Gender Differences In University Students’ Attitude Towards Gender Roles

Gender role attitudes indicate the dynamics of gender relations in any society. As gender equality is now considered an important indicator of development for any country. Therefore, it is imperative to comprehend the societal especially youth acuity towards gender roles in a culture. This paper examined the university students’ attitude towards gender roles by employing Gender Roles Attitude Scale (Zeyneloglu & Terzioglu, 2011). The objective was to understand whether the attitude of youth towards gender role was egalitarian or traditional. For this purpose, a survey was conducted by taking a sample of 513 respondents conveniently from various universities of Lahore, both descriptive and inferential statistics data were used for data analyses. The results revealed significant gender differences in respondents’ perception, as male students’ approach towards gender roles was found more egalitarian than females. Furthermore, residential cities and socioeconomic background of respondents’ parents was found important in shaping their approach towards gender roles. Findings suggested that parents’ role in the socialization of children may be deemed first critical step towards nurturing gender sensitized society along with the incorporation of gender aspects in academic curriculum across the discipline at the different educational level in Pakistan. Moreover, government and social activists may advocate gender sensitivity by using various programs and policies.