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on Gender |
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Issue of 2026–03–02
eight papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Alina-Maria Pavelea (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Michał Anna Matysiak (Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | Recent public discourse suggests a growing polarization between young men and women in gender-role attitudes. This research note evaluates this claim by examining long-term trends in gender-role attitudes among young adults (aged 20–29) across nine world regions over four decades. Drawing on pooled data from the World Values Survey, the International Social Survey Programme, the European Values Study, and the European Social Survey, we track three dimensions of gender egalitarianism covering attitudes towards gender equality in the public sphere, maternal work–family compatibility attitudes and attitudes toward gender roles in the private sphere. The results do not support the notion of a generalized gender polarization, as divergence does not occur across all dimensions. Attitudes regarding women’s and mothers’ paid work have become more egalitarian, and gender differences have narrowed or remained modest across most regions. By contrast, gender gaps persist in attitudes towards men’s labour market primacy and fathers’ suitability for childcare, and in some regions have widened, partly driven by declining egalitarianism among young men. Thus, convergence in views on women’s and mothers’ employment has not been matched by a comparable shift in attitudes toward men’s roles, pointing to an uneven transformation of gender norms with potential demographic implications. |
| Keywords: | gender divide, gender gap, gender-role attitudes, young adults |
| JEL: | J16 J21 J13 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2026-3 |
| By: | Negar Khaliliaraghi; Petter Lundborg; Johan Vikström |
| Abstract: | Gender gaps in earnings persist even among high-skilled workers, partly because men and women often perform different tasks within and across jobs. We study a rare setting in which high-skilled men and women perform the same tasks under comparable conditions, allowing us to assess gender differences in productivity and pay without confounding from task or client allocation. Using administrative data from the Swedish Public Employment Service between 2003 and 2014, we exploit a rotation scheme that quasi-randomly assigns job seekers to employment caseworkers. This ensures male and female caseworkers are matched with comparable clients. We find productivity differences are small: job seekers assigned to female and male caseworkers exit unemployment at similar rates, with no evidence of job-quality differences. Consistent with this, hourly wages—conditional on productivity—are nearly identical across genders. Despite this, female caseworkers earn about 8 percent less per year, due to differences in contracted and actual hours worked. We also find suggestive evidence that male caseworkers are more likely to be promoted than equally productive female colleagues. Overall, when tasks are standardized and performance is measured objectively, gender differences in productivity and hourly pay are minimal, while gaps in annual earnings and career progression persist. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, productivity, wages, task allocation |
| JEL: | D84 I12 J12 J21 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12413 |
| By: | Sofie Cairo; Ria Ivandić; Anne Sophie Lassen; Valentina Tartari |
| Abstract: | Persistent gender gaps in the labor market are largely driven by the underrepresentation of women at the top of most professions. We study how parenthood shapes gender gaps in academic careers using population-wide administrative and survey data linked to productivity and promotion records. Parenthood marks a sharp divergence in academic careers: one in three women exit academia following motherhood. Men also experience a decline in academic employment after fatherhood, but the effects are substantially smaller. For mothers, childbirth leads to a persistent decline in both tenure attainment and research output, while men’s trajectories on these margins are unaffected by parenthood. The child penalty on tenure is driven primarily by women’s higher exit rates from academia. Gender differences in career aspirations do not explain these findings; instead, childcare and mobility constraints play a central role. Child penalties are exacerbated in highly competitive environments and environments without senior female role models. |
| JEL: | A11 D63 J13 J16 J44 |
| Date: | 2026–02–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0092 |
| By: | Derks, Belle; Manzi, Francesca; van Laar, Colette; Ellemers, Naomi |
| Abstract: | Women remain underrepresented in leadership, particularly in traditionally masculine work settings. At the same time, the visibility of this imbalance has led to growing calls for diversifying leadership. This research examines how both men and women contribute to the preservation or disruption of gender inequality in masculine organizational contexts. Men remain the gatekeepers of change—deciding who rises to the top and under what conditions—while women face the strategic dilemma of fitting in by downplaying inequality (supporting the status quo, sometimes called ‘queen bee behaviour’) or ‘rocking the boat’ by advocating social change (challenging the status quo). Across five experimental studies (total N = 887), we examined how evaluators assessed male and female leadership candidates who either supported or challenged the status quo. Results revealed that although men favoured female over male candidates, they consistently preferred women who reinforced the status quo over those who advocated equality. By contrast, male candidates who supported the status quo were penalized, and female evaluators showed no such preferences. These findings highlight subtle mechanisms through which gendered power dynamics are maintained, underscoring both the strategic trade‐offs women must navigate to advance and the conditional nature of men's support for gender equality. |
