The Desire of Dependence on Men and the Justification of Sexism: An Exploratory Study of Saudi Females

Abstract

This research explores the prevalence of the desire of dependence on men among Saudi women in Jeddah and its relationship to the justification of sexism. A number of Saudi women living in Jeddah (N=179) responded to the Desire of Dependence on Men Scale, which was developed for this study. To measure the degree of justification of sexism, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (Glick & Fiske, 1996) was also distributed to respondents online. Showing a desire of dependency on men among Saudi women was expected, in addition to finding a significant relationship between the two suggested variables. In this study, respondents showed no significant score of desire of dependence on men, however, women in the age group of 45 -54 showed a significant score a b o v e t h e m e a n . A significant correlation between the desire of dependency on men and a benevolent justification of sexism was also found. The sample has also shown a significant score in benevolent sexism and an average score in hostile sexism.