Gender Differences in Competition: Evidence from a Matrilineal and a Patriarchal Society / Uri Gneezy, Kenneth L. Leonard, John A. List.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gneezy, Uri.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Leonard, Kenneth L.

List, John A.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w13727.

NBER working paper series no. w13727

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Gender Differences in Competition

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2008.

Summary:

This study uses a controlled experiment to explore whether there are gender differences in selecting into competitive environments across two distinct societies: the Maasai in Tanzania and the Khasi in India. One unique aspect of these societies is that the Maasai represent a textbook example of a patriarchal society whereas the Khasi are matrilineal. Similar to the extant evidence drawn from experiments executed in Western cultures, Maasai men opt to compete at roughly twice the rate as Maasai women. Interestingly, this result is reversed amongst the Khasi, where women choose the competitive environment more often than Khasi men, and even choose to compete weakly more often than Maasai men. We view these results as potentially providing insights into the underpinnings of the factors hypothesized to be determinants of the observed gender differences in selecting into competitive environments.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2008.