Most books on the psychology of women are based on a Western perspective. International students and scholars question the validity and relevance of the theories and practices that focus on a restricted population of women and ignore the diverse experience among women within and across countries based on the intersection of sex, gender, sexuality, and social locations. How can we have a universal psychology of women that routinely ignores most of the women in the world? To answer this question, we assembled teams of writers from different regions of the world or familiar with different cultures. We realized that some regions of the world may not have enough quality psychological research to be represented, but we strived to get as broad a coverage as possible. The result is a coherent picture of women’s lives in places that have been underrepresented in the mainstream literature. Gender disparity and inequity prevail in all cultures with common mechanisms. A gender-sensitive and culturally relevant psychology can identify strategies and programs to accelerate global progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #5 on gender equality. Where relevant research is available, culture-specific aspects of the topic are featured to highlight the gender issues of concern to particular regions or cultural groups. We believe that the diversity in the range of perspectives included in the chapters through the lenses of authors originating from different cultures will enrich the learning experience of readers.

We hope you enjoyed your journey around the world studying the psychology of women. We expect that it was a sojourn that you will remember. Please take a minute to think of something you learned that resonated with you, surprised you, angered you, or made you proud. As we worked on this book, we had many of these experiences, and we are confident that you did also.

The chapter considers gender and personality research within the dispositional paradigm. It provides a brief discussion of current research to demonstrate the largely Western focus on empirical research on gender differences in personality traits. The chapter draws on our own research with the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI) in Chinese and non-Chinese samples, South African work on the etic NEO Personality Inventory - Revised (NEO-PI-R), and the development of the emic South African Personality Inventory (SAPI), and extraction of personality traits in the Arab Levant to present a more balanced picture of gender research in personality beyond the etic context. In so doing we illustrate the need for a more nuanced approach to understanding gender in personality psychology where gender is recognized alongside issues of culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality, etc. The chapter illustrates the value of incorporating intersectionality in understanding gender within the dispositional approach to personality.