Evaluations of Men in Domestic Roles in Canada, Norway, Poland, and India

When a man decides to take a parental leave and become a “stay-at-home dad,” by focusing on domestic duties and parenting, he may risk penalization of stereotype-disconfirming behaviors. However, the degree at which men are allowed to violate gender norms varies from country to country. Our study sought to analyze cross-country differences in perception of men who resign from their professional career and focus on domestic duties. Canadian (N = 120), Norwegian (N = 97), Polish (N = 103), and Indian (N = 109) students were asked to evaluate agency and communality of men and women in domestic roles. The obtained results indicate that in Canada and Norway, men and women in domestic roles were judged similarly, whereas Polish and Indian students favored women over men in domestic roles, thus implying that domestic roles are perceived through the lens of gender stereotypes in these two countries