Knowledge and attitudes toward feminism

Abstract

Feminism is often defined in terms of a distorted image that is emphasized by myths and stereotypes which are accompanied by feelings of rejection from people to define themselves as feminists. The breakdown of this false knowledge and the formation of positive attitudes will contribute to the fight against the patriarchal system, and it would mean an important progress in our society. This work has studied how gender, educational level, sexism and age predict or not the knowledge about feminism and attitudes toward it. We used an ad hoc instrument about knowledge and attitudes toward feminism and a scale about sexism. Findings have shown that the more increase in knowledge, the more positive were the attitudes toward feminism. Furthermore, educational level was the only factor that predicted attitudes toward feminism, although not knowledge, comparing the lowest educational level with the others not compulsory educational levels. This highlights the importance of a primary education with egalitarian values and with a true image about feminism thoughts.