nep-gen New Economics Papers
on Gender
Issue of 2022‒04‒25
eight papers chosen by
Jan Sauermann
Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering

  1. Diving in the minds of recruiters: What triggers gender stereotypes in hiring? By Hannah Van Borm; Stijn Baert
  2. Women in Research in Economics in Uruguay By Verónica Amarante; Marisa Bucheli; Inés Moraes; Tatiana Pérez
  3. Networks and the Size of the Gender Gap in Politician Performance Across Job Duties By Garcia-Hernandez, Ana; Grossman, Guy; Michelitch, Kristin Grace
  4. Are American Women more deprived than Men? By Doux Baraka Kusinza
  5. Motherhood Penalties: the Effect of Childbirth on Women's Employment Dynamics in a Developing Country By Martina Querejeta; Marisa Bucheli
  6. Economic Outcomes for Transgender People and Other Gender Minorities in the United States: First Estimates from a Nationally Representative Sample By Carpenter, Christopher S.; Lee, Maxine J.; Nettuno, Laura
  7. Gender identification and stake size effects in the Impunity Game By Anabel Doñate-Buendía; Hernán Bejarano; Aurora García-Gallego
  8. Maternity Leave and Paternity Leave: Evidence on the Economic Impact of Legislative Chances in High Income Countries By Canaan, Serena; Lassen, Anne Sophie; Rosenbaum, Philip; Steingrimsdottir, Herdis

  1. By: Hannah Van Borm; Stijn Baert (-)
    Abstract: We investigate the drivers of gender differentials in hiring chances. More concretely, we test (i) whether recruiters perceive job applicants in gender stereotypical terms when making hiring decisions and (ii) whether the activation of these gender stereotypes in recruiters’ minds varies by the salience of gender in a particular hiring context and the gender prototypicality of a job applicant, as hypothesised in Ridgeway and Kricheli-Katz (2013). To this end, we conduct an innovative vignette experiment in the United States with 290 genuine recruiters who evaluate fictitious job applicants regarding their hireability and 21 statements related to specific gender stereotypes. Moreover, we experimentally manipulate both the gender prototypicality of a job applicant and the salience of gender in the hiring context. We find that employers perceive women in gender stereotypical terms when making hiring decisions. In particular, women are perceived to be more social and supportive than men, but also as less assertive and physically strong. Furthermore, our results indicate that the gender prototypicality of job applicants moderates these perceptions: the less prototypical group of African American women, who are assumed to be less prototypical, are perceived in less stereotypical terms than white women, while some stereotypes are more outspoken when female résumés reveal family responsibilities.
    Keywords: hiring, gender discrimination, stereotypes, race, motherhood
    JEL: J71 J16 J15 J13 J24
    Date: 2022–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:22/1043&r=
  2. By: Verónica Amarante (IECON, Universidad de la República, Uruguay); Marisa Bucheli (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República, Uruguay); Inés Moraes (IECON, Universidad de la República, Uruguay); Tatiana Pérez (dECON, FCS, Universidad de la República, Uruguay)
    Abstract: We analyze gender gaps in written production in Economics in Uruguay. We first describe the evolution of professional context and female participation. We then provide an empirical analysis of the research output based on two databases: working papers and technical documents and articles published in journals. The main results are: a) men produce more journal articles than women but there is not a gender gap in working papers; b) women and men are unevenly represented across fields; c) non-local partnership is more likely among men than women; d) non-local partnership is strongly associated with the gender gap in journal articles production.
