WOMEN’S ADOPTION OF EGALITARIAN ATTITUDES THROUGH EMPLOYMENT IN MEXICO

Abstract

This dissertation examines the impact of female employment on Mexican women’s attitudes toward gender equality. Specifically, the objective was to analyze different mechanisms and moderating variables through which female employment affects married and cohabiting women’s adoption of egalitarian attitudes in Mexico. The focus of the analysis was to identify the direct and indirect effects of women’s participation in the labor market through social interactions and housework. Despite the importance of women’s attitudes toward gender equality in their advancement and egalitarian gender relationships, there is a lack of studies that examine this topic in Mexico. The objectives of this dissertation were addressed through three methodological strategies. First, this research examines the causal relationship between women’s participation in the labor force and their attitudes toward gender equality. Second, once the causal relationship between these variables is determined in the case of Mexico, this study analyzes the direct and indirect effects of female employment on women’s attitudes toward gender equality. Housework and social interactions were included as mediators of the impact of women’s participation in the labor market on their attitudes. Number of children, women’s age, and partner’s education moderated these relationships. Finally, this dissertation presents a post hoc modeling of women’s attitudes toward gender equality. This study deconstructs the effect of women’s participation in the labor force and explores the effect of locality size on women’s attitudes toward gender equality. Results show that the direct and indirect impacts of female employment on women’s attitudes toward gender equality are mediated by housework and social interactions and conditional on number of children, partner’s education, and women’s age. This dissertation contributes to the understanding of the development of women’s egalitarian attitudes by combining variables at the structural and individual level, in a context scarcely explored, and for specific groups of women.