Her future
In Good Company: When Gender Diversity Boosts a Company’s Reputation
Leigh Wilton et al.
Psychology of Women Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many companies highlight their gender diversity, in part to signal positive attributes about the organization. We explored whether or not advertising gender diversity improves White men’s beliefs about an organization. In four studies, we found that White men expected a company to have a more broadminded and tolerant climate when the company noted it was gender diverse – and the gender diversity was described as including White women – as compared to when it did not address its gender diversity. In Studies 1 (n = 105), 2 (n = 101), and 3 (n = 151), a White gender-diverse organization was also viewed as more prestigious than an organization that did not address its gender diversity. In Studies 3 and 4 (n = 183), a gender-diverse company that highlighted a Black woman employee did not receive the same overall reputation boosts as the White gender-diverse company did. Our research indicates that companies that advertise their gender diversity may receive a boost to their reputation. We suggest that this research can inform organizational efforts to address gender diversity by encouraging companies to consider the intersection of gender and race in shaping both prejudicial attitudes and the experiences of minority groups.
Who Can Lean In? The Intersecting Role of Race and Gender in Negotiations
Negin Toosi et al.
Psychology of Women Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research on gender disparities in negotiation often does not address the intersectional influence of other demographic categories. We tested the hypothesis that race intersects with gender to play a role in constraining assertive behavior in negotiations. In two studies, we examined White non-Latinx and Asian/Asian American women and men’s phrasing of requests for higher salaries (Study 1) and the amounts they requested (Study 2) in hypothetical salary negotiation scenarios. White women reported less confidence and less assertiveness in their salary requests and proposed lower first offers than did White men; Asian and Asian American participants did not show gender differences in these measures. Negotiation backlash, measured by the amount that participants felt they could request without being punished for being too demanding, mediated the relation between demographic factors and first offers. We explored outcomes in light of intersectionality theories and the status incongruity hypothesis of backlash. These results indicate that differences in negotiation are shaped not only by gender but also by racial category membership.
Trends in the Motherhood Wage Penalty and Fatherhood Wage Premium for Low, Middle, and High Earners
Rebecca Glauber
Demography, October 2018, Pages 1663–1680
Abstract:
Many studies have shown that women pay a wage penalty for motherhood, whereas men earn a wage premium for fatherhood. A few recent studies have used quantile regression to explore differences in the penalties across the wage distribution. The current study builds on this research and explores trends in the parenthood penalties and premiums from 1980 to 2014 for those at the bottom, middle, and top of the wage distribution. Analyses of data from the Current Population Survey show that the motherhood wage penalty decreased, whereas the fatherhood wage premium increased. Unconditional quantile regression models reveal that low-, middle-, and high-earning women paid similar motherhood wage penalties in the 1980s. The motherhood wage penalty began to decrease in the 1990s, but more so for high-earning women than for low-earning women. By the early 2010s, the motherhood wage penalty for high-earning women was eliminated, whereas low-earning women continued to pay a penalty. The fatherhood wage premium began to increase in the late 1990s, although again, more so for high-earning men than for low-earning men. By the early 2010s, high-earning men received a much larger fatherhood wage premium than low- or middle-earning men.
The Effects of Professor Gender on the Post-Graduation Outcomes of Female Students
Hani Mansour et al.
University of Colorado Working Paper, September 2018
Abstract:
Although women earn approximately 50% of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) bachelor's degrees, more than 70% of scientists and engineers are men. We explore a potential determinant of this STEM gender gap using newly collected data on the career trajectories of United States Air Force Academy students. Specifically, we examine the effects of being assigned female math and science professors on occupation and postgraduate education. We find that, among high-ability female students, being assigned a female professor leads to substantial increases in the probability of working in a STEM occupation and the probability of receiving a STEM master's degree.
Do Women Managers Keep Firms out of Trouble? Evidence from Corporate Litigation and Policies
Binay Adhikari, Anup Agrawal & James Malm
Journal of Accounting and Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
We find that firms where women have more power in the top management team, measured by female executives’ plurality and pay slice, face fewer operations-related lawsuits. This effect is robust to several treatments of endogeneity and does not appear to be driven by female executives' greater willingness to settle the cases. Evidence from a simultaneous equations approach suggests that firms where women executives have more power avoid lawsuits partly by avoiding some risky but value-increasing firm policies, such as more aggressive R&D, intensive advertising, and policies inimical to other parties.
Nevertheless She Persisted? Gender Peer Effects in Doctoral STEM Programs
Valerie Bostwick & Bruce Weinberg
NBER Working Paper, September 2018
Abstract:
We study the effects of peer gender composition, a proxy for female-friendliness of environment, in STEM doctoral programs on persistence and degree completion. Leveraging unique new data and quasi-random variation in gender composition across cohorts within programs, we show that women entering cohorts with no female peers are 11.9pp less likely to graduate within 6 years than their male counterparts. A 1 sd increase in the percentage of female students differentially increases the probability of on-time graduation for women by 4.6pp. These gender peer effects function primarily through changes in the probability of dropping out in the first year of a Ph.D. program and are largest in programs that are typically male-dominated.
