Work for Women
Working Hours and Gender Wage Differentials: Evidence from the American Working Conditions Survey
Kadri Männasoo
Labour Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using the 2015 American Working Conditions Survey (AWCS), the study investigates gender wage differentials conditional on weekly working hours. Wage estimations controlling for the labour supply at the extensive and intensive margins confirm the presence of a female wage gap. A triangular joint estimation framework that identifies the wage determinants and the gender wage gap controls for the labour supply both in reservation hours and in actual working hours. The joint estimation of wages, desired hours and actual working hours, with the wages-hours relationship allowed to take non-linear forms, reduces the gender wage differentials and renders the gap insignificant for jobs that do not permit remote work.
The Geography of Jobs and the Gender Wage Gap
Sitian Liu & Yichen Su
Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Prior studies show that women are more willing to accept lower wages for shorter commutes than men. We show that gender differences in commuting preferences lead to a gender wage gap only if there is a wage penalty for shortening commutes, determined by the geography of jobs. We demonstrate this by showing that the commuting and wage gaps are considerably smaller among workers living near city centers, especially for occupations with a high geographic concentration of high-wage jobs. We highlight the geography of jobs as a key force that amplifies the impact of commuting preferences on the gender wage gap.
An Emphasis on Brilliance Fosters Masculinity-Contest Cultures
Andrea Vial et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Women are underrepresented in fields in which success is believed to require brilliance, but the reasons for this pattern are poorly understood. We investigated perceptions of a “masculinity-contest culture,” an organizational environment of ruthless competition, as a key mechanism whereby a perceived emphasis on brilliance discourages female participation. Across three preregistered correlational and experimental studies involving adult lay participants online (N = 870) and academics from more than 30 disciplines (N = 1,347), we found a positive association between the perception that a field or an organization values brilliance and the perception that this field or organization is characterized by a masculinity-contest culture. This association was particularly strong among women. In turn, perceiving a masculinity-contest culture predicted lower interest and sense of belonging as well as stronger impostor feelings. Experimentally reducing the perception of a masculinity-contest culture eliminated gender gaps in interest and belonging in a brilliance-oriented organization, suggesting possible avenues for intervention.
The Appointment of Men as Representatives to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
Elizabeth Brannon
Political Research Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was one of the first international bodies devoted to gender issues and has played a foundational role in the promotion of gender equality globally. In this article, I explore representational patterns at the CSW and question when and why states choose to send men representatives. Novel data shows that while the commission was composed entirely of women representatives in its early decades, men’s representation has steadily increased—reaching parity in 2000. This paper argues that appointment choice can be explained by domestic levels of women’s political empowerment. The empirical results demonstrate a non-linear relationship between women’s political empowerment and appointment. States with higher levels of women’s political empowerment are more likely to appoint women representatives, until a threshold. At the highest levels of empowerment, states become again more likely to appoint men. I argue that this reflects a positive trend, in which men are taking a more active role in deconstructing pervasive gender inequalities. This paper has relevant implications for understandings of women’s representation in international institutions.
Female Entrepreneurship, Financial Frictions and Capital Misallocation in the US
Marta Morazzoni & Andrea Sy
Journal of Monetary Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
We document and quantify the effect of a gender gap in credit access on both entrepreneurship and input misallocation in the US. Female entrepreneurs are found to be more likely to face a rejection on their loan applications and to have a higher average product of capital, a sign of gender-driven capital misallocation that decreases in female-led firms’ access to finance. These results are not driven by differences in observable individual or businesses characteristics. Calibrating a heterogeneous agents model of entrepreneurship to the US economy, we show that the observed gap in credit access explains the bulk of the gender differences in capital allocation across firms. Eliminating such credit imbalance is estimated to potentially increase output by 4%, and to reduce capital misallocation by 12%.
She is the chair(man): Gender, language, and leadership
Allison Archer & Cindy Kam
Leadership Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article presents results from two complementary experiments that examine the effects of a potential obstacle to female leadership: gendered language in the form of masculine leadership titles. In the first experiment (N = 1753), we utilize an unobtrusive writing task to find that a masculine title (“Chairman” vs. “Chair”) increases assumptions that a hypothetical leader is a man, even when the leader’s gender is left unspecified. In the second experiment (N = 1000), we use a surprise recall task and a treatment that unambiguously communicates the leader’s gender to find that a masculine title increases the accuracy of leader recollection only when the leader is a man. In both studies, we find no significant differences by gender of respondents in the effects of masculine language on reinforcing the link between masculinity and leadership. Thus, implicitly sexist language as codified in masculine titles can reinforce stereotypes that tie masculinity to leadership and consequently, weaken the connection between women and leadership.
The causal effect of testosterone on men’s competitive behavior is moderated by basal cortisol and cues to an opponent’s status: Evidence for a context-dependent dual-hormone hypothesis
Erik Knight et al.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Testosterone has been theorized to direct status-seeking behaviors, including competitive behavior. However, most human studies to date have adopted correlational designs, and findings across studies are inconsistent. This experiment (n = 115) pharmacologically manipulated men’s testosterone levels prior to a mixed-gender math competition and examined basal cortisol (a hormone implicated in stress and social avoidance) and context cues related to an opponent’s perceived status (an opponent’s gender or a win/loss in a prior competition) as factors that may moderate testosterone’s impact on competitive behavior. We test and find support for the hypothesis that testosterone given to low-cortisol men evokes status-seeking behavior, whereas testosterone given to high-cortisol men evokes status-loss avoidance. In the initial rounds of competition, testosterone’s influence on competitive decisions depended on basal cortisol and opponent gender. After providing opponent-specific win–lose feedback, testosterone’s influence on decisions to reenter competitions depended on basal cortisol and this objective cue to status, not gender. Compared to placebo, men given exogenous testosterone who were low in basal cortisol showed an increased tendency to compete against male and high-status opponents relative to female and low-status opponents (status-seeking). Men given exogenous testosterone who were high in basal cortisol showed the opposite pattern—an increased tendency to compete against female and low-status opponents relative to male and high-status opponents (status-loss avoidance). These results provide support for a context-dependent dual-hormone hypothesis: Testosterone flexibly directs men’s competitive behavior contingent on basal cortisol levels and cues that signal an opponent’s status.
