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on Gender |
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Issue of 2025–07–28
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Marta Curull-Sentís; Laia Maynou; Lídia Farré; Libertad González |
| Abstract: | We conduct a survey experiment to examine gender differences in preferences for job attributes, including flexibility, commuting distance, and workplace climate. Both men and women are willing to trade 20–30% of their current wage to avoid inflexible jobs and long commutes. However, a notable gender difference emerges in the willingness-to-pay (WTP) to avoid sexual harassment. Women are willing to trade 50% of their wage for a secure workplace, 14 percentage points more than men. Among recent female victims, this aversion increases to 87%. These findings under-score the detrimental impact of sexual harassment on gender equality and talent allocation in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | compensating wage differentials, gender gaps, sexual harassment, survey experiments, working conditions, working flexibility |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J28 J81 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1500 |
| By: | Antman, Francisca M. (University of Colorado, Boulder); Skoy, Evelyn (Hamilton College); Flores, Nicholas E. (University of Colorado, Boulder) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the impacts of grades and information on gender gaps in college major and college dropout rates at a large public flagship university. Observational and experimental results suggest women are more responsive to introductory economics grades when deciding whether to major in economics while men are more responsive to introductory economics grades when deciding whether to drop out of college. Providing better information about grade distributions appears to only somewhat mitigate these impacts. These results suggest better information may blunt the impact of relative grade sensitivities on college gender gaps but may not fully outweigh the saliency of grades. Finally, we consider the extent to which aligning economics grading standards with those of competing disciplines would reduce the gender gap in economics graduates but find relatively limited impacts. |
| Keywords: | college dropout, college major, gender, higher education |
| JEL: | I23 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18001 |
| By: | Marco Caliendo (University of Potsdam, CEPA, BSoE, IZA, DIW, IAB); Deborah A. Cobb-Clark (University of Sydney, IZA, ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course Centre); Katrin Huber (University of Potsdam, CEPA, BSoE, IZA); Harald Pfeifer (Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) Bonn, ROA at Maastricht University); Arne Uhlendorff (CREST, CNRS, IP Paris, IAB); Sophie Wagner (University of Potsdam, CEPA) |
| Abstract: | We examine how gender shapes managers’ decisions regarding on-the-job training using a discrete choice experiment embedded in a representative survey of German firms. While previous research on training has focused on employees’ demand for it, we make a contribution by studying firms’ supply of training. In our vignette study, 1, 144 managers evaluate hypothetical candidate profiles that differ by gender, age, competence, job mobility, and training characteristics. We find that women are somewhat more likely than men to receive training offers. The exceptions are that female managers are more reluctant to choose young women for training, while male managers favor male candidates for fully employer-funded training. These patterns persist across various model specifications and remain robust when controlling for observable manager characteristics. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that female managers are more reluctant to offer training to women when they operate in competitive product markets, male-dominated industries, and firms without collective bargaining agreements. More broadly, our results highlight that managers influence not only how much training is undertaken, but also how training opportunities are distributed among employees. This has the potential to create gender disparities in early career development that may have implications for organizational equity. |
| Keywords: | gender differences, manager decisions, human capital investment, training |
| JEL: | J24 J16 M53 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pot:cepadp:90 |
| By: | Xiaoyue Shan; Ulf Zölitz; Uschi Backes-Gellner |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of online instruction with a field experiment that randomly assigns 1, 344 university students to different proportions of online and in-person lectures in multiple introductory courses. Increased online instruction leaves men’s exam performance unaffected but significantly lowers women’s performance, particularly in math-intensive courses. Online instruction also reduces women’s longer-run performance and increases their study dropout. Exploring mechanisms, we find that women exposed to more online lectures report greater difficulty in connecting with peers, less engaging instructors, and lower course satisfaction. Our findings suggest that shifting toward more online instruction may disproportionally harm women. |
| Keywords: | Online instruction, field experiment, gender disparities |
| JEL: | J16 I23 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:474 |
| By: | Hirofumi Kurokawa (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University); Hiroko Okudaira (Business School, Doshisha University); Yusuke Kinari (Hirao School of Management, Konan University); Fumio Ohtake (Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research, The University of Osaka) |
| Abstract: | Gender gaps in willingness to compete are widely recognized as a key factor contributing to disparities in labor market outcomes. While much attention has been paid to gender identity, individuals also belong to social groups that influence how they engage in competitive environments. The decision to compete often occurs within complex identity contexts, yet the combined effect of gender and group identity on competitive behavior remains less well understood. This study investigates how group identity shapes tournament entry decisions in mixed-gender environments. We conducted a laboratory experiment in which participants were randomly assigned to minimal groups and then paired with an opposite-gender partner. They were informed that their opponent was either from the same group (ingroup), a different group (outgroup), or received no group information (control). Participants completed a real-effort task and then chose between non-competitive and competitive payment schemes. The results showed that participants—particularly men—were less likely to choose the competitive option when facing an ingroup opponent. In contrast, women were slightly more likely to compete against outgroup opponents. While previous research has suggested that men may be more willing to compete to elevate their social status within a group, our findings reveal the opposite pattern when the ingroup opponent is female. These findings suggest that the interaction between gender and group identity can produce nuanced, non-additive effects on competitive behavior. |
| Keywords: | competitiveness, gender identity, group identity, multiple identities |
| JEL: | C91 C92 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kgu:wpaper:295 |
| By: | Modestino, Alicia Sasser (Northeastern University); Finn, Zachary (Northeastern University); Ladge, Jamie (Boston College); Lincoln, Alisa (Northeastern University) |
| Abstract: | Conducting a nationally representative survey of 2, 500 working parents between Mother's and Father's Day of 2020, we examine gender differences in the childcare shock during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on demographic, household, and labor market factors, we document gender differences in time use, work status, mental health, job satisfaction, and employer benefits. Using variation in pre-pandemic characteristics to measure exposure to the childcare shock, we find mothers in the more vulnerable group were 15 percentage points more likely to experience a reduction in hours due to childcare than similarly situated fathers. Although paid family leave helped narrow the gap in hours between mothers and fathers in the affected group, newer COVID-19 workplace practices such as working from home and childcare subsidies had no effect. |
| Keywords: | household decision-making, gender differences, childcare, paid leave, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | D13 D91 I30 J22 J28 J71 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18004 |