The last few decades has seen growing support for gender equality and fairer representation of women’s causes, but this support has not been equal across either individual nations or across the world more broadly.  New research from Anglia Ruskin University paradoxically suggests that such support is often poorest when countries are more gender egalitarian.

The researchers suggest that gender equality benefits both men and women at both the societal and individual levels.  It’s typically associated with better observance of human rights, higher happiness and wellbeing levels, and better physical and mental health.  Indeed, it’s also strongly linked with higher GDP and other economic benefits.

The researchers spoke to 6,743 men from 42 nations covering a wide spread of the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Index, from Norway in 2nd place to Pakistan in 151st.  The exploration found that men who believe that gains for women means losses for men were less inclined to support gender equality, regardless of their nationality.

“Some men view women as competitors rather than allies, and our research found that men, regardless of their nationality, withdraw their support for gender equality when they think that women’s gains threaten their own status,” the researchers say.

False friends

Interestingly, if somewhat counterintuitively, the higher the gender egalitarianism in a country, the less inclined men were to engage in activities to support greater gender equality in the workplace, in politics, or in society more generally.

“What is particularly interesting is that higher levels of gender equality within a country appear to have the effect of demotivating men from supporting gender equality causes,” the researchers explain. “This could be due to a perceived threat to men’s masculinity or men’s belief that women are doing perfectly well on their own and do not need any extra help.”

The researchers believe that the zero-sum thinking that can often dominate gender-based discussions remains the key barrier towards further improvements in equality, and they argue that things will only really move when more people begin to appreciate that gains for women also mean gains for men.