The gender gap in the care economy is larger in highly developed countries: Sociocultural explanations for paradoxical findings

Katharina Block¹, Maria I T Olsson², Sanne van Grootel³, Carolin Schuster⁴, Loes Meeussen³, Colette Van Laar³, Sarah E Martiny⁵, Alyssa Croft⁶, Molly Shuyi Sun⁷, Sheila Wee⁸, Mare Ainsaar⁹, Lianne Aarntzen¹⁰, Magdalena Adamus¹¹, Joel Anderson¹², Ciara Atkinson¹³, Mohamad Avicenna¹⁴, Przemysław Bąbel¹⁵, Markus Barth¹⁶, Tessa M Benson-Greenwald¹⁷, Edona Maloku¹⁸, Jacques Berent¹⁹, Hilary B Bergsieker²⁰, Monica Biernat²¹, Andreea G Bîrneanu²², Blerta Bodinaku²³, Janine Bosak²⁴, Jennifer Bosson²⁵, Marija Branković²⁶, Julius Burkauskas²⁷, Vladimíra Čavojová¹¹, Sapna Cheryan²⁸, Eunsoo Choi²⁹, Incheol Choi³⁰, Carlos C Contreras-Ibáñez³¹, Andrew Coogan³², Ivan Danyliuk³³, Ilan Dar-Nimrod³⁴, Nilanjana Dasgupta³⁵, Soledad de Lemus³⁶, Thierry Devos³⁷, Marwan Diab³⁸, Amanda B Diekman³⁹, Maria Efremova⁴⁰, Léïla Eisner⁴¹, Anja Eller⁴², Rasa Erentaitė⁴³, Denisa Fedáková¹¹, Renata Franc⁴⁴, Leire Gartzia⁴⁵, Alin Gavreliuc²², Dana Gavreliuc⁴⁶, Julija Gecaite-Stonciene²⁷, Adriana L Germano⁴⁷, Ilaria Giovannelli⁴⁸, Renzo Gismondi Diaz⁴⁹, Lyudmila Gitikhmayeva⁵⁰, Abiy Menkir Gizaw⁵¹, Biljana Gjoneska⁵², Omar Martínez González⁵³, Roberto González⁵³, Isaac David Grijalva⁵⁴, Derya Güngör³, Marie Gustafsson Sendén⁵⁵, William Hall⁵⁶, Charles Harb⁵⁷, Bushra Hassan⁵⁸, Tabea Hässler⁴², Diala R Hawi⁵⁷, Levke Henningsen⁵⁹, Annedore Hoppe⁶⁰, Keiko Ishii⁶¹, Ivana Jakšić²⁶, Alba Jasini³, Jurgita Jurkevičienė⁴³, Kaltrina Kelmendi⁶², Teri A Kirby⁶³, Yoko Kitakaji⁶⁴, Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka⁶⁵, Inna Kozytska³³, Clara Kulich¹⁹, Eva Kundtová-Klocová⁶⁶, Filiz Kunuroglu⁶⁷, Christina Lapytskaia Aidy⁶⁸, Albert Lee⁶⁹, Anna Eneroth⁷⁰, Wilson López-López⁷¹, Liany Luzvinda¹⁴, Fridanna Maricchiolo⁷², Delphine Martinot⁷³, Rita Anne McNamara⁷⁴, Alyson Meister⁷⁵, Tizita Lemma Melka⁵¹, Narseta Mickuviene²⁷, María Isabel Miranda-Orrego⁵⁴, Thadeus Mkamwa⁷⁶, James Morandini³⁴, Thomas Morton⁷⁷, David Mrisho⁷⁶, Jana Nikitin⁷⁸, Sabine Otten⁷⁹, Maria Giuseppina Pacilli⁸⁰, Elizabeth Page-Gould⁷, Ana Perandrés-Gómez³⁶, Jon Pizarro⁸¹, Nada Pop-Jordanova⁵², Joanna Pyrkosz-Pacyna⁸², Samir Qouta⁸³, TamilSelvan Ramis⁸⁴, Nitya Rani⁸⁵, Sandrine Redersdorff⁷³, Isabelle Régner⁸⁶, Emma A Renström⁸⁷, Adrian Rivera-Rodriguez⁸⁸, Tania E Rocha-Sánchez⁴², Tatiana Ryabichenko⁴⁰, Rim Saab⁸⁹, Kiriko Sakata⁶⁴, Adil Samekin⁹⁰, Tracy Sánchez-Pachecho⁹¹, Carolin Scheifele³, Marion K Schulmeyer⁴⁹, Sabine Sczesny⁹², David Sirlopú⁹³, Vanessa Smith-Castro⁹⁴, Kadri Soo⁹, Federica Spaccatini⁸⁰, Jennifer R Steele⁶⁸, Melanie C Steffens⁹⁵, Ines Sucic⁴⁴, Joseph Vandello²⁵, Laura Maria Velásquez-Díaz⁷¹, Melissa Vink¹⁰, Eva Vives⁷³, Turuwark Zalalam Warkineh⁵¹, Iris Žeželj²⁶, Xiaoxiao Zhang⁹⁶, Xian Zhao⁹⁷, Toni Schmader⁹⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam.
² Department of Psychology, University of Inland Norway.
³ Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, KU Leuven.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Leuphana University.
⁵ Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.
⁸ Department of Psychology, Singapore Management University.
⁹ Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu.
¹⁰ Department of Social, Health and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University.
¹¹ Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences.
¹² Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University.
¹³ Department of Psychology, University of Arizona.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
¹⁵ Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University.
¹⁶ Department of Social Psychology, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences.
¹⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, Rochester Institute of Technology.
¹⁹ Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva.
²⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo.
²¹ Department of Psychology, University of Kansas.
²² Department of Social Work, West University of Timisoara.
²³ Department of Psychology-Pedagogy, University of Tirana.
²⁴ Department of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour, Dublin City University.
²⁵ Department of Psychology, University of South Florida.
²⁶ Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade.
²⁷ Institute of Neuroscience, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences.
²⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Washington.
²⁹ Department of Psychology, Korea University.
³⁰ Department of Psychology, Seoul National University.
³¹ Department of Sociology, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana.
