Paris School of Economics, 75014 Paris, France;
CNRS, UMR8545, 75014 Paris, France.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Dec 8;117(49):31063-31069. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2008704117. Epub 2020 Nov 23.
The so-called "gender-equality paradox" is the fact that gender segregation across occupations is more pronounced in more egalitarian and more developed countries. Some scholars have explained this paradox by the existence of deeply rooted or intrinsic gender differences in preferences that materialize more easily in countries where economic constraints are more limited. In line with a strand of research in sociology, we show instead that it can be explained by cross-country differences in essentialist gender norms regarding math aptitudes and appropriate occupational choices. To this aim, we propose a measure of the prevalence and extent of internalization of the stereotype that "math is not for girls" at the country level. This is done using individual-level data on the math attitudes of 300,000 15-y-old female and male students in 64 countries. The stereotype associating math to men is stronger in more egalitarian and developed countries. It is also strongly associated with various measures of female underrepresentation in math-intensive fields and can therefore entirely explain the gender-equality paradox. We suggest that economic development and gender equality in rights go hand-in-hand with a reshaping rather than a suppression of gender norms, with the emergence of new and more horizontal forms of social differentiation across genders.
所谓的“性别平等悖论”是指这样一个事实，即在更加平等和发达的国家，职业性别隔离现象更为明显。一些学者通过存在根深蒂固或内在的偏好性别差异来解释这种悖论，这些偏好更容易在经济限制较少的国家实现。与社会学研究的一个分支相一致，我们认为这可以用关于数学能力和适当职业选择的本质主义性别规范在国家间的差异来解释。为此，我们提出了一种衡量国家层面上“数学不适合女孩”刻板印象流行程度和内化程度的方法。这是通过对 64 个国家的 30 万名 15 岁女性和男性学生的数学态度的个体层面数据来实现的。在更加平等和发达的国家，将数学与男性联系起来的刻板印象更强。它还与女性在数学密集型领域代表性不足的各种衡量标准密切相关，因此可以完全解释性别平等悖论。我们认为，经济发展和权利方面的性别平等是与重新塑造而不是压制性别规范齐头并进的，这导致了性别之间出现新的、更加平等的社会分化形式。
