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on Gender |
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Issue of 2024–11–25
fourteen papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Noor Kumar; Uyseok Lee; Matt Lowe; Olaitan Ogunnote; Matthew Lowe |
| Abstract: | Weekly lotteries determine which politicians ask the UK Prime Minister a question in front of a male-dominated, packed, and noisy chamber. Women are 12% less likely to submit questions than same-cohort men, and this gap does not close with lottery-induced experience asking a question, or with years of service. However, the gender gap almost fully closes after a switch to a format in which questions are asked to a smaller, quieter, audience. The switch differentially draws in women with quieter voices. Our findings support institutional change, rather than adaptation through experience, as a response to gender gaps in adversarial settings. |
| Keywords: | gender gap, public speaking, gender norms, politician behaviour |
| JEL: | J16 D91 D72 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11358 |
| By: | Olympia Bover (BANCO DE ESPAÑA); Laura Hospido (BANCO DE ESPAÑA, CEMFI AND IZA); Ana Lamo (EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK) |
| Abstract: | Using anonymised personnel records from the Banco de España, we examine gender differences in career progression. This institution features a complex professional development system, in which competitive calls, direct appointments and vertical promotions coexist. We document that the presence of women has increased markedly since the late 1990s, although not always in a monotonic manner. Comparing male and female potential candidates for the same process, we find no significant gender gaps in the probability of promotion in competitive calls, nor in direct appointments or in vertical promotions. Among managers, however, our findings suggest differences between different types of promotion processes. In promotions to/between department director and division head positions, we do find a significantly lower probability of promotion for women relative to men through competitive calls. We also find that women are less likely to apply for managerial positions in competitive calls than men. Finally, in the business areas where most economists work, we find that women are less likely than men to be promoted to/between department director and division head positions in competitive calls, but have a higher probability of achieving vertical promotions to positions immediately below these levels in the hierarchy, such as unit heads. For this group of business areas, gender differences in the probability of application are not significant. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, working histories, central banking |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J41 J63 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:2443 |
| By: | Bartels, Charlotte (DIW Berlin); Sierminska, Eva (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)); Schröder, Carsten (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | There is growing interest in understanding how gender influences the accumulation of wealth. While prior studies focused on labor-related determinants, our research focuses on inheritances and gifts. Using unique survey data that oversamples the top 1% of wealth holders in Germany, we show that the gender wealth gap is small for individuals up to age 40, then widens, and declines for those past retirement age. Transfer amounts and their timing are important drivers of these differences: men tend to inherit larger sums than women during their working life. Women often outlive their male partners, thus receiving larger inheritances at older ages. |
| Keywords: | wealth accumulation, wealth inequality, gender wealth gap, inheritances, gender economics |
| JEL: | D31 D63 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17324 |
| By: | Tommaso Giommoni; Enrico Rubolino |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of tax incentives on economic behavior within the household. We focus on an Italian tax policy that grants a large tax credit to main earners if their spouses, designated as “dependent spouses” by the tax law, report income below a certain threshold. Combining a novel administrative dataset with a bunching approach, we find that second-earner women adjust their income to benefit from the tax credit, while second-earner men do not. Second-earner women holding more conservative gender norms are the ones who mostly reduce their income. This suggests that tax policies can exacerbate economic inequalities among families and depress female labor market outcomes when they interact with entrenched gender norms. |
| Keywords: | spouse tax credit, income taxation, gender norms, bunching, household behavior, female labor supply |
| JEL: | H24 H31 J16 J12 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11311 |
| By: | Berniell, Inés (University of La Plata); Gasparini, Leonardo (Universidad Nacional de la Plata); Marchionni, Mariana (Universidad Nacional de la Plata); Viollaz, Mariana (CEDLAS-UNLP) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of economic fluctuations on social norms, specifically exploring the link between changes in unemployment and shifts in attitudes toward gender roles in the labor market. The results are not immediately obvious, as the literature suggests several potential mechanisms with conflicting outcomes. Using microdata from the World Values Survey for a panel of 103 countries that cover close to 90% of the world population, we estimate individual-level probability models of agreement with traditional gender roles over the period 1995 to 2021, including country and year fixed effects. We find that an increase in unemployment is associated to more conservative views about gender roles in the labor market. This result is remarkably robust across different groups and specifications. We also find that some contextual factors matter. In particular, the link between higher unemployment and more conservative views on gender roles is stronger in countries with, on average, higher gender inequality and lower female labor force participation. Overall, this study contributes to a growing body of research on the complex relationship between economic conditions, gender norms, and social change. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, business cycle, attitudes, social norms, gender values, gender |
