Edited by Bruce S. McEwen, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, and approved July 7, 2014 (received for review October 17, 2013)
Results showing that gender differences in mathematics and science are smaller in countries with higher gender equality have led researchers to conclude that cognitive gender differences are decreasing as a function of increased gender equality. Instead, we find that improved living conditions and less gender-restricted educational opportunities are associated with increased gender differences favoring women in some cognitive functions and decreases or elimination of gender differences in other cognitive abilities. Our results suggest that these changes take place as a result of women gaining more than men from societal improvements over time, thereby increasing their general cognitive ability more than men.
Cognitive gender differences and the reasons for their origins have fascinated researchers for decades. Using nationally representative data to investigate gender differences in cognitive performance in middle-aged and older populations across Europe, we show that the magnitude of these differences varies systematically across cognitive tasks, birth cohorts, and regions, but also that the living conditions and educational opportunities individuals are exposed to during their formative years are related to their later cognitive performance. Specifically, we demonstrate that improved living conditions and less gender-restricted educational opportunities are associated with increased gender differences favoring women in some cognitive functions (i.e., episodic memory) and decreases (i.e., numeracy) or elimination of differences in other cognitive abilities (i.e., category fluency). Our results suggest that these changes take place due to a general increase in women’s cognitive performance over time, associated with societal improvements in living conditions and educational opportunities.
Author contributions: D.W., V.S., I.F., and A.H. designed research; D.W. analyzed data; D.W. and A.H. wrote the paper; D.W. led the research; and D.W. and A.H. provided the methodological and theoretical framework.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1319538111/-/DCSupplemental.
