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on Gender |
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Issue of 2025–10–06
five papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Rainer Kotschy; Uwe Sunde |
| Abstract: | Men and women differ systematically in measures of patience, risk-taking, trust, and prosociality. While literature documents such gender gaps in numerous countries throughout the world, recent work suggests an association between these gender gaps and economic development, based on evidence of larger gender gaps in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic societies. However, little is known about how these gender gaps evolve and whether they indeed widen as countries develop. To examine this question, we analyze how within-country gender gaps in patience, risk-taking, trust, and prosociality have evolved across birth cohorts worldwide. We compare these gender gaps across country-period-cohort cells using two survey data sets that cover 460, 000 people in more than 100 countries. Our results document that gender gaps in patience, risk-taking, trust, and prosociality have declined across birth cohorts. This evidence rejects the notion that these gender gaps widen as countries develop and instead points to a decline in socioeconomic differences between men and women. |
| Keywords: | preferences, personality traits, gender gaps, cohort trends |
| JEL: | D01 J10 J11 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12173 |
| By: | Hanming Fang; Jiayin Hu; Miao Yu |
| Abstract: | We investigate the unintended consequences of maternity leave extension on gender gaps in the labor market. Using millions of job applications on an online job platform and the staggered extension of maternity leave across Chinese provinces, we find that an average increase (22%) in the length of paid maternity leave led to a 3.7 percentage point decrease in positive callbacks to female applicants relative to their male counterparts. In response, female job seekers submitted 4.4 more job applications, shifted toward jobs with 5.4% lower wages, and experienced 0.9 weeks longer job search duration than male applicants. We also find that government subsidies that partially cover firms' wage costs of extended maternity leave help alleviate its adverse impact on gender disparities in hiring. |
| JEL: | J16 J18 J23 J64 J71 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34304 |
| By: | Marie Boltz; Monserrat Bustelo; Ana María Díaz; Agustina Suaya |
| Abstract: | We study whether pluralistic ignorance about societal and spousal support for maternal employment sustains gender gaps in labor outcomes. We first elicit secondorder beliefs from 1, 732 cohabiting couples with young children in Bogotá. Personal support for working mothers is almost universal, yet both men and women substantially underestimate others’ support, particularly that of men. We then implement a randomized controlled trial delivering personalized information on prevailing attitudes toward maternal employment. The intervention narrowed belief gaps —raising women’s estimates of peer support and men’s perceptions of their partners’ views— while leaving first-order attitudes unchanged. Treated men were 7–8 percentage points (16 percent) more likely than men in the control group to nominate their wives for a career-building course rather than take the course for themselves; women, whose baseline demand was already high, showed no further change. Treated women intensified job-search efforts, and treated men expressed stronger preferences for work-family balance. These results reflect short-run adjustments in beliefs and reported behaviors, measured within weeks of the intervention. |
| Keywords: | Gender norms, Female Employment, Pluralistic ignorance, RCT. |
| JEL: | R41 R42 D62 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2025-37 |
| By: | Magdalena Smyk (Group for Research in Applied Economics (GRAPE); Warsaw School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the American Time Use Survey and hurdle regression models, this study examines how the gender composition of occupations relates to time spent on housework and childcare. We find that women in male-dominated occupations spend more time on housework than those in female-dominated or gender-neutral fields, suggesting that breaking occupational norms in the labor market does not necessarily translate into less traditional domestic roles. Such mothers are less likely to engage in childcare, although when involved spent the same amount of time on childcare and quality time, and higher earnings are associated with more time spent with children. For men, the patterns differ: fathers in gender-neutral or female-dominated occupations are more likely to participate in childcare and devote more time to it, while those in male-dominated jobs are more likely to report no childcare at all. Increased paternal childcare does not coincide with more housework, indicating a selective reallocation of time. The findings highlight the need for policies that address both occupational segregation and the domestic division of labor to promote gender equality at work and at home. |
| Keywords: | unpaid work, childcare, gender occupational segregation |
| JEL: | J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fme:wpaper:108 |
| By: | Gopal, Bhargav |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of California's SB826, enacted in 2018 and requiring at least one female director on corporate boards by 2019, on financial performance and governance. The quota reduced the share of all-male boards by 24 percentage points without harming financial performance from 2018 to 2021. Governance measures remained stable. Firms responded with both tokenism and meaningful integration, with tokenism more common in larger boards and those in male-dominated industries. I find that SB826 reduced firms' reliance on existing networks, suggesting that network barriers may have previously prevented some qualified women from joining boards. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:clefwp:327120 |