Gentlemen, Bring out Your Wallet, It’s Time to Pay: Benevolent Sexism and Women’s Economic Behaviour

Some women want to be flattered, cherished and protected by men more than others. We tested the hypothesis that this belief, that is, the personal endorsement of Benevolent Sexism (BS) as well as the perceived BS of the men, would lead women to take economic decisions which fit traditional gender roles depicting men as women’s financial providers. In Study 1 (Ultimatum Game) and after answering to a BS scale, female participants were proposed fair, quite fair, and very unfair financial offers made by 39 male's faces that varied in perceived BS. When the financial proposition contradicted their beliefs about men as providers (when the offers were very unfair), more offers were rejected by high BS individuals and for high BS faces compared to their low BS counterparts. However, when the financial propositions were more fair, more offers were accepted by high BS individuals and for high BS faces. In Study 2 (Dictator Game), women high (vs. low) in BS propose more unfair offers to men. Moreover, women propose more unfair offers to men with high (vs. low) BS facial characteristics. Economic decisions are shaped by interpersonal as well as individual beliefs about how gender relationships ought to be.