Mighty Girl Effect: Why fathering a daughter protects men against sexism

A study published in the Oxford Economic Papers found men with daughters to be less sexist

London School of Economics found that men with daughters were less likely to be sexist. The study found strong evidence that having daughters decreases men’s traditional attitudes towards gender roles, a phenomenon more clearly pronounced when daughters reached school-age.

The phenomenon was dubbed the “Mighty Girl effect” and seemed to grow over time, with fathers of daughters in secondary school 11 per cent less likely to believe that men should be the breadwinner compared to 8 per cent for those with daughters in primary school.



The study analysed the effects of becoming the parent of daughters on both men and women and was first published by Oxford Economic Papers. The study design sampled parents in the UK over a period of two decades, between 1991 and 2012, and assessed them on their views about man as the chief breadwinner of the family, with the wife as the homemaker.

Dr Joan Costa-Font of LSE’s Department of Health Policy, said: “The study shows that attitudes rather than fixed over time, can change later in life.

“This is a very promising finding that suggests that exposure to others’ circumstances can help shape behaviour.”



However, the study found no change in a mother’s attitudes towards traditional values after having a daughter, a finding researchers attribute to the fact that mothers had already been exposed to situations of disadvantage first-hand, so parenting a daughter did not have a significant impact on their attitudes towards gender norms.

The study also revealed that the shift in attitude occurred when daughters reached school age instead of right after birth, at virtually the same time that kids faced the pressure to conform to gender norms.



Doctoral student Julia Philipp, of the LSE’s Department of Social Policy and the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, said: “Traditional attitudes towards gender roles can be a barrier to achieving gender equality inside and outside the workplace, so our evidence that such attitudes can change over time is very encouraging.”

This article originally appeared in The Telegraph.