I found interesting the idea that maybe in countries with gender equality, people are comparing themselves against an average human, while in countries with gender inequality, people are comparing themselves against an average member of the same gender. So, if there are visible differences between groups of people (whether those differences are caused by nature or nurture), lower segregation can make those differences more salient.
This reminds me of a similar situation in education. In general, having schools segregated by race or gender, predictably means that some groups will get better education and some will get worse. But still, there is this nice thing about it: In a school for black kids, the student with best grades is always… black. And in a school for girls, the student best in math is always… a girl. The stereotypes locally don’t matter, if there is no one to compare to; and this can be encouraging for people who would be discouraged otherwise. Now put everyone in the same classroom, and everyone gets the same education, but many stop trying after they correctly observe that their group is underrepresented among the winners.
I found interesting the idea that maybe in countries with gender equality, people are comparing themselves against an average human, while in countries with gender inequality, people are comparing themselves against an average member of the same gender. So, if there are visible differences between groups of people (whether those differences are caused by nature or nurture), lower segregation can make those differences more salient.
This reminds me of a similar situation in education. In general, having schools segregated by race or gender, predictably means that some groups will get better education and some will get worse. But still, there is this nice thing about it: In a school for black kids, the student with best grades is always… black. And in a school for girls, the student best in math is always… a girl. The stereotypes locally don’t matter, if there is no one to compare to; and this can be encouraging for people who would be discouraged otherwise. Now put everyone in the same classroom, and everyone gets the same education, but many stop trying after they correctly observe that their group is underrepresented among the winners.