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Enhancing Women’s Competitiveness

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Improving competition in women; Increasing competitiveness of women; Increasing women’s willingness to compete

Definition

The process of increasing women’s willingness to engage in competition

Introduction

Competition among different species is one of the main structuring forces in the living world, shaping different ecological communities, while intraspecific competition is the main driving mechanisms behind natural selection in Darwin’s theory of evolution, leading to fitness-enhancing (Darwin 1872). However, individuals between and within species differ significantly in how much they invest into their competitive ability. While some individuals are very competitive in order to get access to high-quality resources, others prefer to avoid competition and make the most of lower-quality resources that are left over for them (Baldauf et al. 2014).

Competition levels also vary across sexes. Among humans, males are more competitive than females, reflecting different environmental...

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References

  • Apicella, C. L., & Dreber, A. (2015). Sex differences in competitiveness: Hunter-gatherer women and girls compete less in gender-neutral and male-centric tasks. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 1(3), 247–269.

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  • Darwin, C. (1872). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. New York: D. Appleton and Company, Broadway.

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  • Hardy, S. B. (1981). The woman that never evolved. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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  • Vaillancourt, T., & Sharma, A. (2011). Intolerance of sexy peers: Intrasexual competition among women. Aggressive Behavior, 37(6), 569–577.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Bruna Da S. Nascimento

Authors
  1. Bruna Da S. Nascimento
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bruna Da S. Nascimento .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Guilherme S. Lopes

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© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

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Nascimento, B.D.S. (2018). Enhancing Women’s Competitiveness. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2813-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2813-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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