| Keywords: | masculine defaults; gender stereotypes; women leaders; queen bee phenomenon; gender inequality; system justification |
| JEL: | J50 |
| Date: | 2026–04–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137146 |
| By: | Della Giusta, Marina; Jaworska, Sylvia; Sevilla, Almudena; Razzu, Giovanni |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how gender stereotypes about competence and language in perfor- mance evaluations influences the assessment of man and women employees. Using a unique dataset of reviews annotated by expert linguists, we identify instances of communal and agentive language used by women and men managers and find that agentive language bene- fits women more than men employees, with stronger effects for women who outperform. We find that women evaluators need to use more agentive language to effectively assess women compared to male evaluators confirming the gender and competence stereotype. Addition- ally, we also find suggestive evidence that agentive language used by women evaluators for men employees negatively affects their ratings while men evaluators can use gender incongruent language. These findings highlight the spillover effects of gendered language and suggest that women leaders may face backlash when using traditionally male-typed language for men employees. |
| Keywords: | gender; language; performance outcomes; stereotypes |
| JEL: | D91 |
| Date: | 2026–04–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137343 |
| By: | Erica M. Field; Madeline McKelway; Alessandra Voena |
| Abstract: | Gender norms—shared expectations about appropriate behavior by gender—shape the outcomes of men and women across societies, and are correlated with GDP per capita. This chapter surveys the literature on gender norms and economic development, focusing on the pervasive and traditional ‘male breadwinner norm’ that assigns men to market work and women to domestic responsibilities. We review empirical approaches to measuring norms, including direct survey questions on attitudes, second-order beliefs about others' views, and behavioral proxies. Establishing causal effects of norms on behavior poses significant challenges, and we review a range of approaches to identify this link. We then present the leading hypotheses about the origins of gender norms in different forms of biological comparative advantage. We discuss societal forces sustaining norms, including self-reinforcing feedback between behavior and beliefs, other institutions, and backlash against norm violations. We highlight the bidirectional relationship between norms and development: economic growth can liberalize norms through structural transformation, legal reforms, and diffusion mechanisms, whereas talent misallocation stemming from gender norms may constrain growth. We conclude by discussing gender norms beyond the breadwinner domain, including norms around kinship, property, leadership, violence, mobility, sexuality, appearance, and behavior, and identify promising directions for future research. |
| JEL: | O10 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34832 |
| By: | Dor Leventer |
| Abstract: | A growing body of research estimates child penalties, the gender gap in the effect of parenthood on labor market earnings, using event studies that normalize treatment effects by counterfactual earnings. I formalize the identification framework underlying this approach, which I term Normalized Triple Differences (NTD), and show it does not identify the conventional target estimand when the parallel trends assumption in levels is violated. Insights from human capital theory suggest such violations are likely: higher-ability individuals delay childbirth and have steeper earnings growth, a mechanism that causes conventional estimates to understate child penalties for early-treated parents. Using Israeli administrative data, a bias-bounding exercise suggests substantial understatement for early groups. As a solution, I propose targeting the effect of parenthood on the gender earnings ratio and show this new estimand is identified under NTD. |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2602.07486 |
| By: | María Camila Jiménez Amaya (Gran Sasso Science Institute); Daria Denti (Gran Sasso Science Institute); Alessandra Faggian (Gran Sasso Science Institute) |
| Abstract: | Weinvestigate the relationship between austerity-driven welfare cuts and gender based violence in England and Wales from 2006-2019. Using difference-in-differences andeventstudymethods, weexploitgeographicandtemporalvariationinexposureto the austerity welfare reform and construct a novel exposure measure from actual gov ernmentexpendituredata. Increasedexposuretowelfarecutsincreasedgender-based violence reporting, with effects emerging 2 years post-implementation and growing over time. Effects were nearly twice as large outside London (16.2% vs. 9.5%) and twice as large in deprived communities. Complementary analysis using victimisation data shows no corresponding increase in violence prevalence, indicating that higher reporting reflects changes in victims’ help-seeking behaviour rather than rising inci dence. As welfare support diminished, victims increasingly turned to police as their primary remaining avenue for assistance. The results underscore the importance of considering gendered effects in austerity and welfare policy reforms. |
| Keywords: | gender-based violence, women, austerity, welfare cut |
| JEL: | I38 J16 H53 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahy:wpaper:wp78 |