Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Kadının Toplumsal Cinsiyet Rollerine İlişkin Görüşleri: Kuzey Kıbrıs Örneği (University Students’ Perceptions on Women’s Gender Role: A Case of North Cyprus)

The study on gender role in North Cyprus has been structured by the authors in three phases. The first phase is a qualitative study and comprises of the opinions of men and women on gender role. The second phase of the study involves determining scale items by using the data of the qualitative study to develop an attitude scale based on women’s gender roles. The third phase aims at developing an attitude scale to establish attitudes towards female gender roles by using the items determined in the second phase of the study. The first phase of the study is presented in this article. Qualitative state study pattern was used in this phase. Participants are 13 students (5 males, 8 females), attending the 3rd and 4th year of Atatürk Teacher Training Academy pre-school education and classroom teacher education departments during the 2011-2012 academic year. A structured interview form, prepared by the authors, was used to collect data and content analysis technique was used for the analysis of the data. According to the findings of the study, participants ascribe both contemporary and traditional gender roles to women in work life, social life, married life, family life, and in relation to sexuality, which are the subproblems of this study. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that traditional roles ascribed to women with respect to their gender roles are mostly based on social prejudices and they still prevail. Conclusions of the study have been correlated with literature and discussed.