Examining the Social Representations of "Honorable Woman" and "Honorable Man"

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the social representations of "honorable woman" and "honorable man" in Turkey. The concepts of "an honorable woman" and "an honorable man" were investigated through a free association task involving 157 participants (76 men, 81 women). The findings indicated that some of the social representation contents of "honorable woman" and "honorable man" were overlapping, while others were specific to a single gender, consistent with expectations. The results of the prototype analysis demonstrated that "chaste" and "decent" were two qualities solely used to describe an honorable woman, while "diligent" and "never cheats his partner" were two qualities exclusively used to describe an honorable man. The results of the cluster analysis revealed that the contents of some of the thematic clusters representing the social representation of the "honorable woman" were similar to those of the "honorable man," while others were not (i.e., thematic clusters representing femininity roles and masculinity roles).