Table 1.
Descriptive statistics of the study sample from South African Social Attitudes Surveys 2006 to 2017 with additional gender role variables from 2008.
| Variable from 2007 to 2016 | Value/Category | Percentage | Variable from 2008 only | Value/Category | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||
| Sex | Female Male |
53% 47% |
A working mother can establish just as warm and secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work | Strongly disagree Disagree |
9% 21% |
| Race/Ethnicity | African Colored Indian/Asian White |
78% 9% 3% 10% |
A child younger than 5 years is likely to suffer if his or her mother works | Neither Agree Strongly agree Strongly agree |
6% 42% 21% 13% |
| Education | Primary or Less Some Secondary Completed Secondary Some Tertiary |
18% 39% 32% 10% |
Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree |
31% 13% 32% 11% |
|
| Monthly Household Income | Less than 1500 Rand 1501–7500 Rand 7501 Rand or More Refused/Do Not Know |
25% 37% 15% 23% |
All in all, family life suffers when the woman has a full-time job | Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree |
10% 24% 15% 37% |
| Age | Mean: 37.55 | SE: 0.18 | Strongly disagree | 15% | |
| Marital Status | Married Widow/Widower Divorced/Separated Never Married |
34% 7% 4% 55% |
A job is alright, but what most women really want is a home and children | Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree |
16% 36% 17% 19% |
| Political Identity | Conservative Moderate Liberal Do Not Know/Missing |
14% 22% 26% 38% |
Being a housewife is just as fulfilling as working for pay | Strongly disagree Strongly agree Agree Neutral |
11% 10% 31% 17% |
| Urbanicity | Urban-Formal Urban-Informal Rural |
58% 10% 32% |
Disagree Strongly disagree Strongly agree |
27% 15% 15% |
|
| Religion | Not Religious Protestant Catholic Other |
16% 67% 5% 12% |
A man’s job is to earn money, a woman’s job is to look after the home and family | Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree |
18% 10% 29% 28% |
| Religiosity | Less than Several Times/Year | 24% | |||
| Several Times/Year | 14% | ||||
| 1 or 2–3 Times/Month | 22% | ||||
| Once a Week or More | 39% | ||||
| Province | Eastern Cape | 13% | |||
| Free State | 6% | ||||
| Gauteng | 23% | ||||
| KwaZulu-Natal | 20% | ||||
| Limpopo | 11% | ||||
| Mpumalanga | 7% | ||||
| Northern Cape | 2% | ||||
| Northwest | 6% | ||||
| Western Cape | 12% | ||||