Gender Composition of Labor Queues and Gender Disparities in Hiring
Santiago Campero & Roberto Fernandez
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
Sex segregation across jobs is widespread. While numerous studies have investigated how hiring contributes to this phenomenon, scholars disagree on how the gender composition of the set of candidates that firms consider (labor queues) is related to gender disparities in hiring. Theories of gendered organizations posit that organizations will tend to disadvantage females across all jobs, including jobs where females predominate. Other theories suggest that female disadvantage is more localized, and in particular that it is contingent on the sex-typing of the job. Tokenism theories posit that disparities are more acute when individuals are in the position of tokens among those being evaluated. Unique among papers in this area, we examine the relationship between the gender composition of labor queues and the degree of gender disparities in hiring using a sample of 441 firms in the high-tech sector. Importantly, our setting allows us to distinguish between the predictions of theories of sex-typing and the influence of the numeric representation of women and men among those being evaluated (tokenism theories). Our main findings strongly support Kanter’s token theory: screeners disadvantage both males and females when screening for positions in which candidates of the opposite gender predominate.
Life in the Balance: Are Women’s Possible Selves Constrained by Men’s Domestic Involvement?
Alyssa Croft, Toni Schmader & Katharina Block
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Do young women’s expectations about potential romantic partners’ likelihood of adopting caregiving roles in the future contribute to whether they imagine themselves in nontraditional future roles? Meta-analyzed effect sizes of five experiments (total N = 645) supported this complementarity hypothesis. Women who were primed with family-focused (vs. career-focused) male exemplars (Preliminary Study) or information that men are rapidly (vs. slowly) assuming greater caregiving responsibilities (Studies 1-4) were more likely to envision becoming the primary economic provider and less likely to envision becoming the primary caregiver of their future families. A meta-analysis across studies revealed that gender role complementarity has a small-to-medium effect on both women’s abstract expectations of becoming the primary economic provider (d = .27) and the primary caregiver (d = −.26). These patterns suggest that women’s stereotypes about men’s stagnant or changing gender roles might subtly constrain women’s own expected work and family roles.
The Impact of Obesity on Wages: The Role of Personal Interactions and Job Selection
Andrea Moro, Tommaso Tempesti & Sebastian Tello-Trillo
Vanderbilt University Working Paper, May 2018
Abstract:
We estimate the effects of obesity on wages accounting for the selection of workers into jobs requiring different levels of personal interactions in the work-place. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 combined with detailed information about jobs from O*Net, we confirm the results from the literature finding a wage penalty for obese white women. This penalty is higher in jobs that require a high level of personal interactions. Accounting for job selection using three different specifications does not significantly change the estimated wage penalty.
Do Brokerages Benefit From All-Star Females?
Sima Jannati
University of Missouri Working Paper, August 2018
Abstract:
This paper shows a positive correlation between the representation of senior female analysts (i.e., all-star females) and outcomes of brokerages. A larger number of all-star females in a brokerage increases the future performance of the brokerage. Using deviation from the steady-level female composition in brokerages as an instrumental variable, I show that analysts who work in brokerages with at least one all-star female experience a higher (lower) likelihood of promotion (demotion) in the next year. Finally, a higher representation of all-star females in brokerages that are largely male-dominated, narrows the promotion gap for other female analysts.
The unintended consequences of maternity leaves: How agency interventions mitigate the negative effects of longer legislated maternity leaves
Ivona Hideg et al.
Journal of Applied Psychology, October 2018, Pages 1155-1164
Abstract:
To support women in the workplace, longer legislated maternity leaves have been encouraged in Scandinavian countries and recently in Canada. Yet, past research shows that longer legislated maternity leaves (i.e., 1 year and longer) may unintentionally harm women’s career progress. To address this issue, we first sought to identify one potential mechanism underlying negative effects of longer legislated maternity leaves: others’ lower perceptions of women’s agency. Second, we utilize this knowledge to test interventions that boost others’ perceptions of women’s agency and thus mitigate negative effects of longer legislated maternity leaves. We test our hypotheses in three studies in the context of Canadian maternity leave policies. Specifically, in Study 1, we found that others’ lower perceptions of women’s agency mediated the negative effects of a longer legislated maternity leave, that is, 1 year (vs. shorter, i.e., 1 month maternity leave) on job commitment. In Study 2, we found that providing information about a woman’s agency mitigates the unintended negative effects of a longer legislated maternity leave on job commitment and hireability. In Study 3, we showed that use of a corporate program that enables women to stay in touch with the workplace while on maternity leave (compared to conditions in which no such program was offered; a program was offered but not used by the applicant; and the program was offered, but there was no information about its usage by the applicant) enhances agency perceptions and perceptions of job commitment and hireability. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Women’s visibility in academic seminars: Women ask fewer questions than men
Alecia Carter et al.
