In More Prosperous Societies, Are Men and Women More Similar?
Why Read This
What Makes This Article Worth Your Time
Summary
What This Article Is About
Psychologists Kåre Hedebrant and Agneta Herlitz examine a counterintuitive phenomenon: as societies become wealthier and more gender-equal, psychological differences between men and women often grow larger rather than smaller. This gender-equality paradox challenges assumptions that gender equality automatically leads to psychological convergence between the sexes.
Their comprehensive review spans personality traits, cognitive abilities, sexuality, and mental health, revealing that while some differences shrink with development (particularly in sexuality and certain cognitive domains), many others—especially the Big Five personality traits—become more pronounced. The authors explore competing explanations, including the resource hypothesis (prosperity allows inherent preferences to emerge) and social-role theory (gendered occupational choices reinforce psychological differences), ultimately suggesting that simple narratives about converging gender differences fail to capture the complexity of human psychology.
Key Points
Main Takeaways
The Gender-Equality Paradox
Higher gender equality and economic prosperity correlate with larger, not smaller, psychological differences between men and women in many domains.
Personality Traits Diverge Further
In prosperous nations, sex differences in Big Five traits increase, potentially influencing political polarization and occupational choices along gender lines.
Cognitive Performance Patterns Shift
Women’s advantages in verbal abilities and episodic memory increase with development, while male advantages in mathematics and semantic memory decrease.
Sexual Behavior Differences Narrow
Contrary to personality trends, sex differences in sexuality consistently decrease in wealthier societies with greater contraceptive access and permissive norms.
Competing Theoretical Explanations
The resource hypothesis and social-role theory offer different frameworks, with economic prosperity emerging as the strongest predictor of difference magnitude.
Implications for Future Equality
Research suggests psychological sex differences will persist despite societal progress, challenging assumptions about converging gender identities and occupational choices.
Master Reading Comprehension
Practice with 365 curated articles and 2,400+ questions across 9 RC types.
Article Analysis
Breaking Down the Elements
Main Idea
Challenging Conventional Assumptions
The article challenges the widespread assumption that gender equality and economic development naturally lead to psychological convergence between men and women. Instead, research reveals a paradoxical relationship: many psychological sex differences actually increase as societies become wealthier and more egalitarian. This counterintuitive finding forces a reconsideration of how biological predispositions, social roles, and economic contexts interact to shape gender differences.
Purpose
Informing Policy and Expectations
The authors aim to present a comprehensive, evidence-based overview of how psychological sex differences relate to societal development, helping readers understand the complexity beyond simple narratives. By reviewing research across personality, cognition, sexuality, and mental health, they provide a nuanced framework for understanding gender dynamics in developing societies. The piece serves both to inform academic debates and to set realistic expectations about the future of gender differences.
Structure
Introduction → Evidence Review → Theoretical Analysis
The article opens by introducing the gender-equality paradox through specific research findings, then systematically reviews evidence across multiple psychological domains (personality, cognition, sexuality). It progresses from empirical patterns to theoretical explanations, weighing the resource hypothesis against social-role theory. The structure moves from describing what researchers have found to explaining why these patterns might exist, concluding with implications for future societal development and professional segregation.
Tone
Measured, Academic & Evenhanded
The tone remains scholarly and cautious, acknowledging complexity and avoiding overgeneralization. The authors carefully present competing theories without definitively endorsing either, demonstrating intellectual humility about what current research can and cannot tell us. While the findings challenge progressive assumptions, the presentation remains neutral and data-focused, emphasizing nuance over ideology and calling for sophisticated rather than simplistic interpretations of gender difference research.
Key Terms
Vocabulary from the Article
Click each card to reveal the definition
Build your vocabulary systematically
Each article in our course includes 8-12 vocabulary words with contextual usage.
Tough Words
Challenging Vocabulary
Tap each card to flip and see the definition
A personality trait characterized by emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, and tendency to experience negative emotions.
“Women typically rated higher than men on each of the Big Five traits including neuroticism.”
In a manner that is too large or too small in relation to something else; unequally or excessively compared to expected proportions.
