Emirati women do not shy away from competition: Evidence from a patriarchal society in transition

Overall, women are not less likely than men to compete. However, when controlling for performance, women are more likely to compete than men, with this difference being driven by choices in single-sex groups.

• Across conditions, women and men are similarly likely to select the competition task, 54.3% and 50% respectively
• Women perform significantly worse than men in all three tasks: women solve correctly 26.5% (task 1), 27.6% (task 2), and 17.9% (task 3) fewer addition problems than their male counterparts
• Controlling for performance, across conditions women are 17% more likely to select into competition than men
• Group composition affects men and women differently:
  • Women are as likely to compete in single and mixed-sex groups
  • Men are significantly more likely to compete in mixed-sex groups

147 students, 66 men and 81 women, at Zayed University participated in a set of three experimental tasks during their regular class time. The students were told that they were participating in a “special activity” rather than an experiment. The three tasks differ in how performance translates into rewards. In the first task, students completed a set of number addition questions and were awarded money for each correct answer. In the second task, students competed in anonymous groups of four – either single or mixed sex-  to complete a similar set of number addition questions. Compared to the first task, a larger amount of money per correct answer is given, but only to the student with the most correct answers. For the third tasks, students could choose to repeat the first or second task, and allocated to single or mixed sex group tournament when they chose the latter. Selecting into the tournament in the third task was measured as individuals´ attitudes towards competition. Finally, participants filled a post-experiment questionnaire to measure individual beliefs and risk attitudes. Students were paid just for one of the three activities, randomly selected at the end of the third task.