Innate Gender Differences Research Articles

Toward a Multidimensional and Multilevel Approach to Studying Gender Diversity in Upper Echelons and Firm Innovation

Despite the rapidly increasing research on the nexus between gender diversity in upper echelons and firm innovation, the scholarly understanding of this topic is far from complete. Although the burgeoning literature has generated valuable insights summarized in our paper—most fundamentally uncovering gender diversity’s positive effect on firm innovation—our review of extant research indicates that it suffers from several limitations. One such key limitation is that scholarship has predominantly theorized and measured the surface-level gender diversity in leadership relying on either gender stereotypes or a notion of innate gender differences when explaining why the inclusion of women on executive boards might make a difference for firm innovation, neglecting the intersection between surface-level gender diversity and deep diversity in top management teams. We develop a multilevel theory that calls attention to investigating intersections between these two constructs, the multidimensionality of firm innovation and gender diversity, and discussing the rationales for why and when diversity is likely to get at the heart of firm innovation. We also map out some methodological suggestions for how scholars could test our propositions. We hope our efforts to describe these paths will encourage their pursuit.

Participation of women in science in the developed and developing worlds: inverted U of feminization of the scientific workforce, gender equity and retention

Abstract We consider various factors impacting the participation of women in science throughout the world, with a particular emphasis on developing countries. For the world as a whole, we find that when the percentage of women working in science in a country is plotted vs. the per capita GDP of the country (adjusted for purchasing power parity) the data fall on an inverted U-shaped ‘boomerang’ curve. Thus, as per capita wealth increases, the percentage of women in science first increases and then falls. This is in marked contrast to the (right-side-up) U-shaped curve that is well-established for the participation of women in the labor force as a whole, suggesting that there are factors in the culture of science that result in opposing trends to those observed in the general workforce. This also results in many developing countries having a much higher participation of women in the scientific workforce than is seen in economically developed countries. Contradicting previous reports to the contrary, we find a positive correlation between gender equality in science and the degree of overall gender equity in the country. Thus, we do not find evidence for the claim that greater gender equity results in the manifestation of innate gender differences in preferences for science. We find differing patterns of retention in science for women in developing and developed countries. We also briefly discuss other factors that make it difficult for women in developing countries to follow a scientific career, or to advance in their careers.

Role of Gender in Dual Antiplatelet Therapy After Acute Coronary Syndrome.

The effect of gender on use of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in treatment of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is not well established. The purpose of this review is to understand gender-based differences in response to DAPT, so that treatment of ACS can be optimized in women to prevent ischemic events while minimizing bleeding risk. There are innate gender differences in platelet reactivity and response. However, it is unknown if this translates into differences in clinical outcomes. In all major studies evaluating the effect of DAPT in ACS, women are underrepresented. Hence, the results from the existing trials cannot be generalizable to women. There is a significant knowledge gap regarding how to balance the bleeding and ischemic risk profile among women with ACS. Currently, there is no recommendation to consider gender as covariate in choosing the type of antiplatelet drug or duration. The existing clinical evidence is limited by under representation of women in DAPT trials. The current literature does not strongly support considering gender in decision making regarding type or duration of DAPT after ACS. Future dedicated trial designs with adequate representation from women and gender specific analysis from large registry data are warranted to enhance our understanding of the interaction of gender with DAPT after ACS.

How Religious are American Women and Men? Gender Differences and Similarities

Are women universally more religious than men? Some research on gender differences has argued that biology leads women to be innately more religious than men, but other research has highlighted the importance of avoiding universal claims and recognizing complexity. This brief note uses General Social Survey data to report gender differences in predicted religiosity by religious category across eight measures. In the United States, gender differences seem to be primarily a Christian phenomenon. Although women reveal higher levels of religiosity across Christian groups, this trend does not extend to non‐Christian groups. Furthermore, there is variation even among Christian groups, with women not revealing higher levels of religiosity for all measures. Nevertheless, there does seem to be a general trend for women to report daily prayer more often than men. These findings further problematize the idea that there are innate gender differences in religiosity rooted in biology, and provide a descriptive foundation for future attempts to explain why (American) Christian groups reveal gender differences in religiosity.

