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on Gender |
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Issue of 2023‒01‒23
six papers chosen by Jan Sauermann Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Fischbacher, Urs (Universität Konstanz); Kübler, Dorothea (WZB Berlin, TU Berlin and CESifo); Stüber, Robert (NYU Abu Dhabi) |
| Abstract: | Many occupations and industries are highly segregated with respect to gender. This segregation could be due to perceived job-specific productivity differences between men and women. It could also result from the belief that single-gender teams perform better. We investigate the two explanations in a lab experiment with students and in an online experiment with personnel managers. The subjects bet on the productivity of teams of different gender compositions in tasks that differ with respect to gender stereotypes. We obtain similar results in both samples. Women are picked more often for the stereotypically female task and men more often for the stereotypically male task. Subjects do not believe that homogeneous teams perform better but bet more on diverse teams, especially in the task with complementarities. Elicited expectations about the bets of others reveal that subjects expect the effect of the gender stereotypes of tasks but underestimate others’ bets on diversity. |
| Keywords: | gender segregation; hiring decisions; teams; discrimination; stereotypes; |
| JEL: | D91 J16 |
| Date: | 2022–12–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:355&r=gen |
| By: | Jones, Melanie K. (Cardiff University); Kaya, Ezgi (Cardiff University); Papps, Kerry L. (University of Bradford) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the ongoing impact of gender pay gap transparency legislation using a sudden COVID-19-induced temporary suspension to legislation in the UK. Compared to organisations that did not report during the suspension year, reporting organisations have a 6% lower gender pay gap a year later. This is driven by a relative increase in females in the top pay quartile at the same time as rising female concentration in the workforce overall. Further analysis supports the hypothesis that ongoing reporting is most effective in organisations with weaker pre-existing pressures to narrow their gender pay gap through female representation and voice. |
| Keywords: | gender pay gap, pay transparency, equality legislation, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | J31 J38 J78 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15817&r=gen |
| By: | Louis-Pierre Lepage; Xiaomeng Li; Basit Zafar |
| Abstract: | We study a unique grading policy at a large US public university allowing students to mask their letter grades into a “Pass”, after having observed their original grade. Using administrative transcript records, we find that female students are substantially less likely to mask their grades than male students, even after accounting for differences in grades, GPA, and course/major taking. We present a framework showing how anticipated discrimination in the labor market can distort incentives to mask across gender. Consistent with the framework, a survey reveals that students anticipate that female students, particularly in STEM, Business, and Economics, will face labor market discrimination which makes them less likely to mask. Our survey allows us to distinguish between anticipated discrimination and other explanations which could contribute to the masking gap, such as preferences for risk or transparency. We find that anticipated discrimination can explain a sizable fraction of the gender gap in masking. |
| JEL: | D8 I23 J16 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30765&r=gen |
| By: | Ali Sina Önder (University of Portsmouth) |
| Abstract: | Are public policies effective in enhancing gender balance and internationalization in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate education? Using Germany’s Excellence Initiative as an event study, I analyze changes in graduate cohorts in STEM fields and investigate whether public policies that help to create and sustain STEM graduate programs also affect women’s participation in STEM graduate studies. and internationalization of STEM studies. Focusing on natural sciences and mathematics PhDs between 2000 and 2014, I find no statistically significant evidence that public funds led to any significant increase in women’s participation in STEM studies beyond already existing trends in these fields. I find, however, statistically significant differences between funded and not funded graduate programs in the share of thesis written in English, which can be interpreted as internationalization of STEM graduate studies due to public policies in that direction. |
| Keywords: | Graduate Education; Public Funding; Gender; Internationalization; Natural Sciences; Excellence Initiative |
| JEL: | H52 I23 O32 |
| Date: | 2023–01–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pbs:ecofin:2023-01&r=gen |
| By: | Bhargava, Palaash (Columbia University); Chen, Daniel L. (Toulouse School of Economics); Sutter, Matthias (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods); Terrier, Camille (University of Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | Social networks are a key factor of success in life, but they are also strongly segmented on gender, ethnicity, and other demographic characteristics (Jackson, 2010). We present novel evidence on an understudied source of homophily, namely behavioral traits. Behavioral traits are important determinants of life-time outcomes. While recent work has focused on how these traits are influenced by the family environment or how they can be affected by childhood interventions, little is still known about how these traits are associated to social networks. Based on unique data that we collected using incentivized experiments on more than 2, 500 French high-school students, we find high levels of homophily across all ten behavioral traits that we study (including social, risk, competitive preferences, and aspirations). Notably, the extent of homophily depends on similarities in demographic characteristics, in particular with respect to gender. Furthermore, the larger the number of behavioral traits that students share, the higher the overall homophily. Then, using network econometrics, we show that the observed homophily is not only an outcome of endogenous network formation, but is also a result of friends influencing each others' behavioral traits. Importantly, the transmission of traits is larger when students share demographic characteristics, such as gender, have been friends for longer or are friends with more popular individuals. |
| Keywords: | homophily, social networks, behavioral traits, peer effects, experiments |
| JEL: | D85 C91 D01 D90 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15840&r=gen |
| By: | Silvia Angerer; Daniela Glätzle-Rützler; Philipp Lergetporer; Thomas Rittmannsberger |
| Abstract: | Social norms affect a wide range of behaviors in society. We conducted a representative experiment to study how beliefs about the existing social norm regarding COVID-19 vaccination affect vaccination readiness. Beliefs about the norm are on average downward biased, and widely dispersed. Randomly providing information about the existing descriptive norm succeeds in correcting biased beliefs, thereby reducing belief dispersion. The information has no effect on vaccination readiness on average, which is due to opposite effects among women (positive) and men (negative). Fundamental differences in how women and men process the same information are likely the cause for these contrasting information effects. Control-group vaccination intentions are lower among women than men, so the information reduces polarization by gender. Additionally, the information reduces gendered polarization in policy preferences related to COVID-19 vaccination. |
| Keywords: | social norms, vaccination, COVID-19 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2022-20&r=gen |