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on Gender |
| By: | Graziella Bertocchi; Luca Bonacini; Marina Murat |
| Abstract: | We investigate the gender gap in Economics among bachelor's and master's grad- uates in Italy between 2010 and 2019. First we establish that being female exerts a negative impact on the choice to major in Economics: at the bachelor level, only 73 women graduate in Economics for every 100 men, with the mathematical con- tent of high school curricula as the key driver of the effect and a persistence of the gap at the master level. Second, within a full menu of major choices, Economics displays the largest gap, followed by STEM and then Business Economics. Third, decomposition analyses expose a unique role for the math background in driving the Economics gender gap relative to other fields. Fourth, a triple difference analysis of a high school reform shows that an increase in the math content of traditionally low math curricula caused an increase in the Economics gender gap among treated students. |
| Keywords: | Education Gender Gap, Economics, Higher Education, Business Economics, Major Choice, Major Switching, Mathematics, Stereotypes |
| JEL: | A22 I23 J16 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:151&r= |
| By: | Paul David Boll; Lukas Mergele; Larissa Zierow |
| Abstract: | Gender pay gaps are commonly studied in populations with already completed educational careers. We focus on an earlier stage by investigating the gender pay gap among university students working alongside their studies. With data from five cohorts of a large-scale student survey from Germany, we use regression and wage decomposition techniques to describe gender pay gaps and potential explanations. We find that female students earn about 6% less on average than male students, which reduces to 4.1% when accounting for a rich set of explanatory variables. The largest explanatory factor is the type of jobs male and female students pursue. |
| Keywords: | Gender pay gap, university student employment, job types |
| JEL: | I22 I23 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ifowps:_364&r= |
| By: | Mariya Brussevich; Ms. Era Dabla-Norris |
| Abstract: | This paper examines gender inequality in the context of structural transformation and rebalancing in China. We document declining women's relative wages and labor force participation in China during the last two decades, despite rapid growth and expansion of the service sector. Using household data, we provide evidence consistent with a U-shaped relationship between economic development and women's labor market outcomes. Using a model of structural transformation, we show that labor market barriers for women have increased over time. Model counterfactuals suggest that removing these barriers and increasing service sector productivity can boost both gender equality and economic growth in China. |
| Keywords: | household data; gender wage gap; CHIP wage data; female-to-male wage ratio; gender earnings gap; Women; Gender inequality; Wages; Services sector; Labor supply; Africa; Global |
| Date: | 2021–05–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2021/138&r= |
| By: | Yener Altunbas; Leonardo Gambacorta; Alessio Reghezza; Giulio Velliscig |
| Abstract: | Does having more women in managerial positions improve firm environmental performance? We match firm-corporate governance characteristics with firm-level carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over the period 2009-2019 to study the relationship between gender diversity in the workplace and firm carbon emissions. We find that a 1 percentage point increase in the percentage of female managers within the firm leads to a 0.5% decrease in CO2 emissions. We document that this effect is statically significant, also when controlling for institutional differences caused by more patriarchal and hierarchical cultures and religions. At the same time, we show that gender diversity at the managerial level has stronger mitigating effects on climate change if females are also well-represented outside the organization, e.g. in political institutions and civil society organizations. Finally, we find that, after the Paris Agreement, firms with greater gender diversity reduced their CO2 emissions by about 5% more than firms with more male managers. Overall, our results indicate that gender diversity within organizations can have a significant impact in combating climate change. |
| JEL: | G12 G23 G30 D62 Q54 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:977&r= |
| By: | Ayllón, Sara (Universitat de Girona) |
| Abstract: | I study the impact of online instruction on teaching evaluations at a higher education institution in Spain. Using a difference-in-differences approach, I show that in the semester when teaching moved online, female lecturers were evaluated more poorly than in previous semesters. The performance of male lecturers was not impacted by the new teaching environment, according to student opinion. I rule out several mechanisms: for example, poorer adaptation to online teaching by female lecturers, less experience in taught courses or student sorting. Additional results indicate that among the female lecturers, those who were younger and who did not have a permanent contract were those impacted most negatively. The bias was driven by male students and by low achievers (who were going to fail the course), and was particularly pronounced in Social Sciences. If the online environment keeps gaining in importance in higher education, the gender gap in teaching evaluations that I document is likely to have important direct and indirect effects on the career progression of women. |
| Keywords: | gender bias, online instruction, teaching evaluations, higher education, Spain |
| JEL: | J16 J71 I23 J45 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14787&r= |
