More Than a Labor of Love: Gender Roles and Christmas Gift Shopping

Abstract

Through a field study of 299 men and women, the effect of gender-related variables on Christmas-gift-shopping patterns was explored. Survey results suggest that women are more involved than men in the activity. However, men are likely to be more involved if they hold egalitarian gender-role attitudes. Overall, the study indicates that, while Christmas shopping may be a “labor of love” to some, it is most widely construed as “women's work.”