Justifying gender discrimination in the workplace: The mediating role of motherhood myths

The issue of gender equality in employment has given rise to numerous policies in advanced industrial countries, all aimed at tackling gender discrimination regarding recruitment, salary and promotion. Yet gender inequalities in the workplace persist. The purpose of this research is to document the psychosocial process involved in the persistence of gender discrimination against working women. Drawing on the literature on the justification of discrimination, we hypothesized that the myths according to which women’s work threatens children and family life mediates the relationship between sexism and opposition to a mother’s career. We tested this hypothesis using the Family and Changing Gender Roles module of the International Social Survey Programme. The dataset contained data collected in 1994 and 2012 from 51632 respondents from 18 countries. Structural equation modellings confirmed the hypothesised mediation. Overall, the findings shed light on how motherhood myths justify the gender structure in countries promoting gender equality.

就业领域的性别平等议题，已促使先进工业化国家出台诸多政策，所有政策均旨在解决招聘、薪酬与晋升环节中的性别歧视问题。然而职场性别不平等现象仍持续存在。本研究旨在阐明针对在职女性的性别歧视持续存在所涉及的社会心理过程。本研究借鉴歧视合理化相关研究文献，提出假设：认为女性工作会威胁子女与家庭生活的迷思，在性别偏见与反对母亲职场发展之间发挥中介作用。本研究借助国际社会调查项目（International Social Survey Programme, ISSP）的「家庭与性别角色变迁」模块对该假设进行了检验。本数据集涵盖了1994年与2012年从18个国家的51632名受访者处收集得到的数据。结构方程模型分析验证了所提出的中介效应。总体而言，本研究结果揭示了在致力于推动性别平等的国家中，母亲身份迷思是如何为性别结构提供合理化依据的。