Findings

Guys and Dolls

Kevin Lewis

July 10, 2012

Salience, risky choices and gender

Alison Booth & Patrick Nolen
Economics Letters, forthcoming

Abstract:
Risk theories typically assume individuals make risky choices using probability weights that differ from objective probabilities. Recent theories suggest that probability weights vary depending on which portion of a risky environment is made salient. Using experimental data we show that salience affects young men and women differently, even after controlling for cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Men are significantly more likely than women to switch from a certain to a risky choice once the upside of winning is made salient, even though the expected value of the choice remains the same.

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Images of powerful women in the age of ‘choice feminism'

Erin Hatton & Mary Nell Trautner
Journal of Gender Studies, forthcoming

Abstract:
A number of scholars and journalists have argued that Western culture has become ‘sexualized'. Both women and men, they maintain, are highly sexualized in popular media. At the same time, scholars have examined the sexualization of women as part of a broader cultural ‘backlash' against the gains of second-wave feminism and women's increasing power in society. We contribute to both of these fields with a longitudinal content analysis of four decades of Rolling Stone magazine covers. First, we analyze whether both women and men have become more sexualized over time and, if so, whether such increases have been proportionate. Second, we examine whether there is a relationship between women's increasing power in the music industry (as measured by popularity) and their sexualization on the cover of Rolling Stone. In the first case, we do not find evidence that US culture as a whole has become sexualized, as only women - but not men - have become both more frequently and more intensely sexualized on the cover of Rolling Stone. In the second case, we find evidence that sexualized images may be part of a backlash against women's gains since, as women musicians' popularity increased, they were increasingly sexualized and under-represented on the cover of Rolling Stone.

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Do Women Choose Different Jobs from Men? Mechanisms of Application Segregation in the Market for Managerial Workers

Roxana Barbulescu & Matthew Bidwell
Organization Science, forthcoming

Abstract:
This paper examines differences in the jobs for which men and women apply in order to better understand gender segregation in managerial jobs. We develop and test an integrative theory of why women might apply to different jobs than men. We note that constraints based on gender role socialization may affect three determinants of job applications: how individuals evaluate the rewards provided by different jobs, whether they identify with those jobs, and whether they believe that their applications will be successful. We then develop hypotheses about the role of each of these decision factors in mediating gender differences in job applications. We test these hypotheses using the first direct comparison of how similarly qualified men and women apply to jobs, based on data on the job searches of MBA students. Our findings indicate that women are less likely than men to apply to finance and consulting jobs and are more likely to apply to general management positions. These differences are partly explained by women's preference for jobs with better anticipated work-life balance, their lower identification with stereotypically masculine jobs, and their lower expectations of job offer success in such stereotypically masculine jobs. We find no evidence that women are less likely to receive job offers in any of the fields studied. These results point to some of the ways in which gender differences can become entrenched through the long-term expectations and assumptions that job candidates carry with them into the application process.

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Bank-Firm Relationships: Do Perceptions Vary by Gender?

Patrick Saparito, Amanda Elam & Candida Brush
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, forthcoming

Abstract:
This study examines how small-business owners'/managers' perceptions about their banking relationships are influenced by the gender of both the small-business owner/manager and the bank manager. This study draws from social network theory and status expectations state theory to test how gender influences key perceptions about the bank-firm relationship. Using 696 matched firm owner/manager-bank manager pairs, our results show that male-male pairs of business owner/managers and bankers had the highest levels of trust, satisfaction with credit access, and bank knowledge, while female-female pairs had the lowest levels for each measure; with mixed pairs in the middle on all accounts.

