Sexism has been a problem in our world since the beginning of time. Men and Women have been upheld to certain images. Men are suppose to be the ones bringing in the money while Women stay home and take care of their children, cook and clean. Recently, people have been taking drastic steps to break sexism, especially in the work place. But how does sexism occur? Do we learn to discriminate as we grow older in our society or does it has something to do with the way our brain is wired? Or maybe it is a mixture of the two.

A new Japanese study published a report claiming that sexism is linked to a neurological imprint. The researchers were specifically looking to see if those who endorse gender inequality have brains that are anatomically different from people who believe in gender equality.

To test this question, Neuroscientist Hikaru Takeuchi at Tohoku University gathered 681 students with an average age of 21 and 306 of them women. The participants were asked to complete a measure of their beliefs in “Sex Role Egalitarianism” (SRE). The SRE is composed of a series of statements that participants rate their agreement with. For an example, a statement would be “’Domestic chores should be shared between husband and wife” (agreement would be a sign of high SRE) and “Bringing up children is the most important job for a woman” (agreeing with this would suggest low SRE)’ (CNN). Those who scored high are considered to believe that the sex of the individual should not influence the perception of his or her rights, abilities, obligations, and opportunities. The participants also completed an IQ and personality tests and a questionnaire about aggressive tendencies. A third variable to consider is the participants up bringing. Did the participants grow up in an environment where women and men had similar opportunities, or their environment mainly male or female dominant? Their social influences will effect their performance on the other tests and most likely influence the size of their gray-matter. Another thing to consider is the fact that this study was conducted in Japan. Different cultures have different ways of life so it is likely that people in other countries could be more sexist then other countries. 

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The team of researchers found that those who have low SRE, tend to correlate in men and women with having a more dense gray matter in the posterior cingulate cortex, an area associated with “anger, fear, and pain; and with reduced gray-matter (a measure of how many brain cells are packed into a given area) density in the right amygdala, another brain area that’s very important to emotions, especially fear” (CNN). In addition, according to their performance on their psychological profile’s, those who exhibit sexist beliefs tend to score higher in their anger, depression-proneness, and competitiveness.

It is very hard to tell what to make of these differences in gray matter because sometimes less density could be a good thing or a bad thing, However, they can still look at information from the psychological scores. Based on their findings, those who have more gray matter in the posterior cingulate didn’t just correlate with sexist beliefs but also with being more prone to anger and hostility, and being competitive. On the other hand, having less gray matter in the right amygdala correlated weakly with higher scores on neuroticism (among women) and being more depressive. Also research has shown that reduced amygdala volume is associated with stress, anxiety, and depression.

Overall, The findings demonstrate that the men and women who hold sexist beliefs are psychologically vulnerable people who are fearful and competitive. This study has NOT proven that there is any certain part of the brain causes sexism. Most likely there are other factors such as social up-bringing and one’s current environment that influences the idea of sexism. However, it is fair to think that some may have brain anatomy that inclines them to be afraid of competition and cultural changes, linking them to be sexist.

The researchers also suggest that their findings could help people combat sexists attitudes. There is evidence that when people successfully reduce their negative emotions, the gray matters in the right amygdala increases. Concluding that improving negative mood may prevent stereotype on sex roles.

I found this study very interesting considering that sexism is such a big deal at the moment. One thing I wish the researchers published was whether men or women were more likely to be sexist. 306 Women were involved in the study and 375 Men. People usually tend to believe that men posses the sexist quality more then women. If they did include this however, we would have to take into consideration that this study was done in Japan. It is possible that other countries such as the United States will have a different outcome.