The Examination of Graduate Students' Gender Roles in Relation with Demographics

Abstract

The different behavioral patterns of females and males stem from the social learning process of gender roles. Individuals develop their own gender identity; and gender behaviors, roles and attitudes according to the socials norms of the society in which they were born (Giddens, 2000). This research aims to investigate the gender roles and analyze the relationship of these roles with demographic variables. The research group was consisted of 104 (78 female and 25 male) graduate students from Education Faculty of Fatih University in 2013-2014. The data collection instruments were demographic questionnaire and Bem Sex Role Inventory (Short Form). Bem Sex Role Inventory with Femininity and Masculinity scales was used to determine the gender roles. The results showed that males got higher masculine scores than females; however females do not get significantly higher feminine scores. Regarding gender role categories, it has found that undifferentiated gender role category is more frequent in metropolis and androgyny gender role category is higher in older age group. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.