Sex-role reversal

Sex-role reversal occurs when one sex performs behaviors, such as courtship or parental care, usually associated with the other. It is a pattern of behavior, not a change in biological sex.

Bateman's principle: A proposed pattern in which reproductive success varies more among males than females because eggs are costlier than sperm. Unequal reproductive investment can create the competition patterns that reversal overturns.
Jacana: A family of long-toed waterbirds whose females often defend territories containing several males. Females compete for territories while males incubate eggs and tend chicks.
Sexual behavior: Behaviors associated with mating, reproduction, and interactions between potential mates. Courtship and mate competition are the behaviors whose usual sex association may reverse.
Sex-role differentiation: The tendency for males and females to differ in recurring behavioral roles within a species. It describes the usual sex-linked pattern that role reversal departs from.
Operational sex ratio: The ratio of sexually active, available males to sexually active, available females at a given time. A female-biased ratio can intensify competition among females for available males.
Phalarope: A genus of shorebirds in which females are often more brightly colored and males incubate eggs. Its breeding system combines female courtship competition with male parental care.
Parental care: Any behavior by a parent that increases offspring survival at a cost to the parent's future reproduction. Care patterns are one of the clearest behaviors used to identify role reversal.
Sexual equality: A social or ethical principle that people of different sexes should have equal rights and status. Behavioral reversal in animals is not evidence of social or moral equality.
Parental investment: Time, energy, and risk devoted to producing and caring for offspring, reducing capacity for future reproduction. The sex investing more in offspring often becomes the more selective mate.
Spotted sandpiper: A shorebird in which females may mate with multiple males, each of whom incubates a clutch. It offers a clear case of polyandry paired with male care.

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