The traditionalist illusion: How conventional gender role items obscure egalitarian views

Survey items that capture attitudes towards gender roles in the private and public spheres typically only measure agreement with a traditional gender role attitude. Respondents who disagree with such items may hold egalitarian views – favouring either equality or role-reversal – or may endorse pluralist beliefs. Using data from the ESS CRONOS Survey, we contrast a conventional measure of gender attitudes with an alternative version that clearly distinguishes between traditional, equality and role-reversal positions. Analysing responses to the question of whether men make better political leaders than women, we find that most respondents support gender equality, with only 15% favouring male and 10% female leadership. Notably, nearly half of the respondents classified as traditionalists based on agreement with the conventional item report equality beliefs when offered distinct egalitarian response options. These findings underscore the limitations of conventional scales in capturing the diversity of gender role attitudes.