Traditional gender roles may be more popular among young people these days than you might think.
That’s the news based on a recent study conducted by University of California, Santa Cruz researcher Rachael Robnett.
Robnett surveyed 277 of her heterosexual classmates and found two-thirds of them stated they would “definitely” want the man to propose. On the other end of the spectrum, not one participant, male or female, said they “definitely” wanted the woman to propose, and just 2.8 percent of female participants said they “kind of” wanted to be the one who proposed.
“Only 2.8 percent of female students interviewed
‘kind of’ wanted to be the one proposing.”
Additionally, the study found men and women ascribed to traditional expectations when it came to keeping or changing their names after marriage, with three-fifths of women stating they were open to changing their name to their husband’s name and three-fifths of men stating they wouldn’t change their name to their wife’s.
When Robnett asked the participants why they felt the way they did, both male and female participants expressed a preference for certain aspects of traditional gender roles, a viewpoint Robnett identified as “benevolent sexism.”
However, when Robnett examined the reasons why women didn’t want to propose, it had less to do with providing their partner with the ability to play the traditional male role and more to do with fear of rejection, fear of coming on too strong and a desire for “romance.”
Source: Huffington Post. Photo source: reutersmedia.net
