Parental investment theory proposes that the sex making greater investment in offspring will be more selective in mating. Females typically invest more in gestating and nursing offspring. Therefore, they are expected to show stronger preferences for long-term mates who demonstrate ability and willingness to invest in them and their children. Males invest less and pursue more short-term mating opportunities. Thus parental investment theory has been used to explain gender differences in sexual strategies and mate preferences. Morality related to caring, purity may align more closely with female strategies. However, the links between parental investment and gender differences in moral values have not been extensively studied across cultures.
Women score higher on care and purity foundations across cultures
A large-scale study with samples from 67 countries found that women consistently score higher on moral foundations of care, fairness and purity, while men score higher on loyalty and authority. This aligns with evolutionary views – women’s greater parental investment predisposes them to moral values promoting offspring nurturing. Cross-cultural consistency points to evolved tendencies, rather than solely culturally constructed gender roles.
Gender differences in care morality decrease in male-biased populations
The study also found reduced gender differences in care morality in countries with higher proportions of males. Parental investment theory suggests males pursue more short-term mates when females are abundant. But male mating effort shifts towards long-term bonds in male-biased populations. This manifests as greater convergence between men’s and women’s care morality in those cultural contexts.
Culture moderates gender differences in loyalty and authority morals
Unlike care and purity morals which showed cross-cultural consistency, gender differences in authority and loyalty foundations varied greatly between cultures. This suggests cultural forces more strongly shape men’s and women’s orientation towards hierarchy and in-group bonds. Social role theory argues culturally-prescribed roles drive gender differences, supporting cultural mediation of loyalty and authority morals.
Parental investment theory has been invoked to explain gender differences ranging from mate preferences to sexual strategies. This large-scale cross-cultural study reveals it also provides a coherent evolutionary account for gender differences in moral values related to caring and purity across cultures. However, culture appears to play a stronger moderating role for gender differences in authority and loyalty morals.