The presence of the opposite sex itself creates a division of labor

ObjectiveIn a previous study (Iha, 2023), men voluntarily tended to choose a higher-cost option compared to women when a division of labor occurred between the opposite sexes. However, it is still unknown whether this pattern can be replicated using continuous measures when costs are not included in the choice. Therefore, the current study aimed to replicate and extend the previous study. MethodsParticipants from 4 countries (Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) engaged in an online scenario experiment. ANCOVA and internal meta-analyses were used to examine whether the percentage of workload that participants voluntarily selected differed depending on the participant's own sex, and the combination of the participant's own sex and the sex of the participant's hypothetical partner.ResultsOverall, men tended to voluntarily choose more workload than women, and men paired with a hypothetical opposite sex partner voluntarily chose more workload than women paired with a hypothetical opposite sex partner. These effects were consistent across different countries.ConclusionAs a conclusion, the current study successfully replicated and expanded the previous study. In detail, it was shown that the presence of the opposite sex itself creates a division of labor, even if the participant's choice does not include the cost. Furthermore, SODOL (Spontaneous Occurrence of Division of Labor) was found to be robust regardless of the measurement method.