TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender Equality Differentiation Hinders Progress Toward Gender Equality
AU - Tian, Mengwei
AU - Chen, Chen
AU - Yam, Kai Chi
AU - Zhang, Xinyi
AU - Bi, Kaidi
AU - Qin, Xin
N1 - The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by a grant funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 72572181), awarded to Dr. Chen Chen and three grants funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 72325012, 72272155, and 71872190), awarded to Dr. Xin Qin.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc
PY - 2026/1/6
Y1 - 2026/1/6
N2 - Gender inequality has been an enduring issue throughout history and continues to persist in modern society. Although we have achieved much gender equality, this progress has stagnated. We propose that gender equality differentiation, defined as the variance in the levels of gender equality across different dimensions, is a critical but neglected factor that impedes progress toward gender equality. Using a global dataset of 158 countries spanning from 2006 to 2022 (Study 1; N = 1,906), we find that countries with a higher level of gender equality differentiation at the focal year have a lower level of gender equality in the next year. A global survey (Study 2; N = 45,611) and a preregistered experiment (Study 3; N = 566) further demonstrate the underlying mechanisms. This research reveals a paradox—isolated efforts in addressing some aspects of gender inequality inadvertently stall efforts to address holistic gender inequality.
AB - Gender inequality has been an enduring issue throughout history and continues to persist in modern society. Although we have achieved much gender equality, this progress has stagnated. We propose that gender equality differentiation, defined as the variance in the levels of gender equality across different dimensions, is a critical but neglected factor that impedes progress toward gender equality. Using a global dataset of 158 countries spanning from 2006 to 2022 (Study 1; N = 1,906), we find that countries with a higher level of gender equality differentiation at the focal year have a lower level of gender equality in the next year. A global survey (Study 2; N = 45,611) and a preregistered experiment (Study 3; N = 566) further demonstrate the underlying mechanisms. This research reveals a paradox—isolated efforts in addressing some aspects of gender inequality inadvertently stall efforts to address holistic gender inequality.
KW - action in support of gender equality
KW - gender equality
KW - gender equality differentiation
KW - perceived seriousness of gender inequality
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105026718640
U2 - 10.1177/01461672251401062
DO - 10.1177/01461672251401062
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:105026718640
SN - 0146-1672
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
ER -
