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on Gender |
| By: | Bruna Borges; Fernanda Estevan |
| Abstract: | The underrepresentation of women in male-dominated fields of study can generate a lack of role models for female students, which may influence their career choices. This paper sheds light on this question, investigating the existence of impacts of the gender composition of instructors and peers in the Department of Economics from a selective Brazilian university. Specifically, we analyze whether having higher shares of female professors and classmates throughout undergraduate studies in Economics affects female students’ labor market outcomes. We use comprehensive administrative data from the University of Sao Paulo, containing information on students’ academic results and students’, instructors’, and course sections’ characteristics. We merge these data with Brazilian labor market and firm ownership data to obtain a broad range of career outcomes, including labor force participation, occupational choices, career progression, and wages. To overcome endogeneity issues arising from students’ self-selection into professors and peers, we exploit the random assignment of students in the first-semester classes and focus on mandatory courses. A higher representation of women in a male-dominated field, such as Economics, increases female students’ labor force participation. Moreover, larger female faculty shares increase the probability that a female student becomes a top manager. These results suggest ways to counteract the highly discussed glass ceiling in high-earning occupations. We show that students’ academic performance and elective coursechoice are not driving the effects. Instead, we find suggestive evidence that higher shares of female classmates may increase the likelihood of working during undergraduate studies, leading to stronger labor market attachment. |
| Keywords: | gender; economics; higher education; glass ceiling; labor market |
| JEL: | J16 J24 I23 |
| Date: | 2021–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2021wpecon02&r=all |
| By: | Elijah Kipkech Kipchumba (BRAC); Catherine Porter (Lancaster University, Department of Economics); Danila Serra (Texas A&M University, Department of Economics); Munshi Sulaiman (BRAC) |
| Abstract: | We conducted a field experiment in Somali elementary schools, aimed at changing the education aspirations and gender attitudes of male and female students. We randomly selected schools to receive a role model treatment, consisting of a college student visiting the target classrooms. Within each treatment school, we randomly selected some grades to receive a visit from a female role model and some grades to receive a visit from a male role model. The college students talked about their study journeys, their challenges and their strategies to overcome such challenges. Data collected six months after the intervention show a significant and large impact of (only) female role models on boys' and girls' attitudes toward gender equality but no impact on students' aspirations to attend college. Data collected two years after the intervention only for the oldest, graduating cohort of students, who were grade 6 at the time of the intervention, produce comparable though imprecisely estimated treatment effect sizes. |
| Keywords: | Education aspirations, gender attitudes, role models, experiment, Somalia. |
| JEL: | A22 C93 I23 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2021–02–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:txm:wpaper:20210224-001&r=all |
| By: | Ainoa Aparicio Fenoll (ESOMAS, University of Turin); Sarah Zaccagni (CEBI, Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a randomized controlled trial to study the effect of gender composition of teams on performance, self-concept, working style, and individual satisfaction in endogenously and exogenously formed teams. We randomly divide a sample of high school students into two groups: we assign students in one group to teams of varying gender composition using random assignment and we allow the students in the other group to form teams freely. We find that students form disproportionately more male-predominant teams that those that would be formed under random assignment and that students in endogenously-formed gender-biased teams prefer even more gender-biased teams ex-post. Our results also show that female-predominant teams under-perform other types of teams but these differences disappear when teams are endogenously-formed. |
| Keywords: | team composition, gender, team formation, team dynamics, team performance, field experiment, decision-making |
| JEL: | J16 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2021–02–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kucebi:2103&r=all |
| By: | Michael Danquah; Abdul Malik Iddrisu; Ernest Owusu Boakye; Solomon Owusu |
| Abstract: | Using household data from the latest wave of the Ghana Living Standards Survey, this paper utilizes machine learning techniques to examine the effect of gender wage differences within households on women's empowerment and welfare in Ghana. The structural parameters of the post-double selection LASSO estimations show that a reduction in household gender wage gap significantly enhances women's empowerment. Also, a decline in household gender wage gap results meaningfully in improving household welfare. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap, Households, Women's empowerment, Welfare, Machine learning, Ghana |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2021-40&r=all |
