Social trust has a complex interrelationship with attitudes toward gender equality. Social trust has its origins in exchange relationships in preindustrial societies, lowering uncertainty in transactions and easing interpersonal exchanges. The degree to which this trust was extended to opportunities for women in commercial and societal roles, however, differed across cultures. Prior literature finds attitudes toward individualism and collectivism have significant implications for gender equality and patriarchal attitudes. We combine these ideas arguing that the degree to which social trust fosters gender equality depends upon the degrees of individualism and collectivism. Employing World Values Survey data across countries over time, we find that with low levels of individualism, and high degrees of collectivism, higher levels of trust are not effective in reducing the prevalence of gendered patriarchal attitudes—in fact it entrenches them further, worsening gender equality. However, as individualism rises, and collectivism falls, higher levels of trust become effective in reducing the prevalence of patriarchal beliefs. Thus, collectivistic beliefs stand as a barrier to future improvements in women’s equality and economic rights in many societies; preventing social trust from being extended beyond traditional gendered roles.

社会信任与对性别平等的态度有着复杂的相互关系。社会信任起源于前工业社会的交换关系，降低了交易的不确定性并简化了人际交流。然而，这种信任延伸到女性在商业和社会角色中的机会的程度因文化而异。先前的文献发现，对个人主义和集体主义的态度对性别平等和父权态度有重要影响。我们将这些观点结合起来，认为社会信任促进性别平等的程度取决于个人主义和集体主义的程度。随着时间的推移，在各国使用世界价值观调查数据，我们发现在个人主义水平低和集体主义程度高的情况下，更高水平的信任并不能有效减少性别父权态度的盛行——事实上，它会进一步巩固这种态度，恶化性别平等。然而，随着个人主义的兴起和集体主义的衰落，更高水平的信任在减少父权信仰的盛行方面变得有效。因此，集体主义信仰成为许多社会未来改善妇女平等和经济权利的障碍；防止社会信任超出传统的性别角色。集体主义信仰是许多社会未来改善妇女平等和经济权利的障碍；防止社会信任超出传统的性别角色。集体主义信仰是许多社会未来改善妇女平等和经济权利的障碍；防止社会信任超出传统的性别角色。