Attitudes toward women's rights: Relationships with social dominance orientation and political group identities

This research assessed the extent to which attitudes toward women's rights are predicted by social dominance orientation (SDO) and the political group identities socialist and capitalist. Respondents were 181 Australian under-graduates (54 males, 127 females), most of whom were of European descent. The results of multiple regression analyses suggested that SDO was the most consistent predictor of negative attitudes, although the extent to which it underpins attitudes toward women's rights was found to vary for men and women: for men it was the only significant predictor. Support was also found for the ideological asymmetry hypothesis. The results are discussed with reference to social dominance theory.