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on Gender |
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Issue of 2023‒07‒17
eight papers chosen by Jan Sauermann Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Patricia Palffy; Patrick Lehnert; Uschi Backes-Gellner |
| Abstract: | To foster gender equality and diversity in the workplace, firms and policymakers strive to attract women and men to gender-atypical occupations. However, particularly for men, such attempts have been of limited success. We theorize (a) that identity threat-related barriers hinder gender-atypical occupational choices, (b) that these barriers differ for women and men, and (c) that therefore the success of policy interventions aiming to encourage gender-atypical occupational choices differs for women and men. We conduct a large-scale field experiment with young women and men choosing their occupations when applying for their first job. We find that a brief intervention featuring counter-stereotypical framing and female role models in typically male jobs in STEM substantially increases women's applications for STEM jobs. However, an equivalent intervention featuring counter-stereotypical framing and male role models in typically female jobs in health and care does not increase men's applications for those jobs. Thus, strategies that work for women - such as portraying role models - do not necessarily work for men. To foster full gender equality in the workplace, firms and policymakers should not only continue investing in interventions aiming to attract women to male-dominated occupations but also develop interventions particularly focused at encouraging men to consider female-dominated occupations. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, gender typicality, occupational gender segregation, field experiment |
| JEL: | J24 J16 I24 M59 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0207&r=gen |
| By: | Paul M. Gorny; Petra Nieken; Karoline Ströhlein |
| Abstract: | We conducted a controlled experiment to study how different gender frames used in the instructions affect economic behavior. In our experiment, we systematically varied the framing of the instructions, either using the male, the female, or a gender-inclusive form. Participants played three standard economic two-player games measuring prosocial behavior. In particular, we elicited the degree of sharing, reciprocal behavior, and honest reporting. We investigated if participants behaved differently if their self-reported gender matched the grammatical gender used in the instructions. The results reveal that the framing of instructions had the strongest impact on sharing, and the effects were mainly driven by participants self-identifying as men. In contrast, we observe only mild treatment differences, if any, regarding reciprocal behavior or honest reporting. We discuss the potential mechanisms and consequences of our findings. |
| Keywords: | gender, gender inequality, gender stereotypes, grammatical gender, language, experimental methodology |
| JEL: | C91 D01 J16 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10458&r=gen |
| By: | Bjørnshagen, Vegar (Norwegian Social Research Nova); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Stockholm University); Ugreninov, Elisabeth (Norwegian Social Research Nova) |
| Abstract: | This article examines disability discrimination in the hiring process and explores variation in how the intersection of disability and gender shapes employers' hiring behavior by occupational context and gender segregation. We use data from a field experiment in which approximately 2, 000 job applications with randomly assigned information about disability were sent to Swedish employers with vacancies. We find that nondisabled applicants receive 33 percent more callbacks than similarly qualified wheelchair users despite applying for jobs where the impairment should not interfere with performance. The results indicate no heterogeneity in levels of disability discrimination against men and women on average across occupations or by occupational gender segregation. However, levels of discrimination differ considerably among occupations, varying from no evidence of disability discrimination to discrimination against both disabled men and disabled women as well as cases where disability discrimination is found only against women or only against men. The results thus indicate that disability and gender interact and shape discrimination in distinct ways within particular contexts, which we relate to intersectional stereotyping and norms of gender equality influencing hiring practices but not to declared ambitions for diversity or gender equality legislation. |
| Keywords: | disability, hiring discrimination, gender, field experiment, correspondence study |
| JEL: | I14 J14 J23 J64 J71 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16217&r=gen |
| By: | Paul M. Gorny; Petra Nieken; Karoline Ströhlein |
