Why Do Status Gaps Remain Between Men and Women?

David Geary says men focus more on status than women do, and the difference in focus is why gaps remain between the most successful men and the most successful women. Men, in his account, will trade off friends and health to move with status, and they more easily join together to finish common goals. Female groups are less efficient at the same kind of coordination.

He describes the female default as a focus on dynamics within the group rather than coordinating so the group can outdo another group. Male systems, as he describes them, are hierarchical and organized for competition against another group. About 15% of women are work-focused and status-focused and compete directly in the same hierarchies. Many women do not like the social dynamic, and the mismatch shows up as confusion, consternation, and arguments when the two styles meet.