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Unit Social Cohesion in the Israeli Military as a Case Study of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Danny Kaplan & Amir Rosenmann
Political Psychology, forthcoming

Abstract:
U.S. military policy "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT) restricted integration of gays in the U.S. military based on the premise that knowledge of gay peers would decrease interpersonal bonds among unit members. Despite the heated debate over DADT, this social cohesion thesis, reflecting the tensions of homosocial desire, has not been tested empirically. The Israeli military provides an operative case-study for this thesis, given its nonexclusionary policy and intensive combat experience. Measures of perceived social cohesion and knowledge of gay peers were obtained from a sample of 417 combat and noncombat male soldiers using an inventory of interpersonal emotions towards unit members. A MANOVA of social cohesion by knowledge of gay peers and combat/noncombat unit yielded the hypothesized increase in cohesion in combat versus noncombat units. Yet contrary to the DADT premise, knowledge of gay peers did not yield decreased social cohesion. Comparisons with the U.S. military are presented, suggesting in both cases a loose coupling between stated policies and soldiers' experience on the ground. Implications of these findings for the reassessment of DADT and its repeal are discussed.

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It's not your fault: The social costs of claiming discrimination on behalf of someone else

Dina Eliezer & Brenda Major
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, July 2012, Pages 487-502

Abstract:
Two experiments examined responses to bystanders who claimed that another person experienced discrimination. Participants read about a woman or man who experienced sexism and whose co-worker (male or female) either expressed sympathy or claimed that the target experienced sexism. Participants then evaluated the co-worker (bystander). Overall, participants evaluated bystanders who claimed that someone else experienced discrimination more negatively than they evaluated bystanders who did not claim discrimination. Furthermore, female bystanders who claimed discrimination on behalf of someone else were derogated more than male bystanders who did the same. Additional analyses indicated that female bystanders who claimed that another person experienced discrimination were derogated more than male bystanders who did so because the former threatened participants' beliefs about the fairness of status differences to a greater extent than the later.

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Is there a gender gap in CEO compensation?

Martin Bugeja, Zoltan Matolcsy & Helen Spiropoulos
Journal of Corporate Finance, September 2012, Pages 849-859

Abstract:
The gender pay gap generates significant political and social debate. This study contributes to this discussion by examining if a gender pay gap exists at the highest level of corporate management, the CEOs. Whilst previous studies have documented a gender pay gap for most levels of executives the findings with respect to CEOs are conflicting. In this paper we focus only on CEO's as it is the most homogenous of executive roles and does not require us to assume that executives with similar titles undertake identical roles. Our evidence is based on 291 US firm-years for the period of 1998-2010. We do not find any association between CEO pay and gender using both the total sample and a sample matched using propensity scores to control for firm characteristics. These insignificant results hold for total pay, salary and bonuses, and for different matching procedures and econometric specifications. Our results therefore indicate that women who rise through the "glass ceiling" to the level of CEO are remunerated at similar levels to their male counterparts.

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Underperformance by female CEOs: A more powerful test

Gueorgui Kolev
Economics Letters, forthcoming

Abstract:
Female CEOs underperform their male counterparts in terms of shareholders' returns by roughly 0.35% per month. This difference is significant, comparable to the in-sample value premium, somewhat smaller that the equity and momentum premia, and larger than the size premium.

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Gender Inequality and Gender Differences in Authoritarianism

Mark Brandt & P.J. Henry
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming

Abstract:
Authoritarianism may be endorsed in part as a means of managing and buffering psychological threats (e.g., Duckitt & Fisher, 2003; Henry, 2011). Building on this research, the authors postulated that authoritarianism should be especially prevalent among women in societies with high levels of gender inequality because they especially face more psychological threats associated with stigma compared with men. After establishing that authoritarianism is, in part, a response to rejection, a psychological threat associated with stigma (Study 1), the authors used multilevel modeling to analyze data from 54 societies to find that women endorsed authoritarian values more than men, especially in individualistic societies with high levels of gender inequality (Study 2). Results show that the threats of stigma for women are not uniform across different cultures and that the degree of stigma is related to the degree of endorsement of psychologically protective attitudes such as authoritarianism.

