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Previous research has shown that individuals high in benevolent sexism positively evaluate women who conform to traditional gender roles (e.g., Glick, Diebold, Bailey-Warner, & Zhu, 1997). In the current study, male and female participants completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (Glick & Fiske, 1996) and a new measure of paternalistic chivalry, that is, attitudes that are both courteous and considerate to women but place restrictions on behavior considered appropriate for women during courtship. Consistent with our hypotheses, benevolent sexism was significantly positively related to paternalistic chivalry. Hostile sexism and participant sex were unrelated to paternalistic chivalry.
KEY WORDS: benevolent; hostile; sexism; paternalism; chivalry.
Social psychological accounts of sexism have tended to emphasize hostile attitudes toward women (e.g., Spence & Helmreich, 1972; Swim, Aikin, Hall, & Hunter, 1995). However, researchers have also reported findings that suggest that women may be more positively stereotyped in comparison to men (e.g., Eagly, Mladinic, & Otto, 1991). Glick and Fiske (1996) proposed that sexism may not manifest as a unitary hostility toward women. Rather, hostile sexism may coexist with subjectively positive sexist attitudes toward women, that is, benevolent sexism. According to Glick and Fiske (1996; see also Glick et al., 2000), benevolent sexism comprises a set of attitudes that favor keeping women in restricted roles, but are subjectively positive in feeling tone. Such attitudes may result in male behavior that could be considered prosocial. For example, studies have shown that female targets are more likely than male targets to elicit help from male strangers (Eagly & Crowley, 1986; Vrugt & Nauta, 1995). Despite such apparently positive outcomes, Glick and Fiske (1996) have argued that benevolent sexism is not good for women because it is rooted in the traditional assumptions that women are the "weaker" sex, who are dependent on men for their survival.
The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) is a 22-item measure that was developed to assess individual levels of hostile and benevolent sexism (Glick & Fiske, 1996). Researchers who have used the ASI have reported findings that are consistent with the hypothesized hostile sexism and benevolent sexism subscales (e.g., Glick et al., 2000; Glick & Fiske, 1996; Masser & Abrams, 1999). These studies have also consistently shown that benevolent sexism and hostile sexism are significantly positively correlated. As such,...