“Women’s cognitive performance appears to be disproportionately helped by this effect.”
Causing something to continue indefinitely; maintaining or preserving a state, situation, or belief across time.
“Such effects could also become self-perpetuating, with occupational choices both driving and being driven by expectations.”
A personality trait characterized by being organized, responsible, diligent, and displaying self-discipline and attention to duty.
“The Big Five traits include openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.”
Maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimal level; surviving through basic necessities with limited resources.
“People must devote a lot of energy to subsisting, and these gender-neutral goals might drown out gender-specific preferences.”
Trained or conditioned to behave in ways considered acceptable or appropriate by society through cultural norms and expectations.
“Theories propose that differences stem from men and women being socialised into distinct gender roles.”
Reading Comprehension
Test Your Understanding
5 questions covering different RC question types
1According to the article, sex differences in all psychological domains become larger as societies achieve greater gender equality.
2What pattern do the authors observe regarding cognitive sex differences in countries with better living conditions?
3Which sentence best captures the resource hypothesis explanation for increasing personality differences?
4Evaluate these statements about the social-role theory discussed in the article:
Social-role theory attributes original psychological differences to physical attributes like childbearing capacity and physical strength.
Women entering the workforce have distributed equally across all professions, eliminating occupational gender segregation.
The article suggests occupational choices and gender-role expectations may form a self-perpetuating cycle.
Select True or False for all three statements, then click “Check Answers”
5Based on the article’s conclusion, what can be inferred about the authors’ view on future gender dynamics?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The gender-equality paradox refers to the counterintuitive finding that many psychological differences between men and women become larger, rather than smaller, in countries with higher gender equality and economic prosperity. For instance, personality trait differences measured through the Big Five framework are more pronounced in Scandinavian countries than in less developed nations, despite these countries having stronger gender equality policies and fewer structural barriers between sexes.
The resource hypothesis suggests that prosperity allows inherent, evolved gender-specific preferences to emerge freely—preferences that are suppressed when people must focus on basic survival. Social-role theory, proposed by Alice Eagly and Wendy Wood, argues that physical differences (childbearing capacity, size, strength) historically created gendered divisions of labor, which then shaped psychological expectations and self-concepts. The article notes these theories aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive and may both contribute to observed patterns.
Sexual behavior differences narrow in prosperous societies due to environmental factors that mitigate underlying preferences—particularly contraceptive availability and culturally permissive norms that reduce biological constraints on female sexuality. Personality differences, by contrast, may expand because economic security reduces pressure for survival-focused behaviors, allowing gender-specific preferences in traits like extraversion or conscientiousness to emerge. This domain-specific variation demonstrates the complexity of how development affects gender dynamics across different psychological areas.
Readlite provides curated articles with comprehensive analysis including summaries, key points, vocabulary building, and practice questions across 9 different RC question types. Our Ultimate Reading Course offers 365 articles with 2,400+ questions to systematically improve your reading comprehension skills.
This article is rated Advanced due to its sophisticated vocabulary, complex argumentation across competing theoretical frameworks, and nuanced treatment of empirical research findings. It requires understanding of statistical concepts like correlation, familiarity with psychological terminology (Big Five traits, episodic memory), and ability to track multi-layered arguments that resist simple conclusions. Advanced readers should be comfortable synthesizing information from multiple perspectives and evaluating theoretical claims against evidence.
The research suggests that economic development and gender equality alone are unlikely to produce identical occupational distributions between men and women. The persistence or growth of certain psychological differences may influence career preferences even when structural barriers are removed. However, this doesn’t negate the importance of eliminating discrimination or ensuring equal opportunity—rather, it suggests realistic expectations should acknowledge that perfectly proportional representation across all fields may not emerge automatically from equality policies. The findings emphasize understanding complexity rather than abandoning equity efforts.
The Ultimate Reading Course covers 9 RC question types: Multiple Choice, True/False, Multi-Statement T/F, Text Highlight, Fill in the Blanks, Matching, Sequencing, Error Spotting, and Short Answer. This comprehensive coverage prepares you for any reading comprehension format you might encounter.
