Feminist or Paternalistic: Understanding Men’s Motivations to Confront Sexism

The role of men in fighting gender inequality is a controversial issue. Literature has shown that advantaged group members can promote social change but also perpetuate status quo. We conducted three studies to examine two motivational processes that may lead men to confront sexism: an egalitarian path and a paternalistic one. Studies 1– 3 revealed that men high in benevolent sexism were more willing to confront sexism for paternalistic reasons, whereas Studies 2–3 found that men high in feminist identification were more likely to confront sexism for egalitarian reasons. Pooled analyses (Studies 1–3) supported the egalitarian and paternalistic paths underlying sexism confrontation. Moreover, Studies 2 and 3 extended these findings to collective action and engagement in the men’s activist movement that aims to reflect on male privilege (i.e., the Men for Equity movement). These results highlight the existence of various underlying motivations to confront sexism by men, as well as the limits of paternalism and the potential of feminism to motivate men to take part in other kinds of actions beyond confrontation to foster social change.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the predoctoral contract granted to LE-R (FPU14/0511) and through the excellence project granted to SL (PSI2016-79971-P)

Fighting inequalities in times of pandemic: The role of politicized identities and interdependent self-construal in coping with economic threat

During the COVID-19 pandemic, institutions encouraged social isolation and non-interaction with other people to prevent contagion. Still, the response to an impending economic crisis must be through the collective organization. In this set of pre-registered studies, we analyse two possible mechanisms of coping with collective economic threats: shared social identity and interdependent self-construction. We conducted three correlational studies during the pandemic in May–October 2020 (Study 1, N = 363; Study 2, N = 250; Study 3, N = 416). Results show that shared identity at two levels of politicization (i.e., working-class and 99% identities) and interdependent self-construal mediated the relationship between collective economic threat, intolerance towards economic inequality and collective actions to reduce it. The results highlight that the collective economic threat can reinforce the sense of community—either through the activation of a politicized collective identity, such as the working class or the 99% or through the activation of an interdependent self—which in turn can trigger greater involvement in the fight against economic inequality. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación: MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Grant/Award Number: PID2019-111549GB-I00FEDER/Junta de Andalucía-Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades, Grant/Award Number: A-SEJ-72-UGR20Universidad de Granada / CBU

Doble presencia: un riesgo psicosocial que evidencia la desigualdad entre hombres y mujeres en la conciliación de la vida familiar y laboral

Los riesgos psicosociales son tema de actualidad en el mundo que nos rodea debido a los constantes cambios económicos y sociales. Más aún, la doble presencia, esto es, el trabajo realizado tanto como empleados/as remunerados/as, como el realizado en las tareas familiares y domésticas, generalmente de cuidados (Ramos, 2008). Este riesgo psicosocial afecta en mayor medida a mujeres que a hombres, ya que éstas poseen el rol de cuidadoras y protectoras del hogar. En el presente estudio se ha pretendido investigar este fenómeno en una muestra de 105 trabajadores de la UGR mediante el cuestionario ISTAS 21. Se comprobó a través de los análisis estadísticos pertinentes que existe una diferencia significativa que indica una mayor presencia de este riesgo psicosocial en mujeres que en hombres.Proyecto de Innovación Docente ReiDoCrea. Departamento de Psicología Social. Universidad de Granada

The role of men as allies against sexism

Gender inequality is still a pervasive problem in our societies; even though evident progress has been achieved, there is still a long way to go (Morgenroth & Ryan, 2018). The fight against this and other inequalities has been traditionally focused on the targets of discrimination, because they are the ones concerned with improving their positions in society (Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Wright et al., 1990). However, during the last decades the relevance of advantaged group members who fight against inequality is gaining attention in our field. In the context of gender inequality, more and more voices encourage men to become women’s allies against sexism. But there are also voices that oppose it or express reluctance. Although confronting sexism offer men a good opportunity to become allies (Drury & Kaiser, 2014), the intergroup relations literature confirms the need to be cautious when incorporating them in the fight against gender inequality. Although members of dominant groups can act on behalf of disadvantaged people, it does not guarantee to achieve social change. On the contrary, they may even reinforce inequality and undermine disadvantaged group members resistance, especially when they ignore power asymmetries that define intergroup relations (Nadler, 2002; Saguy, Tausch, Dovidio, & Pratto 2009; Wright & Lubensky, 2008). Nevertheless, if advantaged groups members are aware of power relations and clearly oppose to them, they can be supportive for disadvantaged groups and become really helpful to promote social change (Droogendyck, Louis, & Wright, 2016). In this doctoral dissertation, we study which conditions must be fulfilled for men to become women’s allies against sexism and promote real social change. To answer this question, we have set three specific objectives: (1) To understand why men get involved in confronting sexism; to this aim, we analyze different motivational processes that lead men to confront a sexist situation. (2) To study the consequences of different types of male sexism confrontation for women’s well-being and empowerment. (3) To analyze when women perceive men as allies, the implications of such perceptions in interpersonal and intergroup terms and their underlying mechanisms.Tesis Univ. Granada