Androgyny and Derived Identity in Married Women with Varying Degrees of Non-Traditional Role Involvement

Abstract

Three groups of women–(1) wives with no outside employment, (2) wives employed in non-professional occupations, and (3) wives employed in professional occupations–were administered the Derived Identity Questionnaire (DIQ) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). The two working groups revealed less “derived identity” than did the non-employed group, although the difference was only marginally significant. On the BSRI it was found that while the obtained femininity scores were essentially equal and high for the three groups, masculinity increased as a direct function of degree of departure from the housewife role. This finding led to the conclusion that working wives (especially professionals) are more “androgynous” than non-working wives. Finally, the signed difference between the masculinity and femininity scores and the DIQ scores were correlated positively, indicative of a negative relationship between derived identity and androgyny.