³² Department of Psychology, Maynooth University.
³³ Department of General and Experimental Psychology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
³⁴ School of Psychology, University of Sydney.
³⁵ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
³⁶ Department of Social Psychology, Universidad de Granada.
³⁷ Department of Psychology, San Diego State University.
³⁸ Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University.
³⁹ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington.
⁴⁰ School of Psychology, Higher School of Economics, National Research University.
⁴¹ Department of Psychology, University of Zurich.
⁴² School of Psychology, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
⁴³ Institute of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, Kaunas University of Technology.
⁴⁴ Department of Psychology, Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar.
⁴⁵ Department of Management, University of Deusto.
⁴⁶ Department for Teacher Training, West University of Timisoara.
⁴⁷ Department of Psychology, West University of Timisoara.
⁴⁸ Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, Universita degli Studi "G. D'Annunzio" Chieti - Pescara.
⁴⁹ Department of Psychology, Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
⁵⁰ Department of Psychology, L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University.
⁵¹ Department of Adult Education and Community Development, Bahir Dar University.
⁵² Department of Social Sciences, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
⁵³ School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.
⁵⁴ School of Clinical Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador.
⁵⁵ Department of Psychology, Stockholm University.
⁵⁶ Department of Psychology, Brock University.
⁵⁷ Department of Psychology, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
⁵⁸ School of Psychology, International Islamic University Islamabad.
⁵⁹ Department of Management, University of Exeter.
⁶⁰ Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig.
⁶¹ Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Nagoya University.
⁶² Department of Psychology, University of Prishtina "Hasan Prishtina".
⁶³ Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University.
⁶⁴ Institute for Diversity and Inclusion, Hiroshima University.
⁶⁵ Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk.
⁶⁶ Department for the Study of Religions, Masaryk University.
⁶⁷ Department of Psychology, Izmir Katip Celebi University.
⁶⁸ Department of Psychology, York University.
⁶⁹ Division of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University.
⁷⁰ Department of Psychology, Lund University.
⁷¹ Department of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
⁷² Department of Educational Sciences, Roma Tre University.
⁷³ Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Universite Clermont Auvergne.
⁷⁴ School of Psychological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington.
⁷⁵ Department of Organizational Behavior and Leadership, International Institute for Management Development Business School.
⁷⁶ Department of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour, Saint Augustine University of Tanzania.
⁷⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen.
⁷⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Vienna.
⁷⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Groningen.
⁸⁰ Department of Political Science, Universita di Perugia.
⁸¹ Department of Management, Deusto Business School, University of Deusto.
⁸² Department of Economic Sociology and Social Communication, Akademia Gorniczo-Hutnicza University of Science and Technology.
⁸³ Department of Psychology, Islamic University of Gaza.
⁸⁴ Department of Psychology, Sunway University.
⁸⁵ Department of Management, Fanshaw College.
⁸⁶ Centre de Recherche en Psychologie et Neurosciences, French National Centre for Scientific Research, Aix Marseille University.
⁸⁷ Department of Psychology, Kristianstad University.
⁸⁸ Department of Psychology, Northwestern University.
⁸⁹ Department of Psychology, American University of Beirut.
⁹⁰ School of Liberal Arts, M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University.
⁹¹ Institute of Cognitive Sciences, Osnabruck University.
⁹² Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, University of Bern.
⁹³ Faculty of Psychology and Humanities, Universidad San Sebastian.
⁹⁴ Institute of Psychological Research, University of Costa Rica.
⁹⁵ Department of Psycholog, RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau.
⁹⁶ School of Psychology, Shenzhen University.
⁹⁷ Department of Psychology, Ohio University.
⁹⁸ Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia.

