![]() ![]() The research setting of this study is the Norwegian oil industry as a typically male-dominated sector. However, it is still not clear how growing female representation impacts the individual performance of workers in these sectors. ![]() Getting more women into male-dominated industries has become the nucleus of public debate in many industrialized countries. Management Department, University of Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany.Perhaps then, the things that aren’t necessarily good for us will cease to be so seductive. ![]() This might lead to a more equal society, where women won’t even feel they need protecting.īut we need to critically examine our minds to understand ourselves and gain the power to escape our biology’s grip on us. We can foster values that purposefully compensate for the flaws in our nature. We can challenge the cultural norms that undermine those who don’t adhere to the status quo. To achieve gender equality, we must first tackle our unconscious biasesĪnd culture is not fixed – as shown by the progress that society has already made towards gender equality. Females’ near-universal preference for large, dominant males suggests that culture is a co-conspirator, rather than the cause, of this process. Even in the modern world we continue to perpetuate cultural norms that place value on greater height and dominance in men, and on slightness and submission in women.īut this is not “just culture”, as many might argue. Our biology shapes our culture, and culture does its part to reinforce our biology. We can resist our impulses and urges, and make reasoned choices about how we behave. While our biologically based preferences are largely outside our conscious control, they do not rigidly determine our behaviour or render us incapable of acting otherwise. Women risk aggression from their partners as part of a strategy to counteract the threat of violence from other men.Ī physically dominant man can fight off threats - but does he also present a direct threat to women? from Growing up The genetic payoff over evolutionary time for producing offspring with such men has simply been greater than any genetic costs of being dominated by them. So the fact that women prefer male partners who can – and often do – dominate them does not mean that women want to be dominated. We don’t choose what we find attractive, much like all other animals whose brains are also the products of evolution. The desire in females for tall, dominant males is just likely to have been a successful way of propagating genes, even before Homo sapiens evolved.Īlthough we are not blind to the benefits of size, these sexual and romantic preferences are not determined by conscious choice, nor are they always rational or desirable. It simply describes how physical and psychological characteristics become more common if they help an organism pass on its genes. ![]() RICHARD WAINWRIGHT/AAP Does our biology make us inherently sexist?Įvolution by natural selection has no predetermined purpose, and doesn’t work towards any goal. Western Australia man Peter Miles allegedly murdered his wife, daughter and four grandchildren. Crime statistics show that the majority of intimate partner murder victims are female. Such men, while they might protect their partners from other men, also present the risk of turning their aggression onto their partners.īy choosing larger and more dominant men, women potentially become more vulnerable to physical and sexual domination by their partner. Unfortunately, the preference for larger and more dominant men comes with a cost. In addition, women who score lower on dominance show a stronger preference for taller men. Research supporting this argument has found that women with a higher fear of crime are more likely to prefer physically formidable and dominant males. This suggests that it is adaptive, in evolutionary terms, for women to be attracted to such men and to choose them as partners.ĭo women take their husband's surname after marriage because of biology? Large, dominant men can offer greater protection to their partners and children from other men, and were likely to have been better providers of food and other resources throughout our evolutionary history. The controversial psychologist Jordan Peterson goes as far as claiming that women hate harmless men. from Women’s preference for dominant menīesides the preference for height, women also tend to show a preference for indicators of dominance in men, such as physical strength and masculine facial features. ![]()
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