    Keywords: gender gaps; economic research; networks; men and women economists
    JEL: J16 J44 I23 O30
    Date: 2021–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:0221&r=
  3. By: Garcia-Hernandez, Ana; Grossman, Guy (University of Pennsylvania); Michelitch, Kristin Grace
    Abstract: Women across the Global South have made large strides in breaking into historically male arenas, including politics. Like private sector work and non-profit development, woman in politics face barriers that can undermine their performance relative to men. Focusing on women politicians, we argue that performance gender gaps of different magnitudes will appear across different job duties, since job duties differ in terms of barriers posed to women. In particular, where woman politicians are excluded in politician networks, duties requiring interaction with fellow politicians (e.g., legislative activities) may exhibit larger gender gaps as compared to duties that can be undertaken independently (e.g., constituency services and development). We find support for this argument when comparing women and men politicians' performance across samples of up to 50 subnational Ugandan legislatures (where 1/3 of seats are reserved for women). Using original network data, we find that women are significantly more peripheral in professional networks, and that this network peripherality drives gender gaps in duties requiring more interaction with fellow politicians, but not independently-performed duties. Importantly, friendship centrality is no substitute for professional centrality when it comes to job duty performance: by term end women are not more peripheral in personal networks, which are not as correlated with job duty performance gaps. Finally, education disparities across gender also contribute to the gender gap for duties requiring more intricate understanding of rules and procedures (e.g., monitoring public services, legislative duties). Moving forward, advocacy organizations may consider holding trainings and simulations with politicians on performing (especially intricate) duties in ways that might encourage cross-gender professional network ties.
    Date: 2022–03–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:j7zg2&r=
  4. By: Doux Baraka Kusinza (Center for Research in the Economics of Development, University of Namur)
    Abstract: American men experience higher premature mortality than women, while women are poorer. These gender inequalities are substantially different across racial groups. Based on these facts, I explore in this paper two complementary questions. First, what is the most disadvantaged gender group when combining poverty and mortality data? Second, are there racial disparities in the pattern of gender inequalities in total deprivation? This study uses the generated deprivation index, a novel indicator that aggregates poverty and mortality as components of total deprivation, to answer those questions. Two main conclusions emerge from the analysis. First, since the 1990s, men and women have been experiencing very similar total deprivation rates, whereas, before then, men were more deprived than women. The reduction of the gender gap in mortality combined with the lack of significant progress in the gender inequality in income poverty resulted in a steeper decline in total deprivation among men. Second, this near gender equality in total deprivation hides sizable disparities across races. The gender gap against women is higher for Hispanics and Blacks compared to Whites Non-Hispanics. This finding suggests that women in Minorities face more severe racial penalties than men.
    Date: 2022–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nam:defipp:2205&r=
  5. By: Martina Querejeta; Marisa Bucheli (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República)
    Abstract: The economic literature has pointed to motherhood as an explanation for the persistence of labor gender gaps. The arrival of children intensifies the traditional gender roles that affect gaps in paid and unpaid work. However, the evidence is mostly for developed countries, and little is known about these dynamics in developing contexts. We estimated the impact of motherhood on women’s formal employment and wages for Uruguay, one of the Latin American countries with the highest female labor force participation rates. Through an event-study approach, we used administrative records on labor histories for the period 1996-2015 and found an important motherhood penalty: monthly wages reduce by 19% a year after childbirth, and this drop continues to increase, reaching 36% after 10 years. This is explained by a reduction in formal employment and, to a lesser extent, also a reduction in hourly wages. We also showed that low-wage women face unquestionable higher penalties.
    Keywords: gender inequality, motherhood, formal employment, event-study, Uruguay
    JEL: J13 J16 J22 J31
    Date: 2021–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:0121&r=
  6. By: Carpenter, Christopher S. (Vanderbilt University); Lee, Maxine J. (University of San Francisco); Nettuno, Laura (Vanderbilt University)
    Abstract: We provide the literature's first estimates of economic outcomes for transgender people and other gender minorities in the United States using nationally representative data from the Household Pulse Survey. We find that transgender women – individuals who were assigned male at birth but who identify as female – are significantly less likely to be employed, have higher poverty rates, are more likely to have public health insurance, and report greater food insecurity compared to otherwise similar cisgender men. Differences between non-cisgender individuals who were assigned female at birth and cisgender women are smaller. Non-cisgender Black individuals fare significantly worse than non-cisgender white individuals, regardless of sex assigned at birth. Our results demonstrate the precarious economic position of gender minority populations in America.