PMID: 41100263
DOI: 10.1037/amp0001512

The gender gap in the care economy is larger in highly developed countries: Sociocultural explanations for paradoxical findings

Katharina Block et al. Am Psychol. 2025.

. 2025 Oct 16.

doi: 10.1037/amp0001512. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam.
² Department of Psychology, University of Inland Norway.
³ Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, KU Leuven.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Leuphana University.
⁵ Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.
⁸ Department of Psychology, Singapore Management University.
⁹ Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu.
¹⁰ Department of Social, Health and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University.
¹¹ Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences.
¹² Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University.
¹³ Department of Psychology, University of Arizona.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
¹⁵ Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University.
¹⁶ Department of Social Psychology, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences.
¹⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, Rochester Institute of Technology.
¹⁹ Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva.
²⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo.
²¹ Department of Psychology, University of Kansas.
²² Department of Social Work, West University of Timisoara.
²³ Department of Psychology-Pedagogy, University of Tirana.
²⁴ Department of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour, Dublin City University.
²⁵ Department of Psychology, University of South Florida.
²⁶ Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade.
²⁷ Institute of Neuroscience, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences.
²⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Washington.
²⁹ Department of Psychology, Korea University.
³⁰ Department of Psychology, Seoul National University.
³¹ Department of Sociology, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana.
³² Department of Psychology, Maynooth University.
³³ Department of General and Experimental Psychology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
³⁴ School of Psychology, University of Sydney.
³⁵ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
³⁶ Department of Social Psychology, Universidad de Granada.
³⁷ Department of Psychology, San Diego State University.
³⁸ Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University.
³⁹ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington.
⁴⁰ School of Psychology, Higher School of Economics, National Research University.
⁴¹ Department of Psychology, University of Zurich.
⁴² School of Psychology, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
⁴³ Institute of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, Kaunas University of Technology.
⁴⁴ Department of Psychology, Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar.
⁴⁵ Department of Management, University of Deusto.
⁴⁶ Department for Teacher Training, West University of Timisoara.
⁴⁷ Department of Psychology, West University of Timisoara.
⁴⁸ Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, Universita degli Studi "G. D'Annunzio" Chieti - Pescara.
⁴⁹ Department of Psychology, Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
⁵⁰ Department of Psychology, L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University.
⁵¹ Department of Adult Education and Community Development, Bahir Dar University.
⁵² Department of Social Sciences, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
⁵³ School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.
⁵⁴ School of Clinical Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador.
⁵⁵ Department of Psychology, Stockholm University.
⁵⁶ Department of Psychology, Brock University.
⁵⁷ Department of Psychology, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
⁵⁸ School of Psychology, International Islamic University Islamabad.
⁵⁹ Department of Management, University of Exeter.
⁶⁰ Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig.
⁶¹ Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Nagoya University.
⁶² Department of Psychology, University of Prishtina "Hasan Prishtina".
⁶³ Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University.
⁶⁴ Institute for Diversity and Inclusion, Hiroshima University.
⁶⁵ Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk.
⁶⁶ Department for the Study of Religions, Masaryk University.
