Women's roles

These data, collected in 1972, examined role conflicts experienced by a specific group of women, awareness among these women of their various roles, and the impact of participating in a course about women in the modern world -- especially with regard to women's roles.

The sample consisted of female graduate students who participated in an intensive two-week workshop on women in the modern world offered by the Home Economics Department of Eastern Michigan University. Of the 25 women enrolled in the course, 21 voluntarily completed all of the instruments. A comparison group of 21 women who were taking graduate courses in education also completed the Attitudes Towards Women Survey, and the modified version of the Osgood's Semantic Differential. The Semantic Differential was also administered to 85 students in graduate education courses in Boston, MA.

A questionnaire was distributed on the first day of the seminar. It was designed to assess demographic information, perceptions of personal roles, awareness of role conflicts, attitudes and values on a variety of other topics, and the current salience of these issues. A 27-item housekeeping checklist assessed "division of labor" in their homes.

Respondents were asked to complete Englehard's Attitudes Toward Women Survey, a questionnaire that assesses attitudes toward child-rearing, discriminatory practices, education, and the nature of work appropriate for women. An additional questionnaire was administered to all subjects to assess their self-concept. A follow-up evaluation questionnaire was mailed to all of the respondents four months after the completion of the seminar. This included both open-ended and precoded itmes designed to collect additional background data on respondents, evaluation of the workshop, and the influences of the workshop on role satisfactions and feeling of role competence.

All paper and computer-accessible data are available, as are audiotapes of workshop discussions.