Nontraditional careers for women: A prototypical example

A nationwide survey of a stratified sample of 461 Army ROTC college cadets and 470 of their non-ROTC schoolmates was conducted in order to investigate sex and racial differences in military-related perceptions and attitudes. This article focuses on survey findings dealing with sex differences in respondents' military socialization, knowledge of ROTC and the Army, attitudes toward ROTC and the Army, and behavioral intentions with respect to a military career. Female cadets had (1) fewer military socializing influences, (2) less accurate knowledge about ROTC and the Army, (3) more favorable attitudes toward ROTC and the Army, and (4) less favorable intentions regarding military service than male cadets. Findings 2, 3, and 4 were also obtained in the noncadet schoolmate group; however, in this group, there were no significant sex differences in military socializing influences. A model based on these findings is developed as a starting point for attempts to account for the higher attrition rates of women in the military.     

Role of Group Affiliation and Gender on Attitudes Toward Women in the Military

The current study examined attitudes of West Point cadets (N = 218), Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets (N = 509), and non-military-affiliated students from civilian colleges (N = 598) toward a variety of roles that women may serve in the military. Respondents were queried whether a woman “should” or “should not” serve in the following military jobs: jet fighter pilot, truck mechanic, nurse in a combat zone, typist in the Pentagon, commander of a military installation, hand-to-hand combat soldier, jet transport pilot, air defense gunner, and crew member on a combat ship. A metric based on a sum of approval across all jobs indicated that women were significantly more approving than men; civilian college students were more approving than ROTC cadets; and West Point cadets showed the lowest overall approval.     

Predictors of Support for Women in Military Roles: Military Status,Gender, and Political Ideology

The repeal of combat restrictions by gender raises the importance of understanding factors related to the acceptance of women serving in the full range of military jobs. Previous research shows military affiliated cadets, especially males, are substantially less approving of women serving in military jobs, especially those involving exposure to direct combat or command positions, than are other college students. The current study extends these findings by considering political ideology in addition to gender and military affiliation, as related to attitudes toward women’s roles in the military overall and in combat roles in particular. Survey data from Service Academy cadets (n = 3,116), Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets (n = 1,367), and nonmilitary affiliated college students (n = 2,648), provided measures of whether a woman should or should not be allowed to serve in 9 different military job areas. In addition to overall approval, a scale for combat jobs was created from a subset of 4 of the jobs. Regression analysis indicated that once gender, political party, political position (left/right), and attitudes toward mothers in the workforce overall were controlled, type of college did not add to the prediction of acceptance of women in various military roles. In general, nonmilitary affiliated respondents, women, and those identifying as Democrat offered higher approval scores. Our findings suggest more aggressive programs, designed to educate and socialize these future leaders about women’s roles in the military, may require development.     

Military and Civilian Undergraduates: Attitudes Toward Women,Masculinity, and Authoritarianism

The influence of civilian and military college environments and undergraduates' sex on gender role attitudes and authoritarianism was investigated. Three hundred thirteen male and 69 female, primarily white middle-class students at the United States Naval Academy, United States Air Force Academy, Reserve Officer Training Corps, and a civilian university participated. Approximately 7% were Hispanic, 6% African-American, and 5% Asian-American. Military students had the most traditional authoritarian beliefs and gender role attitudes. When men only were analyzed, USNA males were the most traditional in their attitudes toward women and in antifemininity attitudes. ROTC men were the most traditional in authoritarianism and in status beliefs. All military-affiliated men held more traditional toughness attitudes than did civilian men. USNA men had the most traditional attitudes toward women as compared to the USNA females and civilian females and males.     

Gender Bias and Pluralistic Ignorance in Perceptions of Fitness Assessments

Two studies examined the relationship between cadets' views toward women, specifically, attitudes about fitness testing at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). Cadets completed measures of views toward women in society, in the military, at USAFA, and fitness testing. Results revealed that many male cadets held sexist attitudes of women in all categories. Cadets who held egalitarian views of women in society and in the military were more likely to support equitable fitness standards. Furthermore, cadets' personal viewpoints differed from their perception of the entire cadet population viewpoint, creating an environment of pluralistic ignorance. That is, cadets believed the collective was more sexist than themselves, suggesting that a vocal minority who perpetuate sexist attitudes may hinder changes in culture.     

