Why do women support socio-economic systems that favour men more? A registered test of system justification- and social identity-inspired hope explanations

Abstract

Why do women support social and economic arrangements that disadvantage them? System justification theory (SJT) proposes that an autonomous system-level motive is responsible for this tendency, beyond any group-interested considerations (e.g., hope of future group advancement). The social identity model of system attitudes (SIMSA) disputes the existence of a unique system-level motive and instead argues that hope of future group advancement can explain women's system-justifying attitudes. Meta-analyzed results from three experiments (Studies 1, N = 200; 2, N = 200; & 3, N = 700 women) revealed, consistent with SIMSA's social identity-based explanation, that strongly identified women supported socio-economic systems that historically favor men over women, mostly when they were hopeful about future gender equity. Contrary to SJT's system motive explanation, we did not find consistent evidence across the studies represented in our meta-analysis that women were more supportive of socio-economic realities that undercuts their group's interests when group motives were nonsalient.