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Do Male-Female Wage Differentials Reflect Differences in the Return to Skill? Cross-City Evidence From 1980-2000

Paul Beaudry & Ethan Lewis
NBER Working Paper, June 2012

Abstract:
Over the 1980s and 1990s the wage differentials between men and women (with similar observable characteristics) declined significantly. At the same time, the returns to education increased. It has been suggested that these two trends may reflect a common change in the relative price of a skill which is more abundant in both women and more educated workers. In this paper we explore the relevance of this hypothesis by examining the cross-city co-movement in both male-female wage differentials and returns to education over the 1980-2000 period. In parallel to the aggregate pattern, we find that male-female wage differentials at the city levels moved in opposite direction to the changes in the return to education. We also find this relationship to be particularly strong when we isolate data variation which most likely reflects the effect of technological change on relative prices. We take considerable care of controlling for potential selection issues which could bias our interpretation. Overall, our cross-city estimates suggest that most of the aggregate reduction in the male-female wage differential observed over the 1980-2000 period was likely due to a change in the relative price of skill that both females and educated workers have in greater abundance.

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Double Victimization in the Workplace: Why Observers Condemn Passive Victims of Sexual Harassment

Kristina Diekmann et al.
Organization Science, forthcoming

Abstract:
Five studies explore observers' condemnation of passive victims. Studies 1 and 2 examine the role of observers' behavioral forecasts in condemning passive victims of sexual harassment. Observers generally predicted that they would engage in greater confrontation than victims typically do. More importantly, the more confrontation participants predicted they would engage in, the more they condemned the passive victim, and the less willing they were to recommend the victim for a job and to work with her. Study 3 identifies the failure to consider important motivations likely experienced by victims - and that contribute to their passivity - as an important driver of behavioral forecasting errors. Having forecasters reflect on motivations normally experienced but not typically forecast produced behavioral predictions that were more consistent with the actual passive behavior of sexual harassment victims. Studies 4 and 5 reduce condemnation of passive sexual harassment victims by highlighting important motivations likely experienced by those victims (Study 4) and by having participants recall a past experience of not acting when being intimidated in the workplace, a situation related but distinct from sexual harassment (Study 5). The results from these studies add insights into the causes and consequences of victim condemnation and help explain why passivity in the face of harassment - the predominant response - is subject to so much scorn.

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Gender-Related Differences in the Pathway to and Characteristics of U.S. Medical School Deanships

Scott White et al.
Academic Medicine, forthcoming

Purpose: To explore factors that may be involved in the persistent paucity of women leaders in U.S. academic medicine and to provide baseline gender-related data for developing strategies to promote gender equity in academic medicine leadership.

Method: Using data sets from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the authors examined the relationship of gender to career progression and to deanship characteristics by conducting descriptive and correlation statistical analyses for 534 full and interim deans (38 women; 496 men) appointed between 1980 and November 2006 (inclusive) to serve U.S. Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME)-accredited medical schools.

Results: Although the number of women deans increased during the 27-year study period, the representation of women remains low (they constitute only 15% of deans appointed from 2000 to 2006) and has failed to keep pace with the percentages of women medical school faculty and students. On average, women deans-most with deanships at less research-intensive medical schools-obtained their initial doctorates from similarly less research-intensive schools, held more business-related advanced degrees beyond the original doctorate, took longer to be promoted to full professor, and had shorter tenures than did their men counterparts.

Conclusions: Women leaders of U.S. LCME-accredited medical schools have taken longer to advance through the academic ranks, serve at less research-intensive institutions, and had shorter tenures than did men deans. These results underscore the challenges women leaders face in traditionally male-dominated organizations, and they provide baseline data to inform medical schools building inclusive senior leadership teams.

