Study Finds Women Score Higher in Emotional Intelligence than Men

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Saturday, 10 October 2026

A systematic review of Emotional Intelligence studies has revealed that women outperform men on average, the effect being mainly explained by their capacity to perceive other people’s emotions. The landmark meta-analysis study was conducted on 28 years’ worth of data between 1995 and 2023, drawing upon data from over 600,000 participants from 76 countries.

Challenging some of the commonly held stereotypes regarding the emotional capabilities of women, the researchers delved deeper into the dimensions of emotional intelligence. This finding proves the commonly held belief that women have better emotional perceptiveness than men. However, the gender difference is not uniform across all aspects of emotional intelligence.

Key Highlights:

• A global review finds women score higher in emotional intelligence across 76 countries
• Social conditioning may shape emotional skills, while research shows they can be developed
• Workplaces must recognize emotional labour and promote emotional intelligence training

Furthermore, the study attempted to find out if biological or hormonal factors could account for the difference. Although these aspects should not be dismissed completely, two trends became apparent: there was a much smaller difference in terms of emotional intelligence between girls and boys in childhood compared to adulthood; secondly, the difference became smaller over the three decades that were studied. It is impossible to provide an exact explanation for this trend from the data collected by the researchers, but these patterns imply that experience and learning play a role.

Past studies provided one possible answer to this question. It was discovered that parents tend to use a wider range of emotional vocabulary when talking to girls and also encourage them to think about and express their feelings as compared to boys. This difference in upbringing provides girls with more chances to practice recognizing and dealing with other people’s emotions.

According to a 2019 meta-analysis of 58 articles, emotional intelligence training could be successful without being influenced by gender factors. Thus, it means that it is possible for both men and women to develop these skills. The presented evidence may give hope for people to improve their abilities to be emotionally intelligent. Investing in such a process will allow them to successfully participate in negotiations, handle relationships at work, find solutions to conflicts, and use appropriate communication techniques.

In the workplace environment, women who are adept at resolving disagreements, supporting stressed colleagues, and maintaining team cohesion may increasingly be expected to take on these responsibilities. This contribution is important for the organization in managing interpersonal problems and ensuring smooth relations at work.

The results imply two important directions that organizations should consider regarding emotional labour: acknowledgment and development of emotional intelligence. Employers can consider skills such as conflict resolution, empathic communication and teamwork in evaluating employee's performance and providing him/her with a possibility for promotion. In addition, through offering training on this matter, employers may contribute to developing employees' abilities and dealing with interpersonal relationships, regardless of gender.

While recognizing the fact that women tend to score higher in some aspects of emotional management, it is necessary to underline the importance of not turning these skills into an obligation of women by considering emotional labour as something that cannot be learned. If emotional intelligence is considered as a skill that can be acquired and improved, then both men and women can benefit from it.