Support For Organizational Reproductive Health Policies: Is Sexism A Problem?

Abstract

This study focuses on the realities of organizational policies and practices for women's reproductive health in Nigeria. It examines the relationship between sexism and several indices of support for organizational reproductive health policies, particularly those relating to family-friendly policies. Data was collected from 419 (63.5%) female and 241 (36.5%) male employees from private and public organizations in Lagos, Nigeria. Using a series of tests of differences and association, it was found that (1) there are sex differences in the respondents' support for organizational reproductive health policies for female employees; (2) within each gender category, those with higher levels of benevolent sexism exhibited higher levels of support for family friendly policies; (3) hostile sexism more than benevolent sexism related to lower levels of support for the policies, and (4) there were gender differences in hostile and benevolent sexism scores. Implications of the findings were discussed and suggestions were made for intervention.


(IFE PsychologIA: 2003 11 (1): 88-99)