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on Gender |
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Issue of 2025–04–21
three papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Trung V. Vu |
| Abstract: | This paper probes the robustness and plausibility of the long-term impact of traditional plough use on contemporary gender roles established by Alesina, Giuliano and Nunn [Quarterly Journal of Economics (2013) Vol. 128, pp. 469 – 530]. It finds that the reduced-form women-plough relationship is robust to testing a falsification hypothesis, using alternative proxies for gender inequality, and accounting for selection bias from unobservables and spatial dependence. Further evidence suggests that ancestral plough adoption affects today’s gender inequality through shaping historically persistent gender-biased norms reflected in oral traditions. Additionally, the culturally embodied, intergenerationally transmitted impact of traditional plough use on gender inequality is significantly lower among societies whose ancestors were exposed to unstable climatic environments during the period 500 – 1900 CE. |
| Keywords: | plough, gender inequality, female empowerment, replication |
| JEL: | N10 O10 Q15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2025-11 |
| By: | Carolyn Chisadza (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Hatfield 0028, South Africa); Matthew Clance (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Hatfield 0028, South Africa); Nicky Nicholls (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Hatfield 0028, South Africa); Eleni Yitbarek (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Hatfield 0028, South Africa); Tendai Zawaira (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Hatfield 0028, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | We use the Harvard Gender-Career Implicit Association Test (IAT)) and a selfreport questionnaire on 402 respondents in South Africa to explore the factors that contribute to implicit and explicit gender attitudes, moreso the discrepancy between implicit and explicit attitudes. Our initial findings indicate that implicit gender attitudes do not necessarily correlate with explicit gender attitudes in the sample, confirming the implicit-explicit discrepancy (IED) theory. On further investigation, we observe that women appear to hold implicit traditional gender role ideology compared to men, even though women are more likely than men to explicitly self-report for gender equality. We also find that some parental factors, such as being raised by a mother only, are associated with the IED. Overall, these results suggest that in order to effectively tackle gender inequality, a wider policy approach is required, one that can address some of these factors that contribute to gender unequal outcomes. |
| Keywords: | implicit-explicit discrepancy (IED), gender attitudes, gender inequality, South Africa |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:202514 |
| By: | Hochleitner, Anna (Centre for Applied Research, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Tufano, Fabio (Dept. of Economics, Finance and Accounting, University of Leicester); Facchini, Giovanni (School of Economics, University of Nottingham); Rueda, Valeria (School of Economics, University of Nottingham); Eberhardt, Markus (School of Economics, University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | We study the gendered impact of recommendations at different stages of the hiring process. First, using a large sample of reference letters from the academic job market for economists, we document that women receive fewer ‘ability’ and more ‘grindstone’ letters. Next, we conduct two experiments — with academic economists and a broader, college-educated, population — analyzing both recommendation and recruitment stages. These confirm that recommendations are gendered and impact recruitment. We elicit gender views and beliefs about the effectiveness of different letter types, uncovering that gender attitudes and strategic behavior based on erroneous beliefs explain referees’ choices. Finally, we decompose gender recruitment gaps into two components: one capturing differences in treatment of candidates with identical qualities, the other reflecting recruiters’ failure to account for gendered patterns in recommendations. We show that recruiters’ failure to recognize the gendered nature of reference letters undermines visible efforts to improve diversity in hiring. |
| Keywords: | Gender; Recruitment; Diversity; Experiments |
| JEL: | A11 D19 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–03–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2025_007 |