Rationality is Gendered

Abstract

Shared rationality is the common ground of scientific progress. However, some theorists have argued that this common ground may not be level, in that subtle assumptions embedded within lay views of rationality marginalize some would-be participants. Specifically, feminist philosophers have argued that rationality is associated with male rather than female discourse. This claim has frequently been dismissed as incoherent, but a straightforward interpretation is readily available: The concept reason is semantically associated with the concept male. We support this hypothesis in four studies (total N > 900), finding that at both the explicit and implicit level, reason is preferentially associated with male, feeling is preferentially associated with female, male faces prime unrelated judgments of reason/rationality, and gendered associations are related to interest in academic disciplines as well as estimates of the (mis)representation of women within those disciplines. Implications for gender stereotyping and the representation of women in different fields are discussed.