%0 Journal Article
%T Attitudes among Students towards Gender Beliefs and Moral Values at Higher Learning Institutions in Malaysia
%A A. M. Sultana
%A Kanthasamy A. L. Nallusamy
%A Samsudin Suhaili
%A Norazlan Hadi Yaacob
%J Open Access Library Journal
%V 2
%N 1
%P 1-8
%@ 2333-9721
%D 2015
%I Open Access Library
%R 10.4236/oalib.1101133
%X The
study attempts to measure the student¡¯s gender role attitudes towards equality
on ability, beliefs and moral values aspects in a total of 300 students from
two higher learning institutions in Malaysia. Self-administered semi-structured
questionnaires were handed to each respondent and the information was collected
directly by the researchers. The survey questions included student¡¯s gender
attitudes towards equality on the aspects of belief, ability and moral values.
Results revealed that on belief aspect the most favourable attitude towards
equality was in terms of ¡°Boys and girls can perform all tasks equally well¡±
(63.6 percent agree, M = 3.64; SD = 1.00). Similarly, on ability aspects, more
favourable attitude was in terms of ¡°Boys and girls should have equal opportunity
and should not be treated differently¡± (77.03% agree M = 3.98; SD = 0.97). The
results on student¡¯s gender attitudes towards equality on moral aspects showed that
more favourable attitude was in terms of ¡°Boys and girls should have equal
opportunity, according to their needs¡± (88.3% agree, M = 4.15; SD = 0.80).
Moreover, the results revealed that beliefs were correlated with the
demographic variables such as age (<i>r </i>= 0.29; <i>p </i>&lt; 0.01), race (<i>r </i>= 0.17; <i>p </i>&lt; 0.05) and education (r = 0.21; <i>p </i>&lt; 0.05)
while abilities were co-related to gender (<i>r </i>= 0.19; <i>p </i>&lt; 0.01)
and education (<i>r </i>= 0.01; <i>p </i>&lt; 0.05). Moral values were also
correlated with gender (<i>r </i>= 0.24; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01), race (<i>r </i>= 0.28; <i>p</i> &lt;
0.01) and hometown (<i>r </i>= 0.174; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01). With respect to gender beliefs and value aspects, although an
overwhelming acceptance was observed among student¡¯s attitudes, traditional
norms were noted especially on ability aspects. Given the importance of the
student¡¯s favourable attitude towards equality that would assist to achieve
equality between men and women in the community, several suggestions are made.
%K Gender
%K Attitudes
%K Equality
%K Beliefs
%K Ability
%K Moral Values
%K Higher Learning Institutions
%K Traditional Ideology
%K Nontraditional Ideology
%K Cultural Norms
%U http://www.oalib.com/paper/3129862