Female fetuses are more reactive when mother eats chocolate

Objective: The aim of our study was to analyze whether there is a gender difference in the effects of maternal chocolate ingestion (80% cocoa) on the fetus, as expressed by the fetal heart rate (FHR).Study design: One hundred pregnant women with uncomplicated term gestation, matched for age and parity, underwent computerized FHR recording before and after eating 30 g of 80% cocoa chocolate; 46 carried a male fetus, and 54 carried a female. Computerized cardiotocography parameters (baseline FHR in beats per minute, number of contractions/hour, fetal movements/hour, accelerations of at least 15 bpm for 15 s, episodes of high variation/min and short-term variation in ms) were expressed as the mean and SD. We calculated the difference before and after maternal chocolate eating both in male and female fetuses and then compared the gender differences in the FHR variation. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.Results: While baseline FHR and number of contractions did not change, the number of: fetal movements/hour, accelerations, episodes of high variation/min, and the short-term variation significantly increased after chocolate ingestion. The percent variation of the movements (101.7 ± 89.23 males versus 252.0 ± 297.6 females; p = 0.002), accelerations (70.90 ± 46.98 males versus 153.3 ± 178.5 females; p = 0.004) and short-term FHR variation (21.47 ± 18.73 males versus 37.35 ± 27.46 females; p = 0.002) increased to a greater degree in the female fetuses than in the males.Conclusions: The maternal ingestion of dark chocolate induces much more reactivity in female fetuses than in males. This finding supports the existence of an innate gender difference for the effects of chocolate, present even since the fetal period.

Should governments in Europe be more aggressive in pushing for gender equality to raise fertility? The first "NO"

Abstract This paper takes the no side in the debate on the question posed in the title. The paper assumes that the dual-earner/dual-carer household model is the most likely aim of policies that push aggressively for gender equality in order to raise fertility. Five objections are discussed: the model does not necessarily lead to a fertility increase; aggressiveness will lead to an imbalance of labor supply and demand, and is likely to confront slowly changing cultural norms; similar policies will also confront the issue of innate gender differences; and country idiosyncrasies prevent the application of a unified policy approach. The paper briefly concludes that compatible gender-neutral family policies and fertility-neutral gender policies are likely to lead to an increase in fertility. 1. Introduction Many countries in Europe have considerable experience in the implementation of policies that aim to increase fertility, and of policies that seek to promote gender equality. Over the last two decades, these two policy fields have attracted interest among scientists and policy makers, particularly because gender issues are considered to be among the obstacles to having children. It is argued that the incompatibility of career and family for women is among the main reasons for contemporary low fertility. It is also argued that the effect of this incompatibility can be significantly reduced through a transition from the classical male breadwinner model to the dual-earner/dual-carer model. In this paper, I first discuss a central intersection between gender equality policies and family policies (including policies which aim to increase fertility): namely, the reconciliation of work and family roles. Next, I raise several objections to the opinion that the dual-earner/dual-carer model is a convenient solution to the dilemma, and emphasize that governmental intervention can be of low efficiency. I conclude that an efficient increase in fertility can be achieved when family policies are gender-neutral, and when gender equality policies are fertility-neutral. 2. The intersection between family policies and gender equality policies Pronatalistic family policies have dominated in the ex-socialist countries before the start of the transition (Debroy 1989). They were found to have a moderate effect on the level of fertility, in that, during the years after their implementation, births increased by around 10% (Buttner and Lutz 1990, showed this for the GDR, Philipov 1993, for Bulgaria and Stloukal 1998, for Czechoslovakia). Family policies were also implemented in other European countries. Although their main aim is to support families, they have an indirect effect on fertility, since the main instruments of a family policy, such as child allowances and parental leaves, were also the main instruments in the pronatalistic policies (see, for example, Ronsen and Skrede 2008).3 In an international comparative framework, Gauthier and Hatzius (1997) found a moderate positive effect of family policies on fertility. Policies aiming at higher fertility have been long-standing in France, and their positive effect is well-known (Pailhe, Rossier, and Toulemon 2008). Also well-known are the positive effects on fertility of family policies implemented in social democratic welfare regimes in the Nordic countries (see Bjorklund 2006, and Andersson 2008 for Sweden, and Ronsen and Skrede 2008, for the Nordic countries). In general, family policies may bring about a moderately higher fertility level (Gauthier and Philipov 2008). A major problem with the implementation of family policies is that some of the key policy instruments, such as child allowances, are expensive, and a large number of European countries cannot afford their long-term implementation at levels that are commensurate with parental spending on child care and nurture (Gauthier 2007). Gender equality has been the subject of extensive discussions about the achievement of human rights and contemporary democratic values, particularly where the rights of women are considered. …

Corruption and the Balance of Gender Power

This paper seeks to explain the negative relationship between female participation in a government and corruption found in empirical research. We propose that even if there are no innate gender differences towards moral values, the costs of corrupt behavior may still differ across genders and are related to the proportion of female participation in government agencies. Hence, females behave more honestly than males do, not because they are naturally prone to it, but because they cannot afford to be corrupt if they are a minority. In that sense, the total density of corruption is non-monotonic in the proportion of female participation.

