In her shoes
Traits versus Issues: How Female Candidates Shape Coverage of Senate and Gubernatorial Races
Johanna Dunaway et al.
Political Research Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
As female candidates may face greater challenges in establishing their "qualifications" for office, coverage of their personal traits may be pernicious, because it tends to de-emphasize substantive qualifications. This study focuses on relative amounts of trait and issue coverage of contests with and without women candidates. We find that races with female candidates yield more coverage of traits than male versus male contests and races with female candidates are less likely to generate issue coverage than trait coverage. Candidate gender and office interact; female gubernatorial candidates are most likely to garner trait coverage and least likely to engender issue coverage.
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Press Effects, Public Opinion, and Gender: Coverage of Sarah Palin's Vice-Presidential Campaign
Melissa Miller & Jeffrey Peake
International Journal of Press/Politics, forthcoming
Abstract:
The press had great potential to influence perceptions of Sarah Palin during the 2008 campaign, given her relative obscurity when picked to be the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Prior literature on press treatment of women running for national office suggests that Palin was likely to receive coverage that disadvantaged her due to her gender. We scrutinize press coverage of Palin's campaign for evidence that she was treated differently and that these differences affected public opinion. Our sample of over 2,500 individual newspaper articles published during the campaign is paired with the 2008 National Annenberg Election Survey. We demonstrate that Palin's coverage differed in significant ways from that of her male counterpart. Her gender, appearance, and family status were disproportionately mentioned in her coverage, and such mentions tended to dampen public opinion about her. In addition, the tone of Palin's coverage was markedly negative, increasingly so over time, and was significantly related to reader opinion about her. While Palin was a unique candidate for national-level office, these findings should give pause to those concerned with equitable press treatment of women on the campaign trail.
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More women, lower pay? Occupational sex composition, wages and wage growth
Charlotta Magnusson
Acta Sociologica, August 2013, Pages 227-245
Abstract:
Research consistently shows that the share of females in an occupation is negatively associated with wages, and this has frequently been interpreted as an expression of devaluation of women's work. However, few studies have described the detailed shape of the relationship between wages and occupational sex composition. Using Swedish register data from 2001 and 2003, I advance our understanding of the devaluation process by studying the functional form more closely in both the cross-section and panel. The analyses reveal a non-linear relationship between sex composition and wages, where the highest wages for both men and women are earned in sex-integrated occupations. Second, studying the wage payoffs of people moving across occupations with varying sex compositions shows that both sexes gain by moving to relatively sex-integrated occupations (about 25 to 54% female).
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The Gender Gap in Real Estate Sales: Negotiation Skill or Agent Selection?
Philip Seagraves & Paul Gallimore
Real Estate Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examines differences in net selling price for residential real estate across male and female agents. A sample of 2,020 home sales transactions from Fulton County, Georgia, are analyzed in a two-stage least squares, geospatial autoregressive corrected, semi-log hedonic model to test for gender and gender selection effects. Although agent gender seems to play a role in naïve models, its role becomes inconclusive as variables controlling for possible price and time on market expectations of the buyers and sellers are introduced to the models. Clear differences in real estate sales prices, time on market and agent incomes across genders are unlikely due to differences in negotiation performance between genders or the mix of genders in a two-agent negotiation. The evidence suggests an interesting alternative to agent performance: that buyers and sellers with different reservation price and time on market expectations, such as those selling foreclosure homes, tend to select agents along gender lines.
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The impact of group diversity on class performance: Evidence from college classrooms
Zeynep Hansen, Hideo Owan & Jie Pan
Education Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
We combine class performance data from an undergraduate management course with students' personal records to examine how group diversity affects group work performance and individual learning. Students are exogenously assigned to groups. We find that, on average, male-dominant groups performed worse in their group work and learned less (based on their grades in individually taken exams). This gender effect is highly significant in individual learning outcomes providing evidence that gender diversity is influential in the level and nature of knowledge transfers within groups. The results are robust to controlling for the team governance form, a unique feature in our study. Finally, racial diversity had no significant effect on group or individual performances.
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How Prevalent Are Potentially Illegal Questions During Residency Interviews?
Gene Hern et al.
Academic Medicine, August 2013, Pages 1116-1121
Purpose: To study the prevalence of potentially illegal questions in residency interviews and to identify the impact of such questions on applicants' decisions to rank programs.
