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on Gender |
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Issue of 2024‒06‒17
eight papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Niels Johannesen; Simon Muchardt |
| Abstract: | Do gender disparities in academia reflect that female scholars are held to higher standards than males? We address this question by comparing the scientific merit of male and female academic economists who make the same career step. Across four domains – i.e. faculty positions, network affiliations, research grants and editor appointments – we find no evidence that standards are higher for females. By contrast, the average female has less citations and publications than the average male who makes the same career step. In most domains, this reflects a gender gap for “marginal” scholars, consistent with lower merit thresholds for females. |
| Keywords: | gender differences, discrimination, unequal treatment, gender gap, academic labor markets |
| JEL: | A11 I23 J16 J44 J62 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11101&r= |
| By: | Grosch, Kerstin; Fischer, Sabine |
| Abstract: | This study examines gender differences in overconfidence, focusing on overestimation (individuals’ perception of their performance relative to their actual performance) and overplacement (individuals’ perception relative to the performance perception of others). Conducting large-scale lab experiments with over 1000 participants in Ghana, a non-WEIRD country, we measure overestimation and overplacement in an incentivized manner. Contrary to previous findings, our study reveals no significant gender differences in overestimation in a male-typed task where men outperform women and subjects anticipate this gender difference. Similarly, there are no significant gender differences in overplacement within the same gender. Moreover, individuals who overestimate their performance are more likely to believe they outperformed others, regardless of gender. Overall, results indicate gender equivalence in overconfidence. Notably, gender differences in overplacement emerge only when comparing performance estimates with the opposite gender, with women more inclined to view themselves as inferior to men. |
| Keywords: | Overconfidence; gender differences; lab experiment; Sub-Saharan Africa; null results |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus055:62979319&r= |
| By: | Helena Laneuville; Vitor Possebom |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the impact of judges' gender on the outcome of domestic violence cases. Using data From S\~ao Paulo, Brazil, between 2010 and 2019, we compare conviction rates by judge's gender and find that a domestic violence case assigned to a female judge is 31% (10 p.p) more likely to result in conviction than a case assigned to a male judge with similar career characteristics. To show that this decision gap rises due to different gender perspectives about domestic violence instead of rising due to female judges being tougher than male judges, we compare it against gender conviction rate gaps in similar types of crimes. We find that the gender conviction rate gap for domestic violence cases is significantly larger than the same gap for other misdemeanor cases (3 p.p. larger) and for other physical assault cases (8 p.p. larger). Lastly, we find evidence that at least two channels explain this gender conviction rate gap for domestic violence cases: gender-based differences in evidence interpretation and gender-based sentencing criteria. |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2405.07240&r= |
| By: | Juan Pablo Chauvin; Clemence Tricaud |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on why men and women leaders make different choices. We first use a simple political agency model to illustrate how voters' gender bias can lead reelection-seeking female politicians to undertake different policies. We then test the model's predictions by exploring leaders’ responses to COVID-19. Assuming that voters expect policies to be less effective if decided by women, the model predicts that female politicians undertake less containment effort than male politicians when voters perceive the threat as low, while the opposite is true when voters perceive it as serious. Exploiting Brazilian close elections, we find that, early in the pandemic, female mayors were less likely to close non-essential businesses and female-led municipalities experienced more deaths per capita, while the reverse was true later on, once the health consequences materialized. These results are exclusively driven by mayors facing reelection and stronger in municipalities with greater gender discrimination. |
| JEL: | D72 H11 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32410&r= |
| By: | Lundborg, Petter (Lund University); Plug, Erik (University of Amsterdam); Rasmussen, Astrid Würtz (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | Newly matched data on in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments are used to estimate the long-run consequences of children on the labor market earnings of women and men (often referred to as child penalties). We measure long-run child penalties in IVF-treated families by comparing the earnings of successfully and unsuccessfully first-time treated women and men up to 25 years after the first IVF treatment. In the short run, we find a large penalty immediately after the birth of the first child. In the long run, however, we find that the child penalty fades out, disappears completely after 10 years, and even turns into a child premium after 15 years, offsetting the initial setbacks experienced when children are young. Our findings therefore challenge the widely held view that children are the primary drivers behind the long-run gender gap in earnings. |
| Keywords: | child penalty, gender earnings gap, fertility |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16959&r= |
| By: | Muehlheusser, Gerd (University of Hamburg); Promann, Timo (University of Hamburg); Roider, Andreas (University of Regensburg); Wallmeier, Niklas (University of Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies unethical behavior by groups and provides systematic evidence on how lying decisions are affected by group size and group gender composition. We conduct an online experiment with 1, 677 participants (477 groups) where group members can communicate with each other via a novel video chat tool. Our key findings are that (i) larger groups lie more, (ii) all-male groups stand out in their proclivity to lie, (iii) already the first female in a group causes an honesty shift, and (iv) group behavior cannot be fully explained by members' individual honesty preferences. |
| Keywords: | group decisions, unethical behavior, lying, gender differences, online experiment, group video chat |
| JEL: | C92 J16 D70 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16954&r= |
| By: | Dang, Hai-Anh (World Bank); Salehi-Isfahani, Djavad (Harvard Kennedy School); Do, Minh N.N. (National Economics University Vietnam) |
| Abstract: | While female labor force participation (LFP) in Iran is among the lowest in the world, there is hardly any study on the COVID-19 pandemic effects on the country's female LFP. We find that female LFP decreased during the pandemic years by around 1 percentage point in 2021 and 2022. When controlling for excess mortality rates, the declines could increase to between 3.9 and 8.7 percentage points, with the larger impacts occurring in late 2021 and early 2022. Compared to modest, pre-pandemic female LFP rates, these figures translate into 5 percent and 18-40 percent decreases, respectively. Heterogeneity exists, with more educated individuals being more likely to work. Compared to married individuals, divorcees were more likely to work while those that were divorced or never married were less likely to work. Our results offer relevant inputs for labor policy, particularly those aimed at reducing gender inequalities. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, employment, women's labor force participation, differences-in-differences, triple differences, labor force survey, Iran |
| JEL: | E24 I30 J21 O12 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17001&r= |
| By: | L. Rachel Ngai; Claudia Olivetti; Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | Women's contribution to the economy has been markedly underestimated in predominantly agricultural societies, due to their widespread involvement in unpaid agricultural work. Combining data from the US Census and several early sources, we create a consistent measure of male and female employment and hours for the US for 1870-2019, including paid work and unpaid work in family farms and non-farm businesses. The resulting measure of hours traces a U-shape for women, with a modest decline up to mid-20th century followed by a sustained increase, and a monotonic decline for men. We propose a multisector economy with uneven productivity growth, income effects, and consumption complementarity across sectoral outputs. During early development stages, declining agriculture leads to rising services -- both in the market and the home -- and leisure, reducing market work for both genders. In later stages, structural transformation reallocates labor from manufacturing into services, while marketization reallocates labor from home to market services. Given gender comparative advantages, the first channel is more relevant for men, reducing male hours, while the second channel is more relevant for women, increasing female hours. Our quantitative illustration suggests that structural transformation and marketization can account for the overall decline in market hours from 1880-1950, and one quarter of the rise and decline, respectively, in female and male market hours from 1950-2019. |
| JEL: | J16 J20 O41 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32475&r= |