When Men Fall Behind, We Blame Them

Article here. Excerpt:

'For decades, we’ve been told a simple story: when women fall behind, it’s injustice. When men fall behind, it’s failure.

That may sound exaggerated. But new experimental research suggests it isn’t.

A recent large-scale study involving more than 35,000 Americans found something striking. When participants were presented with a situation in which a worker had fallen behind—earned less, performed worse, or ended up with nothing—people responded differently depending on whether that worker was male or female.

When the low performer was a man, significantly more participants chose to give him nothing. When the low performer was a woman, more participants redistributed support. Even more revealing, participants were more likely to believe that the man had fallen behind because he didn’t try hard enough.'