Research Hit: Is Fairness Gender Based?
Well, I would say girls are fairer than boys - but that may be a gender stereotype!
Well, that’s precisely what Marijn van Wingerden and colleagues of the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, Germany, wanted to find out. The researched whether there are gender stereotypes to being fair - we do know that human beings are very sensitive to unfairness.
For this they turned not to adults though, children between 3 and 8 who lack some of the moral constraints that most of us adults have.
Oh fascinating! Did these boys and girls conform to any gender stereotypes?
Yes, they did - depending on what your gender stereotypes are. Most would probably agree with what you said, namely that girls are generally fairer than boys and this because they value social cohesion more.
And…?
And they did find that girls were generally fairer than boys but there were a few nuances and surprises to this.
The study was conducted with a total of 332 children and fairness was measured by their willingness to distribute or withhold smileys - chocolate might have been a good one to use in place of smileys but excluded for health and hence ethical reasons!
They were grouped in same sex pairs or mixed pairs.
Girls displayed more willingness to share while boys showed more competitive tendencies
Boys were more spiteful - often happy to spite their partner (particularly if male)
Both genders exhibited greater envy when boys received more resources
Boys were more more willing to share with girls than other boys
So gender stereotypes hold true - and this from as young as 3?
Yes, indeed, there has been plenty of research into toddlers and behaviours such as fairness and punishment. We tend to have many of these as inbuilt tendencies, however, many of these previous studies have focused on general human tendencies and not gender differences. If very young children exhibit these behaviours then it is likely hardwired and not culturally or socially inducted.
Here we can see gender stereotypes playing out from very early ages.
Hardwired then?
More research will be needed but it is certainly pointing in that direction. With the obvious caveat that there is always variability within the sexes. Some boys share and some girls don’t.
Reference
van Wingerden, M., Oberließen, L. & Kalenscher, T.
Egalitarian preferences in young children depend on the genders of the interacting partners.
Commun Psychol 2, 89 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-024-00139-9