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Causative processes behind variability in social and sexual equality appear to include resource availability and competition, variables that are also evidenced to drive life history evolution. Here we review social and sexual equality in terms of their relevance as social sequelae of life history strategies, and thus as integral to understanding the sociodemographic differences among human populations. We focus on two multivariate latent constructs: sexual inequality and economic inequality. The theoretical rationale for these constructs is provided, and the indicators for each are introduced. Our results, based on data for subnational regions of Italy, Spain and Mexico, indicate that egalitarianism is predicted by slower life history strategies, with residual direct effects of climatic variables also found to select for slower life histories. We discuss the implications of these findings to an understanding of human social biogeography.

This study examines the relations between sociodemographic sex differences and life history strategies in the populations of Mexican States. Sex differences in anatomy and behavior was measured with traits such as educational achievement, mortality, and morbidity. The data were obtained from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) and sampled from thirty-one Mexican states and the Federal District (N = 32). An extension analysis was performed selecting only the sex ratio variables that had a correlation with the slow Life History factor greater than or equal to an absolute value of .25. A unit-weighted sex ratio factor was created using these variables. Across 32 Mexican states, the correlation between latent slow life history and sex ratio was .57 (p < .05). These results are consistent with our hypothesis that slower life histories favor reduced sexual dimorphism in physiology and behavior among human subnational populations. The results of the study further understanding of variations in population sex differences, male-biased behaviors toward sexual equality, and the differences among subnational (regional) populations within the United States of Mexico. DOI:10.2458/azu_jmmss_v6i1_chavarria_minera