Researchers analyzed resource scarcity, warfare, climatic stress and infectious disease in the study to decipher which environment factors could impact women’s rights. Then, researchers quantified each factor and compared the numbers with an index of gender equality.
Here are four things to know:
1. While studies have reaffirmed the “parasite stress theory,” which entails disease rates impacting behavior, some sociologists contend the relationship between pathogen prevalence and human behavior is “more nuanced.”
2. A 2013 U.S. study, for instance, argued only STDs, rather then all infectious diseases, have an impact on behavior such as interpersonal violence, child maltreatment and religious adherence.
3. Over the past seven decades, the recent study found the United States has experienced a decrease in the region’s nine biggest infectious diseases, which correlates with more gender ability. Social psychologist Michael Varnum, PhD, noted, “It’s one of the strongest relationships I’ve ever observed in my work.”
4. The study researchers argue that the study indicates there is a “very strong correlation,” but doesn’t prove that lower pathogen load increases gender equality directly.
“The links are stronger for pathogens at a particular time predicting gender equality in the future, rather than the other way around. Ideally we’d love to get data from a number of other societies around the world. I would be interested to see how this relationship looks across the globe over time,” the researchers noted.
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