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A neuroscientific approach to increase gender equality

Nature Human Behaviour volume 3, pages 1238–1239 (2019)Cite this article

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To the Editor — Gender inequality is prevalent in many countries and cultures, and it persists despite our awareness of it and the policies some countries have put in place to combat it. France, for example, offers significant opportunities to enable women to handle both career and personal life: it provides a social healthcare system that was ranked No. 1 by the World Health Organization in 2000, a legal framework promoting gender equality1, and relatively accessible and affordable childcare and scholastic infrastructure. Herein lies the paradox: despite France having a strong reputation for providing a favourable social and professional context, French women still lag behind French men in their careers.

One of the main reasons gender inequality persists despite this supportive infrastructure is the perpetuation of implicit biases and gender stereotypes. These shape the way we behave, our ability to recognize unequal treatment, the willingness of disadvantaged individuals to speak up, and even the research conducted in institutions that have been raising awareness of gender inequalities in science since 20012,3 (http://www.cnrs.fr/mpdf/; https://www.inserm.fr/gouvernance-organisation/cs). Current research indicates that we grow into our anticipated roles (for example, men are bread winners, women are caretakers) rather than being predisposed for them2,3,4,5,6. As the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir wrote: “women are not born but rather made”7. Thus, a major challenge, as recognized in cognitive and social neurosciences, is to defeat implicit gender biases.

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Fig. 1: Roadmap for gender equality. Iterative phases ‘measure current status’, ‘raise awareness’, ‘make it possible’, and ‘perform actions’ (MAPP) are intended to accelerate politics towards gender equality.

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Acknowledgements

C.S. thanks the L’Oréal-UNESCO Foundation “For Women in Science” for the award of a postdoctoral fellowship in 2016.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière (ICM), Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France

    Christiane Schreiweis, Emmanuelle Volle, Alexandra Durr, Alexandra Auffret, Cécile Delarasse, Nathalie George, Magali Dumont, Bassem A. Hassan, Nicolas Renier, Charlotte Rosso, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, Eric Burguière & Violetta Zujovic

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  1. Christiane Schreiweis
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  2. Emmanuelle Volle
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  8. Bassem A. Hassan
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  9. Nicolas Renier
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Contributions

C.S., E.V., A.D., and V.Z. wrote the paper; C.S., E.V., A.D., A.A., C.D., N.G., M.D., B.A.H., N.R., C.R., M.T.d.S., E.B., and V.Z. edited the paper and are the founding members of the XX Initiative.

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Correspondence to Christiane Schreiweis.

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Schreiweis, C., Volle, E., Durr, A. et al. A neuroscientific approach to increase gender equality. Nat Hum Behav 3, 1238–1239 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0755-7

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