Gender Differences in Creativity

AbstractResearch on gender differences in creativity, including creativity test scores, creative achievements, and self‐reported creativity is reviewed, as are theories that have been offered to explain such differences and available evidence that supports or refutes such theories. This is a difficult arena in which to conduct research, but there is a consistent lack of gender differences both in creativity test scores and in the creative accomplishments of boys and girls (which if anything tend to favor girls). As a result, it is difficult to show how innate gender differences in creativity could possibly explain later differences in creative accomplishment. At the same time, the large difference in the creative achievement of men and women in many fields make blanket environmental explanations inadequate, and the explanations that have been proposed thus far are at best incomplete. A new theoretical framework (the APT model of creativity) is proposed to allow better understanding of what is known about gender differences in creativity.

Aptitude or attitude? Lawrence Summers' recent remarks reflect what little progress has been made in the public's understanding why women are under-represented in science.

Lawrence Summers' recent remarks reflect what little progress has been made in the public's understanding of why women are under-represented in science

A German Women's Movement: Class &amp; Gender in Hanover, 1880-1933

Nancy Reagin analyzes the rhetoric, strategies, and programs of more than eighty bourgeois women's associations in Hanover, a large provincial capital, from the Imperial period to the Nazi seizure of power. She examines the social and demographic foundations of the Hanoverian women's movement, interweaving local history with developments on the national level. Using the German experience as a case study, Reagin explores the links between political conservatism and a feminist agenda based on a belief in innate gender differences. Reagin's analysis encompasses a wide variety of women's organizations--feminist, nationalist, religious, philanthropic, political, and professional. It focuses on the ways in which bourgeois women's class background and political socialization, and their support of the idea of 'spiritual motherhood,' combined within an antidemocratic climate to produce a conservative, maternalist approach to women's issues and other political matters. According to Reagin, the fact that the women's movement evolved in this way helps to explain why so many middle-class women found National Socialism appealing. | The Rise of Modern Business compares and analyzes the development of business and business institutions in several countries from the preindustrial era to the present. For this third edition, Blackford updates his study in light of new scholarship, with special attention paid to the structural diversity of business firms and with a timely discussion about the reciprocal relationship between business and the environment. The business history of Germany is extensively updated, and there is entirely new coverage of the business history of China, a country whose growing political and economic prowess on the world stage demands the historical and contextual understanding of business scholars today.

Why Homosexuality is Abnormal

This paper defends the view that homosexuality is abnormal and hence undesirable?not because it is immoral or sinful, or because it weakens society or hampers evolutionary development, but for a purely mechanical reason. It is a misuse of bodily parts. Clear empirical sense attaches to the idea of the use of such bodily parts as genitals, the idea that they are for something, and consequently to the idea of their misuse. I argue on grounds involving natural selection that misuse of bodily parts can with high probability be connected to unhappiness. I regard these matters as prolegomena to such policy issues as the rights of homosexuals, the rights of those desiring not to associate with homosexuals, and legislation concerning homosexuality, issues which I shall not discuss systematically here. However, I do in the last section draw a seemingly evident corollary from my view that homosexuality is abnormal and likely to lead to unhappiness. I have confined myself to male homosexuality for brevity's sake, but I believe that much of what I say applies mutatis mutandis to lesbianism. There may well be significant differences between the two: the data of [51, for example, support the popular idea that sex per se is less important to women and in particular lesbians than it is to men. On the other hand, lesbians are generally denied motherhood, which seems more important to women than is fatherhood?normally denied homosexual males?to men. On this matter, [5] offers no data. Overall, it is reasonable to expect general innate gender differences to explain the major differences between male homosexuals and lesbians. Despite the publicity currently enjoyed by the claim that one's sexual preference is nobody's business but one's own, the intuition that there is something unnatural about homosexuality remains vital. The erect penis fits the vagina, and fits it better than any other natural orifice; penis and vagina seem made for each other. This intuition ultimately derives from, or is another way of capturing, the idea that the penis is not for inserting into the anus of another man?that so using the penis is not the way it is supposed, even intended, to be used. Such intuitions may appear to rest on an outmoded teleological view of nature, but recent work in the logic of functional ascrip tion shows how they may be explicated, and justified, in suitably naturalistic terms. Such is the burden of Section 2, the particular application to homosex