Men’s investment in their offspring is trivial. They produce billions of sperm every day. They don’t need to carry anything. They make no commitment to the offspring. The only thing that forces men to invest in their offspring is societal survival and the evolutionary need for group dynamics in order to protect the group. See the work by Edward O. Wilson and colleagues. Women’s investment in their offspring is enormous. They are born with all of their eggs, approximately 300 to 400, and then they need to carry and nurture a child to independence. No wonder that women are evolutionarily programmed for stability. Also remember that if 95% of men die today, for whatever reason, in one generation all men will be replaced. If 95% of women died today for whatever reason, the species will go extinct. So our species has made an enormous investment in women. But men are expendable. So men kill each other, and are much more fragile in a variety of ways, in order to give women better mates that will enhance the likelihood of offspring survival.
...but I wonder, w/ all the endocrine-disrupting toxins in the environment that the younger generations are growing up in while in development, I do think biological "maleness" is being affected negatively. So while I agree our social customs that promote boys into becoming men are disappearing, I also think many boys are physiologically changing by our current toxic stew so that disengagement becomes a natural default setting.
"More than half of all STEM degrees now go to women, and their presence in the tech industry has grown—from 31 percent in 2019 to 35 percent in 2023." - There are many jobs at tech companies that are non-tech and don't require STEM degrees. I think your 31% stat includes both tech (eng, tech product management, data science, etc) and non-tech (sales, marketing, business development, etc) roles. Since you start off with the comment about STEM degrees, it's important to note that this figure is likely much lower than 31% when evaluating the subset of roles that are in technical job families.
Estrogen downregulates COMT, which is the enzyme that degrades adrenaline and other catecholamines such as noradrenaline and dopamine. More estrogen, more adrenaline: greater pain sensitivity and greater emotional lability. There - I just gave you a molecular mechanism for female neurotic temperament. And its the same in all mammals. Mother Nature has mechanisms to keep females cautious because females have to carry and care for babies.
Hi! Do you have a link to the 90% / 40% marriage differential for men with high and low income? Was trying to find after I restacked but wanted to make sure I found the right one
Excellent article that is answering a lot of questions and brings to life a lot of studies done so far. Great educational tool and Rob shows again great dedication to his field.
And all this time I thought that Marxists had eradicated gender and sex differences as part of their ending the division of labor. You could have fooled me. As a downtrodden member of the patriarchy, I had/have some antediluvian views on sex differences. I helped raise a son and two daughters. After reading this article, I can now settle into my rocker and feel confident that I did the right thing by allowing my daughters to treasure their dolls and wear dresses. Keep up the good work.
This is a helpful synthesis of psychology and evolutionary biology checkpoints. What are the implications for policy? Do we want boys to be more conscientious, less risk-taking, to reduce death rates? Girls to be more open, braver?
Men’s investment in their offspring is trivial. They produce billions of sperm every day. They don’t need to carry anything. They make no commitment to the offspring. The only thing that forces men to invest in their offspring is societal survival and the evolutionary need for group dynamics in order to protect the group. See the work by Edward O. Wilson and colleagues. Women’s investment in their offspring is enormous. They are born with all of their eggs, approximately 300 to 400, and then they need to carry and nurture a child to independence. No wonder that women are evolutionarily programmed for stability. Also remember that if 95% of men die today, for whatever reason, in one generation all men will be replaced. If 95% of women died today for whatever reason, the species will go extinct. So our species has made an enormous investment in women. But men are expendable. So men kill each other, and are much more fragile in a variety of ways, in order to give women better mates that will enhance the likelihood of offspring survival.
...but I wonder, w/ all the endocrine-disrupting toxins in the environment that the younger generations are growing up in while in development, I do think biological "maleness" is being affected negatively. So while I agree our social customs that promote boys into becoming men are disappearing, I also think many boys are physiologically changing by our current toxic stew so that disengagement becomes a natural default setting.
Bravo!
"More than half of all STEM degrees now go to women, and their presence in the tech industry has grown—from 31 percent in 2019 to 35 percent in 2023." - There are many jobs at tech companies that are non-tech and don't require STEM degrees. I think your 31% stat includes both tech (eng, tech product management, data science, etc) and non-tech (sales, marketing, business development, etc) roles. Since you start off with the comment about STEM degrees, it's important to note that this figure is likely much lower than 31% when evaluating the subset of roles that are in technical job families.
Estrogen downregulates COMT, which is the enzyme that degrades adrenaline and other catecholamines such as noradrenaline and dopamine. More estrogen, more adrenaline: greater pain sensitivity and greater emotional lability. There - I just gave you a molecular mechanism for female neurotic temperament. And its the same in all mammals. Mother Nature has mechanisms to keep females cautious because females have to carry and care for babies.
Hi! Do you have a link to the 90% / 40% marriage differential for men with high and low income? Was trying to find after I restacked but wanted to make sure I found the right one
Here's the link: https://docs.iza.org/dp12185.pdf
Excellent article that is answering a lot of questions and brings to life a lot of studies done so far. Great educational tool and Rob shows again great dedication to his field.
And all this time I thought that Marxists had eradicated gender and sex differences as part of their ending the division of labor. You could have fooled me. As a downtrodden member of the patriarchy, I had/have some antediluvian views on sex differences. I helped raise a son and two daughters. After reading this article, I can now settle into my rocker and feel confident that I did the right thing by allowing my daughters to treasure their dolls and wear dresses. Keep up the good work.
This is a helpful synthesis of psychology and evolutionary biology checkpoints. What are the implications for policy? Do we want boys to be more conscientious, less risk-taking, to reduce death rates? Girls to be more open, braver?
Hi Rob, I deep dive that really spills it out well. You let me nerd out in my field for a few minutes Thank you!
Really fascinating deep dive. I had never heard about the reproductive rate of women vs men over time.