Why We're Hoping the Royal Baby is a Girl
By Lauren Le Vine, REDBOOK.
We're eagerly awaiting the arrival of the newest member of the royal family, and everyone seems to have an opinion on the baby's gender and name. New research has provided a few reasons to hope Will and Kate's first child will be a girl, though. It turns out that female family members make men more generous. Now, we're not asserting that Prince William isn't giving; as a member of the royal family and second in line to the British throne, he's lived in the public eye and participated in charitable endeavors his entire life.
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Nevertheless, Will is one of two boys, and a series of studies from the Free University in Amsterdam found that participants with more siblings were more likely to share money with a complete stranger than only children or subjects with only one or two siblings. It wasn't just the mere fact of having more siblings, either. Participants with sisters were 40 percent more likely to part with the money - the number of brothers subjects had didn't matter.
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A similar study probed even further into the relationship between wealth, generosity, and how the presence of a female leads to fundamental shifts in a man's personality. Researchers found that Danish CEO's paid employees less after they became fathers, but they only did so after having sons. Having daughters made the executives more empathetic and kind.
The New York Times points to multiple examples of "the warming effect of women on men," and cites the influence females have had on some of the world's most charitable men, such as Bill Gates. And while psychologist Alice Eagly found that "men are significantly more likely to help women than [other] men," it seems that giving nature doesn't always extend to their own homes.
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Although women are now the primary breadwinners in 40 percent of households, they still do two-thirds of the housework. Eagly may have found that men's helping styles tend to be "chivalrous and heroic," and women's are "nurturant and caring," but chivalry doesn't seem to include helping with traditionally gendered areas. Apparently "caring" in this case means literally taking care of chores and cleaning.
So, while having a daughter could soften Prince William and make him more nurturing and philanthropic, it doesn't mean he'll start pitching in more when it comes to household chores. But who are we kidding; no matter how "normal" Will and Kate want their lives to be, it's hard to believe they argue about whose turn it is to "hoover" the floors. It is fun to imagine that argument, though.
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