The relationship of feminist identity development to gender bias of women in parenting and couple contexts

Gender bias was measured in a sample of women categorized by Feminist Identity Development. The independent variable was the stage of Feminist Identity Development. The five stages were Passive Acceptance, Revelation, Embeddedness-Emanation, Synthesis, and Active Commitment. Each stage has specific personality characteristics, attitudes, and activities associated with it. The Feminist Identity Development Scale measured stage levels. The dependent variable was gender bias in parenting and heterosexual couple relationships. The Opinions Vignettes measured gender bias. A demographic questionnaire was the third in the administration. The initial two hypotheses examined relationships between demographic variables and either the independent variable or the dependent variable. The third hypothesis examined whether as stage level increased, gender bias decreased. Packets were presented in six arrangements to reduce order effect. One hundred seventy-eight questionnaires were completed. Stages were categorical variables. Chi squares and ANOVAs analyzed relationships with demographic variables. Gender bias scores were continuous variables. Pearson correlations and ANOVAs were used to analyze the relationship between variables. The Passive Acceptance stage was deleted from the analysis since it had only one subject. Income and number of children were variables that had significant relationships with the stage of feminist identity. ANOVAs revealed that women in the Embeddedness-Emanation stage differed significantly from other categories and had the lowest mean amount of children. The Revelation stage had the lowest income compared to the other three stages. Age and number of children were positively correlated with gender bias. Education and Income were negatively correlated with gender bias. European-Americans scored significantly higher than African-Americans and others on gender bias. Those without college scored higher in gender bias than categories with higher education. Those retired and in Administration and Retail scored differently from other occupations. The relationship between Feminist Identity Development Stages and gender bias was not significant. However, there was a trend in the data that was further explored with least significantly different post-hoc tests. Subjects in the Embeddedness-Emanation stage scored lower on gender bias than Revelation and Synthesis stages. Characteristics attributed to women in this category were suggested as the reason for the result