Gender Equals
Lowering the Pitch of Your Voice Makes You Feel More Powerful and Think More Abstractly
Mariëlle Stel et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Voice pitch may not only influence the listeners but also the speakers themselves. Based on the theories of embodied cognition and previous research on power, we tested whether lowering their pitch leads people to feel more powerful and think more abstractly. In three experiments, participants received instructions to read a text out loud with either a lower or a higher voice than usual. Subsequently, feelings of power (Experiments 1 and 2) and abstract thinking (Experiment 3) were assessed. Participants who lowered their voice pitch perceived themselves more as possessing more powerful traits (Experiments 1 and 2) and had a higher level of abstract thinking (Experiment 3) compared to participants who raised their voice pitch.
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Gender Biases in Early Number Exposure to Preschool-Aged Children
Alicia Chang, Catherine Sandhofer & Christia Brown
Journal of Language and Social Psychology, December 2011, Pages 440-450
Abstract:
Despite dramatically narrowing gender gaps, women remain underrepresented in mathematics and math-related fields. Parents can shape expectations and interests, which may predict later differences in achievement and occupational choices. This study examines children's early mathematical environments by observing the amount that mothers talk to their sons and daughters (mean age 22 months) about cardinal number, a basic precursor to mathematics. In analyses of naturalistic mother-child interactions from the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES) database, boys received significantly more number-specific language input than girls. Greater amounts of early number-related talk may promote familiarity and liking for mathematical concepts, which may influence later preferences and career choices. Additionally, the stereotype of male dominance in math may be so pervasive that culturally prescribed gender roles may be unintentionally reinforced to very young children.
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Gender differences in firm performance: Evidence from new ventures in the United States
Alicia Robb & John Watson
Journal of Business Venturing, forthcoming
Abstract:
Prior studies examining the performance of female- and male-owned firms have generally reported that female-owned firms underperform male-owned firms. However, it is conceivable that the performance measures used by previous studies and/or their inability to control for key demographic differences may have contributed to this finding. For example, few studies use size adjusted performance measures and yet we know that female-owned firms tend to be smaller than their male counterparts. Similarly, risk is typically not considered even though evidence suggests that women tend to be more risk averse than men. We use a longitudinal (five-year) database of more than 4000 new ventures that began operations in the U.S. in 2004 to determine whether potential differences in the performances of female- and male-owned firms disappear when appropriate performance measures are used and important demographic differences are controlled for in the models. The performance measures we examine include: 4-year closure rates; return on assets (ROA); and a risk-adjusted measure (Sharpe ratio). Univariate test results confirm our expectation (based on both liberal and social feminist theory) that there is no difference in the performance of female- and male-owned new ventures provided performance is appropriately measured. Further, these results are supported by our multivariate analyses, which control for demographic differences such as industry, experience and hours worked. Our findings should be of interest to researchers, financiers, advisors and policy makers. Perhaps more importantly, our findings should also ensure that women who are contemplating starting a new venture are not discouraged from doing so by a false belief that new ventures initiated by women are less likely to succeed than those initiated by men.
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Voice pitch influences voting behavior
Cara Tigue et al.
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
It may be adaptive for voters to recognize good leadership qualities among politicians. Men with lower-pitched voices are found to be more dominant and attractive than are men with higher-pitched voices. Candidate attractiveness and vocal quality relate to voting behavior, but no study has tested the influence of voice pitch on voting-related perceptions. We tested whether voice pitch influenced perceptions of politicians and how these perceptions related to voting behavior. In Study 1, we manipulated voice pitch of recordings of US presidents and asked participants to attribute personality traits to the voices and to choose the voice they preferred to vote for. We found that lower-pitched voices were associated with favorable personality traits more often than were higher-pitched voices and that people preferred to vote for politicians with lower-pitched rather than higher-pitched voices. Furthermore, lower voice pitch was more strongly associated with physical prowess than with integrity in a wartime voting scenario. Thus, sensitivity to vocal cues to dominance was heightened during wartime. In Study 2, we found that participants preferred to vote for the candidate with the lower-pitched voice when given the choice between two unfamiliar men's voices speaking a neutral sentence. Taken together, our results suggest that candidates' voice pitch has an important influence on voting behavior and that men with lower-pitched voices may have an advantage in political elections.