| By: | Deole, Sumit S.; Zeydanli, Tugba |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the first empirical evidence of the causal impact of individuals' education on their attitudes towards traditional gender roles. We employ two national panel datasets from the UK and Switzerland and a repeated cross-sectional dataset with information from 13 Western European countries for the analysis. The causal impact of education on gender role attitudes is estimated by exploiting the exogenous variation in individuals' education induced by the compulsory school reforms undertaken in European countries in the second half of the 20th century. We find evidence that an additional year of education instigates egalitarian gender role attitudes equivalent of 0.1-0.3 of a standard deviation. While education's moderating effect is particularly prominent among women, no evidence of effect heterogeneity is found concerning the individuals' religiosity. Our findings are robust to numerous checks performed and are briefly discussed for their policy relevance. |
| Keywords: | Gender role attitudes,education,compulsory schooling reforms,IV strategy |
| JEL: | J16 J78 C26 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:793&r=all |
| By: | Oscar Becerra; José-Alberto Guerra |
| Abstract: | Are there gender differences in the willingness to pay (WTP) for safer jobs? Using a laboratory experiment, we elicit participants’ WTP for an early (perceived ‘safer’) on-site shift. We find that women forego larger earnings in order to secure an early shift more than men do, with a safety concern about the late shift being a key driver, explaining up to 20% of the estimated gender gap. We do not observe a gender gap if the job can be completed remotely. Results are robust to controlling for morning-types, household and demographic characteristics, attitudes toward risk and uncertainty, victimization, and information provision about crime. Controlling for crime exposure reduces the estimated gender gap. Thus, our results suggest that policies that reduce gender disparities in safety concerns may affect women’s labor supply. |
| Keywords: | Safety concerns, willingness to pay, gender gaps, experiment |
| JEL: | J16 C92 D03 |
| Date: | 2021–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:018900&r=all |
| By: | Maria De Paola (Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF, Università della Calabria); Francesca Gioia (Dipartimento di Scienze Giuridiche "Cesare Beccaria", Università di Milano); Vincenzo Scoppa (Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF, Università della Calabria) |
| Abstract: | We ran a field experiment to investigate whether individual performance in teams depended on the gender of the leader. About 430 students from an Italian University took an intermediate exam that was partly evaluated on the basis of teamwork. Students were randomly matched in teams of three and, in each team, we randomly chose a leader entrusted the task of coordinating the work of the team. We find a positive and significant effect of female leadership on team performance. This effect is driven by the higher performance of team members in female-led teams rather than by an improvement in leader performance, suggesting that female leaders altruistically devote their energies o improving teamwork. In spite of the higher performance of female-led teams, male members tended to evaluate female leaders as less effective, whereas female members have provided more favorable judgments. |
| Keywords: | Team, Leadership, Gender, Stereotypes, Randomized Experiment |
| JEL: | J16 M12 M54 C93 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clb:wpaper:202103&r=all |
| By: | Difang Huang; Zhengyang Bao |
| Abstract: | We followed 58,345 borrowers from a peer-to-peer lending platform to study how females and males react to enforcement mechanisms differently. In the experiment, borrowers were randomized into treatments where they received different text messages urging for timely repayment if they had loans due the “next day”. Compared to a reminder message, the messages inducing social pressures and financial incentives reduced the overdue rate for both genders. However, females were more responsive to messages producing social pressures, while males were more responsive to financial incentives. The results imply the potential importance of a gender-dependent mechanism to enhance compliance. |
| Keywords: | Gender differences; Natural field experiment; Enforcement mechanism |
| JEL: | C93 D91 J16 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2020-08&r=all |
| By: | Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Alessie, Rob; Lusardi, Annamaria; van Rooij, Maarten |
| Abstract: | Women are less financially literate than men. It is unclear whether this gap reflects a lack of knowledge or, rather, a lack of confidence. Our survey experiment shows that women tend to disproportionately respond 'do not know' to questions measuring financial knowledge, but when this response option is unavailable, they often choose the correct answer. We estimate a latent class model and predict the probability that respondents truly know the correct answers. We find that about one-third of the financial literacy gender gap can be explained by women's lower confidence levels. Both financial knowledge and confidence explain stock market participation. |
| Keywords: | financial knowledge,gender gap,financial decision making,confidence,measurement error,latent class model,finite mixture model |
| JEL: | G53 C81 D91 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21015&r=all |
| By: | Charlotte H. Feldhoff |
