Change in U.S. Women's Sex-Role Attitudes, 1964-1974

Abstract

This paper uses data from five sample surveys taken between 1964 and 1974 to investigate recent change in U.S. women's sex-role attitudes. It employs several statistical techniques to insure comparability among samples before making inferences about attitude change. The results of the analysis suggest there has been considerable movement toward more egalitarian role definitions in the past decade, with such change occurring equally among higher and lower status women. The analysis also finds evidence that women's attitudes about their rights in the labor market are becoming more strongly related to their attitudes about their roles in the home and shows that educational attainment and employment are among the most important individual-level predictors of attitudes at a given point in time. Little evidence is found for the unique influence of the women's movement on change in women's sex-role attitudes, but the sizable changes in these attitudes since 1964 may help explain the rise of the movement