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on Gender |
| By: | Giuliano, Paola (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the literature on gender and culture. Gender gaps in various outcomes (competitiveness, labor force participation, and performance in mathematics, amongst many others) show remarkable differences across countries and tend to persist over time. The economics literature initially explained these differences by looking at standard economic variables such as the level of development, women's education, the expansion of the service sector, and discrimination. More recent literature has argued that gender differences in a variety of outcomes could reflect underlying cultural values and beliefs. This article reviews the literature on the relevance of culture in the determination of different forms of gender gap. I examine how differences in historical situations could have been relevant in generating gender differences and the conditions under which gender norms tend to be stable or to change over time, emphasizing the role of social learning. Finally, I review the role of different forms of cultural transmission in shaping gender differences, distinguishing between channels of vertical transmission (the role of the family), horizontal transmission (the role of peers), and oblique transmission (the role of teachers or role models). |
| Keywords: | gender, culture, social norms |
| JEL: | A13 J16 Z1 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13607&r=all |
| By: | Paola Giuliano |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the literature on gender and culture. Gender gaps in various outcomes (competitiveness, labor force participation, and performance in mathematics, amongst many others) show remarkable differences across countries and tend to persist over time. The economics literature initially explained these differences by looking at standard economic variables such as the level of development, women’s education, the expansion of the service sector, and discrimination. More recent literature has argued that gender differences in a variety of outcomes could reflect underlying cultural values and beliefs. This article reviews the literature on the relevance of culture in the determination of different forms of gender gap. I examine how differences in historical situations could have been relevant in generating gender differences and the conditions under which gender norms tend to be stable or to change over time, emphasizing the role of social learning. Finally, I review the role of different forms of cultural transmission in shaping gender differences, distinguishing between channels of vertical transmission (the role of the family), horizontal transmission (the role of peers), and oblique transmission (the role of teachers or role models). |
| JEL: | A13 J16 Z1 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27725&r=all |
| By: | Gamage, Danula K. (Queen Mary, University of London); Kavetsos, Georgios (Queen Mary, University of London); Mallick, Sushanta (Queen Mary, University of London); Sevilla, Almudena (University College London) |
| Abstract: | Given the ongoing efforts to close the gender pay gap across different sectors in the UK, this paper investigates the impact of a pay transparency initiative on the gender pay gap in the university sector, focusing on the Russell Group of top-tier universities. The initiative, introduced in 2007, enabled public access to mean salaries of men and women in UK universities. Using a rich individual-level administrative dataset and a difference-in-differences approach comparing men and women, we document several key findings. First, following the pay transparency intervention, the log of salaries of female academics increased by around 0.62 percentage points compared to male counterparts, reducing the gender pay gap by 4.37%. The effect is more pronounced considering a balanced sample (1.27 percentage points increase in female wages or an 11.59% fall in the gender pay gap). This fall in the pay gap is mostly driven by senior female academics negotiating higher wages and female academics moving to universities with equal opportunity. We do not find any evidence of pre-existing wage gap or the gender composition associated with the fall in the gender pay gap. |
| Keywords: | gender pay gap, pay transparency, higher education sector, wage level |
| JEL: | I23 J16 J31 J44 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13635&r=all |
| By: | Lundberg, Shelly (University of California, Santa Barbara) |
| Abstract: | Cross-country studies reveal two consistent gender gaps in education—underachievement in school by boys and low rates of participation in STEM studies by girls. Recent economics research has shown the importance of social influences on women's STEM avoidance, but male low achievement has been less-studied and tends to be attributed to behavior problems and deficient non-cognitive skills. I revisit the determinants of the gender gap in U.S. educational attainment with a relatively-advantaged sample of young men and women and find that school behavior and measured skills are not very important drivers of gender differences, particularly in the transition to college. Educational aspirations, on the other hand, are strongly predictive of educational gaps and the gender difference in aspirations cannot be explained, even with rich adolescent data that includes parental expectations and school achievement indicators. These results suggest that gender identity concerns may influence (and damage) the educational prospects of boys as well as girls through norms of masculinity that discourage academic achievement. |
| Keywords: | education, gender identity, school achievement, gender, aspirations, college graduation |
| JEL: | I20 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13630&r=all |
| By: | Mansour, Hani (University of Colorado Denver); Medina, Pamela (University of Toronto); Velasquez, Andrea (University of Colorado Denver) |
