Differences in perceptions of gender equality among Icelandic year 10 boys and girls: Population studies 1992, 2006, and 2014 [Oral presentation]

Abstract

<p><i>Background:</i> Surprising research in 2006 revealed that Icelandic 10th graders held less egalitarian views on gendered division of labor than did the their coevals in 1992.This finding suggested that Icelandic youth in 2006 held more traditional attitudes towards housework than their counterparts in the 1990s. </p><p><i>Objective(s):</i> To add evidence from a 2014 survey examining these trends further among Icelandic 10th graders.</p> <p><i>Method:</i> Data from three Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) surveys in 1992, 2006, and 2014 for year 10 students in Iceland were examined. The sampling proportions, 85.1% in 1992, 43.2% in 2006, and 77.9% in 2014, suggest that the results reflect population values rather than sample values. </p><p><i>Results:</i> The percentage of boys who rate the different jobs as being equally for men and women has increased from 1992 to 2014 despite a dip in 2006, with large increases in equality for 'minor house repairs' and 'car maintenance'. The changes from 1992 to 2014 are mixed for girls. Girls report higher equality in jobs such as getting up at night to tend to young children and car maintenance, while there was an increased view among girls that cooking is a man's job. </p><p><i>Conclusions:</i> The findings of the present study suggest that Iceland has distinguished itself as a safe haven of gender equality. Attitudes towards gender equality are moving in the right direction in Iceland with girls tending to have more gender equal attitudes than boys.</p>