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June 2001, Vol. 7, No. 2 Gender Issues Researchers know little about the acquisition of gender roles among adolescents, despite a growing acknowledgment of the crucial part the adolescent years play in shaping adult lives. To address this knowledge gap, Population Council researchers and their colleagues examined data from a nationally representative sample of Egyptian adolescents. The investigators assessed the differences in socialization between boys and girls, looked for signs of departure from expected gender role patterns, and clarified the significance of education in influencing the socialization of Egyptian young people. The research was conducted by Population Council demographer Barbara S. Mensch, Council Regional Director for West Asia and North Africa Barbara L. Ibrahim, Council consultant Susan M. Lee, and Omaima El-Gibaly of Assiut University, based on data from a nationally representative sample survey, known as Adolescence and Social Change in Egypt. The current analysis was restricted to the 660 unmarried adolescent girls and boys aged 16–19 years, and their parents, who took part in a portion of the survey in which they answered questions on attitudes about gender roles in marriage, desirable qualities in a spouse, and other topics. Importance of education The research revealed that in Egypt, unmarried girls aged 16–19 years have much less free time than boys of the same ages, are far less mobile, and are much less likely to hang out with friends or participate in paid work or sports. Girls also have heavier domestic responsibilities, even when accounting for school enrollment. Among the adolescents aged 16–19 who are currently attending school, 26 percent of boys reported doing domestic work the previous day, compared to 68 percent of girls. The researchers were surprised to discover, however, that 50 percent of boys aged 10–12 report engaging in domestic work. “We were intrigued that younger boys were substantially involved in helping out at home,” says Ibrahim. “This suggests it may be possible to encourage boys to continue pitching in. The findings were also somewhat discouraging, however, because they show what little opportunity girls have to spend time outside the home with peers or playing sports. It sets an early pattern of physical inactivity and isolation for girls.” In general, both girls and boys support a traditional division of roles between men and women, although girls are somewhat less conservative than boys. While the vast majority of adolescent girls and boys believe that a wife “needs her husband’s permission for everything,” girls are significantly less likely than boys to say that a wife must accept her husband’s opinion or defer to him on household discretionary spending or decisions about childbearing. Moreover, girls are significantly more likely than boys to prefer sharing household decisionmaking with their future spouse. Gender-segregated attitudes may be reinforced rather than challenged by schooling, since the curriculum by and large supports stereotypical role patterns in the family. “Other gender role attitudes, however, are more sensitive to education,” says Ibrahim. “Another analysis of the same national sample showed that exposure to the school environment has a strong association among girls with decreased support for female circumcision, for example.” Contrary to expectation, girls, particularly those who are better educated, are more likely than boys to favor a large age difference between spouses. This is an intriguing finding, given that a spousal age gap is generally viewed by demographers as a marker of gender inequality. “Educated girls, who may have high material or social aspirations, might approve of that age gap because older men are more likely to be economically able to fulfill these desires,” speculates El-Gibaly. While education appears to be central to creating opportunities for young people in Egypt, it does not always challenge the expression of traditional attitudes for either sex or necessarily encourage wider horizons for girls. Recent efforts to reform the school curriculum toward encouraging more egalitarian roles for men and women, as well as programs targeting physical fitness and community participation for girls, should be reinforced, say the researchers. Girls’ relative isolation in the home, especially for nonstudents, will require creative community efforts to carve out “safe spaces” where they can gather and learn. Source Outside funding | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
