Authoritarianism and Gender Roles: Toward a Psychological Analysis of Hegemonic Relationships

Abstract

The authors examined the relationship between authoritarianism and gender-role identity, attitudes, and behaviors. Using Altemeyer's Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) Scale, they found that high scores on authoritarianism were related to traditional gender-role identity and attitudes, rating political events concerning women as less important, and rating feminists and women as having relatively more power and influence in society. Authoritarianism was also related to the expression of anti-abortion views in essays and using arguments based on conventional morality, submission to authority, and punitiveness toward women seeking abortions. Finally, high scores on authoritarianism were related to participating in pro-life rallies and not participating in pro-choice and women's issues meetings. The authors offer speculations about the connections between social structures and individual psychological mechanisms.