| Abstract: | Social norms, though often implicit, are to a great extent communicated and made salient using natural language. They carry the notions that “the participant, ” “the customer, ” or “the worker” should behave in a certain way. In English, we refer to each of these personal entity nouns using the pronouns “he, ” “she, ” or the gender-inclusive singular “they.” In languages with grammatical gender, the nouns and the grammatical structure they are embedded in mark them as either male, female, or gender-inclusive. Little is known as to whether the framing of norms with respect to these grammatical genders affects norm compliance. We conducted an experiment in German with three games commonly used to study fair sharing, cooperation, and honesty. Our treatments allowed us to compare the differences in the increase of norm compliance when introducing prescriptive norms depending on the match between the participant’s self-reported gender and the gender frame used in the experimental instructions. Overall, we find no strong evidence that a match between the participant’s self-reported gender and the norm formulation led to a higher increase in norm compliance compared to the differences in a mismatch or gender-inclusive frame. We observed the strongest effect for men in the sharing game, where the data suggests that a match led to a higher increase in norm compliance compared to the increase if gender-inclusive formulations were used. This line of research has important implications for the effective communication of rules and norms in organizations and administrations. |
| Keywords: | norm compliance, gender in language, social identity |
| JEL: | C91 D01 J16 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10459&r=gen |
| By: | Lordan, Grace (London School of Economics); Lekfuangfu, Warn N. (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | Occupational segregation is one of the major causes of the gender pay gap. We probe the possibility that individual beliefs regarding gender stereotypes established in childhood contribute to gendered sorting. Using an experiment with two vignette designs, which was carried out in schools in the UK, we consider whether students aged 15-16 years recommend that a fictitious peer pursue different college majors and career paths simply because of their gender. We find strong evidence that this is the case. The within-majors treatment design shows that our respondents are 11 percentage points more likely to recommend corporate law to a male peer. The across-majors design reveals that students presented with a male fictitious peer tend to recommend degrees that have lower shares of females to males. |
| Keywords: | sorting, gender stereotype, gender, vignette design, occupational choice, college major choice |
| JEL: | J24 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16161&r=gen |
| By: | Martha J. Bailey; Thomas E. Helgerman; Bryan A. Stuart |
| Abstract: | In the 1960s, two landmark statutes—the Equal Pay and Civil Rights Acts—targeted the long-standing practice of employment discrimination against U.S. women. For the next 15 years, the gender gap in median earnings among full-time, full-year workers changed little, leading many scholars and advocates to conclude the legislation was ineffectual. This paper uses two different research designs to show that women’s relative wages grew rapidly in the aftermath of this legislation. The data show little evidence of short-term changes in women’s employment, but some results suggest that firms reduced their hiring and promotion of women in the medium term. |
| JEL: | J16 J71 N32 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31332&r=gen |
| By: | Lucia Del Carpio; Thomas Fujiwara |
| Abstract: | Gendered-grammar languages like Spanish are spoken by 39% of the world’s population. In a field experiment in partnership with a Spanish-speaking online platform for technology positions, ads randomly selected to use gender-neutral language receive a larger share of female applicants for non-remote positions in fields where female participation is not too low, and similar numbers otherwise. In a separate survey experiment, gender-neutral language in ads increases interest and beliefs about the suitability for the position and the advertiser’s culture of inclusion, with effects that are similar in magnitude to stating the job is remote and larger than explicit diversity statements. |
| JEL: | J16 J7 M14 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31314&r=gen |
| By: | Harkness, Susan; Popova, Daria; Avram, Silvia |
| Abstract: | Understanding disparities in the rates at which men and women’s wages grow over the life course is critical to explaining the gender pay gap. Using panel data from 2009 to 2019 for the United Kingdom, we examine how differences in the rates and types of job mobility of men and women – with and without children - influence the evolution of wages. We contrast the rates and wage returns associated with different types of job moves, including moving employer for family reason, moving for wage or career-related reasons, and changing jobs but remaining with the same employer. Despite overall levels of mobility being similar for men and women, we find important differences in the types of mobility they experience, with mothers most likely to switch employers for family related reasons and least likely to move for wage or career reasons, or to change jobs with the same employer. We find that, while job changes with the same employer and career related employer changes have large positive wage returns, changing employers for family related reasons is associated with significant wage losses. Our findings show that differences in the types of mobility experienced by mothers compared to other workers provide an important part of the explanation for their lower wage growth and play a crucial role in explaining the emergence of the motherhood wage gap in the years after birth. |
| Date: | 2023–03–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:cempwp:cempa4-23&r=gen |