| JEL: | J16 J21 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17375 |
| By: | Pelin Akyol; Kala Krishna; Sergey Lychagin |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Turkish University Entrance Exam, we investigate the extent of the gender gap in college placement, its underlying causes, and potential policy interventions. We estimate preferences using a novel approach which improves our ability to capture substitution patterns and find clear evidence that placement differences are primarily driven by preference differences across gender. We compare stipend subsidies to score bonuses that achieve gender parity. Score subsidies improve the welfare of women almost entirely at the cost of men with similar scores and favor high-income women. Stipend subsidies improve the welfare of women, but at little cost to men and favor low-income women. Our work is the first to show that how gender neutrality is achieved matters to society. |
| JEL: | C6 I20 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33074 |
| By: | António Afonso; M. Carmen Blanco-Arana |
| Abstract: | The gender pay gap and the gender gap in employment remains persistent in Europe despite the basic assertion of gender equality under EU law. We assess the factors that influence the gender pay gap and gender employment gap across European countries. Therefore, we use an unbalanced panel of 31 European countries over the period 2000-2022, and estimate a system generalized method of moment model (GMM). The main conclusions confirm that tertiary education significantly reduces gender pay gap and part-time and temporary contracts significantly increase this gap. Moreover, part-time reduces significantly gender employment gap. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita does not affect these gaps and the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) saw a narrowing of the gender pay and employment gaps in European countries. The results are robust when using a fixed effects (FE) model.. |
| Keywords: | gender pay gap, gender employment gap, secondary education, tertiary education, part-time, temporary work, GMM, European countries |
| JEL: | J00 J16 C23 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11315 |
| By: | Kenza Elass; Cecilia García-Peñalosa; Christian Schluter; Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa |
| Abstract: | We examine the economic geography of gender wage gaps to understand the role that location plays in gender earning differences. Using panelised administrative data for the universe of French workers, our findings indicate that women benefit relatively more from density than men, with an urban wage premium (return to urban density) 48% higher than for men. We identify a number of factors that explain this gap, with a large share being explained by the structure of the local labour market, notably, the extent of occupational segregation. Another important factor is commuting patterns, while childcare availability plays only a moderate role. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, agglomeration economies, urban wage premium |
| JEL: | J31 J16 R10 R23 R12 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11374 |
| By: | Alina J?drzejczak; Kamila Trzci?ska |
| Abstract: | Gender equality is one of the fundamental values of the European Union (EU). Great efforts have been made to defend this right and to promote gender equality within the member states and across the world. However, substantial income differences between men and women are still observed. There is a debated research issue regarding the methodology of measuring gender gap – the traditional methods based on comparing means and medians seem unsatisfactory as they do not consider the shape of income distributions. In the paper we propose a parametric approach for estimating the relative distribution, which enables comparing and visualizing the “gap” between the gender groups at each distribution quantile. Such an approach moves beyond the typical focus on average or median earnings differences, toward a full comparison of the entire distribution of women’s earnings relative to men’s. The focus of the present paper is on income distributions across four Central European countries: Poland, Slovakia, Czechia and Hungary, the members of the Visegrád Group (V4). These countries share a similar history and similar economic development, but there are substantial differences between the national approaches to economic reforms, including labour market policy. This, in turn, is reflected in different income distributions and income inequality patterns. The basis for the calculations was the microdata coming from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). The statistical methods applied in the study turned out to be relevant to describe the gender gap over the entire income range. The results of the empirical analysis helped to reveal similarities and substantial differences between the countries. |
| JEL: | C4 J16 D63 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lis:liswps:878 |
| By: | Steiber, Nadia (University of Vienna); Lebedinski, Lara (University of Vienna); Liedl, Bernd (University of Vienna); Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf (Johannes Kepler University Linz) |
| Abstract: | This study contributes to the literature on how parenthood affects the within-couple gender earnings gap. It examines how this 'child penalty' on women's earnings varies with the education level of both partners and the woman's relative education within the couple. Using Austrian register data on 268, 156 heterosexual couples who entered parenthood between 1990 and 2007, and an event study design that uses the couple as the unit of analysis, we examine the heterogeneity in the magnitude of the child penalty. Our stratified analyses show that the average child penalty is smaller for women in hypogamous couples, where she is more educated than her partner, than for women in homogamous or hypergamous unions, where the male partner is equally or less educated. These results are confirmed by multivariate regressions that control for compositional effects and disentangle the effects of partners' level of education from the impact of the woman's relative education within the couple. Furthermore, examining detailed educational pairings, rather than lumping couples into three broad types, reveals a larger variation in the size of the child penalty: tertiary-educated women in hypogamous unions incur substantially smaller penalties compared to all other educational pairings, while women in hypergamous unions with a tertiary-educated man face particularly large penalties. Supplementary analyses suggest that the reduced child penalties for tertiary-educated women in hypogamous unions do not reflect a selection of men with low earning potential into this union type. |
