Gendered Morality? A study of female-male differences in moral beliefs and their consequences for political choices

Since at least the 1920s, there has been a lively debate over so-called “masculine” and “feminine” psychological traits (e.g., Terman & Miles, 1936; Bem, 1974; Gilligan, 1983). Part of this literature has focused on female-male differences in the moral domain, which has been broadly ascribed to a difference between “communal” traits (primarily held by females) and “agentic” traits (favored by males). Using data from several waves of the DDS-21 (Swiss Direct Democracy in the 21st century) survey (2023-2025), we test the hypothesis that females and males differ in their endorsement of various moral beliefs: (1) moral foundations (Haidt, 2001); (2) beliefs in a just world (Lerner, 1981); (3) system justification beliefs (Jost, 2020); and (4) causal attributions of poverty (van Oorschot & Halman, 2000). Considering the need to contextualize the development of sex differences in moral beliefs and to avoid biological essentialism, we control the effect of gender on moral beliefs through socio-demographic attributes (e.g., age, education, income) and cantonal characteristics reflecting gender inequalities at the local level. Further, we explore whether gender interacts with socio-demographics in shaping moral beliefs — as would be the case if men and women construct their views of morality from their self-perceived position in society (e.g., rich women and men may not differ in their vision of “care”, but less affluent women and men may do). Finally, we test mediation and moderation models to determine whether gender differences in moral beliefs have a distinctive influence on political decisions taken in direct democratic votes.