Gender Differences in Competition: Evidence From a Matrilineal and a Patriarchal Society

  1. Uri Gneezy1,
  2. Kenneth L. Leonard2,
  3. John A. List3,†

Article first published online: 6 OCT 2009

DOI: 10.3982/ECTA6690

Issue

Econometrica

Econometrica

Volume 77, Issue 5, pages 1637–1664, September 2009

Additional Information

How to Cite

Gneezy, U., Leonard, K. L. and List, J. A. (2009), Gender Differences in Competition: Evidence From a Matrilineal and a Patriarchal Society. Econometrica, 77: 1637–1664. doi: 10.3982/ECTA6690

Author Information

  1. 1

    Rady School of Management, University of California–San Diego, Otterson Hall, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093-0553, U.S.A.; ugneezy@ucsd.edu

  2. 2

    University of Maryland, 2200 Symons Hall, Colledge Park, MD 20783, U.S.A.; kleonard@arec.umd.edu

  3. 3

    Dept. of Economics, University of Chicago, 1126 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, U.S.A., NBER, and Dept. of Economics, CentER, PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands; jlist@uchicago.edu

  1. †

    We thank our research team for aiding in the collection of these data, especially Steffen Andersen. A co-editor was instrumental in guiding us toward a much improved manuscript, both in content and in style. Four anonymous referees also provided quite useful comments, as did many seminar participants.

  1. †

    We thank our research team for aiding in the collection of these data, especially Steffen Andersen. A co-editor was instrumental in guiding us toward a much improved manuscript, both in content and in style. Four anonymous referees also provided quite useful comments, as did many seminar participants.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 6 OCT 2009
  2. Article first published online: 6 OCT 2009
  3. Manuscript received September, 2006; final revision received December, 2008.

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Keywords:

  • Gender and competition;
  • matrilineal and patriarchal societies;
  • field experiment

We use 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 among the Khasi, where women choose the competitive environment more often than Khasi men, and even choose to compete weakly more often than Maasai men. These results provide insights into the underpinnings of the factors hypothesized to be determinants of the observed gender differences in selecting into competitive environments.

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