Opportunity knocks
Peter Arcidiacono et al.
Journal of Human Capital, Summer 2015, Pages 198-238
Abstract:
We examine gaps between minorities and whites in education and labor market outcomes, controlling for many covariates including maternal race. Identification comes from different reported races within the family. Estimates show two distinct patterns. First, there are no significant differences in outcomes between black and white males with white mothers. Second, large differences persist between these groups and black males with black mothers. The patterns are insensitive to alternative measures of own race and school fixed effects. Our results suggest that discrimination is not occurring on the basis of child skin color but through mother-child channels such as dialect or parenting practices.
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The Latin Americanization Thesis: An Expectation States Approach
David Biagas & Alison Bianchi
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
The Latin Americanization thesis posits that the racial hierarchy in the United States is now composed of Whites, Honorary Whites, and Collective Blacks, with skin tone being the primary determinant of one’s placement within this tripartite system of social status. Extant research mostly examines this approach at the macro level; relatively little is known about the thesis at the micro level. By examining goal-oriented task groups, our experiment tests whether Whites exhibit transitive levels of influence, a behavioral indicator of social status, in a manner consistent with this three-tier system. Furthermore, with applications of graph-theoretic models from status characteristics and status cue theories, we assess the social psychological mechanisms buttressing the proposed racial hierarchy by comparing propositions from four theories put forth by scholars of race/ethnicity (we translate their propositions into graphs and mathematical calculations). In so doing, we pose the question: In our experimental setting, which matters more, skin tone or ethnic background, or do both have equal effects on behavior? Our results support the purported racial hierarchy of the Latin Americanization thesis. On average, Whites were influenced the most by White confederates; Whites were influenced less by their light-skinned Latino/a confederates, and even less by dark-skinned Latino/a confederates. Model fit statistics for the propositions translated into graphs and values demonstrate that ethnic distinctions and skin tone are independent stratifiers in the form of status characteristics. This finding supports the notion that skin tone and ethnic background have the equivalent capacity to invoke processes to create the tripartite system of racial/ethnic inequality.
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A Theory of Dual Job Search and Sex-Based Occupational Clustering
Alan Benson
Industrial Relations, July 2015, Pages 367–400
Abstract:
This paper theorizes and provides evidence for the segregation of men into clustered occupations and women into dispersed occupations in advance of marriage and in anticipation of future colocation problems. Using the Decennial Census, and controlling for occupational characteristics, I find evidence of this general pattern of segregation, and also find that the minority of the highly educated men and women who depart from this equilibrium experience delayed marriage, higher divorce, and lower earnings. Results are consistent with the theory that marriage and mobility expectations foment a self-fulfilling pattern of occupational segregation with individual departures deterred by earnings and marriage penalties.
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Cheryl Kaiser & Kerry Spalding
European Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
It is often expected that the first women to advance in male-dominated fields will promote other women who follow them. Two studies test the hypothesis that some women show this expected pattern of promoting women but that others show the opposite pattern, favoring men over women. In two studies, women's gender identification moderated the extent to which they favored men over women when they advanced in a male-dominated field. Specifically, the weaker women's gender identification, the more favoritism they showed for a male relative to a female subordinate. Gender identification did not moderate women's behavior in a context in which women were not underrepresented, pointing to the power of the situation in eliciting this relationship. Implications for the advancement of women in male-dominated fields are discussed.
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Elizabeth Daniels & Aurora Sherman
Journal of Adolescent Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using an experimental methodology, the present study investigated adolescents’ attitudes toward media images of women in non-appearance-focused (CEO and military pilot) and appearance-focused occupations (model and actor). One hundred adolescent girls and 76 adolescent boys provided ratings of likability, competence, and similarity to self after viewing media images of women in non-appearance-focused and appearance-focused occupations. Both boys and girls reported that women in non-appearance-focused occupations were good role models at higher rates than women in appearance-focused occupations. Girls reported greater likability and similarity to the self for women in appearance-focused occupations compared with women in non-appearance-focused occupations, whereas boys showed the opposite pattern. Boys rated women in non-appearance-focused occupations as more competent than women in appearance-focused occupations, whereas girls showed the opposite pattern. The role of internalization of media standards for appearance in teens’ attitudes was also considered. Implications for career identity are discussed.