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Gender and Select Committee Elections in the British House of Commons

Diana O'Brien
Politics & Gender, June 2012, Pages 178-204

Abstract:
While significant attention has been dedicated to explaining women's election to office, fewer studies have assessed female politicians' access to positions of power within legislatures. This latter topic became particularly salient in the British House of Commons following the 2010 general election, when recently adopted reforms introduced intracameral elections for select committee members and chairs. This article outlines three hypotheses concerning the influence of candidate sex on election outcomes: a gender bias against female candidates, a gender advantage favoring female candidates, and gender-neutral outcomes. Drawing on two original data sets, the results not only fail to support the gender-bias hypothesis but also demonstrate that women were advantaged in the interparty elections for committee chairs. These findings offer new insights into both the position of female legislators in the UK Parliament and gender and the allocation of power within national assemblies more generally.

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Gender differences in the Big Five personality development: A longitudinal investigation from late adolescence to emerging adulthood

Michele Vecchione et al.
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming

Abstract:
The present study aims to investigate gender differences in the mean-level change of the Big Five from late adolescence to emerging adulthood. We analyzed longitudinal self-report data from 192 males and 211 females, using multigroup Latent Growth Modeling. Gender differences were found in the shape of the trajectory, as well as in the mean and in the variance of the growth curve parameters (i.e. the initial level and the rate of change). At time 1 (Age 16), females scored significantly higher on measures of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness. Males, in contrast, scored higher than females on a measure of Emotional stability. In both males and females, Conscientiousness and Openness increased linearly from age 16 to age 20, whereas Energy/Extraversion remained stable. Emotional stability slightly increased in males and remained stable in females. Agreeableness increased linearly in males and showed a quadratic trend in females, first increasing and then declining over time. Finally, females showed higher interindividual variability than males on the trajectories of Conscientiousness and Emotional stability.

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The Role of Prevention Focus Under Stereotype Threat: Initial Cognitive Mobilization Is Followed by Depletion

Tomas Ståhl, Colette Van Laar & Naomi Ellemers
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, June 2012, Pages 1239-1251

Abstract:
Previous research has demonstrated that stereotype threat induces a prevention focus and impairs central executive functions. The present research examines how these 2 consequences of stereotype threat are related. The authors argue that the prevention focus is responsible for the effects of stereotype threat on executive functions and cognitive performance. However, because the prevention focus is adapted to deal with threatening situations, the authors propose that it also leads to some beneficial responses to stereotype threat. Specifically, because stereotype threat signals a high risk of failure, a prevention focus initiates immediate recruitment of cognitive control resources. The authors further argue that this response initially facilitates cognitive performance but that the additional cognitive demands associated with working under threat lead to cognitive depletion over time. Study 1 demonstrates that stereotype threat (vs. control) facilitates immediate cognitive control capacity during a stereotype-relevant task. Study 2 experimentally demonstrates the process by showing that stereotype threat (vs. control) facilitates cognitive control as a default, as well as when a prevention focus has been experimentally induced, but not when a promotion focus has been induced. Study 3 shows that stereotype threat facilitates initial math performance under a prevention focus, whereas no effect is found under a promotion focus. Consistent with previous research, however, stereotype threat impaired math performance over time under a prevention focus, but not under a promotion focus.

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Human capital, kinship, and gender inequality

Anu Rammohan & Peter Robertson
Oxford Economic Papers, July 2012, Pages 417-438

Abstract:
We develop a household utility maximization model to explain gender disparities in education in traditional societies, based on anthropological evidence on the relationship between kinship and altruism. In this model, the asymmetry between males and females with respect to childbearing implies that parents face asymmetric monitoring costs with respect to the paternity of their grandchildren. Thus, with respect to co-residence decisions, households choose to have their male child and his bride co-reside in the male's natal family, and the female child and her husband co-reside with her husband's natal family (patrilocal exogamy). Because of this households also choose to invest less in a female child's education relative her male sibling.

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Anonymous job applications of fresh Ph.D. economists

Annabelle Krause, Ulf Rinne & Klaus
Zimmermann Economics Letters, forthcoming

Abstract:
This paper analyzes anonymous job applications of Ph.D. economists in the academic job market. We use data on interview invitations from a randomized experiment at a European-based research institution. Results show that the underrepresented gender was hurt by anonymous applications.


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