What Did We Find?

            The findings of the survey show a great significance in gendered attitudes and the impact it has on attitudes toward welfare.  When testing whether being raised by a single mother or single father affected support for single parent welfare recipients, the survey found that the respondents who were raised in single parent homes were more likely to support welfare programs that helped the gender of the parent they were raised by. For example, as shown in the graph below, out of the 11 respondents who were raised by single mothers, 72.7% of those respondents answered that they would definitely support single mothers, while only 45.5% of those respondents answered that they would definitely support single fathers (difference of significance p- .37).                                             

Moreover, when testing the significance of being raised by a single mother or father and the support for single father welfare recipients, the survey found that our respondents who were raised by single fathers were more supportive of single fathers on welfare programs than they are of single mothers on welfare programs. As shown in the graph below, out of the three respondents who were raised in a home with a single father, only 66.7% of them answered that they would definitely support single mothers, but 100% of them answered that they would definitely support single fathers. (difference of significance- p- .75). 

Analyzing for the general support of welfare programs showed significant change when compared to gender and those identifying with feminist ideals.  After reviewing the survey’s results, we discovered that being male or female has an impact on the general support for WIC and food stamps. Looking at the data from our survey, we found that 80% of the female respondents generally supported WIC and food stamps, while only 62% of male respondents generally supported these same programs (difference of significance p-.98). The respondents who identified with feminist attitudes (tested through support for equal government aide for men and women) showed to have higher general support for WIC and food stamps (See Figure 3). This is supported by our finding that 57% of people who identified as feminist had general support for food stamps and WIC (difference of significance p-.24).

The survey showed a significant relationship between identifying as feminist and gender.  As shown in the graph below, more females identified as feminist than males identified as feminist. 45% of our female respondents identify as feminist, while only 26% of our male respondents identify as feminist. (difference of significance p- .32). 

Respondents who identified as males were far less likely to identify as a feminist, and even less likely to if they belonged to the 50+ age group. For instance, out of the 12 respondents who definitely did not identify as feminist, 58.3% of them identified as male. Consequently, out of those 7 respondents who identified as male, 71.4% were aged 50 or older. Though this does not correlate directly to our hypothesis, this finding shows that there is a significant relationship between this older generation and feminist identification

Our survey responses also showed that people are less likely to show support for families on welfare programs than they are for single parents. The results showed that only 52.2% of the respondents demonstrated support for families on welfare programs, while a higher 68.7% respondents supported single mothers, and 65.7% supported single fathers on welfare programs. Going further with these results, our data showed that our respondents were slightly more supportive of single mothers receiving government aid than single fathers receiving the same aid. Though it is a very slight difference shown by our data, the difference could potentially be much greater with a higher quantity of respondents surveyed. Our results revealed that out of the 67 respondents, 68.7% supported single mothers, while only 65.7% supported single fathers.