Birth cohort, ageing and gender ideology: Lessons from British panel data

Individuals' gender attitudes influence their behaviors, and adherence to traditional gender ideology is an important mechanism contributing to the (re)production of gender inequalities. In developed nations, the 'gender revolution' was accompanied by marked societal shifts towards gender-egalitarian attitudes, but these trends have recently stalled. In this paper, we re-examine the role of birth cohort and ageing in influencing gender ideology through the lens of life-course theory and leveraging British panel data. We contribute to the field by considering cohort-differences in ageing effects on gender ideology and documenting within-cohort variability in such effects. We find that (i) people from older cohorts hold comparatively more traditional gender attitudes, (ii) the effect of ageing on gender ideology is positive, (iii) there are cohort-differences in these ageing effects, (iv) gender-attitude trajectories are less predictable in younger than older cohorts, and (v) factors capturing life-course experience explain little of the cohort differences. Our findings highlight important avenues for future research on gender ideology change, and offer insights into the likely pace and direction of social movements towards gender egalitarianism.