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Data from 62 countries provides evidence

for a double standard in gender rules
by Laura Staloch — November 13, 2022 in Social Psychology

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A study published in Sex Roles posits that men experience a double

  Long COVID study suggests lost
standard in gender rules. Gathering data from 62 countries, the research
connections between neurons may
team determined that there is evidence for the precarious manhood explain cognitive symptoms

theory. The theory states “that manhood, relative to womanhood, is widely
conceptualized as a social status that is hard to win, easy to lose, and  Data from 62 countries provides

evidence for a double standard in
must be proved repeatedly via action.”
gender rules

In other words, one is not born a man, they must become one. Once
 The desire for power leads men but
 achieved, the “man” label must be earned repeatedly. In contrast, women not women to engage in more sexual
once labeled female have the flexibility of behavior that does not require behavior in the workplace
 consistent proof they are “woman” enough to have the label. Responses
 Attractive female students no longer
from all over the world indicate universal disdain for male weakness
earned higher grades when classes
 compared to female dominance, two non-traditional gender roles. moved online during COVID-19

  Study identifies the type of person who

is most likely to try to steal your
romantic partner

Researcher Jennifer Bosson and her colleagues believe gender roles may  Five-month-old infants can identify the
be significantly less flexible for men than for women. Gender roles are a face of their mother in the blink of an
eye
set of rules determined by culture that intend to control gender-related
behavior. Gender roles can differ from culture to culture. There has been
little research on what gender roles are common to cultures worldwide.
Bosso and colleagues attempted to discover what gender roles were
universal and if males experienced less flexibility with their gender roles.

Participants were undergraduate students from 62 different countries who

attended universities that had agreed to participate in the study. All
participants consented to participate. In total, 27,343 individuals
participated in the study, and 3% were women. The study asked
participants to rate personality traits based on how desirable it was for a
man or a woman to have them.

There were both positive and negative traits to analyze. The positive trait
for men was “agency,” meaning they were competent and confident. For
women, the positive trait examined was “communion,” intended to infer
compassion, helpfulness, and sympathy. The negative male trait was
weakness and, for women, dominance.

Results point to a double standard for men, most powerfully when

considering the negative trait of weakness. Results from the positive trait
comparison found that only 58% of the countries identified that “agency”
was a more necessary trait for men than “communion” for women. The
countries with this double standard for men (the 58%) have low equality
for men and women.

The more equality a country demonstrated between the binary genders,

the less of a double standard was found with the positive traits.
Participants in these countries did not see the male trait of “agency” as
more desirable than the female trait of “communion.” RECENT

 Long COVID study suggests lost

connections between neurons may
explain cognitive symptoms

This did not hold for the negative traits of “weakness” and “dominance .”In  The desire for power leads men but
not women to engage in more sexual
95% of the 62 countries participating, weakness was seen as less
behavior in the workplace
desirable than women’s dominance. Bosson and colleagues state the
following regarding the consequence of this finding, “gender rules may  Data from 62 countries provides
translate into more powerful socialization pressures on male peers and evidence for a double standard in
children. In this way, precarious manhood beliefs might be passed along gender rules

via beliefs about the greater importance of men’s, versus women’s

 Women who prefer male friends are
conformity to trait-based gender roles.” viewed negatively by their female
peers, study finds
The study is correlational and cannot claim cause and effect between
gender role attitudes and gender equality in a country. Additionally, the  Five-month-old infants can identify the
face of their mother in the blink of an
participants were all undergraduates at universities, and the opinions of
eye
this cohort may not reflect the population as a whole.

The study, “Harder Won and Easier Lost? Testing the Double Standard in
Gender Rules in 62 Countries”, was authored by Jennifer Bosson, Mariah
Wilderson, Natalia Kosakowska-Berezecka, Pawel Jurek, and Michal
Olech.
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