The present study provides the first evidence that increased gender equality in a society releases the human potential not only of women, but also of men. Our research setting is the Olympic Games, the world's foremost sports competition and one of the few contexts in which men's and women's performance is fully segregated by gender and objectively measured at the highest levels. We find that even after controlling for potential third variables (i.e., national gross domestic product, population size, geographic latitude, and income inequality), higher levels of gender equality in a country predict significantly greater success at winning Olympic medals for both its female and male athletes. These findings contradict the common belief that access to opportunities is a zero-sum game in which gains for women inevitably result in losses for men. Rather, gender equality is a "win-win" that allows members of both genders to realize their true potential. Highlights • Gender equality has been shown to enhance team, firm, and national performance. • Economic gains from gender equality are credited to the release of women's potential. • We propose that gender equality also releases men's potential. • We examine Olympic medals won by men and women by their country's gender equality. • Gender equality predicted Olympic medals won by both men and women in a country.
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