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on Gender |
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Issue of 2025–05–05
ten papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Celina Högn; Lea Mayer; Johannes Rincke; Erwin Winkler |
| Abstract: | This paper examines preferences for gender diversity among co-workers. Using stated-choice experiments with 5, 400 PhD students and university students in Germany, we uncover a substantial willingness to pay (WTP) for gender diversity of up to 5% of earnings on average. Importantly, we find that women have a much higher WTP for gender diversity than men. While the WTP differs by career ambition, competitiveness, and family preferences, we find that gender differences in traits and preferences cannot explain gender differences in the WTP for diversity. Our findings provide an explanation for differential sorting of men and women into high-profile jobs based on the share of female co-workers. |
| Keywords: | gender diversity, gender differences, preferences, willingness to pay, stated choice experiment |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J31 J33 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11732 |
| By: | Margaret Samahita (Department of Economics and Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin); Martina Zanella (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the gender influence gap in an academic setting, focusing on the Irish Economic Association (IEA) Conference review process. Using data from 2017 to 2023, we analyze whether organizers follow the recommendations of male and female reviewers equally and whether any difference can be attributed to a gender gap in the confidence of reviewers. Our findings reveal that organizers' decisions more closely align with male reviewers', particularly when the reviewer's confidence is high and when they have experience in the profession. The influence gap cannot be explained by female reviewers being less confident than males, which is the traditional explanation in the literature. Contrary to expectations, female reviewers report higher confidence than males. We explore potential mechanisms and find suggestive evidence that female reviewers strategically overstate their confidence in anticipation of discriminatory treatment by organizers. |
| Keywords: | discrimination; confidence; economics; strategic response |
| JEL: | J16 A14 D91 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep0325 |
| By: | Card, David (University of California, Berkeley); Devicienti, Francesco (University of Turin); Rossi, Mariacristina (University of Turin); Weber, Andrea (Central European University) |
| Abstract: | The gender wage gap rises with experience. To what extent do firm policies mediate this rise? We use administrative data from Italy to identify workers' first jobs and compute wage growth over the next 5 years. We then decompose the contribution of first employers to the rise in the gender wage gap, taking account of maternity events affecting a third of female entrants. We find that idiosyncratic firm effects explain 20% of the variation in early career wage growth, and that the sorting of women to slower-growth firms accounts for a fifth of the gender growth gap. Women who have a child within 5 years of entering work have particularly slow wage growth, reflecting a maternity effect that is magnified by the excess sorting of mothers-to-be to slower-growth firms. Many entrants change jobs within their first 5 years and we find that the male-female difference in early career wage growth arises from gaps for both movers and stayers. The firm components in wage growth for stayers and movers are highly correlated, and contribute similar sorting penalties for women who stay or leave. |
| Keywords: | maternity, firm effects, gender gaps, matched employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J00 J23 J24 J31 J38 J58 L13 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17860 |
| By: | Römer, Nathalie; Schröder, Marina |
| Abstract: | Written self-promotion is crucial in numerous decision-making scenarios, including job applications, securing funds for start-ups, or academic grant proposals. In two experiments, we study the effects of written self-promotion on decision quality and gender bias. We show that, if anything, written self-promotion slightly improves decision quality. Concerning gender bias, we find that self-promotion does not induce a gender bias that harms women. While women in our sample face adverse effects of written self-promotion due to lower performance beliefs, they can compensate for this disadvantage by applying a more modest writing style and by providing more informative written self-promotion. Finally, we show that the provision of self-promotion can mitigate pre-existing gender biases. |
| Keywords: | Gender bias, self-promotion, real-effort, experiment |
| JEL: | C9 M51 J16 D91 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-737 |
| By: | Arrazola, Maria; Campos, Raquel; de Hevia, Jose |
| Abstract: | Despite women outnumbering men in higher education, significant gender segregation persists in the choice of field of study. In the 2020/2021 academic year, only 8% of Spanish female students were enrolled in Engineering, compared to 29.5% of male students. This paper investigates the determinants of the underrepresentation of women in Engineering in Spain by examining whether differences in future labour market outcomes influence this anomaly. Using data from the 2019 University Graduate Employment Outcomes Survey, we find significantly worse labour outcomes for female Engineering graduates than for those in Health. Within fields, we find a larger gender gap in labour outcomes in Engineering than in Health. Our results suggest that gender segregation in higher education can be partly driven by differences in labour market expectations by field of study and gender. Many women who could pursue Engineering based on their pre-university track and accomplishments may opt instead for other fields like Health due to better career prospects: higher probability of finding a job and higher earnings, and lower likelihood of experiencing vertical and horizontal mismatches. |
| Keywords: | engineering; field of study; gender differences; gender segregation; higher education; labour market entry |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2025–04–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127944 |
