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Little solid research exists on evangelicals' varying attitudes, behavior, and theological beliefs when it comes to gender roles. As a partial answer to that need, Christianity Today conducted a major survey o f 1,250 subscribers. Close to 750 subscribers and/or their spouses, divided almost evenly among the sexes, responded o the mailed, random-selection questionnaires, giving a fascinating picture of reader's views on male and female roles in home, church, and society. This article originally appeared in the July 16, 1990 issue.

If the Christianity Today gender roles survey demonstrates anything, it is that CT readers have not insulated themselves from the contemporary debate on what it means to be male or female. In the face of challenges to traditional role definitions, CT's predominantly evangelical readers have coped with the changes in ways both predictable and surprising.

The challenges, of course, have come from several quarters. The social sciences have demonstrated that many of the characteristics of masculinity and femininity are the result of cultural conditioning. The explosion of electronic and computer technology has rendered men and women equally qualified for most of the work that needs to be done in modern society. And new contraceptives have allowed women the freedom not to give birth to a large number of children, making it possible for them to pursue employment more easily outside the home.

Not only has the church not escaped the influence of such changes, it has also often been at the center of controversy itself. The publicity surrounding organizations such as the Evangelical Women's Caucus, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (formulators of the Danvers Statement), and Christians for Biblical Equality is but one example of the keen interest—and heated opinions—gender-role issues arouse.

When asked to identify the issues of greatest concern, a large majority singled out items related to women who have children and who work outside the home. Many were especially concerned about how effective working women with young children were as mothers and as employees. With trends showing a steady rise in the number of wives working outside of the home, it is hardly surprising that dividing household duties between working spouses also emerged as a key issue for respondents.

In response to the statement, "When both husband and wife work full-time they should share equally in parenting and household tasks," a substantial 94 percent of females and 91 percent of males marked either "strongly agree" or "agree." More than nine out of ten males and females, in other words, accept in principle that spouses should equally shoulder parenting and household tasks when both work. Only 1 percent of females and 5 percent of males disagreed.

Those numbers do not tell the whole story, however. When we compare the views of CT respondents with their answers to specific statements about actual practice, we notice an intriguing difference: Only moderate shifting of household responsibility occurs when the wife works full-time.

The data behind that conclusion offer interesting glimpses of domestic life. Females and males report that when the wife works, husbands do participate more in household tasks such as vacuuming, washing dishes, and cooking meals. A majority of male and female respondents, not surprisingly, identify doing the yard work and maintaining the car as mainly the husband's responsibilities. It is significant, however, that men and women differ in the amount of household work they do even when the wife works. This is consistent with a recent study that found that husbands of working wives spend an average of only 20 minutes more per day working in the home than husbands of non-working wives. Since parenting and housework entails considerably more than 40 minutes per day, working wives frequently do double duty.

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March (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46