    Keywords: transgender, gender minority, economic outcomes, Household Pulse Survey
    JEL: J1
    Date: 2022–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15116&r=
  7. By: Anabel Doñate-Buendía (LEE and Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain); Hernán Bejarano (Economics Division, CIDE (Centro de Investigación de Docencia Económicas, A.C.), Ciudad de México, Mexico); Aurora García-Gallego (ICAE and Economics Department, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and LEE and Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain)
    Abstract: In the impunity game, responders, unlike the ultimatum game, cannot affect proposer’s outcomes. Proposers in this game, like in the dictator game, have full control over their own outcome, as rejection from the responder has no effect on their payoff. Thus, the theoretical prediction of this game states that the responder should accept any offer. An experiment is designed aiming at analysing both players’ behaviour in the impunity game when subjects are aware of the gender of their partner. Additionally, we examine the effect of different stake sizes. An online experiment with eight different treatments is implemented, with a total number of 1,210 observations. The main findings are that proposers give to responders an important (around 35%) share on average, and that both the stake size and gender identification affect their decisions. Moreover, responders’ rejection patterns follow the game theoretical prediction, although the hypothesis that knowing your counterpart sex/gender affects responders’ behaviour cannot be rejected. Finally, subjects’ behaviour in this game is found to be determined by their personality and psychopathy traits, as well as by their emotional intelligence level. Other sociodemographic characteristics like place of birth or their employment status are found to also influence their decisions.
    Keywords: impunity game; experiment; gender identification; stake size
    JEL: C90 C88 D63 D64 D91
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2022/08&r=
  8. By: Canaan, Serena (Simon Fraser University); Lassen, Anne Sophie (Copenhagen Business School); Rosenbaum, Philip (Copenhagen Business School); Steingrimsdottir, Herdis (Copenhagen Business School)
    Abstract: Labor market policies for expecting and new mothers emerged at the turn of the nineteenth century. The main motivation for these policies was to ensure the health of mothers and their newborn children. With increased female labor market participation, the focus has gradually shifted to the effects that parental leave policies have on women’s labor market outcomes and gender equality. Proponents of extending parental leave rights for mothers in terms of duration, benefits, and job protection have argued that this will support mothers‘ labor market attachment and allow them to take time off from work after childbirth and then safely return to their pre-birth job. Others have pointed out that extended maternity leave can work as a double-edged sword for mothers: If young women are likely to spend months, or even years, on leave, employers are likely to take that into consideration when hiring and promoting their employees. These policies may therefore end up adversely affecting women’s labor market outcomes. This has led to an increased focus on activating fathers to take parental leave, and in 2019, the European Parliament approved a directive requiring member states to ensure at least two months of earmarked paternity leave. The literature on parental leave has proliferated over the last couple of decades. The increased number of studies on the topic has brought forth some consistent findings. First, the introduction of short maternity leave is found to be beneficial for both maternal and child health and for mothers’ labor market outcomes. Second, there appear to be negligible benefits from a leave extending beyond six months in terms of health out-comes and children’s long-run outcomes. Furthermore, longer leaves have little, or even adverse, influence on mothers’ labor market outcomes. However, some evidence suggests that there may be underlying heterogeneous effects from extended leaves among different socioeconomic groups. The literature on the effect of earmarked paternity leave indicates that these policies prove effective in increasing fathers’ leave-taking and involvement in childcare. However, the evidence on the influence of paternity leave on gender equality in the labor market remains scarce, and somewhat mixed. Finally, recent studies that focus on the effect of parental leave policies for a firm find that in general, firms are able to compensate for lost labor when their employees go on leave. However, if firms face constraints when replacing employees, it could negatively influence their performance.
    Keywords: parents, children, family, gender, parental leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, health, income, employment, demography
    JEL: J08 J12 J13 J22 J23
    Date: 2022–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15129&r=

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