Differences in the demographic and sociopsychological profile of ROTC vs Non-ROTC students

The demographic and sociopsychological profile of 102 high school and 754 college Army ROTC cadets was compared and contrasted against that of their non-ROTC classmates. The ROTC students were found to differ from their classmates in military background, academic aptitude, personal values, attributes sought in a job, political position, bureaucratic tendencies, and other socio-psychological characteristics. These differences grew larger with time, as progressively older samples of cadets and noncadets were studied. Because of the cross-sectional nature of the present study, it was not possible to determine the extent to which these widening differences were due to: (a) selection differences present at the moment of entry into ROTC; (b) attrition from the ROTC group of cadets with a “deviant” profile; and/or (c) actual changes in cadets brought about by exposure to a military career. Nevertheless, these findings point to the possible existence of a “military personality” that is evident at early career development stages and even among ROTC civilians supposed to provide a “leavening” effect on the United States military.     

Understanding Men’s Attitudes Toward Women in the Swedish Armed Forces

We examined attitudes toward women in the military in a random representative sample of 1,320 male officers from the Swedish Armed Forces. We expected age, education, rank, years of military service, sexist beliefs, and interpersonal contact to correlate with men’s attitudes toward women in the military. Correlational analyses indicated that individuals expressing more positive attitudes toward women in the military tended to be younger, more educated, and higher in rank, were less likely to endorse sexist ideologies, and had greater interpersonal contact with women in the military. Regression analyses showed that education, rank, sexism, and contact emerged as the best predictors of these attitudes. Further examination of the effects of contact on these attitudes indicated that the quality of the contact experience was uniquely important in understanding men’s attitudes toward women in the military. We discuss the implications of these findings for promoting greater acceptance of women in the military.     

“Drive On”: The Relationship Between Psychological Variables and Effective Squad Leadership

The U.S. Reserve Officer Training Program (ROTC) conducts systematic assessments of cadets’ leadership abilities during field training exercises (FTX) to assess their leadership abilities. While cadets in ROTC programs learn specific tactical operation procedures to augment FTX performances, much less is known about the relationship between psychological variables and squad leadership performance. To this end, 220 cadets completed self-efficacy, psychological flexibility, and grit questionnaires, which were then compared to FTX performance scores. Results underscored that only self-efficacy was significantly related to cadets’ squad leadership ability. Furthermore, prior service in the U.S. Army had no effect on the performance score one attained, highlighting an interesting paradox. Therefore, while self-efficacy can be cultivated through prior experiences, it seems more prudent to educate ROTC cadets on how to apply psychological skills to bolster self-efficacy in preparation for upcoming challenging leadership experiences.     

Attitudes toward homosexuality: Feminist attitudes and sexual conservatism

Attitudes toward homosexuality, attitudes toward women, sexual conservatism, social desirability, masculinity, femininity, and psychological androgyny were measured in 104 male and female subjects. Both nonfeminist and conservative sexual attitudes independently correlated with antihomosexual attitudes. Antihomosexual individuals held more stereotyped attitudes regarding women and defined acceptable heterosexual behaviors more narrowly than prohomosexual individuals. Psychological androgyny, measured with Bem's Sex-Role Inventory, did not correlate with either attitudes toward homosexuality or attitudes toward women.     

Sexism as a Predictor of Attitudes Toward Women in the Military and in Combat

This study examined four forms of sexist beliefs as predictors of attitudes toward women in the military and in combat. Survey data revealed that military-affiliated college students (n = 62) held more negative attitudes than civilian students (n = 254) toward women in combat, but the groups did not differ on attitudes toward women in the military. All forms of sexism contributed uniquely to the prediction of attitudes toward women in the military, and 3 forms were associated with approval of women in combat. Sexist beliefs mediated the relationship between military-affiliation status and approval of women in combat.     

Turkish College Students' Attitudes Toward Women Managers: The Effects of Patriarchy,Sexism, and Gender Differences

The authors examined how patriarchy, sexism, and gender influence Turkish college students' attitudes toward women managers. Turkish undergraduate students (N = 183) from Middle East Technical University completed questionnaires measuring attitudes toward women managers as well as attitudes toward the concepts of hostile and benevolent sexism and support for patriarchy. Participants were of upper- or middle-class Turkish backgrounds. The results showed that male participants exhibited less positive attitudes toward women managers than did female participants. In addition, participants who held more favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored high on hostile sexism also held less positive attitudes toward women managers than those who held less favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored low on hostile sexism. A regression analysis showed that support for patriarchy and hostile sexism was more important for explaining less favorable attitudes toward women managers than was benevolent sexism.     