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Taxing women: A macroeconomic analysis
Nezih Guner, Remzi Kaygusuz & Gustavo Ventura
Journal of Monetary Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Based on well-known evidence on labor supply elasticities, several authors have concluded that women should be taxed at lower rates than men. We evaluate the quantitative implications and merits of this proposition. Relative to the current system of taxation, setting a proportional tax rate on married females equal to 4% (8%) increases output and married female labor force participation by about 3.9% (3.4%) and 6.9% (4.0%), respectively. Gender-based taxes improve welfare and are preferred by a majority of households. Nevertheless, welfare gains are higher when the U.S. tax system is replaced by a proportional, gender-neutral income tax.
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Zvi Eckstein & Osnat Lifshitz
Econometrica, November 2011, Pages 1675-1726
Abstract:
The increase in female employment and participation rates is one of the most dramatic changes to have taken place in the economy during the last century. However, while the employment rate of married women more than doubled during the last 50 years, that of unmarried women remained almost constant. To empirically analyze these trends, we estimate a female dynamic labor supply model using an extended version of Eckstein and Wolpin (1989) to compare the various explanations in the literature for the observed trends. This dynamic model provides a much better fit to the life-cycle employment pattern than a static version of the model and a standard static reduced form model (Heckman (1979)). The main finding using the dynamic model is that the rise in education levels accounts for about 33 percent of the increase in female employment, and the rise in wages and narrowing of the gender wage gap account for another 20 percent, while about 40 percent remains unexplained by observed household characteristics. We show that this unexplained portion can be empirically attributed to cohort-specific changes in preferences or the costs of child-rearing and household maintenance. Finally, the decline in fertility and the increase in divorce rates account for only a small share of the increase in female employment rates.
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Power Distance Predicts Gender Differences in Math Performance Across Societies
Takeshi Hamamura
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
In societies that oppose social inequality (low power distance societies), intergroup social comparison is relatively more prevalent. However, with an intergroup comparison focus, differences between groups are more salient and self-stereotyping more likely. Consequently, gender stereotypes regarding math may be relatively more consequential in low relative to high power distance societies. To examine this hypothesis, results from a standardized math exam among eighth graders compiled in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study were analyzed. As predicted, the societies' power distance predicted gender differences in math performance: The pattern of boys outperforming girls was more pronounced in low relative to high power distance societies. This effect was independent of the societies' gender equality and prevalence of implicit stereotype.
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Do nice guys - and gals - really finish last? The joint effects of sex and agreeableness on income
Timothy Judge, Beth Livingston & Charlice Hurst
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Sex and agreeableness were hypothesized to affect income, such that women and agreeable individuals were hypothesized to earn less than men and less agreeable individuals. Because agreeable men disconfirm (and disagreeable men confirm) conventional gender roles, agreeableness was expected to be more negatively related to income for men (i.e., the pay gap between agreeable men and agreeable women would be smaller than the gap between disagreeable men and disagreeable women). The hypotheses were supported across 4 studies. Study 1 confirmed the effects of sex and agreeableness on income and that the agreeableness-income relationship was significantly more negative for men than for women. Study 2 replicated these results, controlling for each of the other Big Five traits. Study 3 also replicated the interaction and explored explanations and paradoxes of the relationship. A 4th study, using an experimental design, yielded evidence for the argument that the joint effects of agreeableness and gender are due to backlash against agreeable men.
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Markus Appel, Nicole Kronberger & Joshua Aronson
European Journal of Social Psychology, December 2011, Pages 904-913
Abstract:
Stereotype threat is an uncomfortable psychological state that has been shown to impair cognitive ability test scores. It is an open question whether and in what ways it affects processes involved in learning and knowledge acquisition. This research examined whether stereotypes also interfere with test preparation among women in the domain of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Study 1 (N = 1058) revealed that people are aware of a stereotype portraying women as less proficient in STEM-test preparation than men. Women's note-taking activities were impaired under stereotype threat (Study 2, N = 40), particularly when domain identification was high (Study 3, N = 79). Moreover, stereotype threat impaired women's performance evaluating the notes of others (Study 4, N = 88). Our work thus shows that stereotype threat not only hinders stereotyped individuals' capacity to demonstrate their abilities but also impairs behaviors that develop them.
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Diversifying the Faculty Across Gender Lines: Do Trustees and Administrators Matter?
Ronald Ehrenberg et al.
