Severe hurricanes with feminine-sounding names killed more Americans than similarly severe hurricanes with male names, a new study shows.
The authors reached this conclusion after asking independent volunteers to rate the masculinity (e.g. Ivan) or femininity (e.g. Cindy) of 94 hurricanes that made landfall in the US between 1950 and 2012 and matching this with other data, including severity and the number of fatalities. In a set of related experiments, they found that people predicted that female-named hurricanes would be less intense and risky than male-names ones, and as a result they would be less willing to follow evacuation orders.
This study highlights how gender bias impacts the way people respond to weather systems, with potentially deadly consequences.
Original research paper published in the the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science on June 2, 2014.
Names and affiliations of selected authors
Sharon Shavitt, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, U.S.A.
