From cat-calling to the pay gap and how they would react in a "princess doll" scenario, a new survey has shed light on islanders' attitudes relating to gender roles.
Around 1,500 people took part in Statistics Jersey's latest Opinions and Lifestyle Survey in June and July, which collected responses across a range of topics such as personal finance, health and employment.
The survey also included a list of questions that linked into the work being carried out by an independent taskforce, launched last year to examine the existing legal framework protecting women and girls in Jersey.
Some questions investigated the attitudes of islanders regarding gender roles and stereotypical behaviour, such as the "princess doll" scenario, which asked:
"Imagine you are taking a 3-year-old boy to a shop to buy a toy. When you get there he picks a princess doll. Please indicate which of the following phrases best describes what you would do."
- Don't know
- Make him put the doll back and pick a toy more common for boys
- Buy it, but first try to get him to pick a toy that's more common for boys
- Buy it for him without saying anything
The scenario asked respondents if they would buy a princess doll for a little boy
Around three fifths (63%) of the female respondents said they would buy the doll for the three-year-old boy without saying anything, compared to two 39% of the men who answered.
Age also appeared to play a factor, with 59% of respondents aged 16 to 44 stating the same, compared to less than two fifths (36%) of adults aged 65 years or over.
The survey also asked respondents what they thought of several scenarios involving men and women, including:
- A group of men wolf whistle or cat call at a woman walking past
- A man makes sexual comments or jokes in the workplace
- A man comments on a woman's social media every day even though she has asked him to stop
- A man puts intimate pictures of his ex-girlfriend online without her consent
Of the islanders who answered, women were more likely than men to say the behaviour was "very seriously wrong" in three out of four scenarios.
The responses to the scenarios, broken down by gender.
However, 62% of male respondents said that a group of men catcalling at a woman was "very seriously wrong" compared to 60% of the women who answered.
Around three quarters (72%) of women who answered thought it was "very seriously wrong" for a man to make sexual comments or jokes in the workplace, compared to three fifths (60%) of men - making this scenario the one with largest difference in responses between the two genders.
The survey also asked respondents' about their occupations, providing a snapshot of how men and women make up different proportions of the Island's various industries.
It found that nearly 10% more men were "senior managers" compared to females.
How each gender was split across different job types
Almost half (48%) of the employed women who answered the survey females worked in "professional occupations", meaning jobs that usually required a professional qualification - such as a solicitor, teacher or fund administrator.
Meanwhile, about one in 10 females (9%) were employed in "routine, semi-routine, manual or service occupations", such as a labourer or postal worker, compared to one in five males (21%).
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.