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Competitiveness among Nandi female husbands.

Ignacio Palacios-Huerta1,2,3

  • 1Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|April 21, 2022
PubMed
Summary

In Nandi society, women can become "female husbands" to inherit property. Female husbands exhibit male-level competitiveness, suggesting social roles, not just biology, drive competition differences.

Keywords:
competitivenessendogenous preferencesgender differencessocial normsstereotypes

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Area of Science:

  • Social Sciences
  • Anthropology
  • Behavioral Economics

Background:

  • Nandi society in Kenya has unique customs regarding property inheritance, where only male heirs can inherit a woman's "house property".
  • To ensure lineage and property transmission, women without male heirs can become "female husbands" through an inversion ceremony, adopting male social roles.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of social roles versus biological sex in determining competitiveness.
  • To analyze competitiveness differences between men and women in the Nandi society, utilizing the unique "female husband" social structure.

Main Methods:

  • Conducted competitiveness experiments within the Nandi society, comparing different social roles.
  • Analyzed data controlling for risk aversion, selection, and other behavioral factors to ensure robustness of findings.

Main Results:

  • Nandi men competed at approximately twice the rate of Nandi women, mirroring patterns in Western cultures.
  • "Female husbands", despite being biologically female, exhibited competitiveness rates similar to biological males.
  • These results remained consistent after controlling for various behavioral and selection factors.

Conclusions:

  • Social norms and family roles significantly influence the formation of preferences, including competitiveness.
  • The study supports the argument that differences in competitiveness between sexes are crucially linked to social roles and endogenous preference formation, rather than solely biological sex.