Bongiorno, R, Ryan, M.K, Gibson, O and Joyce, H (2024) 'Neoliberal feminism and women's protest motivation.' Psychology of Women Quarterly. ISSN 0361-6843
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Abstract
A popular form of neoliberal feminism seeks to advance gender equality in leadership and beyond by encouraging women to be resilient as individuals. By locating career advancement as within an individual's control, recent research has shown that this focus subtly shifts the blame for gender inequality onto women and reduces support for needed structural changes to tackle gender discrimination. We extend research into neoliberal feminism by examining anticipated negative effects on women's protest motivation. Across four studies in the United Kingdom (total N = 1,168), undergraduate women students and employed women with university degrees in both the control and resilience conditions first read about gender inequality. Participants in the neoliberal feminist conditions then read messages promoting individual resilience as key to women's advancement (Study 1–3) or participated in activities designed to build their own resilience as individuals to help them advance (Study 4). In Studies 1, 3, and 4, participants in the neoliberal feminist conditions compared to the control had lower collective action intentions – a negative effect that was either indirect, via reduced perceptions of gender discrimination (Studies 1 and 4) and reduced anger over inequality (Study 1), or direct (Study 3). Together, these studies provided partial support for our hypothesis that neoliberal feminism can undermine women's protest motivation. Future research can help establish how contextual and other factors contribute to the strength of these effects and explore how feminists can better harness messages of resilience. To advance gender equality, our findings suggest that advocates should focus less on individualistic solutions and more on addressing structural barriers, laying the groundwork for effective protest action and social change.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Keywords: | gender inequality, collective protest, individual resilience, neoliberal feminism |
| Divisions: | School of Sciences |
| Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843241238176 |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Mar 2024 11:44 |
| Last Modified: | 01 May 2024 09:39 |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/16149 |
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