Reducing gender economic inequality: Exploring the role of emotions and gender hierarchy

Research has shown that economic inequality and gender inequality go hand in hand. According to Oxfam (2024), Italy has a high level of economic inequality: the richest 1% of the population is 84 times richer than the poorest 20%, which is mainly composed of women. This article presents an experimental study (N = 478) exploring an integrated model in which both emotional and cognitive mechanisms explain the effect of economic inequality on salary requests, among Italian women and men. Results showed that the salience (vs. control) of economic inequality motivated women (but not men) to advance higher salary requests because it (a) increased negative emotions, which, in turn, (b) reduced perceptions of the stability of gender hierarchy (i.e., perceptions that gender-based disparities are unchangeable). These findings provide evidence for novel theoretical insights about the interdependence of emotions and cognitions and potential pathways to reduce gender economic inequality, thereby facilitating social change. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.