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Our paper focuses on the role that the gender composition of the leaders of American colleges and universities - trustees, presidents, and provosts - play in influencing the rate at which academic institutions diversify their faculty across gender lines. Our analyses make use of institutional level panel data that we have collected for a large sample of American academic institutions. We find that other factors held constant, including our estimate of the "expected" share of new hires that should be female, that institutions with female presidents and provosts, as well as those with a greater share of female trustees, increase their share of female faculty at a more rapid rate. The magnitudes of the effects of these leaders are larger at smaller institutions, where central administrators typically play a larger role in faculty hiring decisions. A critical share of female trustees must be reached before the gender composition of the board matters.
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Richard Eichenberg & Richard Stoll
Journal of Conflict Resolution, forthcoming
Abstract:
Gender is now recognized as an important dividing line in American political life, and scholars have accumulated evidence that national security issues are an important reason for gender differences in policy preferences. We therefore expect that the dynamics of support for defense spending among men and women will differ. In contrast, several scholars have shown that population subgroups exhibit a "parallel" dynamic in which the evolution of their preferences over time is very similar, despite differences in the average level of support. Unfortunately, there is little time series evidence on gendered reactions to policy, including defense spending, that would allow one to arbitrate between these competing perspectives. In this research note, we assemble a time series of support for defense spending among men and women and model the determinants of that support for the period 1967-2007. We find that women are on average less supportive of defense spending than are men. However, we also find that the over time variation of support for defense spending among men and women is very similar - each is conditioned principally by the past year's change in defense spending and occasionally by war casualties and a trade-off between defense and civilian spending.
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A Country of their Own: Women and Peacebuilding
Theodora-Ismene Gizelis
Conflict Management and Peace Science, November 2011, Pages 522-542
Abstract:
Research on women and post-conflict reconstruction tends to focus primarily on women as victims and passive targets for aid rather than conceptualizing peacebuilding as a process where greater participation by women may help increase the prospects for success. Here, I argue that women's social status is a dimension of social capital that is largely independent of general economic development. Societies and communities where women enjoy a relatively higher status have greater prospects for successful peacebuilding, as cooperation by the local population with peacebuilding policies and activities increases. Thus, in the presence of a UN-led peacebuilding operation, women's status has a direct and independent impact on post-conflict reconstruction. The theoretical claims are empirically assessed by looking at variation in levels of cooperation and conflict during the UN peacebuilding missions within the countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia.
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Sex, "Lies," and Videotape: Self-Esteem and Successful Presentation of Gender Roles
Danu Anthony Stinson et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
When presenting themselves to others, people attempt to create the impression that they possess socially desired traits. Verbally claiming to possess such traits is relatively simple, but making good on one's promises by actually behaving in kind is more challenging. In particular, lower self-esteem individuals' relational insecurity may undermine their ability to present themselves in a socially desired manner. The present research used a behavioral coding method to test these hypotheses. Participants filmed a brief introductory video in an evaluative, first impression situation. Independent sets of observers then coded participants' verbal, nonverbal, and global self-presentations on two dimensions: communion/femininity and agency/masculinity. Results revealed that for both sexes, self-esteem was unrelated to participants' ability to "talk the talk" by verbally describing themselves in a socially valued and gender-role specific manner, but was predictive of participants' ability to "walk the walk" by actually behaving in kind.
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Women's Managerial Aspirations: An Organizational Development Perspective
Jenny Hoobler, Grace Lemmon & Sandy Wayne
Journal of Management, forthcoming
Abstract:
Some authors have explained the dearth of women leaders as an "opt-out revolution" - that women today are making a choice not to aspire to leadership positions. The authors of this article present a model that tests managers' biased evaluations of women as less career motivated as an explanation for why women have lower managerial aspirations than men. Specifically, they hypothesize that day-to-day managerial decisions involving allocating challenging work, training and development, and career encouragement mean women accrue less organizational development, and this is one explanation for their lower managerial aspirations. The authors' model is based on social role theory and is examined in a sample of 112 supervisor-subordinate dyads at a U.S. Fortune 500 firm.
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Martina Infanger, Janine Bosak & Sabine Sczesny
European Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Portrayals of women in advertisements have a significant impact on the maintenance of gender stereotypes in society. Therefore, the present research investigates the effectiveness of communal and agentic female characters in advertisements as well as the question how evaluations of such characters are influenced by perceivers' sexist attitudes toward women. Results show that communal female advertising characters are evaluated more favorably than agentic ones and that these evaluations predict advertising effectiveness. Benevolent sexism predicts more positive evaluations of communal female advertising characters (studies 1 and 2). Moreover, hostile sexism predicts less positive evaluations of agentic female advertising characters when it is assessed under time pressure (Study 2). Implications of these findings for the perpetuation of gender stereotypes in advertisements and in society are discussed.
