Rolf Degen summarizing... In stark contrast to men, women preferred the competitive strategy of "levelling," where gains are split equally when pitted against a higher-performing partner

Levelling as a Female-Biased Competitive Tactic. Joyce F. Benenson & Henry Markovits. Evolutionary Psychological Science, February 22 2023. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-023-00355-2

Abstract: Direct contests occur more frequently between men than between women. This produces the conclusion that men are more competitive than women. However, no sex differences have been found in other more indirect competitive tactics such as self-promotion and reputation derogation. Qualitative evidence further suggests that one competitive tactic, levelling, may be more commonly used by girls and women than by boys and men. Levelling initially was defined as occurring when several lower-ranked men physically overpowered a higher-ranked man. When institutional support backs equality, however, levelling can be effectively employed by a lower-ranked individual against a higher-ranked individual. Qualitative evidence with humans indicates that beginning in early childhood and continuing through adolescence, individual levelling is used by girls and women more than by boys and men. To empirically test whether individual levelling is more common among women than men, we modified a popular economic game to include a levelling option. In a pre-registered study, we asked 252 women and 258 men from four developed world regions to play the game for monetary compensation three times: with an equal-performing, higher-performing, and lower-performing partner. In each game, participants chose which tactic they wanted to employ: a winner-take-all contest, levelling, or working alone. Rational payoff-maximizing decisions should lead more participants to choose contests with lower-performing partners and to select levelling with higher-performing partners. No sex differences occurred in choice of contests with lower-performing partners, but more women than men employed levelling with higher-performing partners, supporting our hypothesis. Despite sex-biased preferences for competitive tactics, overall no sex differences arose in payoff maximizing decisions.