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on Gender |
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Issue of 2024‒08‒26
nine papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Görg, Holger (Kiel Institute for the World Economy); Jäkel, Ina C. (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate whether gender norms and institutions act as a constraint to the performance of female businesses. We exploit novel and unique micro data on start-ups in Denmark, which we combine with information on individual-level characteristics of the entrepreneur as main decision maker of the firm. We overcome the challenge of disentangling norms and institutional biases against women from other constraints and hurdles that female businesses might face by exploiting detailed trade data. In this trade context, we study the relative performance of firms across markets with varying institutions, while controlling for other factors that affect female businesses uniformly across all markets. We provide evidence that gender inequality and institutional biases against women in trade partner countries play an important role in explaining gender differences in export and import behaviour. We also perform an event study of a concrete policy change in a destination market – the introduction of quotas for the share of females on the boards of directors in Norway – and how it has affected the gender gap in trade participation. |
| Keywords: | gender inequality, firm internationalization, start-up performance |
| JEL: | F14 J16 M13 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17123 |
| By: | Boza, István (Centre for Economic and Regional Studies); Reizer, Balázs (Corvinus University of Budapest) |
| Abstract: | A main driver of the gender wage gap is that women earn a lower firm-specific wage premium than men. We document the role of flexible wage components in driving both within-firm and between-firm gender differences in firm premia. For this purpose, we link wage survey data on performance payments and overtime to an administrative linked employer-employee dataset from Hungary. We find that the gender gap in firm premia is negligible at firms that do not pay either performance payments or overtime, while it is more than 11 percent at firms where all employees receive performance- and overtime payments. These patterns are also present when we control for differences in the labor productivity of firms or after composition differences are accounted for using AKM models. Finally, a decomposition exercise shows that performance payments and overtime payments contribute 60 percent to the gender gap in firm premia and 25 percent to the overall gender gap. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, bargaining, sorting, overtime, performance payments |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17125 |
| By: | Vojtĕch Bartŏs; Silvia Castro; Kristina Czura; Timm Opitz; Vojtech Bartos |
| Abstract: | We analyze gender bias in entrepreneurship finance. Access to finance is crucial for entrepreneurial success, yet women are particularly constrained. We structurally unpack whether loan officers evaluate business ideas and implementation constraints differently for male and female entrepreneurs, for both individual entrepreneurs and for entrepreneurial teams. In a lab-in-the-field experiment with Ugandan loan officers, we document gender bias against individual female entrepreneurs, but no bias for entrepreneurial teams. The bias is not driven by animus but by differential beliefs about women’s implementation constraints in running a business. Policies aimed at team formation and alleviating family-related constraints may help to promote equal access to finance, ultimately stimulating growth. |
| Keywords: | gender bias, access to finance, entrepreneurship finance, business evaluations, teams, lab-in-the-field experiment |
| JEL: | C90 D91 G21 J16 L25 L26 O16 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11205 |
| By: | Gonçalves, Judite; Rocha-Gomes, João; Amorim-Lopes, Mário; Martins, Pedro S. |
| Abstract: | Women appear to take sick leave at a higher rate and for longer periods than men. However, the reasons for these differences are poorly understood. This study starts by outlining several channels (biological, psychological, socio-economic, and occupational) that may drive this gender gap. We then analyse rich individual longitudinal administrative data on employment and sickness benefits. We consider the case of Portugal, where sickness benefits are relatively generous, in contrast to other potentially related social support (such as childcare). We find that women's adjusted monthly odds of receiving sickness benefits are 1.66 times those of men. This ratio falls to 1.37 when considering only hospitalisation-initiated sickness benefits, which may be driven exclusively by health factors. Overall, our results suggest that biological factors, as well as work-related hazards and stressors, play a large role in the gender gap in sickness benefits; yet behavioural and socioeconomic factors are non-negligible. For example, more women may use sickness benefits to accommodate caregiving responsibilities, and more men may forgo statutory sick leave to provide for their family. Our findings underscore the importance of more evidence for the enhancement of health and equity at work. Improved social and workplace policies to mitigate the double burden of work and family responsibilities, laying mostly on (poorer) women, may be needed, also to increase fair use of sickness benefits. |
| Keywords: | Sick leave, Gender inequality, Hospitalisation, Diagnosis, Caregiving responsibilities |
| JEL: | I18 H55 J28 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1468 |
| By: | Baraldi, Anna Laura; Fosco, Giovanni |