⁶⁷ Department of Psychology, Izmir Katip Celebi University.
⁶⁸ Department of Psychology, York University.
⁶⁹ Division of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University.
⁷⁰ Department of Psychology, Lund University.
⁷¹ Department of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
⁷² Department of Educational Sciences, Roma Tre University.
⁷³ Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Universite Clermont Auvergne.
⁷⁴ School of Psychological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington.
⁷⁵ Department of Organizational Behavior and Leadership, International Institute for Management Development Business School.
⁷⁶ Department of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour, Saint Augustine University of Tanzania.
⁷⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen.
⁷⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Vienna.
⁷⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Groningen.
⁸⁰ Department of Political Science, Universita di Perugia.
⁸¹ Department of Management, Deusto Business School, University of Deusto.
⁸² Department of Economic Sociology and Social Communication, Akademia Gorniczo-Hutnicza University of Science and Technology.
⁸³ Department of Psychology, Islamic University of Gaza.
⁸⁴ Department of Psychology, Sunway University.
⁸⁵ Department of Management, Fanshaw College.
⁸⁶ Centre de Recherche en Psychologie et Neurosciences, French National Centre for Scientific Research, Aix Marseille University.
⁸⁷ Department of Psychology, Kristianstad University.
⁸⁸ Department of Psychology, Northwestern University.
⁸⁹ Department of Psychology, American University of Beirut.
⁹⁰ School of Liberal Arts, M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University.
⁹¹ Institute of Cognitive Sciences, Osnabruck University.
⁹² Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, University of Bern.
⁹³ Faculty of Psychology and Humanities, Universidad San Sebastian.
⁹⁴ Institute of Psychological Research, University of Costa Rica.
⁹⁵ Department of Psycholog, RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau.
⁹⁶ School of Psychology, Shenzhen University.
⁹⁷ Department of Psychology, Ohio University.
⁹⁸ Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia.

PMID: 41100263
DOI: 10.1037/amp0001512

Abstract

Despite the growing demand for care economy employees (e.g., nurses, teachers, and social workers), men remain underrepresented in these careers. While economically developed countries support more equal rights for women and men, their labor markets are highly gender segregated (Charles, 1992, 2003). We conducted a focused investigation of this paradoxical pattern in the care economy, testing whether gender gaps in care economy career interest are larger in more economically developed countries and, if so, what psychological and cultural factors underlie these patterns. We examined these questions with labor data from 70 countries (Study 1) and a preregistered study of career interests among 19,240 university students from 49 countries (Study 2). Although more economically developed countries tend to promote greater gender equality, our results reveal that the gender gap in care economy representation (Study 1) and interest (Study 2) is especially large in such countries. We did not observe parallel patterns for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics representation or interest. Results from Study 2 supported an integrated theoretical account of this development paradox in care economy interest: Cross-national variation in the gender gap in care economy interest was predicted by country-level variation in economic development and individualism/collectivism but not by self-expression values or country-level gender equality, countering prior (controversial) claims of a gender equality paradox. Furthermore, larger gender gaps in communal values (e.g., men's lower valuing of helping and caring for others) were a proximal predictor of larger gender gaps in care economy interest in highly economically developed countries. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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The gender gap in the care economy is larger in highly developed countries: Sociocultural explanations for paradoxical findings

Affiliations

The gender gap in the care economy is larger in highly developed countries: Sociocultural explanations for paradoxical findings

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

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