Background to the Research

• This briefing paper looks at the attitudes of men and women to traditional roles, sexual morality and religion.

Research Approach

• Analysis of data from the 1998 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey.

Main findings

• Men's attitudes towards traditional gender roles have become more liberal within the last five years.
• About a half of all the men interviewed feel that it is acceptable for a man to stay at home and look after the children while the woman goes out to work.
• Just over half of women think that sexual relations between two adults of the same sex is 'always wrong' while close to two-thirds of men feel the same.
• In 1991 77% of young single women thought that sex outside marriage was 'always wrong', now only 54% would say this.
• About a quarter of the people surveyed have very little or no confidence in churches and religious organisations.
• In 1991 over two-thirds of women had no doubts about the existence of God but now only 56% have such a firm conviction.