Female Employment and the Change of Gender Roles: The Conflictual Relationship Between Participation and Attitudes in International Comparison

This article examines female labour force participation and gender role attitudes from a comparative perspective, using recent survey data from eight countries. It starts with two general hypotheses. The technological-functional hypothesis states that the increase in women's labour force participation is a necessary concomitant of industrialisation, followed sooner or later by a corresponding adaptation of gender role attitudes toward individualistic-egalitarian values. The cultural-institutional hypothesis states that extra-familial work of women and gender role attitudes are both related to historically persistent, general societal values regarding personal individuality and freedom, family and social stratification. Empirical results did not confirm the hypothesis that the higher the employment rate of women in a particular country, the more the population will have egalitarian gender role attitudes. This is exemplified by the two polar cases of Hungary with the highest levels of employment, but most traditional attitudes, and Netherlands with relatively low levels of employment but very modern attitudes. It seems that the actual employment rates of women (as well as an economic motivation of female employment as a contribution to household income) are primarily determined by changing economic circumstances and policies as well as the actual economic situation of women and their family. Gender role attitudes, however, are shaped not only by structural changes due to industrialisation but also by socio-cultural factors, such as the religious heritages of different countries. In this regard, our second hypothesis also obtains empirical support.