| Abstract: | Differing attitudes towards environmental issues between men and women as policymakers may affect policies and actions. Accordingly, this research analyses the issue of the causal relationship between women politicians and the level of air pollution. The analysis tests for this in Italy, exploiting a gender quota measure (Law 215/2012) as an exogenous shock to the percentage of female municipal councilors. Difference-indifferences instrumental variable approach finds that an increase in the percentage of female councilors decreases the maximum number of days in which at least one type of monitoring stations (among all the stations installed in the provincial capital municipality) has detected an excess of PM10 with respect to its daily limit. This research provides evidence of the most likely mechanism driving the results by proving that an increase in female officeholders has a positive impact on a number of environmental friendly policies and measures (as the bicycle lanes, the urban green, the bike- and carsharing services, district heating and traffic blockage) aimed at reducing the harmful air particles. |
| Keywords: | Air pollution, Gender quotas, Municipal elections, Female politicians |
| JEL: | C26 D72 J16 Q53 |
| Date: | 2024–07–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:121377 |
| By: | Bihong Huang |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of board gender diversity on the performance of firms whose greenfield investments are struck by natural disasters. We find that corporations with more diverse boards are more likely to earn higher net income but less likely to have negative earnings in front of natural disasters. Further analyses indicate that those corporations with more diverse boards invest less in countries vulnerable to climate change but more in countries ready to adapt for climate change. They have lower exposure to environmental policy risks and are more likely to establish dedicated committees to oversee the risks. |
| Keywords: | board gender diversity; climate change; natural disaster |
| Date: | 2024–07–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2024/157 |
| By: | Jensen, Mathias Fjællegaard (University of Oxford); Zhang, Ning (Chinese University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | Nearly everyone experiences the death of a parent in adulthood, but little is known about the effects of parental death on adult children's labor market outcomes and the underlying mechanisms. In this paper, we use Danish administrative data to examine the effects of losing a parent on individual labor market outcomes and its contribution to gender earnings inequalities. Our empirical design leverages the timing of sudden, first parental deaths, allowing us to focus on the health and family support channels. Our findings reveal enduring negative effects on the earnings of both adult sons and daughters: sons' earnings drop by 2% in the fifth year after parental death, while daughters' earnings drop by 3% during the same period. Exploring the underlying mechanisms, we observe that both women and men experience increased mental health issues after parental loss, albeit manifesting differently: women tend to seek psychological assistance more frequently, while men receive more mental health-related and opioid prescriptions. Furthermore, we find that women with young children experience a comparatively larger drop (around 4%) in earnings after parental death due to the loss of informal childcare, a factor that significantly contributes to the gender pay gap. Lastly, we show that women experience a greater decline in earnings if their surviving parent requires higher levels of eldercare. These findings collectively underscore a substantial labor market penalty for individuals who experience parental death and emphasize the role of informal care in contributing to gender pay disparities. |
| Keywords: | parental death, earnings, gender inequalities, mental health, family support |
| JEL: | D64 J10 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17127 |
| By: | González, Felipe (Queen Mary University of London); Prem, Mounu (Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance); von Dessauer, Cristine (MIT) |
| Abstract: | Autocrats often control social organizations to disseminate their ideology. We examine the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile (1973–1990), where conservative military forces controlled female social organizations to promote traditional roles for women as mothers and housewives. Partnering with higher education institutions, the dictatorship delivered training programs aimed at fostering domestic skills. Our findings reveal these programs facilitated women's entry into the labor market without changing their political views. Decades later, these programs are still linked to higher female labor force participation among women directly exposed during the dictatorship and their daughters raised in democracy. |
| Keywords: | women, centers, labor force participation, empowerment, dictatorship |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17163 |
| By: | Jessen, Jonas (IZA); Schweighofer-Kodritsch, Sebastian (Humboldt University Berlin); Weinhardt, Felix (European University Viadrina, Frankfurt / Oder); Berkes, Jan (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs) |
| Abstract: | Using novel time-use data from Germany before and after reunification, we document two facts: First, spouses who both work full-time exhibit similar housework patterns whether they do so voluntarily or due to a full-time mandate, as in the GDR. Second, men's amount of housework is independent of their spouse's labour supply. We theoretically explain this pattern by the presence of two household goods and socially learned gender-specific comparative advantage in their home production. We label this gender specialisation as separate housework spheres. Empirical evidence strongly confirms separate housework spheres in the GDR, West Germany, subsequent years post-reunification, and in international time-use data across 17 countries since the 1970s. We consider several implications, such as those for child penalties, where separate housework spheres provide a novel explanation for why it is the mothers whose labour market outcomes strongly deteriorate upon the arrival of children. |
| Keywords: | gender, household allocation of time, norms |
| JEL: | D13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17134 |