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on Gender |
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Issue of 2026–02–23
nine papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Shireen AlAzzawi (Santa Clara UniversityA); Vladimir Hlasny |
| Abstract: | Female labor force participation in Egypt remains low, and wages consistently under-reward women compared to men. This disparity is partly driven by the systematic channeling of women into lower-paying sectors, occupations, and firms, which results in downward pressure on wages. This paper examines the long-term relevance of the occupational segregation hypothesis in Egypt, utilizing labor market surveys from 1998 to 2023. Our findings reveal that women are predominantly concentrated in teaching, nursing, and clerical roles, despite increasing educational attainment in recent years. Occupational segregation significantly contributes to gender wage gaps, especially at the lower end and middle of the earnings distribution, where women face greater wage penalties. We conclude that addressing the gender pay gap in Egypt requires empowering women to access equal opportunities in diverse sectors, firms, and occupations, thus ensuring they can compete on equal terms with men in the labor market. |
| Date: | 2025–02–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1773 |
| By: | Ann Harrison; Laura J. Kray; Noor Sethi |
| Abstract: | In the United States, much of the gap in earnings between men and women is due to the persistent gap for high wage earners. This paper explores changes in the gender wage gap for MBAs graduating from a large public university over 30 years. We document large gender wage gaps on average, which grow in the course of men’s and women’s careers. Comparing graduates at identical career stages across time periods to address composition concerns, we show that the raw gender wage gap has shrunk by 33 to 50 percent over the last two decades. Additionally, the temporal pattern of the gap has fundamentally shifted: while gaps only emerged over time in earlier decades, significant gaps now emerge immediately. Convergence in labor supply factors, particularly hours worked, explains much of the narrowing gap, alongside shifts in industry composition. However, unexplained wage gaps persist for recent graduates from the very start of their careers, suggesting different underlying mechanisms across cohorts. These findings highlight both progress in gender wage equity among business professionals and concerning patterns that emerge earlier in careers than in previous decades. |
| JEL: | J01 J30 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34809 |
| By: | Crowther, Naomi; Roos, Louisa |
| Abstract: | Women rely on intra- and inter-generational transfers for wealth accumulation more than men, yet the role of inheritance in closing gender wealth gaps remains poorly understood. Using Swedish registry inheritance data from 2002–2004 combined with panel data on individual wealth portfolios and labor income from 1999–2007, we examine how wealth and income evolve upon inheriting. Inheritance leads to larger relative increases in women’s net wealth compared to men, however the difference disappears in the long term. Differences in portfolio composition as well as unequal inheritance of productive assets, in the form of business ownership, may play a role. We find evidence indicative of structural barriers to financial resource accumulation over the lifecycle rather than inherent gender differences in investment preferences. The disparity in wealth accumulation post-inheritance is reinforced by gendered labor supply responses. Daughters reduce their paid labor supply more than sons, seemingly to provide unpaid eldercare. Given these findings, inheritance alone should not be viewed as an effective mechanism for reducing gender wealth inequality. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper) |
| Date: | 2026–02–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:7w253_v1 |
| By: | Sarthak Joshi (School of Economics, University of Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: | Labor demand shocks unfold unevenly across space. I show that the resulting spatial mismatch can disproportionately impact women’s employment due to gender-based differences in the propensity to commute. My empirical strategy uses rising Chinese import competition in the early 2000s to generate variation in the spatial distribution of work within commuting zones in India. Rising trade exposure caused firms to expand in the urban core and contract in the rural periphery. In areas where firms reduced hiring, women’s employment was significantly lower than men’s after 10 years. While men started commuting across the rural-urban boundary to take up jobs in expanding sectors, women either switched to locally available agriculture or dropped out of the labor force. In line with women being more reliant on public transport, gender gaps are smaller in commuting zones with better bus connectivity. I find similar negative impacts for women regardless of marital status and education level, suggesting that results are not driven by household-level constraints or increasing demand for skilled labor. My findings are consistent with the presence of gendered commuting frictions stemming from a lack of comfortable and safe commuting options for women in India. In the last part of the paper, I use a spatial general equilibrium model to show that relaxing such frictions would have mitigated the observed decline in female labor force participation in India between 2001 and 2011 by 30%, increasing total output by 0.4%. |
| Keywords: | Female labour force participation, Commuting, Spatial distribution of economic activity, India. |
| JEL: | F16 J01 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edn:esedps:323 |
| By: | Ruth Neville (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Athina Anastasiadou (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The gender composition of international student mobility (ISM) to the United Kingdom (UK) has historically favoured female students, but recent trends indicate a decline in their proportions. This paper investigates the changing trends of female international mobility to UK higher education. It utilises data from the UK Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) on international undergraduate student applications by gender. This study examines evolving patterns of ISM from both European Union (EU) and non-European Union (non-EU) countries, as well as the trajectories of specific countries of origin. Our findings reveal a decline in the share of female students from non-EU countries since 2021, alongside a reduction in female applicants from the EU post-Brexit. Additionally, we observe that countries like Pakistan and India consistently send fewer female students, remaining below gender parity. Using a Generalised Linear Model (GLM), we model the share of female students and assess the influence of demographic, cultural, and policy factors on the share of female applications. Based on these findings, we provide policy recommendations aimed at promoting gender equity in international student recruitment to the UK. |
