nep-gen New Economics Papers
on Gender
Issue of 2018‒07‒23
four papers chosen by
Jan Sauermann
Stockholms universitet

  1. The persistence of the gender earnings gap: cohort trends and the role of education in twelve countries By Eyal Bar-Haim; Louis Chauvel; Janet Gornick; Anne Hartung
  2. The distribution of the gender wage gap By Bhalotra, Sonia; Fernández, Manuel
  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. Women Officers, Gender Violence and Human Capital: Evidence from Women's Justice Centers in Peru By Guadalupe Kavanaugh; Maria Sviatschi; Iva Trako

  1. By: Eyal Bar-Haim; Louis Chauvel; Janet Gornick; Anne Hartung
    Abstract: Studying twelve countries over 30 years, we examine whether women’s educational expansion has translated into a closing gender earnings gap. As educational attainment is cohort-dependent, an Age-Period-Cohort analysis is most appropriate in our view. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data, we show that while in terms of attainment of tertiary education women have caught up and often even outperform men, substantial gender differences in earnings persist in all countries. These results are consistent with the composition of the top earnings decile. Using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition methods, we demonstrate that the role of education in explaining the gender earnings gap has been limited and even decreased over cohorts. Contrary, employment status as well as occupation explain a more substantial part in all countries. We conclude that earnings differences at levels far from gender equality likely also persist in the future, even if the “rise of women†in terms of education continues.
    Keywords: -gender gap, education, earnings, age-period-cohort analysis, Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition
    JEL: J7 N30
    Date: 2018–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lis:liswps:737&r=gen
  2. By: Bhalotra, Sonia; Fernández, Manuel
    Abstract: We analyse impacts of the rising labor force participation of women on the gender wage gap. We formulate and structurally estimate an equilibrium model of the labor market in which the elasticity of substitution between male and female labor is allowed to vary depending on the task content of occupations. We find that the elasticity of substitution is higher in high-paying occupations that are intensive in abstract and analytical tasks than in low-paying manual and routine occupations. Consistent with this we find a narrowing of the gender wage gap towards the upper end of the wage distribution and an increase in the gender wage gap at the low end. Demand side trends favoured women and this attenuated the supply-driven downward pressure on women's wages in low-paying occupations, and fully counteracted it in high-paying occupations. The paper contributes new evidence on the distribution of the gender wage gaps, and contributes to a wider literature on technological change, occupational sorting, wage inequality and polarization.
    Date: 2018–06–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2018-10&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:wpaper:halshs-01713068&r=gen
  4. By: Guadalupe Kavanaugh (RUTGERS - Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey [New Brunswick]); Maria Sviatschi (Princeton University); Iva Trako (PSE - Paris School of Economics, 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)
    Abstract: Many developing countries have unequal access to justice, especially for women. What are the implications for gender-based violence, intra-household bargaining and investments in children? This paper provides quasi-experimental evidence on all-women's justice centers (WJCs) a community based approach aimed at reducing violence against women in Peru. WJCs are specialized institutions that mostly employ female officers and whose main purpose is to reduce gender-based violence by providing police and legal services. We examine the gradual rollout of these centers and using complaint police data we find that as victims trust women officers more, they increase the reporting of gender-specific crimes by 40%. We also find evidence that this led to the deterrence of gender-based violence: using administrative non-reported data from health providers and district attorney offices, we find a 10% reduction in domestic violence, female deaths due to aggression, femicides and mental health problems with no effects for men and non-gender specific crimes. We argue that these results are driven by an increase in women representation in law and enforcement at the WJCs. Moreover, we find inter-generational effects: WJCs substantially increase human capital investments in children, increasing enrollment, attendance, test scores, while decreasing child labor. These results are consistent with a bargaining model in which the threat point is determined by women representation in law and enforcement. In sum, the evidence in this paper implies that providing access to justice for women is not only important for addressing gender-based violence, but also generates inter-generational benefits.
    Keywords: gender-based violence,access to justice,children,household bargaining
    Date: 2018–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01828539&r=gen

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