of women’s gender role mindset on job and relationship satisfaction, mediated through work–family conflict. Our preregistered studies suggest that holding the belief that gender roles can change mitigates women’s work–family conflict.