Gender Role Attitudes and Religious Denomination: Context Matters*

Traditional gender role attitudes are often associated with specific religious denominations. However, members of religious denominations are also impacted by other institutions in society. This research uses the European Social Survey to determine how the impact of religious denominations on traditional gender role attitudes varies across welfare regimes. Macro-level analysis examines this relationship with national-level indicators. Religious denomination impacts gender role attitudes, though not uniformly. Public expenditures on social services and working-age cash benefits are negatively related to traditional gender role attitudes, with the strongest impact on attitudes toward men’s right to paid work among Muslims and Eastern Orthodox.