Attitudes towards gender equality in a sample of students from Murcia

Abstract

The analysis of the attitudes that students show towards gender equality is useful for the prevention, detection and attention to possible sexist behaviors in the adolescent population. The general purpose of this article is to know the attitudes toward gender equality in a sample of 316 Primary and Secondary Education students in schools of Murcia. The instrument employed for data collection was the scale of García-Pérez et al (2010). Quantitative data derived from the scale have been analyzed with the SPSS 22.0 statistical package. The results show unfavorable attitudes towards equality. In this regard, significant differences between boys and girls and between stages are perceived. Globally, higher levels of sexism are found on the relationship and personal levels. In this line, the scores achieved place students from both education stages in a sexist attitude, with the exception of the sociocultural area, in which the students of Primary Education are in an adaptive attitude. By profiles, the majority of students are placed in a sexist attitude (82.9%), followed by an adaptive stance (16.1%) and lastly, egalitarian (0.9%). Finally, in view of the results, the implementation of urgent measures seems necessary in order to reverse this data.