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on Gender |
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Issue of 2026–09–28
ten papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Difei Ouyang (School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics); Weidi Yuan (Nanjing University and University of Geneva); Yuan Zi (Geneva Graduate Institute and University of Oslo and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how trade affects women's marriage and fertility decisions in China. Exploiting regional variation in the exposure to the U.S. granting of Permanent Normal Trade Relations, we find that more exposed Chinese prefectures experience relative increases in the fraction of unmarried young women and women without children. These shifts in family decisions coincide with a trade-induced increase in female workforce participation and reallocation of women relative to men to the service sector, where wages are higher. Additionally, women in more exposed areas experience greater gender empowerment, as measured by their attitudes toward work, family, and gender equality. |
| Keywords: | trade liberalization; gender inequality; family decisions; Chinese economy |
| JEL: | F16 J12 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2026–09–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp28-2026 |
| By: | Hild, Paul Ergün; Hilweg-Waldeck, Michael |
| Abstract: | Career choice, earnings, and other key economic outcomes have been linked to gender differences in willingness to compete. This paper examines how gender stereotypes shape these differences. We conduct a meta-study of prior work and demonstrate that the wide variation in gender competition gaps can be explained by stereotypes: Men enter competitions more in traditionally male-stereotyped domains, whereas in female-stereotyped domains, the gap is smaller or even reversed. Importantly, these differences are not explained by gender gaps in performance. To explore mechanisms, we collect belief data in an elicitation experiment. We find that stereotyped beliefs about gender performance differences explain more than half of the variation in competition gaps in the literature. Next, we experimentally manipulate stereotypes through framing and informational cues about others beliefs. Although these interventions significantly shift beliefs, the effects do not translate into changes in competitive behavior. Our findings highlight the importance of stereotypes in shaping gender gaps in competitiveness while suggesting that shifting beliefs alone is unlikely to close these gaps without deeper or longer-term interventions. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Competitiveness, Stereotypes, Beliefs, Experiment |
| JEL: | D91 J16 C90 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:343565 |
| By: | Otten, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | This study examines whether gender differences in teacher-assigned grades vary systematically across subjects. Using data from German secondary schools, I compare teacher-assigned grades with anonymously graded standardized test scores within a difference-in-differences framework. Across six core subjects spanning the humanities and STEM, I find systematic grading differentials favoring female students. The estimated differential is largest in German and Math and substantially smaller in English and the sciences, indicating considerable cross-subject heterogeneity. The differential also varies markedly by school track and teacher experience, with systematically larger estimates in the academic track and particularly pronounced differentials among novice teachers. |
| Keywords: | Gender differences, Teacher grading, Grade test differential, Educational inequality |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:343541 |
| By: | Borra, Cristina; Cuevas-Ruiz, Pilar |
| Abstract: | Gender gaps in measured academic performance often influence access to selective university programs, and, consequently, educational sorting and subsequent career trajectories. Differences in the design of high-stakes evaluation methods may therefore affect these gaps by changing how students’ performance is assessed. We examine whether differences in evaluation methods contribute to gender gaps in measured performance using population-level data from a non-self-selected setting in which continuous teacher-assigned grades and a blind, standardized university entrance examination jointly determine university access. Within-student comparisons show that gender gaps in measured performance are approximately 0.46 standard deviations larger under non-blind continuous assessment than under blind, standardized testing. Our findings provide little support for explanations based on competitive pressure or systematic advantages enjoyed by female students under continuous assessment arising from teacher grading practices or differential effort. The results are instead consistent with gender differences in non-cognitive traits that are more fully captured under continuous assessment, as well as with differences in the extent to which students identify with the content being evaluated. |
| Keywords: | competitive pressure;evaluation methods;gender gaps;gendered content;grading bias;non-cognitive traits;university access |
| JEL: | J16 I21 |
| Date: | 2026–08–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:140840 |
| By: | José Javier Bercoff (UNT); Osvaldo Meloni (UNT) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether gender differences in the labor market explain the gender turnout gap in Argentine congressional elections. Using a unique dataset of actual voting records disaggregated by gender, derived from Argentina's historical system of gender-segregated polling stations, in use until 2007, we construct a provincial panel covering 23 districts and eight biennial congressional elections from 1993 to 2007. Unlike the overwhelming majority of studies in this literature, our data come not from surveys but from official electoral records, which avoids the well-known biases associated with self-reported turnout. The key explanatory variable is women's income as a share of total household income, a continuous measure of female economic autonomy at the provincial level. Estimated using two-way fixed effects with province and year effects and clustered standard errors and confirmed by an instrumental variables strategy that addresses endogeneity, we find that a higher female income share is robustly and positively associated with a larger female turnout advantage. The result is consistent with the resource and autonomy model of political participation: economic independence raises women's capacity and motivation to engage electorally. |
| Keywords: | Gender turnout gap, Women´s earnings, Compulsory voting, Argentina |
| JEL: | D72 J16 P16 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:407 |
| By: | Rafat Mahmood and Pushkar Maitra |