| By: | Marie-Hélène BROIHANNE (LaRGE Research Center, Université de Strasbourg) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the gender gap in subjective financial literacy of retail clients of a large European bank. Using a database of banking records and questionnaire answers of more than 50,000 retail clients, the gender gap in subjective financial literacy was found to be significantly higher for individuals living as part of a couple. To distinguish the respective impact of financial responsibility and subjective literacy between partners in households, the study was based on 7,382 dual-income couples for which data was matched since spouses hold a joint bank account. The findings suggest that the gender gap in subjective financial literacy between spouses is reduced because of couple consensus during spouses' joint decision-making. As 70% of couples exhibit no gender gap in subjective financial literacy, the couple characteristics that explain either a classical or an inverse subjective financial literacy gender gap are identified. We show that the heterogeneity in the gender gap in subjective financial literacy of couples is related to that of spouses' financial management styles. |
| Keywords: | Subjective financial literacy, Gender gap, Spouses' financial decision-making, Spouse dominance, Financial management styles |
| JEL: | G02 G11 G28 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lar:wpaper:2021-08&r= |
| By: | Fabian Bald, Marcel Henkel |
| Abstract: | We assess the role of local public goods provision for gender gaps in the labour market. We find that higher fiscal revenues of local governments are associated with decreasing gender employment gaps in German labour market areas because it decreases labour supply for male workers at a higher rate than for female workers. The results are robust when we include instrumental variables that address the endogeneity of local public goods provision. To assess the impact of fiscal transfers across regions on gender gaps we quantify a spatial general equilibrium model with multiple types of workers, who are differently affected by local public goods provision in their labour supply decision. We find that transfers reduce disparities across regions. This goes along with smaller gender gaps in employment in treated regions because female workers are disproportionately pulled into market work and regions with low productivity. |
| Keywords: | gender, local public goods, labor force participation, taxes, transfers |
| JEL: | H4 H7 J1 J2 J6 R2 R5 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdv:wpaper:credresearchpaper33&r= |
| By: | Scott, Douglas (University of Oxford); Freund, Richard (University of Oxford); Favara, Marta (University of Oxford); Porter, Catherine (Lancaster University); Sanchez, Alan (Group for the Analysis od Development (GRADE)) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the difference in short-term employment recovery between young men and women in India, Peru and Vietnam following the national lockdowns imposed in all three countries during 2020. We employ a mediation model to establish whether - and to what extent – commonly suggested mechanisms are responsible for a relatively slower recovery among young women and an increase in the gender employment gap. In line with the literature, we find evidence that the unequal distribution of caring responsibilities explains a meaningful proportion of the disparity in Peru and Vietnam, but a smaller share of the change in the employment gap in India. Contrary to the previous literature, however, we find little evidence that the work activity performed before the pandemic explains the slower female recovery in any of the three study countries. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, job loss, work resilience, gender gap |
| JEL: | J21 J16 J6 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14829&r= |
| By: | Modena, Francesca (Bank of Italy); Rettore, Enrico (University of Padova); Tanzi, Giulia (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits student-level administrative data on the population of Italian university students from 2006 to 2014 to analyze the effects of high performing (HP) male or female peers on individual academic performance, according to the gender of the student. The identification strategy is based on quasi-random variation in the exposure to HP peers across cohorts, within the same university and the same degree program. The impact of HP students, proxied by their high school final grade, is heterogeneous. We found that female HP peers have stronger positive effects than HP males, in particular with peers of the same gender. Moreover, there is evidence that the exposure to HP males can be even negative, especially for female students in competitive environments, such as the STEM fields, and for low ability students of both genders. |
| Keywords: | human capital, higher education, university performance, gender, peers |
| JEL: | I22 I23 C21 C35 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14806&r= |
| By: | David H. Bernstein (University of Miami); Andrew B. Martinez (Office of Macroeconomic Analysis, U.S. Department of the Treasury) |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the most abrupt changes in U.S. labor force participation and unemployment since the Second World War, and with different consequences for men and women. This paper models the U.S. labor market to help interpret the pandemic's effects. After replicating and extending Emerson's (2011) model of the labor market, we formulate a joint model of male and female unemployment and labor force participation rates for 1980-2019 and use it to forecast into the pandemic to understand the pandemic's labor-market consequences. Gender-specific differences were particularly large at the pandemic's outset; lower labor force participation persists. |
| Keywords: | Labor force participation, unemployment, general-to-specific modeling, cointegration |
| JEL: | C32 C52 E24 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwc:wpaper:2021-006&r= |