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Frederick Smyth & Brian Nosek
Frontiers in Psychology, April 2015
Abstract:
Women's representation in science has changed substantially, but unevenly, over the past 40 years. In health and biological sciences, for example, women's representation among U.S. scientists is now on par with or greater than men's, while in physical sciences and engineering they remain a clear minority. We investigated whether variation in proportions of women in scientific disciplines is related to differing levels of male-favoring explicit or implicit stereotypes held by students and scientists in each discipline. We hypothesized that science-is-male stereotypes would be weaker in disciplines where women are better represented. This prediction was tested with a sample of 176,935 college-educated participants (70% female), including thousands of engineers, physicians, and scientists. The prediction was supported for the explicit stereotype, but not for the implicit stereotype. Implicit stereotype strength did not correspond with disciplines' gender ratios, but, rather, correlated with two indicators of disciplines' scientific intensity, positively for men and negatively for women. From age 18 on, women who majored or worked in disciplines perceived as more scientific had substantially weaker science-is-male stereotypes than did men in the same disciplines, with gender differences larger than 0.8 standard deviations in the most scientifically-perceived disciplines. Further, particularly for women, differences in the strength of implicit stereotypes across scientific disciplines corresponded with the strength of scientific values held by women in the disciplines. These results are discussed in the context of dual process theory of mental operation and balanced identity theory. The findings point to the need for longitudinal study of the factors' affecting development of adults' and, especially, children's implicit gender stereotypes and scientific identity.
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Anthony Jerant et al.
Academic Medicine, forthcoming
Purpose: To examine associations of medical school applicant underrepresented minority (URM) status and socioeconomic status (SES) with Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI) invitation and performance and acceptance recommendation.
Method: The authors conducted a correlational study of applicants submitting secondary applications to the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, 2011-2013. URM applicants were black, Southeast Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, and/or Hispanic. SES from eight application variables was modeled (0-1 score, higher score = lower SES). Regression analyses examined associations of URM status and SES with MMI invitation (yes/no), MMI score (mean of 10 station ratings, range 0-3), and admission committee recommendation (accept versus not), adjusting for age, sex, and academic performance.
Results: Of 7,964 secondary-application applicants, 19.7% were URM and 15.1% self-designated disadvantaged; 1,420 (17.8%) participated in the MMI and were evaluated for acceptance. URM status was not associated with MMI invitation (OR 1.14; 95% CI 0.98 to 1.33), MMI score (0.00-point difference, CI -0.08 to 0.08), or acceptance recommendation (OR 1.08; CI 0.69 to 1.68). Lower SES applicants were more likely to be invited to an MMI (OR 5.95; CI 4.76 to 7.44) and recommended for acceptance (OR 3.28; CI 1.79 to 6.00), but had lower MMI scores (-0.12 points, CI -0.23 to -0.01).
Conclusions: MMI-based admissions did not disfavor URM applicants. Lower SES applicants had lower MMI scores but were more likely to be invited to an MMI and recommended for acceptance. Multischool collaborations should examine how MMI-based admissions affect URM and lower SES applicants.
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Gender Differences in Physicians’ Financial Ties to Industry: A Study of National Disclosure Data
Susannah Rose et al.
PLoS ONE, June 2015
Background: Academic literature extensively documents gender disparities in the medical profession with regard to salary, promotion, and government funded research. However, gender differences in the value of financial ties to industry have not been adequately studied despite industry’s increasing contribution to income and research funding to physicians in the U.S.
Methods & Findings: We analyzed publicly reported financial relationships among 747,603 physicians and 432 pharmaceutical, device and biomaterials companies. Demographic and payment information were analyzed using hierarchical regression models to determine if statistically significant gender differences exist in physician-industry interactions regarding financial ties, controlling for key covariates. In 2011, 432 biomedical companies made an excess of $17,991,000 in payments to 220,908 physicians. Of these physicians, 75.1% were male. Female physicians, on average, received fewer total dollars (-$3,598.63, p<0.001) per person than men. Additionally, female physicians received significantly lower amounts for meals (-$41.80, p<0.001), education (-$1,893.14, p<0.001), speaker fees (-$2,898.44, p<0.001), and sponsored research (-$15,049.62, p=0.05). For total dollars, an interaction between gender and institutional reputation was statistically significant, implying that the differences between women and men differed based on industry’s preference for an institution, with larger differences at higher reputation institutions.
Conclusions: Female physicians receive significantly lower compensation for similarly described activities than their male counterparts after controlling for key covariates. As regulations lead to increased transparency regarding these relationships, efforts to standardize compensation should be considered to promote equitable opportunities for all physicians.
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Preparing for Parenthood? Gender, Aspirations, and the Reproduction of Labor Market Inequality
Brooke Conroy Bass
Gender & Society, June 2015, Pages 362-385
Abstract:
This article explores how anticipations of parenthood differentially affect the career aspirations and choices of women and men who have not (yet) had children. Drawing from in-depth interviews conducted separately with 60 coupled young adults (30 heterosexual couples), I find that women in my sample were disproportionately likely to think and worry about future parenthood in their imagined work paths. Moreover, women were more likely than men to alter or downshift their present-day career goals in anticipation of the changes in preferences and responsibilities that accompany new parenthood. Because men were unlikely to engage in the mental work of anticipating parenthood, they were also free from its emotional and behavioral consequences. In this way, gendered anticipations of parenthood, which begin relatively early in an individual’s career path, are likely to play a key role in reproducing patterns of labor market inequality even before the real constraints of parenthood have set in.
