Presenter

Ramanjot K. Kalher, Department of Psychology, University of Alberta

Abstract

According to the 2020 World Economic Forum, India placed 112/153 for global gender gap while Canada ranked 19th. While this number depicts a cross-cultural difference, very little research examines gender ideologies within the cultures of bicultural people. Bicultural persons are regularly faced with the need to manage contrasting cultural values that influence various aspects of their lives, including their gender ideologies and relations. A bicultural individual is one who internalizes two cultures, as often happens with the offspring of parents who have immigrated to Canada. An important domain that can be affected by culture is gender role ideologies or the beliefs that people have about gender egalitarianism and traditional gender roles. This research examines how bicultural Canadians who belong to two cultures with very different gender role ideologies, particularly South Asian-Canadians, vary in their expression of gender role ideologies. A first correlational study will examine the relations between acculturation orientations and ethnic identity, on the one hand, and gender ideologies on the other hand, with the hypothesis that those people who are less acculturated to Canadian society will have more traditional gender ideologies. The South Asian-Canadians will also be compared to European Canadians, with the hypothesis that the South Asian group will tend to have more traditional gender ideologies. The second, experimental study will test whether gender ideologies can shift with cultural context through priming. Should this study show a relation between cultural priming and gender ideologies, it may have implications for changing gender ideologies to be more egalitarian.

Poster

Authors & Affiliations

Ramanjot K. Kalher & Kimberly A. Noels (Psychology Department, University of Alberta)