Life
Gender equality gives a lot of clear advantages to societies that prioritize it. The European Institute for Gender Equality points out, among many other benefits, the greater wealth that comes from more women participating in the economy and better profit margins for businesses, and the World Bank explains that more gender-equal societies have less poverty and stronger political and social systems. But there's an intriguing new facet to add to these benefits: gender equality makes women smarter.
According to a new study from Psychological Science, women in more gender-equal societies demonstrated improved cognitive abilities, at least when it came to their marks on specific cognition tests. The scientists behind the study wanted to test if women who'd grown up in more gender-equal societies, whether it had been like that from childhood or became more equal over time, would perform better on cognition tests than women who had not grown up in an equal environment. By looking at the cognitive test results of older women and men in different countries, and pairing them with how well the countries themselves do on gender equity, the scientists built up a picture that shows that more gender equality means a healthier brain for women.
Why Is A More Equal Society Good For Women's Brains?
Women's cognitive capacity can be a tricky topic to talk about, because it's hardly as if women from gender-unequal societies are stupid; every historical female groundbreaker from Marie Curie to Ida B. Wells achieved great things, despite living within intensely sexist structures. However, what the scientists behind the new study wanted to emphasize was the connection between environment and cognition, and how creating a gender-equal environment improves women's cognitive function.
Equality, science continues to prove, isn't just a buzzword. Raising the status of women gives them better access to education and healthcare, more control over reproductive rights, and greater ability to join the workforce. And those factors, according to results like these, add up into greater cognitive capacity for women overall. The thing about brains is that they're not static; they can change and grow. Giving them more stimulation, from college to high-level jobs, improves their cognitive performance, and environments with more of that around for women give them better brains.
There are other factors beyond education, reproductive control and work that could play into this, too. Experiencing or anticipating sexist treatment in a society, from everyday microaggressions to unequal opportunities, all the way to assault, takes a serious psychological toll. Studies have consistently revealed that the stress of everyday sexism, even in more gender-equal societies, has high mental health tolls for women, and the impact is particularly serious for those encountering other kinds of discrimination too (LGBTQ women, women of color and women with disabilities, for instance). Unfortunately, we also know that stressors can inhibit cognition. In June 2017, a host of new studies were published in Frontiers In Psychology emphasizing the many different ways in which chronic stress affects the brain, none of which are positive. The pressures of living in a sexist environment are likely cognitively damaging for women for precisely this reason — even if women themselves aren't necessarily aware of it.
Chalk up another benefit for being a feminist: you're working for a society that makes you actively smarter into old age. That's one hell of a tangible benefit.