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Réal Labelle, Claude Francoeur & Faten Lakhal
Gender, Work & Organization, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite the growing public concern in recent years about the place of women in business, gender diversity in corporate governance has made little progress. As a consequence, the issue has captured the worldwide attention of policymakers. Several countries are currently adopting or considering the adoption of laws or regulations to promote gender diversity on corporate boards. The purpose of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of using legislative or regulatory means to increase female representation instead of allowing firms to voluntarily fix their own non-legally binding targets. We find that the relation between gender diversity and performance is positive in countries using the voluntary approach while it is negative in countries using the regulatory approach. We conclude that public policy aimed at increasing the number of women on corporate boards should be introduced gradually and voluntarily rather than quickly and coercively to avoid sub-optimal board composition.
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Unequal on Top: Gender Profiling and the Income Gap among High Earner Male and Female Professionals
Jennifer Merluzzi & Stanislav Dobrev
Social Science Research, September 2015, Pages 45–58
Abstract:
We develop a comprehensive, multi-level model of income inequality between high earner men and women during the early career stages. We argue that young women are routinely subjected to “gender profiling” by employers — women’s potential contribution to the organization is interpreted through the lens of social stereotypes and cultural norms that attribute to them weaker labor market commitment than men. We investigate two specific mechanisms that arise from this profiling and lead to income inequality: First, women have diminished access to resources and advancement opportunities within the firm which results in lower returns to tenure for women than for men. Second, external mobility is greatly beneficial for men but much less so for women because it reinforces the image of weak commitment. Salary regressions of early career history data of young MBA alumni of a prestigious U.S. business school accord with our conjectures.
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Now you see it, now you don’t: The vanishing beauty premium
Tatyana Deryugina & Olga Shurchkov
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, August 2015, Pages 331–345
Abstract:
We design a laboratory experiment to test the extent to which the often-observed “beauty premium” – a positive relationship between attractiveness and wages – is context-specific. Using three realistic worker tasks, we find that the existence of the “beauty premium” indeed depends on the task: while relatively more attractive workers receive higher wage bids in a bargaining task, there is no such premium in either an analytical task or a data entry task. Our analysis shows that the premium in bargaining is driven by statistical discrimination based on biased beliefs about worker performance. We also find that there is substantial learning after worker-specific performance information is revealed, highlighting the importance of accounting for longer-run interactions in studies of discrimination.
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Jennifer Merluzzi & Adina Sterling
Tulane University Working Paper, May 2015
Abstract:
The authors examine the effects of referral-based hiring on the number of promotions employees receive after entering organizations and the differences in this effect across demographic groups using a two-study multi-method approach. The first study uses data collected from a single organization on approximately 16,000 employees hired over an eleven-year period, while a second study uses data collected from two experiments. The authors theorize that referral-based hiring will disproportionately increase African American’s and women’s number of promotions because it legitimates otherwise traditionally illegitimate employees within organizations. Consistent with this expectation, the authors find evidence that referral-based hiring has a positive effect on promotions for African Americans compared to Caucasians but no disparate effect on the promotions of women compared to men in the first study. In the second study, and in line with their theorizing, they find evidence that the positive benefits of referrals that accrue to African Americans stem from legitimation benefits that affect careers.
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Alison Cook & Christy Glass
Social Science Research, September 2015, Pages 137–147
Abstract:
Previous research on the effects of leadership diversity on firm outcomes has produced inconsistent and inconclusive findings. While some scholars argue that diversity increases organizational equity and enhances performance, others argue that diversity increases conflict, reduces cooperation and harms performance. This study tests the impact of a variety of compositional factors on firm outcomes. Specifically, we analyze whether and how board composition affects the advancement and mobility of women CEOs and firm performance. Our analysis relies on a unique data set of all Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Board of Directors (BODs) in Fortune 500 companies over a ten-year period. We find a marginally significant positive relationship between board diversity and the likelihood of a woman being appointed CEO. We further find that board diversity significantly and positively influences the post-promotion success of women CEOs. Our findings suggest that board composition is critical for the appointment and success of women CEOs, and increasing board diversity should be central to any organizational diversity efforts.
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An Old Boys Club No More: Pluralism in Participation and Performance at the Olympic Games
Marcus Noland & Kevin Stahler
Journal of Sports Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article examines the growing diversity of participation and achievement in the Olympics. A wide set of socioeconomic variables are correlated with medaling, particularly with respect to the Summer Games and women’s events. Host advantage is particularly acute in judged contests such as gymnastics. However, there is evidence that the influence of correlates, such as country size, per capita income, and membership in the communist bloc is declining over time as competition becomes increasingly diverse. These effects are less evident in the Winter Games, events in which significant capital investments are required, and judged contests.