Rising equality shifts egalitarians’ views of politics
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Researchers in New Zealand tracked 43,924 women from 2009 to 2023 to understand how changes in gender equality affected their political views.
Sarah Buhl at Chemnitz University of Technology led a team that paired survey responses about egalitarianism and system justification with New Zealand’s annual score on the Global Gender Gap Index, a measure of gender parity in areas like economics and politics.
They found that as New Zealand became more gender-equal, women who strongly favored equality began to more readily defend the existing political system. Historically, psychologists believed people who value equality would consistently criticize established institutions to dismantle hierarchies. However, Buhl’s team discovered that egalitarian individuals accurately assess the presence of inequality and adjust their views accordingly. The researchers confirmed that increases in national gender equality preceded the shifts in how women viewed the political system, indicating a causal relationship.
The team also examined whether these changes occurred equally across demographic groups. They found the shift toward defending the system was driven entirely by women from majority backgrounds, those identifying as both white and heterosexual. Women from minoritized groups continued to criticize the political system even as national gender equality rose, likely because they continue to experience compounded disadvantages. Men showed no similar pattern.
The researchers suggest that rising equality creates psychological conflict for men who traditionally benefit from patriarchal structures. While the study took place in New Zealand, a country already relatively progressive, the findings offer insights into how people adapt their beliefs as societies become fairer.