PLoS ONE, September 2018
Abstract:
The attrition of women in academic careers is a major concern, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics subjects. One factor that can contribute to the attrition is the lack of visible role models for women in academia. At early career stages, the behaviour of the local community may play a formative role in identifying ingroup role models, shaping women’s impressions of whether or not they can be successful in academia. One common and formative setting to observe role models is the local departmental academic seminar, talk, or presentation. We thus quantified women’s visibility through the question-asking behaviour of academics at seminars using observations and an online survey. From the survey responses of over 600 academics in 20 countries, we found that women reported asking fewer questions after seminars compared to men. This impression was supported by observational data from almost 250 seminars in 10 countries: women audience members asked absolutely and proportionally fewer questions than male audience members. When asked why they did not ask questions when they wanted to, women, more than men, endorsed internal factors (e.g., not working up the nerve). However, our observations suggest that structural factors might also play a role; when a man was the first to ask a question, or there were fewer questions, women asked proportionally fewer questions. Attempts to counteract the latter effect by manipulating the time for questions (in an effort to provoke more questions) in two departments were unsuccessful. We propose alternative recommendations for creating an environment that makes everyone feel more comfortable to ask questions, thus promoting equal visibility for women and members of other less visible groups.
In their humble opinion: How expressions of humility affect superiors’ assessments of leadership potential in the US Army
Jordon Swain & Lisa Korenman
Military Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
While leader humility has been linked to a number of positive outcomes, existing research speculates that expressions of humility may not be viewed positively in organizations with a highly directive or masculine culture – such as the military. Research has also suggested that men and women may be perceived differently when behaving humbly. A combination of four studies revealed that military superiors do take a positive view of humble behaviors in their subordinates, but it is not clear that humble leaders are viewed as having more potential than those who exhibit other positive leadership behaviors. Further, it appears that gender and humility interact to affect perceptions of leadership potential in the military, with humble men receiving more benefit from acting humbly than their female counterparts.
When thinking back can hold us back: How being a follower can affect women’s loss-aversion
Austin Lee Nichols & Corey Cook
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite the persistent gender gap in many organizational leadership positions, researchers have not yet examined objective predictors of this gap. A fully crossed 3 (Role Prime: leader, follower, control) × 2 (Gender Prime: present, absent) × 2 (Sex: male, female) experimental design examined the effect of group role (i.e., leader or follower) and gender on loss-aversion. Participants (192 total; 96 female) were asked to name either their former or current leader (“superior”) or follower (“subordinate”), compared with a no prime condition. Results suggest that women primed with a follower role were more loss-averse than men primed with a follower role, and were more loss-averse than women primed with the leader role or in the control condition. However, the role prime did not affect men’s loss-aversion. The current research suggests that researchers and practitioners should consider the effects of group role on loss-aversion, as this may contribute to gender gaps in the workplace.
Gender differences in individual variation in academic grades fail to fit expected patterns for STEM
Rose O'Dea et al.
Nature Communications, September 2018
Abstract:
Fewer women than men pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), despite girls outperforming boys at school in the relevant subjects. According to the ‘variability hypothesis’, this over-representation of males is driven by gender differences in variance; greater male variability leads to greater numbers of men who exceed the performance threshold. Here, we use recent meta-analytic advances to compare gender differences in academic grades from over 1.6 million students. In line with previous studies we find strong evidence for lower variation among girls than boys, and of higher average grades for girls. However, the gender differences in both mean and variance of grades are smaller in STEM than non-STEM subjects, suggesting that greater variability is insufficient to explain male over-representation in STEM. Simulations of these differences suggest the top 10% of a class contains equal numbers of girls and boys in STEM, but more girls in non-STEM subjects.
An Evolutionary Theory for the Variability Hypothesis
Theodore Hill
Georgia Tech Working Paper, August 2018
Abstract:
An elementary mathematical theory based on “selectivity” is proposed to address a question raised by Charles Darwin, namely, how one gender of a sexually dimorphic species might tend to evolve with greater variability than the other gender. Briefly, the theory says that if one sex is relatively selective then from one generation to the next, more variable subpopulations of the opposite sex will tend to prevail over those with lesser variability; and conversely, if a sex is relatively non-selective, then less variable subpopulations of the opposite sex will tend to prevail over those with greater variability. This theory makes no assumptions about differences in means between the sexes, nor does it presume that one sex is selective and the other non-selective. Two mathematical models are presented: a discrete-time one-step statistical model using normally distributed fitness values; and a continuous-time deterministic model using exponentially distributed fitness levels.
The Impact of Body Weight on Occupational Mobility and Career Development
Matthew Harris
International Economic Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper examines the relationship between individuals' weight and employment decisions over the life cycle. I estimate a dynamic stochastic model of individuals' annual choices of occupation, hours worked, and schooling. Evidence suggests heavier individuals face higher switching costs when transitioning into white collar occupations, earn lower returns to experience in white‐collar occupations, and earn lower wages in socially intensive jobs. I simulate a hypothetical anti‐discrimination policy treating obese workers as a protected class. While such a policy would reduce gaps in occupational attainment, it would have little effect on the observed divergence in wages between obese and non‐obese workers.