| Abstract: | Natural disasters are a growing global threat, yet their consequences for gender-based violence (GBV) in high-income countries with strong institutional protections remain largely unknown. We address this gap using administrative crime records linked to disaster declarations at the Local Government Area level in Australia. Applying staggered difference-in-differences estimation techniques, we find that disasters cause short-run increase family, domestic and sexual violence with effects concentrated in the first one to three months following a disaster. Strikingly, these effects are larger in urban and affluent areas, an outcome that is difficult to reconcile with a pure economic-stress mechanism, and is more consistent with institutional strain and differential reporting environments. To probe the underlying pathway, we draw on complementary household survey evidence, which points to mental health deterioration and increased intra-household conflict as individual level mechanisms. Together, our findings suggest that even well-resourced institutional settings offer only incomplete protection against disaster-induced violence against women |
| Keywords: | Natural Disasters, gender based Violence, Event Study, Australia |
| JEL: | Q54 J12 J16 I18 K42 |
| Date: | 2026–09–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:paper_1789340702041_877 |
| By: | Hubert Tchakoute Tchuigoua; Jean-Pierre Gueyie |
| Abstract: | This study examines how gender diversity on boards influences the cash holdings of microfinance institutions. Specifically, it investigates whether regulatory status or international affiliation moderates or amplifies the relationship between gender diversity on the board and cash holdings. Using an international sample of 3416 microfinance institution-year observations from 2010 to 2018, we find that institutions with greater gender diversity on their boards exhibit lower cash holdings. This is particularly true among regulated and non-affiliated microfinance institutions. The policy implication is that board gender diversity moderates the agency costs resulting from holding high levels of free cash flows. |
| Date: | 2026–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/413353 |
| By: | Pechar, Stefanie; Hartwig, Renate; Priebe, Jan |
| Abstract: | We study how women's political representation affects fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. Leveraging the staggered adoption of reserved-seat gender quotas across the region and a heterogeneity-robust difference-in-differences estimator, we find that quotas increased women's parliamentary representation by 13.3 percentage points and reduced the total fertility rate by 0.23 births per woman. The effect follows a policy-to-behavior pathway: resources shift toward family planning and reproductive health, contraceptive use increases, and unmet need declines; individual-level data further show delayed marriage and later first births. Women's political representation thus translates into greater policy emphasis on reproductive health, illustrating how legislative representation shapes policy outcomes. |
| Abstract: | Wir untersuchen, wie sich die politische Vertretung von Frauen auf die Fertilität in Subsahara-Afrika auswirkt. Unter Berücksichtigung der schrittweisen Einführung von Geschlechterquoten mit reservierten Sitzen in der gesamten Region und unter Verwendung eines gegenüber Heterogenität robusten Differenz-Differenzen-Schätzers stellen wir fest, dass die Quoten die parlamentarische Vertretung von Frauen um 13, 3 Prozentpunkte erhöht und die Gesamtfruchtbarkeitsrate um 0, 23 Geburten pro Frau gesenkt haben. Der Effekt folgt einem "Policy-to-Behavior"-Pfad: Ressourcen werden in Richtung Familienplanung und reproduktive Gesundheit umgeschichtet, die Verwendung von Verhütungsmitteln nimmt zu und der ungedeckte Bedarf sinkt; Daten auf individueller Ebene zeigen zudem eine spätere Heirat und spätere Erstgeburten. Die politische Vertretung von Frauen führt somit zu einer stärkeren politischen Fokussierung auf reproduktive Gesundheit und veranschaulicht, wie die Vertretung im Parlament politische Ergebnisse prägt. |
| Keywords: | Family Planning, Female Political Representation, Fertility, Gender Quotas, Reserved Seats, Sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | J13 J16 D72 I18 O15 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:343542 |
| By: | Adams, Renée |
| Abstract: | I use data on values to challenge the belief that women produce art of lower value. Using occupational data in the European Social Survey (ESS) and OLS regressions, I show that women are more likely to be artists in more gender-equal countries, a pattern consistent with greater barriers to artistic careers for women than for men. Using data on Schwartz human values in the ESS, I then show that women artists, particularly those with children, appear to have more exceptional artistic value profiles than their male counterparts. These findings highlight the risks of equating market price with artistic value and underscore the importance of investing in women's art and women artists. An analysis of curators' values suggests that market-based strategies alone-such as art collecting-are insufficient to address art-market inequality. Instead, they must be complemented by cultural policies that dismantle structural barriers, including mistaken beliefs. |
| Keywords: | Art Prices, Women Artists, Motherhood, Curators, Selection, Values |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:343537 |
| By: | Magdalena Grabowska (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Interdisciplinary Centre for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam)) |
| Abstract: | Rising female employment and earnings have transformed partners’ economic positions, while gender divisions in unpaid labor persist. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the organization of paid and unpaid work, opening a window to reassess these two dimensions within couples. Using longitudinal panel data from Poland (2021–2024), this paper examines how relative income and the division of unpaid labor relate to both life satisfaction and partner satisfaction among partnered adults. Random-effects models reveal distinct gendered patterns. For men, these dynamics are associated primarily with global life satisfaction: men report higher life satisfaction when they out-earn their partners, but substantially lower life satisfaction when they are out-earned and primarily responsible for domestic work. For women, effects concentrate in partner satisfaction: women who out-earn their partners report lower partner satisfaction when they also perform most domestic labor. These patterns hold for both housework and childcare and are observed primarily in the post-pandemic period. |
| Keywords: | relative income, unpaid labor division, subjective well-being, intra-couple income distribution, Poland |
| JEL: | I31 J12 J16 D13 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2026-28 |