The disjunction between evolutionary psychology and sex-discrimination law and policy

Abstract

Workplace sexual disparities are often attributed primarily to discrimination or other nefarious causes, leading to findings of legal liability based upon statistical disparities. That conclusion rests implicitly on the Standard Social Science Model, which assumes that the sexes are largely identical and would have similar workplace experiences and outcomes absent discrimination. The findings of evolutionary psychology challenge that assumption. Evolved differences in temperament and cognitive patterns lead to average differences in talents, tastes, and interests. The widely decried “underrepresentation” of women in some, but not all, STEM fields can be explained in part by differences in vocational personality (especially the “people-things” dimension) and cognitive patterns (relative strengths in verbal, quantitative, and spatial abilities). The “glass ceiling” is at least partially attributable to sex differences in personality (e.g., competitiveness and risk-taking), differences in intensity of career commitment, and the tendency of highly able women disproportionately to remove themselves from the labor force voluntarily. The “gender gap” in earnings is attributable in large part to women's working different jobs, working fewer hours, and placing a lower priority on wages than other job attributes than men do, factors that result in a larger earnings gap between self-employed men and women than between male and female employees.