Putting assumptions to the test: A meta-analytic review of gender differences in emotional intelligence and specific emotion abilities

Accepted in: Emotion — June 2026

Written by

Mary M. Hausfeld, Vera Hampel, Leon J. Bach and Jochen I. Menges

Summary

What we found: We conducted the largest meta-analysis to date on gender differences in emotional intelligence, synthesizing 28 years of research across 76 countries. We found that women score slightly higher than men in overall emotional intelligence, emotion recognition, and emotion understanding, while differences in emotion regulation are minimal, with the strongest advantages emerging for abilities focused on others' emotions.

Why it matters: Our findings show that gender differences in emotional intelligence are more nuanced than commonly assumed. Overall, these findings show that women hold advantages in many emotional abilities, but that gender differences in EI are contingent on the target of emotional abilities, measurement type, and context, informing future research and theory building.

What next: Organizations and leaders should avoid making assumptions who possesses EI or specific emotion abilities based on gender alone. Instead, what exactly is considered EI, where it is observed, and how it is measured significantly shapes the extent to which gender differences manifest as well as their strength.