| Abstract: | We study gender differences in the labor market reallocation of Peruvian workers in response to trade liberalization. The empirical strategy relies on variation in import competition across local labor markets based on their industrial composition before China entered the global market in 2001. We find that exposure to Chinese imports led to short-run declines in the employment share of women and men. However, the adverse employment effects are only persistent for women, leading to a reduction in their labor force participation. Lack of job market opportunities in the non-tradable sector act as a significant friction that prevents women from fully offsetting trade-induced displacements. |
| Keywords: | import competition, female employment, gender discrimination |
| JEL: | E24 F14 J16 J71 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13608&r=all |
| By: | Owen, Ann L.; Wei, Andrew |
| Abstract: | Using Google Trends data to identify hostile sexism, we find that sexism explains about 8 cents (or 41 percent) of the residual gender wage gap, the wage gap after controlling for education, occupation, industry, and age. We find evidence for a direct effect of sexism consistent with labor market discrimination and an indirect effect that works through social outcomes that reduce hours worked which itself directly affects wages. Consistent with theories of discrimination, the direct impact of sexism is greater for women who are less educated, work in less competitive industries, and work in industries with fewer female workers. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, sexism, discrimination |
| JEL: | J10 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2020–08–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:102474&r=all |
| By: | Averkamp, Dorothée (University of Wuppertal); Bredemeier, Christian (University of Wuppertal); Juessen, Falko (University of Wuppertal) |
| Abstract: | We show that parts of the unexplained wage gap in standard Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions result from the neglect of the role played by the family for individual wages. We present a simple model of dual-earner households facing a trade-off regarding whose career to promote and show analytically that the standard Oaxaca-Blinder approach overestimates the degree of pay discrimination. Unbiased decompositions can be obtained when the Oaxaca-Blinder wage equation is augmented by the characteristics of the individual's partner. In an empirical application, we find that this extended decomposition explains considerably larger shares of the gender wage gap than does the standard decomposition. |
| Keywords: | Oaxaca-Blinder, gender wage gap, dual-earner households, discrimination |
| JEL: | J31 J16 J12 J71 J24 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13601&r=all |
| By: | Andrej Cupák (Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia); Pirmin Fessler (Foreign Research Division, Oesterreichische Nationalbank); Alyssa Schneebaum (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | Women are less likely than men to hold risky financial assets, a fact that has often been attributed to differences in risk aversion and, more recently, to differences in financial literacy and investor confidence. This paper studies the role of individuals’ confidence in their own financial literacy in explaining the gender gap in investment in risky assets, while controlling for actual financial literacy and a measure of risk aversion. It is the first paper to assess the role of confidence independent of actual financial knowledge for a large set of countries and it is the first to explore the role of confidence by using counterfactual decomposition techniques. Results from our analysis confirm recent findings of modern behavioral finance: confidence is a strong determinant of risky financial behavior and accounts for a large part of the gender gap. |
| Keywords: | self-confidence, financial literacy, financial behavior, gender, decomposition |
| JEL: | D14 D91 I20 G11 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp301&r=all |
| By: | Almås, Ingvild (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Somville, Vincent (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Vandewalle, Lore (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | Women are the primary recipients of many welfare programs around the world. Despite frequent claims that targeting women induces beneficial consumption shifting and gender equality, the empirical evidence on the effect of targeting is relatively scarce. We report on a highly powered intervention that randomly allocates weekly transfers to a man or woman within the household. We use detailed financial diaries to look at the impact of the recipient's gender on expenditure, income, saving, nutrition and measures of decision-making. Our results show little evidence for consumption shifting at the household level but indicate that targeted transfers empower female recipients. |
| Keywords: | Households; Consumption; Development; Gender Inequality |
| JEL: | D13 I14 O10 |
| Date: | 2020–09–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2020_016&r=all |
| By: | Johnsen, Julian V. (SNF, Bergen); Ku, Hyejin (University College London); Salvanes, Kjell G. (Norwegian School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Does leave-taking matter for young workers' careers? If so, why? We propose the competition effect—relative leave status of workers affecting their relative standing inside the firm—as a new explanation. Exploiting a policy reform that exogenously assigned four-week paid paternity leave to some new fathers, we find evidence consistent with the competition effect: A worker enjoys a better post-child earnings trajectory when a larger share of his colleagues take leave because of the policy. In contrast, we find no direct earnings effect resulting from the worker's own leave when controlling for their relative leave eligibility status within the firm. |
| Keywords: | leave of absence, career interruptions, ranking, tournament, promotion, gender gap |
| JEL: | M51 M52 J16 J22 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13596&r=all |