Abstract:
Cooperative gender beliefs are characterizations of women, men and heterosexual relationships that focus on positive aspects of traditional traits and roles, and heterosexual interdependency, but ultimately rationalize gender inequality. Approaches to cooperative gender beliefs vary by discipline, resulting in different theories and terminology. Terms such as benevolent sexism, gender-specific-meritocracy, and traditional gender beliefs refer to similar clusters of beliefs that are associated with gender inequalities. By specifying the different types, functions, and levels of cooperative gender beliefs, this thesis provides a systematic study that investigates why people would adopt beliefs that perpetuate harmful gender inequalities. This line of study tests evidence for the perspective that cooperative gender beliefs manage trade-offs between the costs and the benefits of living in societies with unequal gender relations. I conceptualize different types of gender beliefs as cooperative, and investigate the extent to which they are linked with trade-offs involved in inequality at the individual level, such as doing unfair amounts of housework, and the societal level, such as being relatively less impacted by gender inequalities. I present three empirical studies. Study 1 explores different types of cooperative gender beliefs and how they are linked to gendered divisions of labour. Study 2 investigates evidence for an evolutionarily informed theory that cooperative gender beliefs function to increase reproductive benefits by assessing residual change in individuals’ fertility rate over two years; and a socio-structural theory that cooperative gender beliefs arise to justify the inequalities encompassed in heterosexual parenthood. Finally, Study 3 distinguishes cooperative gender beliefs endorsed by individuals vs. cooperative gender beliefs endorsed by societies more broadly to understand how these beliefs palliate feelings of injustice, thereby alleviating the negative effects of inequalities on individuals’ subjective wellbeing. Together these studies advance our understanding of how cooperative gender beliefs justify gender inequalities and thus function to offset some of the harm that inequality causes women.
