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on Gender |
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Issue of 2025–09–29
six papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Bertrand Garbinti; Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa; Vladimir Pecheu; Frédérique Savignac |
| Abstract: | Using a long administrative panel dataset for France, we analyse the dynamics and drivers of the narrowing gender gap in lifetime earnings (LTE) for cohorts born after WWII. We find that the level, trends, and distribution of gender differences in LTE contrast sharply with those observed in the US, and that these differences are more marked than when we compare cross-sectional gender gaps. We show that this reflects a specific pattern in which both men and women experienced earnings gains over the whole distribution (with the exception of the very top), in contrast with the US, where the same cohorts of men experienced earnings losses in the three bottom quartiles of the distribution. We then decompose the changing role of various factors (e.g., working (part) time, education, occupation, geographical location) in shaping the evolution of the gender LTE gap in France. The contribution of unobserved factors decreases across cohorts and increases along the distribution, remaining larger at the top, consistent with a glass ceiling effect. Meanwhile, the impact of observed factors rises, mostly due to the decline in the years worked full time by women, which has slowed gender convergence. Differences in educational attainment contribute to a lesser extent, as the gender gap in returns to education has narrowed. |
| Keywords: | Lifetime Earnings, Inequality, Gender Earnings Gaps |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:994 |
| By: | Katherine Cuff; Ana Gamarra Rondinel; A. Abigail Payne |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether men and women respond differently to tuition variation for both university entry and STEM major choice, using a 30-year Australian individual-level administrative dataset. The Australian setting is unique: tuition fees are regulated, students can defer payment through income-contingent loans, and universities receive discipline-specific government subsidies. We find women consistently enrolled at higher rates than men, on average 14 percentage points between 1991 and 2020, with the gap widening over the period from 10 to 16 percentage points. By contrast, men were more likely to register in STEM fields. This STEM gap has remained stable in traditional STEM disciplines, but the gap has narrowed since 2005 when including Health in the definition of STEM. We find that women respond more positively than men to tuition increases in terms of overall enrollment. Effects on STEM participation, however, are less clear and vary across time. The STEM choice patterns suggest systematic gender differences in incentives and behavior, reflecting factors such as men’s stronger engagement with higher-paying non-university jobs, higher expected returns to traditional STEM fields for men, narrower earnings dispersion for women across fields, and gender differences in cost sensitivity and risk aversion. Our findings highlight how tuition policy interacts with gender-specific incentives to shape both university enrollment and major choices. |
| Keywords: | post-secondary education, university enrollment, gender, tuition, STEM |
| JEL: | I23 J16 I28 I22 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12141 |
| By: | Byker, Tanya (Middlebury College); Malik, Sara (University of Utah); Patel, Elena (University of Utah); Sandvik, Jason (University of Arizona) |
| Abstract: | We use administrative data from the U.S. Census to estimate the effect of female director representation on workplace gender diversity and women’s earnings. Using a difference-in-differences estimator that correctly accounts for variation in treatment timing, we show that first-time female director appointments lead to subsequent increases in workplace gender diversity. We find that the effects are driven by the improved retention of female workers in the middle and upper quartiles of the firm’s overall earnings distribution. We find suggestive evidence that the effects are due to the newly appointed female directors’ influence on corporate policy, as we observe stronger effects when the director is placed on one of the board’s three core committees. |
| Keywords: | wage, directors, corporate board, women, committee |
| JEL: | J13 J30 J31 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18125 |
| By: | Francesca Barigozzi; Natalia Montinari; Giovanni Righetto; Alessandro Tampieri |
| Abstract: | In most countries, women systematically outperform men in academic achievement across fields of study. Yet within a year of graduation, they earn less, face lower employment rates, and are more likely to work part-time. If human capital were the sole determinant of pay, this pattern would be difficult to reconcile. We address this puzzle by extending the statistical discrimination framework ‘a la Phelps (1972) to include not only human capital but also additional components of productivity, such as IT skills and mobility intentions -the willingness to travel or relocate for work -which might capture candidates’ technological proficiency and adaptability. Using rich microdata from the AlmaLaurea survey of master’s graduates from the University of Bologna (2015–2022), we show that while human capital alone predicts no gender wage gap in favor of men, combining it with mobility intentions reproduces the early wage disadvantage observed for women in Economics and Engineering. We further show that IT skills -an observable CV trait constructed from multiple IT-skill items- reduce the residual gender wage gap, especially in Engineering. Our findings highlight the importance of complementing human capital with field-specific preference and skill traits to explain-and potentially address-early gender wage gaps. |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J71 J24 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp1212 |
| By: | Carnicelli, Lauro (LABORE Labour Institute for Economic Research); Morando, Greta (University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | We study how maternal preferences interact with education to shape the motherhood penalty. Using rich Finnish registry data and the quasi-random gender of the firstborn child, we show that mothers across education groups display a mild preference for daughters, reflected in their fertility and parental leave choices. Yet this shared preference translates into divergent long-run outcomes. Ten years after birth, highly educated mothers face a 10\% larger earnings penalty if their firstborn is a son, whereas less educated mothers experience slightly higher penalties with daughters. These differences stem from distinct labor market adjustments: less educated mothers are marginally more likely to exit employment after having a daughter, while highly educated mothers with daughters disproportionately move into public-sector jobs, which offer a relative wage premium. Our findings demonstrate that similar parental preferences can generate contrasting long-term earnings dynamics across education groups, highlighting the role of maternal preferences and labor market sorting in shaping the motherhood penalty. |
| Keywords: | parental preferences, gender wage gap, child penalty, occupational sorting |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J24 J42 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18140 |
| By: | Monica Deza; Maria Zhu |
| Abstract: | Using individual-level data from the Add Health surveys, we leverage idiosyncratic variation in gender composition across cohorts within the same school to examine whether being exposed to a higher share of female peers affects mental health and school satisfaction. We find that being exposed to a higher proportion of female peers, despite only improving school satisfaction for boys, improves mental health for both boys and girls. The benefits are greater among boys of low socioeconomic backgrounds, who would otherwise be more likely to be exposed to violent and disruptive peers. We find suggestive evidence that the mechanisms driving our findings are consistent with stronger school friendships for boys and better self-image and grades for girls. |
| JEL: | I1 I12 I20 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34269 |