Gender Differences in Social Networks Based on Prevailing Kinship Norms in the Mosuo of China

Siobhán M Mattison,Gabrielle D Baca,Meng Zhang,Adam Z Reynolds,Chun-Yi Sum,Ruizhe Liu,Mary K Shenk,Tami Blumenfield,Katherine Wander,Peter M Mattison,Christopher Von Rueden,Neil G Maclaren

doi:10.3390/socsci10070253

Abstract

Although cooperative social networks are considered key to human evolution, emphasis has usually been placed on the functions of men’s cooperative networks. What do women’s networks look like? Do they differ from men’s networks and what does this suggest about evolutionarily inherited gender differences in reproductive and social strategies? In this paper, we test the ‘universal gender differences’ hypothesis positing gender-specific network structures against the ‘gender reversal’ hypothesis that posits that women’s networks look more ‘masculine’ under matriliny. Specifically, we ask whether men’s friendship networks are always larger than women’s networks and we investigate measures of centrality by gender and descent system. To do so, we use tools from social network analysis and data on men’s and women’s friendship ties in matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo communities. In tentative support of the gender reversal hypothesis, we find that women’s friendship networks in matriliny are relatively large. Measures of centrality and generalized linear models otherwise reveal greater differences between communities than between men and women. The data and analyses we present are primarily descriptive given limitations of sample size and sampling strategy. Nonetheless, our results provide support for the flexible application of social relationships across genders and clearly challenge the predominant narrative of universal gender differences across space and time.

Highlights

We propose that men and women are social, but their sociality is directed differently
The generalizability of observed gender differences in the properties of social networks is potentially limited, as little attention has been focused on how gender differences in social relationships may vary across broader social contexts
Women provide important forms of support that often go unrecognized in evolutionary studies of cooperative networks

Summary

Introduction

We propose that men and women are social, but their sociality is directed differently. Research suggests that men and women build, maintain, and leverage networks differently in ways that correspond with gender-specific reproductive and cooperative strategies (Benenson 2019; Seabright 2012). The generalizability of observed gender differences in the properties of social networks is potentially limited, as little attention has been focused on how gender differences in social relationships may vary across broader social contexts. This is despite well-characterized variation in population structure and household demography, which shape individuals’ interactions and formation of social ties (Power and Ready 2019). We compare gendered social networks in two villages—one matrilineal and one patrilineal—among Mosuo agriculturalists of Southwest China to test two hypotheses: gender differences in social network structure are universal versus gender differences in social structure are shaped by the social environment, including kinship

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