| By: | Clarke, Damian (University of Chile); Bhalotra, Sonia R. (University of Warwick); Nazarova, Angelina (ISER, University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | Looking at the earnings profiles of men and women after their first child is born, a number of studies establish that women suffer a larger penalty in earnings than men—a child penalty. Leveraging randomness in the sex of the first birth, we show that the child penalty in the UK is larger when the first born child is a girl. We label this the daughter penalty. Exploiting rich longitudinal survey data, we examine behavioural responses to the birth of a daughter vs. a son to illuminate the underpinnings of the daughter penalty. We find that the birth of a daughter triggers more household specialisation than the birth of a son, with mothers taking on a larger share of household chores and childcare. Mothers suffer a daughter penalty in mental health, while fathers report more satisfaction with their relationship. Our findings imply that girls and boys in the UK are, on average, growing up in different home environments, with girls growing up in households that, by multiple markers, are more gender-regressive. This is potentially a mechanism for the inter-generational transmission of gendered norms. |
| Keywords: | parental involvement, mental health, gender wage gap, child penalty, gender |
| JEL: | J2 J7 I3 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17817 |
| By: | Pia Heckl; Carolina Lennon; Alyssa Schneebaum |
| Abstract: | Global firms have a higher share of female employees than domestic non-exporters. To explain this fact, this paper tests whether international trade and FDI are channels through which norms regarding gender (in)equality are transmitted from customers and investors to firms. We employ pooled cross-sectional data from 2007 - 2016 for around 28, 000 firms in 104 different countries. We compare global versus non-global firms in the same market to study the influence of firms’ exposure to gender norms in commercial partner countries. The results show a race to the top for low- and mid-level jobs and the opposite for top managerial positions. |
| Keywords: | globalization, international trade, FDI, gender, transmission of social norms |
| JEL: | F66 D22 F42 J16 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11704 |
| By: | Janneke Pieters; Ana Kujundzic; Rulof Burger; Joel Gondwe |
| Abstract: | Technological change can have profound impacts on the labor market. Decades of research have made it clear that technological change produces winners and losers. Machines can replace some types of work that humans do, while new technologies increase human's productivity in other types of work. For a long time, highly educated workers benefitted from increased demand for their labor due to skill-biased technological change, while the losers were concentrated at the bottom of the wage distribution (Katz and Autor, 1999; Goldin and Katz, 2007, 2010; Kijima, 2006). Currently, however, labor markets seem to be affected by a different type of technological change, the so-called routine-biased technological change (RBTC). This chapter studies the risk of automation in developing country labor markets, with a particular focus on differences between men and women. Given the pervasiveness of gender occupational segregation, there may be important gender differences in the risk of automation. Understanding these differences is important to ensure progress towards equitable development and gender inclusion in the face of new technological advances. Our objective is to describe the gender gap in the routine task intensity of jobs in developing countries and to explore the role of occupational segregation and several worker characteristics in accounting for the gender gap. |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2504.07689 |
| By: | Rodríguez-Planas, Núria (Queens College, CUNY); Secor, Alan (City University of New York) |
| Abstract: | Have the recent changes in reproductive rights changed women’s perceptions of discrimination and fair treatment relative to men’s perceptions? To address this question, we collected online survey data (N=1, 374) during spring 2023 using a randomized design that provided information about the enactment of State antiabortion laws and the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court to a treatment group but no information to an untreated control group. This exogenous variation in information dissemination was used to analyze perceived fairness and discrimination of treated individuals, by sex. We find that treatment increases women’s overall perception of discrimination and unfair treatment in the US by 11.5 percent of a standard deviation and their perception relative to men by 21.8 percent of a standard deviation, widening an already existing gender gap. These results support the notion that the recent state and federal abortion restrictions can impact individuals’ perceptions of fairness and discrimination in the U.S. and do so differentially by gender. |
| Keywords: | perceived discrimination and fairness, gender, state and federal abortion restrictions, rights protection, randomized information treatment. |
| JEL: | J15 J16 I K36 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17807 |
| By: | Popova, Daria; Avram, Silvia; Irene, Rioboo |
| Abstract: | This study provides the first comparative analysis of how COVID-19 policy responses influenced gender income inequality across 28 European countries. Using a quasi-experimental approach that combines microsimulation and nowcasting techniques, we construct counterfactual scenarios to estimate the net effects of pandemic-related labor market shocks and government interventions on the incomes of women and men. By employing a gender-sensitive measure of disposable income, we address intra-household inequality often overlooked in distributional research. Our findings show that although both working age men and women experienced income losses in 2020, these were significantly mitigated by tax-benefit policies. Men, on average, benefitted more from furlough due to greater employment losses and higher pre-pandemic earnings, while women benefitted from the progressive design of other policy measures. On average, the ratio of women’s to men’s disposable incomes rose slightly, indicating a temporary narrowing of the gender income gap. These results highlight the equalizing role of expansive social protection during pandemic and underscore the importance of gender-aware policy analysis. |
| Date: | 2025–04–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:cempwp:cempa7-25 |