Turkish college students' attitudes toward women managers: the effects of patriarchy,sexism, and gender differences

The authors examined how patriarchy, sexism, and gender influence Turkish college students' attitudes toward women managers. Turkish undergraduate students (N = 183) from Middle East Technical University completed questionnaires measuring attitudes toward women managers as well as attitudes toward the concepts of hostile and benevolent sexism and support for patriarchy. Participants were of upper- or middle-class Turkish backgrounds. The results showed that male participants exhibited less positive attitudes toward women managers than did female participants. In addition, participants who held more favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored high on hostile sexism also held less positive attitudes toward women managers than those who held less favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored low on hostile sexism. A regression analysis showed that support for patriarchy and hostile sexism was more important for explaining less favorable attitudes toward women managers than was benevolent sexism.     

Women at west point: A three-year perspective

A longitudinal study of approximately 3,700 male and 300 female cadets investigated similarities and differences of these young adults during the first three years of coeducation at West Point. Both men and women were relatively homogeneous on comparisons of personality variables. Also, when personality characteristics were correlated with two psychological scales—the Personal Attributes Questionnaire and the Work and Family Orientation Scale—males and females appear more similar than different. Despite their similarities, female and male cadets were different in their attitudes towards the rights and roles of women in society, their leadership evaluation ratings, and their attitudes toward dating relationships. The implications of these findings in increasing our understanding of sex roles and sex stereotypes are discussed.This research was supported by research grant #MDA 903-78-GO2 from the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Major Jerome Adams, principal investigator. Portions of this article were presented at the 87th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, September 1979. This article represents the views of the author and not the official position of the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Army Research Institute, the U.S. Army, or any other governmental agency unless so designated by other authorized documents.     

A Comparative Study of the Implicit and Explicit Gender Attitudes of Children and College Students

Implicit attitudes and explicit attitudes toward men and women and toward male soldiers and female soldiers were assessed in fifth-graders (28 male, 31 female) and college students (43 male, 42 female). Women were rated more positively than men on an explicit attitude measure. Similarly, female soldiers were rated more positively than male soldiers, except among college men, who were pro-male soldier. Different results emerged from an Implicit Association Test using names of men and women (general gender condition) or of male soldiers and female soldiers (soldier name condition). Latencies indicated pro-female attitudes in the soldier name condition and among women and college students. Error rates also indicated pro-female attitudes, except for a pro-male preference among men in the general gender condition. Reasons that implicit and explicit attitude measures may produce such divergent results are discussed.     

ARE WOMEN EVALUATED MORE FAVORABLY THAN MEN?

In an experiment in which male and female respondents evaluated the social category of women or men on several types of measures, analysis of respondents' attitudes toward the sexes and of the evaluative content of their beliefs established that they evaluated women more favorably than men. In addition, analysis of respondents' emotional reactions toward women and men did not yield evidence of negativity toward women at the emotional level. Nor did it appear that respondents' very positive evaluations of women masked ambivalence toward them. This research, therefore, provides strong evidence that women are evaluated quite favorably—in fact, more favorably than men.     

Effects of Victim Sex and Sexual Orientation on Perceptions of Rape

The relationship of sex, gender role attitudes, and sexual orientation to blame attributed to rape victims by 168 male and 220 female undergraduates was examined. Participants responded to a scenario that depicted the rape of a heterosexual male or female, a gay male, or a lesbian and completed the Case Reaction Questionnaire, the Attitudes Toward Women Scale—Short Form, the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale—Short Form, and the Male Role Norm Scale. Men assigned more blame to victims than did women, and they assigned greater blame to male than to female victims. Traditional gender role attitudes were positively related to victim blame and to more negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians, which in turn, was related to more blame being assigned to homosexual victims.     

Beliefs About Wife Beating Among Turkish College Students: The Effects of Patriarchy,Sexism, and Sex Differences

This paper describes how patriarchy, hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and sex of participants influence Turkish College students' attitudes toward wife beating. Two hundred twenty-one Turkish undergraduate students from Middle East Technical University filled out questionnaires measuring attitudes toward wife beating, hostile and benevolent sexism, and support for patriarchy. Participants were from middle or high social classes, and from various region of Turkey. Results demonstrated that male participants exhibited more approval of wife beating than did female participants. Further, male participants who had more favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who were high on hostile sexism viewed wife beating as more acceptable and blamed women for eliciting the violence. Regression analysis showed that patriarchy and hostile sexism predicted attitudes toward wife beating the best.     

Integration of women into the U.S. military

This study reports male attitudes toward women beginning with the admission of women in 1976 to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. It assesses these attitudes as a consequence of the norms of the military system and notes a trend toward more positive attitudes by successive classes since the Class of 1979. Programmatic measures to nurture and facilitate this positive trend are recommended.The author gratefully acknowledges the contribution of Dr. Steven P. Gunn, formerly of Connecticut College, to the development of this research.