Throughout history, insecurity and fear have been used as gendered political tools to uphold patriarchal relations. However, few empirical studies have explored how feelings of insecurity are linked to attitudes toward gender equality. In order to fill this gap, I analyze the impact of a terrorist attack that took place in Belgium in 2023 on benevolent sexist attitudes—a form of prejudice that idealized women as nurturing and warm but also weak and in need of male protection and provision, ultimately reinforcing male dominance.
Building on common ingroup identity theory and social role theory, I argue that a terrorist attack may lead to a reduction in benevolent sexism by triggering a recategorization process in which national identity becomes more salient than gender categories. The salience of this superordinate identity operates in two ways. First, it reduces intergroup prejudice by emphasizing shared membership in a national community, thereby weakening benevolent sexist beliefs. Second, it also enables women to challenge gender stereotypes that associate them with fragility and weakness, as they share roles similar to men within a community facing a threat.
Leveraging the fact that the terrorist attack occurred during the fieldwork of the latest round of the European Social Survey (ESS), I employ an Unexpected Event During Survey Design. The results show that women´s levels of benevolent sexism decreased following the attack, while there is no effect in the case of men. In order to better understand the mechanisms underlying these findings, I examine how the attack shaped the perceived importance of gender for self-concept and gender stereotypes. The results indicate that both men and women perceived their gender as less important for their identity in the aftermath of the attack, while women increased their identification with traits traditionally associated with men, such as risk-taking.
