Through Medusa’s gaze: exploring women’s perception of gender inequalities and its relevance to social change

Despite significant progress toward gender equality, women still face disparities across various life domains, including professional and family contexts. Policymakers now distinguish these domains to measure inequalities more accurately and identify areas needing intervention. However, social psychology has not mirrored this trend, despite its potential to elucidate women’s psychological reactions to perceived inequalities. This dissertation fills this gap by exploring perceived gender inequalities and associated psychological reactions. Chapter 1 reviews theoretical foundations: the social identity approach, the rejection-identification model, and the theory of relative deprivation. Chapters 2 to 6 present empirical studies divided into four sections, examining perceived gender inequalities (Section A), social identity processes and collective action (Section B), professional aspirations (Section C), and attitudes toward minority groups (Section D). Section A developed a multidimensional conceptualization of perceived gender inequalities, including a pilot qualitative study and five quantitative studies in Italy and the UK (N = 1690) to validate an instrument measuring these perceptions. Section B explored the relationship between perceptions of gender inequalities, social identification with women and feminists, and collective action intentions, considering legitimacy perceptions. This included two correlational studies in Italy and Turkey (N = 976) and an experimental study in the UK (N = 293). Section C examined the impact of perceived inequalities on women’s career aspirations, considering contingencies of self-worth, through two correlational studies among university students in Italy and Spain (N = 696). Section D investigated the relationship between perceived inequalities and attitudes toward other minorities, using a correlational study among Italians (N = 493) to assess attitudes towards gays and lesbians, trans women, and migrants. Chapter 7 concludes by discussing findings, theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions. This work underscores the need for a multidimensional understanding of gender inequalities to create awareness and reduce these disparities.