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Kim Elsesser & Janet Lever
Human Relations, December 2011, Pages 1555-1578
Abstract:
The present study of 60,470 women and men examined evaluations of participants' current managers as well as their preferences for male and female managers, in general. A cross-sex bias emerged in the ratings of one's current boss, where men judged their female bosses more favorably and women judged male bosses more favorably. The quality of relationships between subordinates and managers were the same for competent male and female managers. A small majority (54%) of participants claimed to have no preference for the gender of their boss, but the remaining participants reported preferring male over female bosses by more than a 2:1 ratio. Qualitative analysis of the participants' justifications for this preference are presented, and results are discussed within the framework of role congruity theory.
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What's in the "old boys" network? Accessing social capital in gendered and racialized networks
Steve McDonald
Social Networks, October 2011, Pages 317-330
Abstract:
Network processes have long been implicated in the reproduction of labor market inequality, but it remains unclear whether white male networks provide more social capital resources than female and minority networks. Analysis of nationally representative survey data reveals that people in white male networks receive twice as many job leads as people in female/minority networks. White male networks are also comprised of higher status connections than female/minority networks. The information and status benefits of membership in these old boy networks accrue to all respondents and not just white men. Furthermore, gender homophilous contacts offer greater job finding assistance than other contacts. The results specify how social capital flows through gendered and racialized networks.
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Claudia Goldin & Lawrence Katz
Journal of Human Capital, Winter 2011, Pages 377-417
Abstract:
The history of coeducation in U.S. higher education is explored through an analysis of a database containing almost all 4-year undergraduate institutions that operated in 1897, 1924, 1934, or 1980. The opening of coeducational institutions was continuous throughout its history, and the switching from single-sex was also fairly constant from 1835 to the 1950s before accelerating in the 1960s and 1970s. Older and private single-sex institutions were slower to become coeducational, and institutions persisting as single-sex into the 1970s had lower enrollment growth than those that switched earlier. Access to coeducational institutions was associated with increased women's educational attainment.
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Gender equality, development, and cross-national sex gaps in life expectancy
Carla Medalia & Virginia Chang
International Journal of Comparative Sociology, October 2011, Pages 371-389
Abstract:
Female life expectancy exceeds male life expectancy in almost every country throughout the world. Nevertheless, cross-national variation in the sex gap suggests that social factors, such as gender equality, may directly affect or mediate an underlying biological component. In this article, we examine the association between gender equality and the sex gap in mortality. Previous research has not addressed this question from an international perspective with countries at different levels of development. We examine 131 countries using a broad measure of national gender equality that is applicable in both Less Developed Countries (LDCs) and Highly Developed Countries (HDCs). We find that the influence of gender equality is conditional on level of development. While gender equality is associated with divergence between female and male life expectancies in LDCs, it is associated with convergence in HDCs. The relationship between gender equality and the sex gap in mortality in HDCs strongly relates to, but is not explained by, sex differences in lung cancer mortality. Finally, we find that divergence in LDCs is primarily driven by a strong positive association between gender equality and female life expectancy. In HDCs, convergence is potentially related to a weak negative association between gender equality and female life expectancy, though findings are not statistically significant.
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"Doing Gender," Ensuring Survival: Mexican Migration and Economic Crisis in the Rural Mountain West
Leah Schmalzbauer
Rural Sociology, December 2011, Pages 441-460
Abstract:
This article draws on ethnographic research to explore the impacts of the current economic crisis on Mexican migrant families in rural Montana. It looks specifically at the ways rural families negotiate gender roles and expectations as they devise survival strategies in response to major economic shifts. My analysis suggests that traditional gender roles are being transgressed, as migrant women enter wage labor, often for the first time. Simultaneously, gender ideologies are being reinforced, as migrant women struggle to protect men's sense of masculinity by continuing to perform a culturally appropriate gender script. Whereas the paradoxical combination of gender transgression and tradition has been noted within urban migrant families, its dynamics are different in rural contexts. While urban migrants tend to look outward to social networks for support, rural migrants turn inward to their immediate families, strengthening family solidarities.