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on Gender |
| By: | Meier, Kristina; Niessen-Ruenzi, Alexandra; Ruenzi, Stefan |
| Abstract: | We show that female role models increase women's willingness to compete. As in Niederle and Vesterlund (2007), we find that women are less willing to enter a tournament than men, although there are no gender differences in performance. However, the gender gap in tournament entry disappears if subjects are exposed to a competitive female role model. Results are stronger for the best performing women who seem to be particularly encouraged by female role models. Female role models also mitigate gender stereotype threats and lead to higher self-confidence among women. By contrast, we find that competitive male role models seem to intimidate female subjects and increase the gender gap in tournament entry even further. Our results have implications for the socio-political debate on how the fraction of women in top management positions can be increased. |
| Keywords: | Gender,Competition,Role Models |
| JEL: | J16 C9 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc18:181589&r=gen |
| By: | Mansour, Hani (University of Colorado Denver); Rees, Daniel I. (University of Colorado Denver); Rintala, Bryson; Wozny, Nathan (U.S. Air Force Academy) |
| Abstract: | Although women earn approximately 50% of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) bachelor's degrees, more than 70% of scientists and engineers are men. We explore a potential determinant of this STEM gender gap using newly collected data on the career trajectories of United States Air Force Academy students. Specifically, we examine the effects of being assigned female math and science professors on occupation and postgraduate education. We find that, among high-ability female students, being assigned a female professor leads to substantial increases in the probability of working in a STEM occupation and the probability of receiving a STEM master's degree. |
| Keywords: | gender gap, STEM occupational choice, post-graduate education |
| JEL: | I20 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11820&r=gen |
| By: | Cardoso, Ana Rute (IAE Barcelona (CSIC)); Morin, Louis-Philippe (University of Ottawa) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the potential channels that drive female labor force participation to rise in response to unbalanced sex ratios, in the presence of strong social norms against female employment. One such channel is women's desired labor supply, operating through the marriage market, and the other is employers' demand for female labor. If faced with a reduction in male workforce, do employers turn to women to fill in the gap? Do women enter traditionally male occupations and industries, so that segregation decreases? Does the gender pay gap decline? We exploit exogenous variation in sex ratios across cohorts and regions, by using instruments based on casualties from the Portuguese Colonial War and massive emigration in the 1960s combined with its historical regional patterns. We find that as the sex ratio declined, female participation increased, women entered traditionally male-dominated occupations and industries, and the gender pay gap declined. These findings are consistent with a demand shock. Our estimated impact of sex ratios on marriage market points to a muted supply channel. We complement the quantitative analysis with an archival case. Our findings help to explain an apparent puzzle, a decades-long high female participation in Portugal, as opposed to the other Southern European countries. |
| Keywords: | labor demand, labor force participation, gender segregation, pay gap |
| JEL: | J21 J23 N34 J22 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11822&r=gen |
| By: | Ghosh, Ishan (Drexel University); Larch, Mario (University of Bayreuth); Murtazashvili, Irina (Drexel University); Yotov, Yoto (Drexel University) |
| Abstract: | We study the differential post-layoff responses in labor market outcomes for men vs. women when unemployment is caused by international trade. Our paper is the first to capitalize on the richness and unique design of the U.S. Trade Act Participant Report database (in combination with the Trade Adjustment Assistance dataset) in order to analyze gender differentials. The analysis identifies trade-affected workers as an overlooked and vulnerable group with very pronounced gender gaps in earnings. Three main results stand out from our estimates. First, we find that the pre-layoff wage gap between men and women who have lost their jobs due to trade is very wide; a striking 30% premium for men, even after controlling for education, experience, race, and other demographic characteristics. Second, we establish that the success rate in finding employment for women who have been laid off because of trade is not significantly lower as compared to men, however we do observe significant differences across some states and some sectors. Third, our estimates reveal that the pre-layoff wage premium for men is completely eliminated upon re-employment. However, we attribute this result to wage compression. Finally, our data enable us to document a series of gender-related outcomes across demographic characteristics, retraining choices, geography, and sectors. |
| Keywords: | Gender Differentials; Wage Premium; Re-employment; International Trade |
| JEL: | F16 J01 J16 |
| Date: | 2018–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:drxlwp:2018_009&r=gen |
| By: | YAGASAKI Masayuki; NAKAMURO Makiko |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate how competitiveness and risk attitudes are related to math achievement among middle school students. We conduct an experiment at six public middle schools in Japan to collect incentivized measures of competitiveness and risk attitudes and merge them with an administrative dataset containing information on students' cognitive achievements. The results from the experiment show that girls are less competitive and exhibit greater risk aversion compared to boys, which are in line with the previous literature. We find that competitiveness is positively correlated with math achievement conditional on students' prior achievements and demographics, while greater risk aversion is associated with higher math achievement (but not with reading and English). Taken together, the results indicate that the gender differences in competitiveness are widening the gender gap in math achievement, but that the gender differences in risk attitudes contribute to narrowing it. |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:18066&r=gen |
| By: | Robertson, Raymond (Texas A&M University); Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys (World Bank); Savchenko, Yevgeniya (Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on how the forces of globalisation, specifically the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA), have affected women's wages in the apparel sector in developing countries. Using household and labour force surveys from Cambodia and Sri Lanka, we find large positive wage premiums and a closing of the male-female wage gap during the MFA period, but smaller premiums and a widening wage gap after the end of the MFA. Our results suggest that apparel exports continued to benefit women in developing countries post-MFA. |
| Keywords: | apparel, Multi-Fibre Arrangement, textile, wages, women, working conditions |
| JEL: | F16 J21 J24 J30 J31 J81 L67 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11821&r=gen |
| By: | Martín Gonzalez-Eiras (University of Copenhagen; Sanz) |
| Abstract: | We study how electoral systems affect the presence of women in politics using a model in which both voters and parties might have a gender bias. We apply the model to Spanish municipal elections, in which national law mandates that municipalities follow one of two different electoral systems: a closed-list system in which voters pick one party-list, or an open-list system, in which voters pick individual candidates. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that the closed-list system increases the share of women among candidates and councilors by 2.5 percentage points, and the share of women among mayors by 4.3 percentage points. Our model explains these results as mostly driven by voter bias against women. We provide evidence that supports the mechanism of the model. In particular, we show that, when two councilors almost tied in general-election votes, the one with “one more vote” is substantially more likely to be appointed mayor, but this does not happen when the most voted was female and the second was male, suggesting the presence of some voter bias. We also show that, in a subsample of municipalities with low bias — proxied by having had a female mayor in the past — the difference between the two electoral systems disappears. |
| Keywords: | voting, electoral systems, gender bias, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | D72 J16 J71 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:1834&r=gen |
| By: | Libertad González; Núria Rodríguez-Planas |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of social gender norms on the incidence of domestic violence. We use data for 28 European countries from the 2012 European survey on violence against women, and focus on first and second generation immigrant women. We find that, after controlling for country of residence fixed effects, as well as demographic characteristics and other source-country variables, higher gender equality in the country of ancestry is significantly associated with a lower risk of victimization in the host country. This suggests that gender norms may play an important role in explaining the incidence of intimate partner violence. |
| Keywords: | domestic violence, gender, Social Norms, immigrants, epidemiological approach |
| JEL: | I1 J6 D1 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1061&r=gen |