Socialization to gender roles and marriage among Egyptian adolescents

Type Conference Paper - Annual Meeting of the Population Asso-ciation of America
Title Socialization to gender roles and marriage among Egyptian adolescents
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2000
City Los Angeles
Country/State CA
URL http://www.iiav.nl/ezines/email/PolicyResearchDivision/2000/No140.pdf
Abstract
Using nationally representative survey data, this paper explores gender rolesocialization and attitudes toward marriage among unmarried Egyptian adolescentsaged 16–19 years. We examine the daily activities of adolescent boys and girls,views about age at marriage and desirable qualities in a spouse, and various indica-tors of gender role attitudes including opinions about whether wives should defer tohusbands, about sharing household decisionmaking, and about responsibility fordomestic tasks. Our findings reflect strong gender differentiation: girls have muchless free time than boys, are much less mobile, are much less likely to participate inpaid work, and have heavier domestic responsibilities regardless of whether or notthey are in school. Girls favor a later age at marriage for both sexes, but particularlyfor boys. Boys are significantly more likely than girls to favor educational inequal-ity between spouses. While neither boys nor girls have particularly progressive gen-der role attitudes, girls are significantly more likely to express less traditional atti-tudes. Multivariate analyses indicate that girls’ and boys’ attitudes do not varyconsistently and significantly by socioeconomic background; in particular, increasedschooling does not always promote egalitarian attitudes. The implications of thesefindings for policies and programs are discussed

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