The Role of Gender Ideology in Explaining Gender Differences in Power and Achievement Values

Previous studies revealed differences between men and women in value priorities.Drawing on evolutionary theories, it has been asserted that men consistently attributemore importance than women do to power and achievement values. Our study bringsgender ideology into account as a moderator of the gender differences in values.Specifically, we hypothesized that through socialization of gender roles, theconstruction of gender ideology shapes gender differences in power and achievementvalues. We used data from the World Values Survey wave six (89,565 participantsfrom 60 countries). On the whole, results indicated that gender ideology moderated therelationship between gender and the endorsement of achievement and power values.Specifically, gender differences in these values disappeared among individuals withlow levels of traditional gender ideology. The moderation effect of the primacy ofbreadwinner role was significant for power, while the moderation effect of theacceptance of male privilege was significant for achievement. Gender differences inthese values stem from widespread support to a gender ideology belief system. Wecontrast evolutionary perspectives predicting a gender differences in human valuesdue to biological and physical characteristics and argue that such differences are dueto beliefs in gendered separate spheres.