Sex Differences in Creativity

Most research conducted on creativity and productivity in adult life has concentrated on men. It has been noted in the research on sex differences in creativity that men produce more creative work in research publications than women do and that cumulatively, men earn more degrees, produce more works of art, and make more contributions in professional fields. Even in areas such as literature, in which both younger boys and girls believe that women excel, adult men are more productive in their professional accomplishments. For many years, for example, more men than women have been recipients of grants from the National Endowment Fellowships in Literature.

Recently, a few researchers including Jane Piirto and Sally Reis have questioned why so few eminent women creators exist. Little research has been completed and little is known about creative women, their creative processes, and the decisions they face about their own creative productivity, and therefore how creativity can be developed and promoted in diverse girls and women. The social and political movement focusing on women during the past five decades has provided some understanding of women's creative processes as well as the creative roles that women have played in our society and the forces that shape those roles. When one reflects on what has been learned about creativity during the last 50 years, one is forced to acknowledge that a gap exists in one major area. Little research has been completed and little is known about diverse, creative women, the choices they make, and the decisions they face about creative productivity in their lives.

Despite limited research on highly creative women, some explanations have been offered for the small number of women recognized as highly creative in certain domains. Piirto suggests that one reason for the absence of many famous women artists is how intensely they pursue their passions for art. But how intensely do creative women pursue other fields? Isaac Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology is subtitled “The Lives and Achievements of 1510 Great Scientists From Ancient Times to the Present, Chronologically Arranged.” Of the 1510 scientists included in the book, only 14 are women. When Barbara McClintock won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1983, she was only the fifth woman to receive this award in the eight decades since it was established. Research by Reis on the creative processes and personalities of creative girls and women has demonstrated that gender stereotyping throughout their lifetimes, as well as both internal and external barriers in their education, marriage, and family lives, affect their creative productivity. The choices that some highly creative women make willingly, or are forced to make, profoundly affect both the quantity and direction of their creative output. These choices affect the focus of their creativity, either as applied to work or to other essential components of their lives, including family, relationships, personal interests, and work related to family and home.

The social and political movement focusing on women during the past five decades has provided some understanding of women's creative processes [Page 799]as well as the creative roles that women have played in society and the forces that shaped those roles. Research focusing on the development of women's creativity can be classified into three major themes, which are presented in the remainder of this entry.

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