Equity and Equality: Male and Female Means to a Just End

The thesis that males and females differ in their strategies for reward allocation in the face of distributive problems was examined. Evidence, primarily from the areas of achievement motivation and behavior, was reviewed to show that while the equity norm is consistent with the goals of Western males, equality is consistent with the goals of females. On the assumption that equitable allocations reinforce competitive (agentic) success and equal allocations reinforce social (communal) success, the research examining reward allocation was assessed within each of the four paradigms commonly employed. Sex differences were predicted and obtained in two of these paradigms: When the allocation situations contained interpersonal elements, females allocated less to themselves than did males and less than predicted by equity theory when asked to distribute rewards to self and others, and all female groups made more equal group allocation decisions than did all male groups when the interaction was competitive. Variables hypothesized to influence males' and females' adherence to and deviation from the equity and equality norms such as the types of tasks, the nature of the rewards, and the sex composition of the group are discussed.