Episode 5: Do men and women work differently?

Episode Summary

Are there fundamental differences in the way men and women approach work? How do societal gender expectations shape roles in the workplace? How have gender-based inclusivity movements reshaped the gender gap? Kim and Steve discuss in this week’s episode of Yes & No. 

 

Kim’s Notes

CDC: The average American man will live to age 76 while the average American woman will live to age 81.

NCOA: Men 65 and older face the highest overall rate of suicide. 

Pew Research: Among those ages 65 and older, the divorce rate has roughly tripled since 1990, reaching six people per 1,000 married persons in 2015.

HBR: Women, people of color, and other historically marginalized groups  tend to be over-mentored and under-sponsored in the workplace. “Mentorship involves direct support of a protégé, while sponsorship focuses on others’ impressions of that person.”

The Quarterly Journal of Economics: Attractiveness is normally distributed on a bell curve. 

PubMed: Studies demonstrate prosocial biases in favor of attractive people in the workplace.

Richard Reeves: Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of Of Boys and Men breaks down learning loss for boys during the pandemic. 

Brookings: In-depth exploration of education gender gaps across the US. “In every U.S. state, young women are more likely than their male counterparts to have a bachelor’s degree. The education gender gap emerges well before college, however: girls are more likely to graduate high school on time and perform substantially better on standardized reading tests than boys (and about as well in math).”

Journal of Marriage and Family: Mismatches in the Marriage Market reveals large deficits in the supply of well-matched potential male spouses. 

NBER: Data from the United States Census Bureau suggests that a rise in assortative mating is impacting household income inequality.

Evie: Gen Z re-evaluation of girlboss feminism: “The idea of hustling, working long hours, and climbing the corporate ladder no longer sounds appealing to many young women. As the glory of workplace hustle faded from the zeitgeist, so did the girlboss.”

The New Yorker: Reeves looks at gender disparities between boys and girls across education and work and suggests policies designed to foster “prosocial masculinity for a postfeminist world.” Encouraging more men to become nurses and teachers, expand paid leave, and create a thousand more vocational high schools.

Forbes: Teenagers who spend more hours a day on social media have a greater risk for depression, and the connection appears to be particularly pronounced for girls.

Mary Phifer: Investigative journalist and New York Times bestselling author. Her books Reviving Ophelia and recently published Women Row North explore what it means to be a woman in America today. 

Eli Finckle: Social psychology professor at Northwestern University who studies romantic relationships. Finkel provides a sweeping historic overview of marriage, showing how the primary functions of marriage have changed over time. 

Paula Fass: Historian and author of The End of American Childhood. Her work explores families, parenting, changing social norms in America. 

 

Steve’s Notes

American Psychological Association. (2014). Think again: Men and women share cognitive skills. August 1.  Review of research on psychological differences between men and women.

Catsambis, S. (2005). The Gender Gap in Mathematics: Merely a Step Function? In A. M. Gallagher & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.), Gender differences in mathematics: An integrative psychological approach (pp. 220–245). Cambridge University Press. Examination of how social conceptions related to gender identify influence mathematical performance of women vs men.

Economics Observatory.  How can we reduce gender gaps in mathematics education. Reviews research on the math gap between boys and girls and how it is influenced by socio-cultural factors.

Fredrickson, B. L., Roberts, T.-A., Noll, S. M., Quinn, D. M., & Twenge, J. M. (1998). That swimsuit becomes you: Sex differences in self-objectification, restrained eating, and math performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(1), 269–284. Study investigating how the self-concept of young women influences performance in mathematics.

Goldman, B. (2017).  Two minds: the cognitive differences between men and women. Stanford Medicine, Spring. Review of research discussing physical differences between male and female brains.

Grandey, A. A., Gabriel, A. S., & King, E. B. (2020). Tackling taboo topics: A review of the three M s in working women’s lives. Journal of Management, 46(1), 7-35. Study examining how the female physiological functions of menstruation, maternity, and menopause influence how women experience work compared to men. 

Judge, T. A., & Cable, D. M. (2004). The Effect of Physical Height on Workplace Success and Income: Preliminary Test of a Theoretical Model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(3), 428–441.  Theoretical model and empirical research demonstrating how physical attributes such as height influence job performance outcomes through affecting how people perceive themselves and  how they are perceived by others.

Levant, R. F., & Powell, W. A. (2017). The gender role strain paradigm. In R. F. Levant & Y. J. Wong (Eds.), The psychology of men and masculinities (pp. 15–43). American Psychological Association.  Discussion of research showing how ascribing to traditional masculine roles can negatively impact the mental and physical health of men.

Mazei, J., Hüffmeier, J., Freund, P. A., Stuhlmacher, A. F., Bilke, L., & Hertel, G. (2015). A meta-analysis on gender differences in negotiation outcomes and their moderators. Psychological bulletin, 141(1), 85. Study examining how gender interacts with environmental issues to affect the results of negotiations related to pay and other important life outcomes. 

Motro, D., & Ellis, A. P. J. (2017). Boys, don’t cry: Gender and reactions to negative performance feedback. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(2), 227–235. Study exploring how masculine stereotypes in society can adversely affect the experience of work for men compared women.

Perez, C.C. (2019). Invisible women: data bias in a world designed for men. Chatto & Lindus Publisher, London. Book exploring how women have been excluded or overlooked in research studies and other methods that influence a range of areas from automobile design to medicine.  

Stevens, A. (2018) Undoing the damage of Teen Talk Barbie. Iowa Women Lead Change Central Iowa Conference. Transcript of a presentation discussing the negative influence that the design of dolls, toys and other material designed for young girls may have on their self-identity. 

Weisberg, Y. J., DeYoung, C. G., & Hirsh, J. B. (2011). Gender differences in personality across the ten aspects of the big five. Frontiers in Psychology, 2.  Research exploring gender differences in personality traits. Note that while there are differences, the magnitude is relatively small and the personality measure used in the study relies on self-description which is influenced to some degree by societal role expectations.