Women backed by women: taking risks

New research from The Australian National University has shown that women are more likely to make risky choices when they are surrounded by other women. The findings could help to reduce gender inequality in the workforce. In an experiment at the University of Essex, Professor Alison Booth from the ANU Research School of Economics and colleagues, tested whether single-sex classrooms in co-educational environments altered students' risk-taking attitudes. Professor Booth said the results showed risk-taking in women came down to social learning and environmental factors, rather than inherent gender traits. "We designed a controlled experiment using first-year university students who made choices over real-stakes lotteries at two different dates. Students were randomly assigned to classes of three types: all female, all male, and co-educational. They were not allowed to change group subsequently," said Professor Booth.