| Abstract: | Whilst gender inequality has been falling in the developed world, child-related gender inequality in pay has stayed constant. In this paper I use German panel data spanning across 33 years from 1984 until 2017 including over 50,000 individuals. The main contribution of this paper is the analysis of the effect of parenthood on women’s and men’s earnings using propensity score matching. I estimate the annual average treatment effect of parenthood over the 20 years following the birth of the first child to be -10500€ for women and +6800€ for men. When comparing the percentage loss of potential earnings, I find that women suffer a long-run child penalty of 63% compared to men. I then examine the relationship between the treatment effect and gender norms, willingness to take on risk for your career and priorities regarding job characteristics. There exists evidence which suggests that all of these factors are associated with changes in the individual treatment effects. |
| Keywords: | Gender Economics, Child Penalty, Propensity Score Matching |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J21 J31 C12 C13 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1120&r=all |
| By: | Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Hackethal, Andreas; Koenen, Johannes; Laudenbach, Christine |
| Abstract: | We show that financial advisors recommend more costly products to female clients, based on minutes from about 27,000 real-world advisory meetings and client portfolio data. Funds recommended to women have higher expense ratios controlling for risk, and women less often receive rebates on upfront fees for any given fund. We develop a model relating these findings to client stereotyping, and empirically verify an additional prediction: Women (but not men) with higher financial aptitude reject recommendations more frequently. Women state a preference for delegating financial decisions, but appear unaware of associated higher costs. Evidence of stereotyping is stronger for male advisors. |
| Keywords: | credence goods,financial aptitude,consumer protection,financial literacy,discrimination |
| JEL: | G2 E2 D8 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:309&r=all |
| By: | Hervé, Justine (Fordham University); Mani, Subha (Fordham University); Behrman, Jere R. (University of Pennsylvania); Nandi, Arindam (CDDEP); Sankhil Lamkang, Anjana (CDDEP); Laxminarayan, Ramanan (CDDEP) |
| Abstract: | Gender gaps in skills exist around the world but differ remarkably among the high and low-and-middle income countries. This paper uses a unique data set with more than 20,000 adolescents in rural India to examine whether socioeconomic status and gender attitudes predict gender gaps in cognitive and noncognitive skills. We find steep socioeconomic and attitude gradients in both cognitive and noncognitive skills, with bigger effect sizes for the socioeconomic status (SES) gradients. Our results suggest that a sizable improvement in gender attitudes would yield important gains for females, but substantial gains would come only from large improvements in household socioeconomic status. Overall, the household socioeconomic and cultural environment is significantly associated with the gender gaps in both cognitive and noncognitive skills. |
| Keywords: | cognitive skills, noncognitive skills, gender attitudes, gender, India, children |
| JEL: | I21 I25 J13 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14132&r=all |
| By: | J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz; Juan-José Ganuza; Manu García; Luis A. Puch |
| Abstract: | We analyze all the articles published in Top 5 economic journals between 2002 and 2019 in order to find gender differences in their research approach. Using an unsupervised machine learning algorithm (Structural Topic Model) developed by Roberts et al. (2019) we characterize jointly the set of latent topics that best fits our data (the set of abstracts) and how the documents/abstracts are allocated in each latent topic. This latent topics are mixtures over words were each word has a probability of belonging to a topic after controlling by year and journal. This latent topics may capture research fields but also other more subtle characteristics related to the way in which the articles are written. We find that females are uneven distributed along these latent topics by using only data driven methods. The differences about gender research approaches we found in this paper, are "automatically" generated given the research articles, without an arbitrary allocation to particular categories (as JEL codes, or research areas). |
| Keywords: | machine learning, structural topic model, gender, research fields |
| JEL: | I20 J16 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1241&r=all |
| By: | Antman, Francisca M. (University of Colorado, Boulder); Kalsi, Priti (University of Rochester); Lee, Soohyung (Seoul National University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of male-female conflict over gender norms on marital outcomes. As marriage requires mutual agreement regarding the role of husband and wife, we hypothesize that a person who is less likely to encounter a potential mate with similar gender norms will face a lower chance of marrying. Even if two parties marry despite a difference in gender norms, their marriage may be more vulnerable to external shocks, making divorce more likely relative to their counterparts without gender norm conflict. Finally, we predict that in the presence of gender norm conflict, high-skilled individuals may be less likely to get or stay married relative to low-skilled individuals, as the former group faces better outside options. Estimates from an analysis of U.S. marriage markets differentiated by birth cohort, state, race, and skill level, support our theoretical predictions. Additional extensions explore heterogeneous effects and additional outcomes such as the presence of children in the household. |
| Keywords: | gender, marriage, social norms, divorce, skill gap |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14144&r=all |