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. 2024 Nov;50(11):1613-1632.
doi: 10.1177/01461672231178349. Epub 2023 Jun 18.

Holding the Belief That Gender Roles Can Change Reduces Women's Work-Family Conflict

Charlotte H Townsend  1 , Laura J Kray  1 , Alexandra G Russell  2
Affiliations

Holding the Belief That Gender Roles Can Change Reduces Women's Work-Family Conflict

Charlotte H Townsend et al. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2024 Nov.

Abstract

Across four studies (N = 1544), we examined the relationship between individuals' gender role mindsets, or beliefs about the malleability versus fixedness of traditional gender roles, and work-family conflict. We found that undergraduate women (but not men) business students holding a fixed, compared to growth, gender role mindset anticipated more work-family conflict. Next, we manipulated gender role mindset and demonstrated a causal link between women's growth mindsets (relative to fixed mindsets and control conditions) and reduced work-family conflict. We showed mechanistically that growth gender role mindsets unburden women from prescriptive gender roles, reducing work-family conflict. Finally, during COVID-19, we demonstrated a similar pattern among working women in high-achieving dual-career couples. We found an indirect effect of women's gender role mindset on job and relationship satisfaction, mediated through work-family conflict. Our preregistered studies suggest that holding the belief that gender roles can change mitigates women's work-family conflict.

Keywords: COVID-19; gender differences; gender roles; mindsets; work–family conflict.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Anticipated Work–Family Conflict by Gender and GRM in Undergraduates (Study 1). Note. GRM = gender role mindset. †p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Effect of Condition on Women’s Work–Family Conflict Measures (Study 2). Note. Error bars represent standard errors.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Effect of Condition on Women’s Work–Family Conflict (Study 3). Note. Error bars represent standard errors.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Effect of Condition on Women’s Behavioral Intentions (Study 3). Note. Error bars represent standard errors.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Work–Family Conflict by Gender and Gender Role Mindset in Dual-Career Couples (Study 4). †p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Moderated Mediation on Three Measures of Satisfaction (Study 4). (A) Job Satisfaction. (B) Dyadic Adjustment Scale. (C) Relationship Assessment Scale. Note. Gender coded. 0 = men, 1 = women. Higher gender role mindset values indicate a more fixed gender role mindset. DAS = Dyadic Adjustment Scale; RAS = Relationship Assessment Scale. †p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
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