nep-gen New Economics Papers
on Gender
Issue of 2018‒03‒19
four papers chosen by
Jan Sauermann
Stockholms universitet
  1. Does Integration Change Gender Attitudes? The Effect of Randomly Assigning Women to Traditionally Male Teams By Gordon Dahl; Andreas Kotsadam; Dan-Olof Rooth
  2. Gender Differences in Sorting By Luca Paolo Merlino; Dario Pozzoli; Pierpaolo Parrotta
  3. Can female role models reduce the gender gap in science? Evidence from classroom interventions in French high schools By Thomas Breda; Julien Grenet; Marion Monnet; Clémentine Van Effenterre
  4. Gender, competitiveness and study choices in high school - evidence from Switzerland By Thomas Buser; Noemi Peter; Stefan C. Wolter
  1. By: Gordon Dahl; Andreas Kotsadam; Dan-Olof Rooth
    Abstract: We examine whether exposure of men to women in a traditionally male-dominated environment can change attitudes about mixed-gender productivity, gender roles and gender identity. Our context is the military in Norway, where we randomly assigned female recruits to some squads but not others during boot camp. We find that living and working with women for 8 weeks causes men to adopt more egalitarian attitudes. There is a 14 percentage point increase in the fraction of men who think mixed-gender teams perform as well or better than same-gender teams, an 8 percentage point increase in men who think household work should be shared equally and a 14 percentage point increase in men who do not completely disavow feminine traits. Contrary to the predictions of many policymakers, we find no evidence that integrating women into squads hurt male recruits' satisfaction with boot camp or their plans to continue in the military. These findings provide evidence that even in a highly gender-skewed environment, gender stereotypes are malleable and can be altered by integrating members of the opposite sex.
    JEL: J16 J24
    Date: 2018–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24351&r=gen
  2. By: Luca Paolo Merlino (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universiteit Antwerpen [Antwerpen]); Dario Pozzoli (CBS - Copenhagen Business School [Copenhagen]); Pierpaolo Parrotta (BETA - Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
    Abstract: In this paper, we investigate gender differences in workers' career development within and outside the firm to explain the existence of gender wage gaps. Using Danish employer-employee matched data, we find that good female workers are more likely to move to better firms than men but are less likely to be promoted. Furthermore, these differences in career advancement widen after the first child is born. Our findings suggest that career impediments in certain firms cause the most productive female workers to seek better jobs in firms where there is less gender bias.
    Keywords: Sorting,Assortative Matching,Gender Gap
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-01687343&r=gen
  3. By: Thomas Breda (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics); Julien Grenet (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics); Marion Monnet (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics); Clémentine Van Effenterre (Harvard Kennedy School - Harvard Kennedy School)
    Abstract: This paper reports the results of a large scale randomized experiment that was de- signed to assess whether a short in-class intervention by an external female role model can influence students’ attitudes towards science and contribute to a significant change in their choice of field of study. The intervention consists in a one hour, one off visit of a high school classroom by a volunteer female scientist. It is targeted to change students’ perceptions and attitudes towards scientific careers and the role of women in science, with the aim of ultimately reducing the gender gap in scientific studies. Using a random as- signment of the interventions to 10th and 12th grade classrooms during normal teaching hours, we find that exposure to female role models significantly reduces the prevalence of stereotypes associated with jobs in science, for both female and male students. While we find no significant effect of the classroom interventions on 10th grade students’ choice of high school track the following year, our results show a positive and significant impact of the intervention on the probability of applying and of being admitted to a selective science major in college among 12th grade students. This effect is essentially driven by high-achieving students and is larger for girls in relative terms. After the intervention, their probability to be enrolled in selective science programs after graduating from high school increases by 30 percent with respect to the baseline mean.
    Keywords: Role models,gender,Science,Stereotypes,Track choice
    Date: 2018–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01713068&r=gen
  4. By: Thomas Buser (University of Amsterdam); Noemi Peter (University of Groningen); Stefan C. Wolter (University of Bern)
    Date: 2018–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0147&r=gen
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