Preference of Traditional vs. Modern Role of a Women in the Society Scale: Construction and validation

A new measure of preference for traditional vs. modern role of a woman in the society was developed with Polish female university students as participants. A 16-item scale was selected in a principal component analysis from the list of 65 normative statements describing desirable features of woman’s character and behavior. Eight items formed the traditional role sub-scale, the remaining items formed the modern role sub-scale. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a better fit of the two-dimensional (with separate sub-scales for the acceptance of the traditional vs. modern role) than the one-dimensional solution (one bi-polar scale). The new scale showed acceptable reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0,76 for the traditional role, and 0,74 for the modern role). As predicted, acceptance of the traditional role correlated strongly with traditional and benevolent sexism (the latter including, two additional dimensions: maternity and aesthetics). The modern role subscale appeared to be a reliable predictor (much better than the traditional role, with weak negative impact) of the acceptance of pro-choice statements, as well as of support for free access to contraceptives and sexual education. Overall, the new scale shows satisfactory reliability and seems to be a promising instrument for measuring the content of female social identity. peerReviewed publishedVersion