Ready, Steady, Compete: Women’s Willingness to Compete Can Be Increased Through Appropriate Affirmative Action

From Marie Claire Villeval in Science:

The educational attainments of women exceed those of men in most developed countries, yet women continue to lag behind in access to top corporate jobs (1, 2). Women are also underrepresented in politics (3). Without dismissing the role of discrimination, recent research has implicated a lower preference of women for competition. On page 579 of this issue, Balafoutas and Sutter (4) show how affirmative action policies can increase the willingness of women to compete without affecting the chances of highly skilled men to succeed and while preserving postcompetition cooperation between individuals.

Many managers use competition among teams in work settings to spark effort and creativity. The research described in this article suggests that gender effects may interfere with the intended results of such contests. Pay special attention to what is termed here “appropriate affirmative action.” The matter has high importance beyond the context of gender and competition.

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