Professor Libby Sharrow recently published two co-authored articles in prominent media.
She wrote “The First-Daughter Effect: The Impact of Fathering Daughters on Men’s Preferences for Gender-Equality Policies” for Public Opinion Quarterly, where she and her collaborators address whether the experience of fathering daughters affect men’s opinions toward gender-equality policies. This study examines three theoretically motivated propositions: first, that having a daughter leads men to see the benefits of and support public policies that aim to reduce gender inequality; second, that fathers with a larger proportion of daughters express stronger support for these policies; and finally, that having a daughter as a man’s first child is a critical event in the political socialization of men, such that this experience of “first-daughterhood” leads to higher levels of support for gender-equality policies. Sharrow and her collaborators find that men who father daughters as their first-born child experience the greatest impacts on attitudes in support of sex equity policies, including Title IX, pay equity policy, and sexual harassment protections in the workplace. Find the full article here.
On a related topic, she published “Yes, Stephen Curry is right. Having a daughter does change men’s political outlooks — but only if she’s firstborn” in the Washington Post arguing that “First daughters change men’s views on gender equity policies more than first sons do.” Find the full article here.