In and out of unemployment -- Labour market transitions and the role of testosterone
Peter Eibich et al.
Economics & Human Biology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Biological processes have provided new insights into diverging labour market trajectories. This paper uses population variation in testosterone levels to explain transition probabilities into and out of unemployment. We examine labour market transitions for 2,004 initially employed and 111 initially unemployed British men from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (“Understanding Society”) between 2011 and 2013. We address the endogeneity of testosterone levels by using genetic variation as instrumental variables (Mendelian Randomization). We find that for both initially unemployed men as well as initially employed men, higher testosterone levels reduce the risk of unemployment. Based on previous studies and descriptive evidence, we argue that these effects are likely driven by differences in cognitive and non-cognitive skills as well as job search behaviour of men with higher testosterone levels. Our findings suggest that latent biological processes can affect job search behaviour and labour market outcomes without necessarily relating to illness and disability.
The “Equal-Opportunity Jerk” Defense: Rudeness Can Obfuscate Gender Bias
Peter Belmi, Sora Jun & Gabrielle Adams
Psychological Science, March 2022, Pages 397-411
Abstract:
To address sexism, people must first recognize it. In this research, we identified a barrier that makes sexism hard to recognize: rudeness toward men. We found that observers judge a sexist perpetrator as less sexist if he is rude toward men. This occurs because rudeness toward men creates the illusion of gender blindness. We documented this phenomenon in five preregistered studies consisting of online adult participants and adult students from professional schools (total N = 4,663). These attributions are problematic because sexism and rudeness are not mutually exclusive. Men who hold sexist beliefs about women can be — and often are — rude toward other men. These attributions also discourage observers from holding perpetrators accountable for gender bias. Thus, rudeness toward men gives sexist perpetrators plausible deniability. It protects them and prevents the first perceptual step necessary to address sexism.
The old boy network: Are the professional networks of female executives less effective than men's for advancing their careers?
Marie Lalanne & Paul Seabright
Journal of Institutional Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
We investigate the impact of professional networks on men's and women's earnings, using a dataset of European and North American executives. The size of an individual's network of influential former colleagues has a large positive association with remuneration, with an elasticity of around 21%. However, controlling for unobserved heterogeneity using various fixed effects as well as a placebo technique, we find that the real causal impact of networks is barely positive for men and significantly lower for women. We provide suggestive evidence indicating that the apparent discrimination against women is due to two factors: first, both men and women are helped more by own-gender than other-gender connections, and men have more of these than women do. Second, a subset of employers we identify as ‘female friendly firms’ recruit more women but reward networks less than other firms.
The Hidden Cost of Flat Hierarchies on Applicant Pool Diversity: Evidence from Experiments
Reuben Hurst, Saerom (Ronnie) Lee & Justin Frake
University of Michigan Working Paper, February 2022
Abstract:
This paper investigates how an organization’s formal hierarchy affects the gender diversity in its applicant pool. One perspective based on theories of gendered organizations suggests that, because women may perceive “flat” organizational structures with few hierarchical levels as egalitarian alternatives to traditional tall hierarchies that reinforce male dominance, these flat structures may disproportionately attract female applicants and thus ameliorate gender inequality and segregation in the workplace. However, we argue that flat hierarchies may reduce the gender diversity in the applicant pool because, compared to men, women will perceive flat hierarchies to offer them fewer career advancement opportunities, to be more difficult for them to fit into, and to saddle them with more work. Using a field experiment with 8,400 job candidates, we show that job postings featuring a flat hierarchy reduce the proportion of interested female candidates by 18% and decrease the share of female applicants by 25%. Our follow-up survey experiment with 9,000 subjects suggests that this decrease in female attraction corresponds with cross-gender differences in perceived career advancement opportunities, fit, and workload. These results imply that the growing trend of flat hierarchies could inadvertently exacerbate workplace inequality and gender segregation.
Subtle Discrimination Overtakes Cognitive Resources and Undermines Performance
Sarah Walker et al.
Journal of Business and Psychology, April 2022, Pages 311–324
Abstract:
Meta-analyses demonstrate that the negative effects of subtle forms of discrimination on a range of work-related outcomes can be worse than those of overt discrimination (Dhanani et al. Personnel Psychology, 71(2), 147–179, 2018; Jones et al. Journal of Management, 42(6), 1588–1613, 2016). Yet, these syntheses and the primary studies on which they are based offer little insight into how or why these effects emerge. In the current study, we examine consequences of both of these types of discrimination on task performance and citizenship intentions via cognitive resource depletion. A total of 131 women experienced (a) overt discrimination, (b) subtle discrimination, (c) overt and subtle discrimination, or (d) no discrimination and were then asked to conduct a series of in-basket performance tasks. Results revealed that subtle (but not overt) discrimination significantly impaired measures of task performance and that cognitive resource depletion mediated these relationships. By pinpointing cognitive resource depletion as the mechanism that transmits the negative consequences of subtle discrimination, this work sheds new light onto this detrimental psychological experience and further opens up new opportunities for its remediation.