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on Gender |
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Issue of 2026–03–16
five papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Kavitha Nambiar (Ph.D Student, Madras School of Economics); Ekta Selarka ((Corresponding author), Madras School of Economics, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Behind Government Data Centre, Kotturpuram, Chennai, 600025) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the relationship between network centrality of women directors in Indian boards on their corporate social responsibility (CSR). While existing research primarily focuses on board gender diversity, we argue that the ability of women directors to affect firm decisions also depends on how well connected these directors are. Using the enforcement of mandatory CSR as a natural experiment on a sample of non-financial firms listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in India during 2016-2023 we find that firms with higher women directors centrality exhibit higher CSR spending, stronger compliance with the CSR mandate and a greater likelihood of spending above their industry peers. The effects were stronger among firms that engage in CSR consistently and was also robust across alternative measures of network centrality and alternative specifications to address the endogeneity. Our findings contributed to the literature on gender diversity and CSR, by indicating that the network centrality constitute an important mechanism through which women directors influence CSR outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Women directors, Board networks, Corporate social responsibility, Board diversity |
| JEL: | G34 M14 D85 J16 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2026-296 |
| By: | Brenøe, Anne (University of Zurich); Rutnam, Daphne (University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | We study how adolescents’ second-order beliefs about their parents’ occupational preferences shape gendered career aspirations. In a consequential early-career choice setting, we combine a parental choice experiment with a randomized salience intervention among students. Parents give gendered recommendations, but students substantially overestimate fathers' preference for boys to choose male-dominated occupations as well as mothers' preference for girls to choose female-dominated occupations. Making the same-gender parent salient raises aspirations for gender-congruent occupations, while highlighting the opposite-gender parent and both parents has no effect. Salience does not shift perceived occupational fit, suggesting that identity-based second-order beliefs can reinforce occupational gender segregation. |
| Keywords: | gender norms, second-order beliefs, occupational aspirations, parental beliefs, identity and career choice, early-career choices, choice experiment, field experiment |
| JEL: | J16 J24 I21 C93 D91 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18431 |
| By: | Ursula Berresheim |
| Abstract: | The rise of work-from-home (WfH) has become a durable feature of 21st-century labor markets, raising a key question for gender equality: Is WfH a stepping stone or a stumbling block for women’s careers? While WfH could help women reconcile professional and family responsibilities, it may also slow career advancement through productivity losses and lead to stronger specialization in domestic work. To study the short- and long-run macroeconomic implications of an expansion in WfH opportunities, I develop a quantitative general-equilibrium, overlapping-generations model calibrated to pre-COVID U.S. data. Couples jointly choose their time allocation between market and domestic work, WfH adoption, and occupation. The model predicts that expanding WfH opportunities strengthens mothers’ careers in the long-run: women’s earnings growth between ages 25 and 40 increases by 7.2 percentage points, and the gender earnings gap narrows by 7.4 percent. Women benefit both from their own and their spouses’ WfH adoption as well as through re-sorting into higher-paying occupations. However, some women experience career losses when working in occupations where WfH entails high productivity penalties. At the aggregate level, welfare rises by 11.1 percent and output by 0.5 percent. Important for the current policy debate, I find short-run losses in women’s earnings from WfH adoption, as occupational choices are fixed and the expansion of WfH is large and unexpected. |
| Keywords: | Work from Home, Gender Inequality, Occupational Sorting, Human Capital, General Equilibrium, Life-Cycle Model, Time allocation, Productivity Penalties |
| JEL: | J16 J22 J24 J31 D13 O33 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_733 |
| By: | Do, Quynh; Mahmood, Rafat; Mavisakalyan, Astghik; Tyers, Leigh |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the causal impact of female political representation on legislative behavior, social attitudes, and gender-based crime. Using a regression discontinuity design based on close mixed-gender electoral contests, we compare electorates that narrowly elected female versus male candidates. We link computational text analysis of parliamentary debates, roll-call votes, post-election survey responses, and administrative police records from 2010 to 2022 in Australia. We document three main findings. First, female MPs devote significantly more attention to gender-related issues in parliamentary speech and are more likely to support gender-related legislation, including measures addressing gender-based violence, with no evidence of differential voting absence. Second, exposure to a narrowly elected female MP shifts constituent attitudes toward greater support for women's rights. Third, electorates that narrowly elect a female MP experience a statistically and economically meaningful decline in gendered crime rates during the subsequent term. Together, the results indicate that female representation can shape policy priorities, social attitudes, and downstream gendered outcomes, even within a disciplined party system. |
| Keywords: | Female political representation, Legislative behaviour, Public attitudes, Gender-based crime, Regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | J16 D72 I38 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1722 |
| By: | Silvia Griselda; Paola Profeta; Giulia Savio |
| Abstract: | Students’ university experience includes both academic and non-academic outcomes, which are shaped by the educational environment in which students interact. We refer to this environment as university climate and measure it along three dimensions: conformity to masculinity-related attitudes and perceptions, the perceived academic impact of mental health (worry and anxiety), and classroom interactions. Using administrative records combined with original survey data, and exploiting the random assignment of students to teaching classes within degree programs at an Italian university, we identify the causal effect of peer gender composition on university climate and academic performance. Greater exposure to female peers reduces conformity to masculinity-related attitudes, lowers the perceived academic impact of mental health, fosters more collaborative classroom interactions, and increases academic performance. These effects are observed for both male and female students. Our findings provide causal evidence that peer gender composition influences multiple dimensions of university climate beyond academic achievement alone. |
| Keywords: | gender, education, mental health, masculinity attitudes, classroom interactions, academic performance, univerisity climate |
| JEL: | D91 I21 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12523 |