title: Female hurricanes are deadlier than male hurricanes.
abstract: Do people judge hurricane risks in the context of gender-based expectations? We use more than six decades of death rates from US hurricanes to show that feminine-named hurricanes cause significantly more deaths than do masculine-named hurricanes. Laboratory experiments indicate that this is because hurricane names lead to gender-based expectations about severity and this, in turn, guides respondents' preparedness to take protective action. This finding indicates an unfortunate and unintended consequence of the gendered naming of hurricanes, with important implications for policymakers, media practitioners, and the general public concerning hurricane communication and preparedness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Business Administration and kjung4@illinois.edu shavitt@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Kiju
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Business Administration andDepartment of Psychology, Institute of Communications Research, and Survey Research Laboratory, and kjung4@illinois.edu shavitt@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shavitt
authors.affiliation: Department of Business Administration andWomen and Gender in Global Perspectives, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820; and.
authors.forename: Madhu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Viswanathan
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-3701.
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hilbe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003142:Communication; D055867:Cyclonic Storms; D004189:Disaster Planning; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055904:Meteorology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D012306:Risk; D012984:Software; D013240:Stereotyping; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: bounded rationality; gender stereotypes; implicit bias; natural hazard communication; risk perception