Inย Sweden, girls are just as likely to go to school and university as boys are. Women make up a greater proportion of the countryโs professional and technical workers than any other country in the world. And their representation in the countryโs politics is among the worldโs best. But when it comes to personality tests, Swedish men and women are worlds apart.
Malaysiaย sits toward the opposite end of the scale: despite ranking among the worldโs lowest for political empowerment of women and lagging when it comes to womenโs health and survival, men and women end up looking similar in those same personality tests. What gives?
This fascinating findingโdubbed the gender-equality paradoxโisn’t new, but two recent papers report fresh details. In a paper published inย Scienceย [October 18], Armin Falk and Johannes Hermle report that gender differences in preferences like risk-taking, patience, and trust were more exaggerated in wealthier and more gender-equal countries. And in a recentย paperย in theย International Journal of Psychology, Erik Mac Giolla and Petri Kajonius provide more detail on the original paradox.
โฆ
โ[W]hen men and women are free to express individual characteristics in more unconstrained societies, sex differences may be enlarged,โ write Mac Giolla and Kajonius.
Share this article
โฆ
Falk and Hermle have a slightly different argument: [when] basic material needs are fulfilled, they write, it paves the way for self-expression, including expression of gender.
Read full, original post:ย Why figuring out whatโs behind a big gender paradox wonโt be easy
