Gender-Based Occupational Segregation and Sex Differences in Sensory, Motor, and Spatial Aptitudes

Research on sex differences in humans documents gender differences in sensory, motor, and spatial aptitudes. These aptitudes, as captured by Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) codes, predict the occupational choices of men and women in the directions indicated by this research. We simulate that eliminating selection on these skills reduces the Duncan index of gender-based occupational segregation by 20 % to 23 % in 1970 and 2012, respectively. Eliminating selection on DOT variables capturing other accounts of this segregation has a smaller impact.

Sex Differences in Coincidence-Anticipation Timing (Cat): A Review

Coincidence-anticipation timing (CAT) is the ability to judge when a moving stimulus will arrive at a target. 43 articles were reviewed which investigated sex differences in this skill. Performance was typically recorded as one or more of three error measures, absolute error (AE), constant error (CE), and variable error (VE). Despite many null findings, it is argued that the evidence for a male advantage is strong, particularly for AE and VE. 10 parameters typically associated with CAT studies were analyzed (e.g., knowledge of results, number of trials, stimulus duration, and stimulus speed), but none differentiated clearly between the presence and absence of the sex difference. However, when the mean AE score was used as a measure of task difficulty, a male advantage was reliably associated with lower values of AE (easier tasks) and null findings with higher values (more difficult tasks). An attempt to compare sex difference findings from Bassin timer and real-world tasks was thwarted by the lack of studies using real-world tasks. Given little evidence for the influence of socialization on sex differences in CAT, it is suggested that the difference may have originated from the evolutionary selection of women for gathering and men for hunting.

Task Selection is Critical for the Demonstration of Reciprocal Patterns of Sex Differences in Hand/Arm Motor Control and Near/Far Visual Processing

Women have been reported to perform better with hand rather than arm movements ( Sanders and Walsh, 2007 ) and with visual stimuli in near rather than far space ( Sanders, Sinclair and Walsh, 2007 ). Men performed better with the arm and in far space. These reciprocal patterns of sex differences appear as Muscle*Sex and Space*Sex interactions. We investigated these claims using target cancellation tasks in which task difficulty was manipulated by varying target size or the number of distracters. In Study 1 we did not find the Muscle*Sex or the Space*Sex interaction. We argue that ballistic movement was too simple to reveal the Muscle*Sex interaction. However, a trend for the Space*Sex interaction suggested task difficulty was set too high. Study 2 introduced easier levels of difficulty and the overall Space*Sex interaction narrowly failed to reach significance ( p = 0.051). In Study 3 the Space*Sex interaction was significant ( p = 0.001). A review of the present, and four previously published, studies indicates that task selection is critical if the Space*Sex interaction and its associated reciprocal within-sex differences are to be demonstrated without the obscuring effects of Space and Difficulty. These sex differences are compatible with predictions from the hunter-gatherer hypothesis. Implications for two-visual-system-models are considered.