- Americans now view women as equally intelligent if not more so than men, according to new research in the journal American Psychologist.
- Over the past 70-plus years, the percentage of Americans who thought men and women were equally intelligent increased by 51 percentage points.
- This reflects gains towards gender equality and should lead to less sex discrimination in employment , the study's lead researcher told Business Insider.
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The number of Americans who think women are as intelligent as men has grown by a whopping 146%
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Women are now seen as just as smart or smarter than men.
A just-published study in the prestigious journal American Psychologist has revealed a positive shift in how Americans view the capabilities of men and women over the past 70-plus years, including their competence.
The research team, lead by Alice Eagly at Northwestern University, analyzed 16 public opinion polls of more than 30,000 US adults from 1946 to 2018. They focused on whether poll respondents thought the following three traits were more true or equally true of both genders: communion qualities like compassion and sensitivity; agency related to ambition and aggression; and competence such as intelligence or creativity.
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In that time period, the percentage of Americans who thought men and women were equally intelligent increased by 146% from 35% to 86% that's 51 percentage points, the study found.
Read more : Women are now seen as just as competent as men, but less ambitious and it's a good and bad thing
Among those who did find there to be a difference in intelligence between genders, the trends inverted: In 1946, more respondents thought men were more competent than women. In 2018, more respondents thought women were more competent than men. Respondents generally agreed with these views regardless of demographic differences, such as gender, race, age, and ethnicity, among other variables.
"The implications of this intelligence finding for women are certainly favorable and reflect large gains toward gender equality," Eagly told Business Insider. "Intelligence and competence in general are critical in job markets, so women's gains should reduce sex discrimination in employment."
Eagly expects this trend to continue climbing upwards in the future, with an even higher percentage of Americans regarding men and women as equally intelligent.
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"However, if male political leaders, especially presidents and prime ministers, end up producing warfare and disasters in the next years, there could be a shift toward viewing men as less intelligent than women," she said.
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