|
on Gender |
|
Issue of 2024‒10‒07
four papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Zanoni, Wladimir; Duryea, Suzanne; Paredes, Jorge |
| Abstract: | In this study, we investigate the extent and mechanisms of gender-based discrimination in urban Ecuador's hiring practices, a critical issue for understanding persistent gender disparities and informing policy. Using an artifactual field experiment with 392 recruiters evaluating observationally equivalent male and female job candidates, we uncover a significant preference for female candidates. Our results show that women were preferred by a margin of 15%, despite equivalent productivity assessments between genders. This suggests that hiring decisions are influenced by factors beyond assessed productivity differentials. We hypothesize that social norms advocating for gender equality significantly drive these preferences, and demonstrate that the preference for women aligns with the observed trend of narrowing the employment gender gap in survey data. |
| Keywords: | Gender discrimination;Occupational Segregation;labor market;Stereotyping |
| JEL: | J16 J71 C93 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13705 |
| By: | Haoran He; David Neumark; Qian Weng |
| Abstract: | A recent approach to testing for customer statistical discrimination involves studying price gaps between sellers from different gender, race, or ethnic groups and how they evolve as buyers obtain more information about seller quality. We consider a similar setting, testing for statistical discrimination against female doctors in an online health care market. But we show that this kind of analysis does not provide evidence on statistical discrimination in this setting because doctors have a choice about how strongly to signal gender. We develop a new approach to identifying statistical discrimination using doctors’ choices about signaling their gender. We find evidence of statistical discrimination against female doctors in male-dominated fields, and against male doctors in female-dominated fields. In particular, female doctors mask gender more strongly initially in male-dominated fields, and male doctors do the same in female-dominated fields. But in both female- and male-dominated fields the gender gap in signaling decreases with number of customer reviews of doctors. More generally, our evidence indicates how, in some markets, sellers may be able to reduce statistical discrimination by masking their group membership. |
| JEL: | I11 J16 J40 J70 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32929 |
| By: | Nicholas A. Wright (Department of Economics, Florida International University) |
| Abstract: | This paper utilizes administrative data to investigate the gender gap in high school performance on various high-stakes exams and the gender disparity in academic outcomes at the leading university in the Caribbean. The results show that female students outperformed their male peers, being 8.5 and 6.6 percentage points more likely to pass a generic subject in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) exams, respectively. These results are robust across subject type, school ownership, school rank, and subject difficulty. Additionally, more females are admitted to each degree program annually, and they continue to outperform males regardless of age, enrollment status, or admission scores. The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition indicate that school attributes, subject-cohort composition, and subject choice explain up to 78% of the gender gap in CSEC and CAPE pass rates, while college readiness, college-level decisions, and field of study fully explain the gap in college GPA. |
| Keywords: | Gender Achievement Gap, Academic Performance, High-Stakes Exam, STEM |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J16 J24 N36 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fiu:wpaper:2410 |
| By: | Hirao, Tomotaka (Setsunan University); Igawa, Shizue |
| Abstract: | Understanding the parental leave system at childbearing age is crucial for life after childbirth, regardless of gender. According to a 2021 UNICEF report, Japan has the best paid paternity leave policy in the world. However, the uptake rate of parental leave for Japanese male employees remains low compared to international averages. Many Japanese fathers may be underutilizing this benefit of this highly ranked parental leave system. Although there are several reasons for this, this study focuses on a lack of understanding of the particulars parental leave system. The empirical results of this study show that female employees possess more knowledge than their male counterparts and that the determinants of this knowledge differ between men and women. A worrying aspect of these results is the lack of opportunities for young male employees to improve their parental leave knowledge in the “lowest-low fertility” society of Japan. Future research is needed to try to identify new determinants of this knowledge to better understand and overcome the relationship of this problem to Japan’s low fertility rate. |
| Date: | 2024–09–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:r9q8n |