|
on Gender |
|
Issue of 2022‒08‒22
six papers chosen by Jan Sauermann Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Alison Preston (Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses micro-data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics (HILDA) Survey to examine the association between gender role attitudes and women’s labour market outcomes – specifically employment participation and wages. Results show that traditional attitudes to gender roles are associated with lower employment participation and wages amongst women, while having no association with the employment and wage outcomes of men. In short, traditional gender values are hindering women’s progress in the labour market. Messages and policies (e.g., a better system of paid parental leave) that shape attitudes to gender roles will help address gender inequality in the labour market. |
| Keywords: | Social norms, gender attitudes, gender equality, labour market, labour supply, gender wage gap |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:22-10&r= |
| By: | Jones, Melanie K. (Cardiff University); Kaya, Ezgi (Cardiff University) |
| Abstract: | Since April 2017 UK employers with over 250 employees have been required to publicly report their gender pay gap each year. We exploit this recent source of panel data on employer-level gender pay gaps to provide new insights for the established literature on the gender pay gap based predominately on employee information. More specifically, we explore the factors associated with changing organisational gender pay gaps in the period immediately following transparency. Consistent with information, reflection and pressure brought by the legislation, we find greater narrowing of gender pay gaps in organisations with a larger initial gender pay gap. Moreover, this relationship is magnified over time, consistent with gradual and longer-term adjustment. We further find evidence that interorganisational comparisons matter. For organisations with higher gender pay gaps than the average of their intra-industry comparators, lower comparator gender pay gaps are associated with further narrowing, suggesting relative comparisons enabled by transparency per se provide a channel through which the impact of the legislation operates. |
| Keywords: | gender pay gap, pay transparency, equality legislation |
| JEL: | J31 J38 J78 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15342&r= |
| By: | Pia Heckl (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies gender differences in the labor market reallocation of workers in Mexico as a response to trade liberalization with China. To measure exposure to import competition, I exploit variation in the initial industry structure of Mexican local labor markets. I show that aggregate outcomes mask heterogeneous responses based on gender. Although the employment rate drops for both men and women, the former enter into unemployment while the latter leave the labor force. The results suggest that the drop in the female labor force participation rate is driven by their exit out of formal and especially informal work. |
| Keywords: | Trade, Gender Inequality, Labor Market, Informal Work, Mexico |
| JEL: | F16 J16 J21 J46 |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp327&r= |
| By: | Jules Gazeaud; Nausheen Khan; Eric Mvukiyehe; Olivier Sterck |
| Abstract: | Is it possible to stimulate women’s employment by relaxing their financial and human capital constraints? Does involving husbands help or hinder the effort? To examine these questions, we randomly allocated cash grants and financial training to 1,000 poor women in Tunisia. To encourage gender dialogue, a random subset of women could invite their male partner to the training. The cash grants and financial training positively impacted women’s income generating activities, but only for women who had to attend the training alone, suggesting that gender dialogue backfired. The program also reinforced traditional gender roles: it stimulated employment of other household members as well as investments in small-scale agriculture and livestock farming—two activities traditionally undertaken by women at home. Impacts on household living standards are overwhelmingly positive. |
| Keywords: | Cash Transfers, Financial Training, Gender Roles, Employment |
| JEL: | J16 L25 L26 O12 |
| Date: | 2022–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2022-02&r= |
| By: | Merlin Stein |
| Abstract: | In which kind of companies did the prevalence of women on corporate boards matter during the first wave of Covid-19? 2500 large Indian firms, of which only 78% initially complied with an exogenous gender quota enable a quantitative evaluation. By comparing their quarterly revenues with a Difference-in-Differences analysis, this research initially finds a significantly positive relationship between the compliance with the one-female-board-member policy and the change in revenues during the first economic shock of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020. A Triple-Difference and Causal Forest analysis indicates that this is likely endogenously driven by (self-)selection based on sectors, capital dynamics, size, independence of directors and further firm characteristics. There is no simple association of female directors and crisis revenues: The spectrum encompasses a mix of firms with a positive, a neutral and a negative association. With rare causal context for evaluating board gender diversity or other corporate governance and ESG dynamics, this piece of research illustrates the value and limitations of applying adjusted Random Forests to overcome linearity and dimensionality limitations for deeply understanding heterogeneities-within-heterogeneities as indicators of relevant distinctions. |
| Keywords: | Generalized Random Forest, Causal Machine Learning in Double and Triple Difference, Covid-19, large rms, women on corporate boards, female leadership, quota |
| JEL: | C21 C53 D22 G30 J16 K22 |
| Date: | 2022–01–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2022-01&r= |
| By: | Ursina Schaede; Ville Mankki |
| Abstract: | We evaluate equity-efficiency trade-offs from admissions quotas by examining effects on output once beneficiaries start producing in the relevant industry. In particular, we document the impact of abolishing a 40% quota for male primary school teachers in Finland on their pupils’ long-run outcomes. The quota had advantaged academically lower-scoring male university applicants, and its removal cut the share of men among new teachers by half. We combine this reform with the timing of union-mandated teacher retirements to isolate quasi-random variation in the local share of male quota teachers. Using comprehensive register data, we find that pupils exposed to a higher share of male quota teachers during primary school transition more smoothly to post-compulsory education, have higher educational attainment, and labor force attachment at age 25. Pupils of both genders benefit similarly from exposure to male quota teachers. Our findings are consistent with the quota improving the allocation of talent over the unconstrained selection process. |
| Keywords: | quota, education, affirmative action, gender, productivity |
| JEL: | J70 I20 M50 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9811&r= |