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Sex-specific demography and the evolution of gender-biased harmful cultural practices

This project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Advanced Grant No. 834597) and is led by Prof Ruth Mace.

Project description

Cultural practices that are harmful to one sex, but favour the other, are the focus of intense interest in the public eye, the social sciences and the evolutionary human sciences. The foundational work of Hamilton, Bateman and Trivers, showed how kin selection theory provides a framework for understanding the evolutionary basis of conflicts of interest between the sexes and between parents and offspring. ÌýMany gender-biased practices do not seem to fit the classic model of sexual conflict, in which males exploit females for their own mating advantage. We are exploring an alternative explanation, which is sex-specific demography. This framework refocuses attention away from sexual selection, towards patterns of cooperation and conflict within families. If one sex disperses at marriage, that generates sex and age-based asymmetries in relatedness in residential groups, but few theoretical models, or empirical studies, have examined how such demographic effects could explain the origins of gender-biased cultural behaviour. EvoBias will develop and test new evolutionary demographic models that will focus on the role of sex-ratios, sex-biased dispersal and some modes of marriage, in generating gender-biased harmful cultural practices. The behaviours to be studied include: female-biased workloads, witchcraft accusation, sending men to war, sending boys into monastic life, bride-capture and the ‘honour’ killing of women by their own kin. These represent both social issues and evolutionary puzzles. The diverse kinship systems in east and central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa provide opportunities to test these hypotheses. Through a combination of mathematical modelling, comparative studies using the literature and field-based sociodemographic studies, the team will seek evidence that sex-specific demography underpins these gender-biased harmful cultural traditions.

People

• Prof. Ruth Mace, PI

• Dr Alberto Micheletti, Research Fellow

• Dr Sarah Peacey, Research Fellow

• , Research Fellow

• , PhD student

• , PhD student

• , PhD student

• Dr Megan Arnot, Lecturer (Teaching)

Visitors

• , Shenyang Normal University, China

• , Fudan University, China

• , Lanzhou University, China

Publications

2024

Andrighetto G, Gavrilets S, Gelfand M, Mace R, Vriens E (2024).ÌýÌýPhil Trans R Soc Lond B Biol SciÌý379(1897)

He Q-Q, Yu J-R, Tang S-H, Wang M-Y, Wu J-J, Chen Y, Tao Y, Ji T, Mace R (2024).ÌýÌýPhil Trans Roy Soc B: Biological SciencesÌý379(1897)

Micheletti AJC, Mace R.ÌýÌýEvolution and Human Behavior

2023

Brandl E, Emmott EH, Mace R.ÌýÌýHuman Nature

CaiRangDongZhi, Ge, E., Du, J., & Mace, R. (2023). . Evolution and Human Behavior

Du J, Huang Y, Bai P-P, Zhou L, Myers S, Page AE, Mace R.ÌýÌýProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Micheletti AJC, Brandl E, Zhang H, Peacey S, Mace R.ÌýÌýIn Synthese Library. 478: 501-528

Micheletti AJC, Ge E, Zhou L, Chen Y, Du J, Mace R (2023).ÌýÌýProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Natterson-Horowitz B, Aktipis A, Fox M, Gluckman PD, Low FM, Mace R, Read A, Turner PE, Blumstein DT (2023).ÌýFrontiers in Science

Yuan Chen, Erhao Ge,Ìý Liqiong Zhou, Juan Du & Ruth Mace (2023). . Current Biology

2022

Campbell OLK*, Mace R (2022). . Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, 10(1), pp. 231–242

Ge, E., CaiRangDongZhi. & Mace, R. . (2022)

He, Q.-Q., Rui, J.-W., Zhang, L., Tao, Y., Wu, J.-J., Mace, R., & Ji, T. (2022). .ÌýEvolutionary Human Sciences. Cambridge Core. Cambridge University Press

Ji T*, Zhang H, Pagel M, Mace R* (2022).Ìý. Evolution and Human Behaviour.

Micheletti AJC*, Brandl E*, Mace R* (2022) Behavioural Ecology, arac011

Micheletti AJC†, Ge E†, Zhou L†, Chen Y, Zhang H, Du J, Mace R*. (2022)Ìý Proc. R. Soc. B. 2892022096520220965

Micheletti, Alberto J. C.; Ge, Erhao; Zhou, Liqiong; Chen, Yuan; Zhang, Hanzhi; Du, Juan; Mace, Ruth (2022)Ìý.ÌýProceedings Royal Society B

Peacey S, Campbell OLK, Mace R* (2022). . Scientific Reports, 12(6655)

Zhou L†,*, Ge E†, Micheletti AJC, Chen Y, Du J, Mace R* (2022) ,ÌýBehav Ecol, arac059

2021

Hanzhi Zhang, Ruth Mace (2021)Ìý.ÌýEvolutionary Human Sciences

Olympia L K Campbell, David Bann, Praveetha Patalay (2021)Ìý.ÌýSSM - Population Health

2020

Hanzhi Zhang, Ting Ji, Mark Pagel, Ruth Mace (2020)Ìý. Scientific Reports

† contributed equally; * corresponding author

Outreach

Ruth Mace. (2022)ÌýÌýThe Conversation.

Mace R (2022). Interview inÌýThe Conversation WeeklyÌý— .

Mace R, Micheletti AJC (2022). . The Conversation.

News

Ìýand find our stories on the .

Events

Workshop: "Quantitative Comparative Anthropology:ÌýMethods and Applications"

Thursday 7 - Friday 8 November 2024

MonÌý17 Apr 2023, 10:00 –ÌýTue, 18 Apr 2023, 14:00 BST

Sensitive topics include subjects such as mental health, witchcraft accusations, racism, forced marriage, son preference, bodily mutilation, some aspects of religion and violence. These topics are often associated with harm and receive focus from governments, charities, activists, and researchers in order to alleviate some of this harm. As social scientists we are particularly focused on elucidating the causes and mechanisms of cultural behaviours, often, but not always, with the outlook that this may go on to influence policy makers and interventions.

However, sensitive topics are difficult to study. Firstly, their sensitivity raises additional ethical considerations when planning research, particularly if the research puts participants at risk, or if the subject matter is illegal. Secondly, data collection can be extremely difficult if study participants conceal their true beliefs about a sensitive topic or report incorrect information about their behaviour. This workshop aims to bring together experts from multiple disciplines and from the policy and charity sector to discuss three broad and related questions.

1. How should researchers approach the ethics of studying sensitive topics
2. How can we measure and collect accurate data
3. How should researchers frame and present results

Objectives

1. To advance discussion on best practices for researching sensitive topics
2. To facilitate conversation between non-academics and academics, to gain insight on ethics and data collection

Some images from the event below (Photo Credit: Reuben Fakoya-Brooks)

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