| Keywords: | United Kingdom, gender, international migration, students |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2026-004 |
| By: | Marco Palomeque (Universidad Complutense de Madrid); Jürgen Rösch (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar); Mafalda Gómez-Vega (Universidad de Valladolid) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines gender inequality in popular music using a newly constructed, comprehensive dataset covering the universe of songs that entered the Billboard Hot 100 between 1958 and 2025. By integrating chart histories with artist-level characteristics across multiple sources, the dataset enables dynamic analyses of participation, performance, and survival that were previously infeasible at this scale and horizon. Combining structural break analysis, dynamic participation models, and artists’ performance regressions, we show that non-male representation does not evolve cumulatively but is repeatedly reset at moments of technological and institutional change. Participation rises within regimes but drops sharply at structural transitions, consistent with renewed uncertainty and gatekeeping. Conditional on chart entry, non-male artists systematically over-perform at entry and peak visibility, yet exhibit weaker chart persistence, a pattern strongest in periods of stagnating participation. We interpret these findings as evidence of a Sisyphus Effect in the music industry, whereby higher effective entry thresholds force non-male artists to repeatedly rebuild representation under changing industry conditions. More broadly, the paper highlights conditional over-performance as a general empirical strategy for identifying discrimination in truncated markets when under-representation is observed in-sample. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Discrimination, Cultural Markets, Music Industry, Structural Change, Selection, Performance |
| JEL: | J16 J71 J24 Z11 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cue:wpaper:awp-02-2026 |
| By: | Ann-Kristin Reitmann (CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universität Passau [Passau], Leibniz Universität Hannover = Leibniz University Hannover); Clotilde Mahé (VU - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam [Amsterdam], Amsterdam Institute for Global Health & Development [Amsterdam, The Netherlands]); Micheline Goedhuys (Maastricht University [Maastricht]); Eleonora Nillesen (Maastricht University [Maastricht]) |
| Abstract: | We test two common features of the opinion-matching method to elicit personal beliefs and perceived social norms regarding female labor force participation among a sample of young Tunisian men and women. Our survey experiment contains two orthogonal treatment arms. In the first treatment arm, respondents were randomly assigned to answer a direct question about their personal beliefs regarding women working outside the home and an indirect questioning technique that provides more cover for the respondent: the list experiment. We find significant discrepancies between the two, particularly among male respondents -suggesting either biased personal beliefs in the direct question or non-strategic misreporting in the list experiment. It follows that, depending on which method is deemed more credible and which gender sample is considered, the prevalence of pluralistic ignorance varies widely in our setting. For the second treatment arm, we provided half of our sample with a financial incentive when eliciting perceived social norms regarding the appropriateness of women working. We find that financial incentives are necessary for both men and women to distinguish their personal beliefs from their perception of what others believe. |
| Keywords: | List experiment, Opinion-matching method, Female labor force participation, Social norms, Survey experiment |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05496799 |
| By: | Perez, Tania Dew S.; Abrigo, Michael R.M. |
| Abstract: | Female fertility patterns and their drivers have been extensively studied worldwide, often to the exclusion of male fertility patterns, particularly in developing country contexts. This study addresses this gap by examining male fertility patterns in the Philippines. Using own-children estimates derived from three decades of National Demographic and Health Surveys, a modest mismatch in the reproductive age windows of males and females is documented, showing that male total fertility rates exceed those of females. Treating fertility as a joint spousal outcome, the contribution of spousal heterogamy in three dimensions: age, educational attainment, and fertility preference, to observed fertility outcomes is quantified. It is found that converging fertility outcomes coincide with observed homogamous matching. However, fertility gaps persist across wealth quintiles, indicating systemic barriers that inhibit partners from achieving their fertility goals. By incorporating men into the analysis of fertility behavior, the missing half of the fertility picture in a changing demographic landscape is provided. Comments to this paper are welcome within 60 days from the date of posting. Email publications@pids.gov.ph. |
| Keywords: | Fertility rates, institutions, Family planning, gender dynamics |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2025-47 |
| By: | Martín Leites; Joan Vilá |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of sibling sex composition as a potential explanation of the transmission of parental advantages to the next generation. The presence of a brother affects the family environment and parents' decisions, influencing the siblings' labour market outcomes in the long term. The results show a negative effect of approximately 2% on the permanent income of women for the presence of a younger brother. This effect does not modify the intergenerational persistence of income. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational Mobility, Gender gap, Gender norms, Occupational choice |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2026-6 |