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According to a survey, women have far less stereotypical and more traditional ideas about their gender than men. But binary thinking is decreasing.
More than 99 percent of those surveyed see themselves as women or men, according to one of the results of a survey conducted by the Geschlechtgerechter.ch initiative.
Still, subjective reality is far less binary. More than a tenth perceive themselves to be as female as they are male. According to the study carried out by the Sotomo research institute, shades of gray are increasingly shaping the preservation of gender.
For 55 percent of people in Switzerland, gender is more or more important for their own identity when it comes to self-image. Around a quarter attach only medium importance to it and almost every fifth person considers their own gender to be rather or not at all important for their self-image.
This shows that for a majority, their own gender is still one of the central characteristics of their own personality. However, the assessments also show that being a woman or a man is by no means equally important for all respondents who perceive themselves as women or men.
Being a man is important for real men
The connection between gender identity and political orientation is also exciting. According to the results of the study, being a man is particularly important for men who are politically right-wing. This applies to 62 percent of them, for two thirds of the right-wing men it is even very important. In contrast, only 12 percent of the men on the left identify very strongly with their gender.
The opposite is true for those for whom their identity as a woman is “rather important”. Overall, being a woman is just as important for left-wing women as it is for right-wing women. While the right is more about a clearly female gender identity, left women mainly associate emancipation and feminism with it.
The results are shown interactively
Employment influences perception
For men, the perception of male is also strongly related to employment. Men who work part-time perceive themselves to be significantly more feminine than full-time workers. This is especially true for part-time men who work less than 50 percent.
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Men who work part-time – and may do more housework for it – feel less masculine.
Keystone
Conversely, there is no connection between labor force participation and femininity for women. On average, women with a small workforce rank themselves in practically the same position as women who work full-time. This shows that full-time employment for men is today much more associated with masculinity than staying at home for women with femininity.
What is attractive
64 percent of women find men attractive who also have “feminine” sides. In contrast, only 32 percent of men find women who also have “masculine” sides attractive.
Conclusion: According to the study, many men have decidedly binary and therefore stereotypical ideas about gender and attractiveness. Most of them consider not only masculine women, but also feminine men to be unattractive.
For women, on the other hand, attractiveness is far less of a gender dichotomy. Not only do a large majority of them value men with a feminine side, but half also find women with a masculine side attractive.
You can see more on this topic today in the “Tagesschau” on SRF 1 at 7:30 p.m.