| Keywords: | child penalty, hypogamy, gender earnings gap |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J16 J22 D10 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17380 |
| By: | Jung, Dain (Liaoning University); Kim, Jun Hyung (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology); Kwak, Do Won (Korea University) |
| Abstract: | Single-sex schooling is a controversial policy whose effects are inconsistent across different studies with its mechanisms poorly understood. Leveraging the random allocation of high school students in South Korea, we study the effect of single-sex schooling on mental health while considering its interactions with peer relationships and academic achievement. Our results closely align with gender-specific responses to competitive pressure in the literature. Female students with better academic achievement than their peers experience better mental health and peer relationships. However, relatively underperforming female students, subject to intense competitive pressure at school, do not benefit from being in the company of other female students in a single-sex environment. Impacts on male students do not significantly depend on the competitive pressures they face. Our study calls for caution in implementing educational policies that may affect competitive pressure or gender composition in schools. |
| Keywords: | single-sex schooling, gender and competition, mental health, peer relationship |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17330 |
| By: | Banerjee, Archis; Kumar, Neha; Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
| Abstract: | There is growing evidence that gender disparities in the distribution of paid and unpaid work impose constraints on women’s well-being and livelihoods, reducing access to paid employment, and time for education, leisure, and social activities. Yet, gender disparities in unpaid work often go undiagnosed by traditional household surveys. While time-use surveys are well-suited for measuring unpaid work, they are often expensive to administer and take substantial amounts of survey time, leading to respondent fatigue, particularly in multi-topic surveys where other outcomes are also being collected. In this paper, we compare data collected using the task allocation module in the Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA) integrated household survey and the time-use module in the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) survey. We begin by describing the methods used to collect the data in each of the surveys. We present an overview of the characteristics of the study sites in the TAFSSA integrated survey and sites in the same countries where the WEAI data were collected. We then present comparable data from each of the two methods. The findings confirm the gendered patterns in involvement in different activities as measured by both survey modules. While women’s participation in agricultural activities is high across Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, the amount of time they spend on agricultural activities is less than that spent by men. Both survey tools confirm that women undertake most of the food preparation-related activities, and men contribute through shopping/purchasing food. |
| Keywords: | time use patterns; households; gender; unpaid work; women's empowerment; surveys; gender norms; Bangladesh; India; Nepal; Southern Asia; Asia |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2277 |
| By: | Jonas Jessen; Lavinia Kinne; Michele Battisti |
| Abstract: | Child penalties in labour market outcomes are well-documented: after childbirth, mothers’ employment and earnings drop persistently compared to fathers. Beyond gender norms, a potential driver could be the loss in labour market skills due to mothers’ longer employment interruptions. This paper estimates child penalties in adult cognitive skills by adapting the pseudo-panel approach to a single cross-section of 29 countries in the PIAAC dataset. We find a persistent drop in numeracy skills after childbirth for both parents between 0.13 (short-run) and 0.16 standard deviations (long-run), but no statistically significant difference between mothers and fathers. Estimates of child penalties in skills strongly depend on controlling for pre-determined characteristics, especially education. Additionally, there is no evidence for worse occupational skill matches for mothers after childbirth. Our findings suggest that changes in general labour market skills cannot explain child penalties in labour market outcomes, and that a cross-sectional estimation of child penalties can be sensitive to characteristics of the outcome variable |
| Keywords: | Child penalty, cognitive skills, gender inequality, PIAAC |
| JEL: | I20 J13 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2099 |
| By: | De Acutis, Costanza (Central European Forum for Migration and Population Research, Warsaw); Weber, Andrea (Central European University); Wurm, Elisabeth (Central European University) |
| Abstract: | We use a meta-analysis to summarize the recent literature evaluating effects of the introduction of gender quotas on company boards. We collect data from 51 studies on policies implemented in 11 countries from which we extract 496 estimates. The literature considers the effects of quota policies on a wide range of outcome variables which we group in four categories. The findings of the meta-analysis contribute to the discussion of boardroom quota policies by mitigating some concerns of negative impacts and pointing out areas where more policy action is needed. |
| Keywords: | corporate governance, diversity, gender quota, meta-analysis |
| JEL: | C8 G3 J7 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17333 |