Nder equality in the workplace and at home stalled in recent

Nder equality in the workplace and at home stalled in recent decades? A growing body of scholarship suggests that persistently gendered workplace norms and policies limit men’s and women’s ability to create gender egalitarian relationships at home. In this article, we build on and extend prior research by examining the extent to which institutional constraints, including workplace policies, affect young, unmarried men’s and women’s preferences for their future work-family arrangements. We also examine how these effects vary across levels of education. Drawing on original survey-experimental data, we ask respondents how they would like to structure their future relationships while experimentally manipulating the degree of institutional constraint under which they state their preferences. Two clear patterns emerge. First, as constraints are removed and men and women can opt for an egalitarian relationship, the majority of them choose this option, regardless of gender or education level. Second, women’s relationship structure preferences are more malleable to the removal of institutional constraints via supportive work-family policy interventions than are men’s. These findings shed light on important questions about the role of institutions in shaping work-family preferences, underscoring the notion that seemingly gender-traditional work-family decisions are largely contingent on the constraints of current workplaces.Keywords Gender inequality; Work-family policy; Preference formation In recent decades, women have entered the labor force en masse, yet this trend has not been matched with a corresponding increase in men’s share of unpaid household work, men’s entry into traditionally female-dominated occupations, or substantial reforms to government and workplace policies (England 2010; Gerson 2010a; Hochschild and Machung [1989] 2003). Furthermore, women still comprise only a small minority of elite leadership positions in government, business, and academic science. For instance, women make up just four*Corresponding authors: David S. Pedulla [University of Texas at Austin; Department of Sociology; 305 E. 23rd Street, A1700; Austin, TX 78712; [email protected]] and Sarah Th aud [University of California, Santa Barbara; Department of Sociology; Santa Barbara, CA 93106; [email protected]]. Both Aviptadil dose authors contributed equally to the work and their names are listed alphabetically.Pedulla and Th audPagepercent of Fortune 500 CEOs and eighteen percent of the 535 members in the U.S. Congress (Center for American Women and Politics 2013; Leahey 2012). And, although ideological support for women’s employment has substantially increased since the 1970s, this trend leveled off in the mid-1990s (Bolzendahl and Myers 2004; Brewster and Padavic 2000; Cotter, Hermsen and Vanneman 2011; Thornton and Young-DeMarco 2001). How can we explain this “stalled” gender revolution? One key dynamic that researchers point to is the disjuncture between contemporary institutional structures and individuals’ ideals. That is, even when individuals hold gender-egalitarian ideals, their choices, both about how much to work and in what Mangafodipir (trisodium) web occupation, are often constrained by workplace norms and policies that are generally unsupportive of individuals with family responsibilities (Cha 2010; 2013; Gerson 2010a; Stone 2007; Williams 2001; 2010). For instance, Kathleen Gerson (2010a) finds that many young, unmarried men and women ideally prefer to have egalitarian relationships.Nder equality in the workplace and at home stalled in recent decades? A growing body of scholarship suggests that persistently gendered workplace norms and policies limit men’s and women’s ability to create gender egalitarian relationships at home. In this article, we build on and extend prior research by examining the extent to which institutional constraints, including workplace policies, affect young, unmarried men’s and women’s preferences for their future work-family arrangements. We also examine how these effects vary across levels of education. Drawing on original survey-experimental data, we ask respondents how they would like to structure their future relationships while experimentally manipulating the degree of institutional constraint under which they state their preferences. Two clear patterns emerge. First, as constraints are removed and men and women can opt for an egalitarian relationship, the majority of them choose this option, regardless of gender or education level. Second, women’s relationship structure preferences are more malleable to the removal of institutional constraints via supportive work-family policy interventions than are men’s. These findings shed light on important questions about the role of institutions in shaping work-family preferences, underscoring the notion that seemingly gender-traditional work-family decisions are largely contingent on the constraints of current workplaces.Keywords Gender inequality; Work-family policy; Preference formation In recent decades, women have entered the labor force en masse, yet this trend has not been matched with a corresponding increase in men’s share of unpaid household work, men’s entry into traditionally female-dominated occupations, or substantial reforms to government and workplace policies (England 2010; Gerson 2010a; Hochschild and Machung [1989] 2003). Furthermore, women still comprise only a small minority of elite leadership positions in government, business, and academic science. For instance, women make up just four*Corresponding authors: David S. Pedulla [University of Texas at Austin; Department of Sociology; 305 E. 23rd Street, A1700; Austin, TX 78712; [email protected]] and Sarah Th aud [University of California, Santa Barbara; Department of Sociology; Santa Barbara, CA 93106; [email protected]]. Both authors contributed equally to the work and their names are listed alphabetically.Pedulla and Th audPagepercent of Fortune 500 CEOs and eighteen percent of the 535 members in the U.S. Congress (Center for American Women and Politics 2013; Leahey 2012). And, although ideological support for women’s employment has substantially increased since the 1970s, this trend leveled off in the mid-1990s (Bolzendahl and Myers 2004; Brewster and Padavic 2000; Cotter, Hermsen and Vanneman 2011; Thornton and Young-DeMarco 2001). How can we explain this “stalled” gender revolution? One key dynamic that researchers point to is the disjuncture between contemporary institutional structures and individuals’ ideals. That is, even when individuals hold gender-egalitarian ideals, their choices, both about how much to work and in what occupation, are often constrained by workplace norms and policies that are generally unsupportive of individuals with family responsibilities (Cha 2010; 2013; Gerson 2010a; Stone 2007; Williams 2001; 2010). For instance, Kathleen Gerson (2010a) finds that many young, unmarried men and women ideally prefer to have egalitarian relationships.