Method: Using an Electronic Residency Application Service-supported survey, the authors surveyed all applicants from U.S. medical schools to residency programs in five specialties (internal medicine, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, obstetrics-gynecology [OB/GYN], and emergency medicine) in 2006-2007. The survey included questions about the frequency with which respondents were asked about gender, age, marital status, couples matching, current children, intent to have children, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, and the effect that such questions had on their decision to rank programs.
Results: Of 11,983 eligible applicants, 7,028 (58.6%) completed a survey. Of respondents, 4,557 (64.8%) reported that they were asked at least one potentially illegal question. Questions related to marital status (3,816; 54.3%) and whether the applicant currently had children (1,923; 27.4%) were most common. Regardless of specialty, women were more likely than men to receive questions about their gender, marital status, and family planning (P < .001). Among those respondents who indicated their specialty, those in OB/GYN (162/756; 21.4%) and general surgery (214/876; 24.4%) reported the highest prevalence of potentially illegal questions about gender. Being asked a potentially illegal question negatively affected how respondents ranked that program.
Conclusions: Many residency applicants were asked potentially illegal questions. Developing a formal interview code of conduct targeting both applicants and programs may be necessary to address the potential flaws in the resident selection process.
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Trends in Gender Segregation in the Choice of Science and Engineering Majors
Allison Mann & Thomas DiPrete
Social Science Research, November 2013, Pages 1519-1541
Abstract:
Numerous theories have been put forward for the high and continuing levels of gender segregation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, but research has not systematically examined the extent to which these theories for the gender gap are consistent with actual trends. Using both administrative data and four separate longitudinal studies sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), we evaluate several prominent explanations for the persisting gender gap in STEM fields related to mathematics performance and background and general life goals, and find that none of them are empirically satisfactory. Instead, we suggest that the structure of majors and their linkages to professional training and careers may combine with gender differences in educational goals to influence the persisting gender gap in STEM fields. An analysis of gendered career aspirations, course-taking patterns, and pathways to medical and law school supports this explanation.
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Gaining the ultimate power edge: Women in the dual role of CEO and Chair
Maureen Muller-Kahle & Eduardo Schiehll
Leadership Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using archival data, the authors explored whether female CEOs possess as much structural power as male CEOs and what demographic characteristics are essential for female CEOs to have in order to increase their structural power in their firms. The authors use status characteristics and human capital theories to develop hypotheses. Findings show that female CEOs do not possess as much structural power as male CEOs as proxied by attaining a dual CEO/Chair role in the firm. Instead of dual CEO and Chair roles, female CEOs are more likely to be given the less powerful role of CEO and President. Moreover, female CEOs are more likely to gain structural power if they are entrepreneurs, work in large companies, or possess an elite education.
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Social resources at a time of crisis: How gender stereotypes inform gendered leader evaluations
Floor Rink, Michelle Ryan & Janka Stoker
European Journal of Social Psychology, August 2013, Pages 381-392
Abstract:
Research suggests that women are more likely than men to be selected for leadership positions when organizations are in a performance crisis, a phenomenon labeled the glass cliff. Two scenario studies demonstrate that the glass-cliff effect is attenuated when organizational stakeholders support the decision to appoint a new leader (i.e., indicating that the new leader can rely on social resources). The glass-cliff effect remains when this decision is not fully supported (i.e., indicating that the new leader is unable to rely on social resources). This moderation seems driven by beliefs that men are more likely to possess agentic leadership traits and women more communal leadership traits. When there is no performance crisis, these gendered beliefs are less influential, and thus, social resources do not inform people's leader evaluations.
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Gender Differences in the Perceived Effectiveness of Narcissistic Leaders
Annebel De Hoogh, Deanne Den Hartog & Barbora Nevicka
Applied Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Researchers have obtained inconsistent results on the relationship between leader narcissism and leader effectiveness evaluations. Here we draw on social role theory and recent findings on prescriptive gender stereotypes to propose that leader's and follower's gender influence the degree to which narcissistic leaders are perceived as effective. Narcissistic female leaders lack stereotypically gender appropriate qualities (e.g. kindness) and demonstrate undesirable qualities associated with the other gender (e.g. arrogance). This combination is potentially threatening to the traditionally higher status of males, thus resulting in poor leader effectiveness ratings, especially by male subordinates. Conversely, we expect narcissism to be tolerated in male leaders. We find support for this idea in a study on 145 leader subordinate dyads. Female narcissistic leaders were seen as less effective than male narcissistic leaders. However, looking more closely, these lower ratings were only found when male subordinates served as raters. Specifically, male subordinates rated female narcissistic leaders lower while their effectiveness ratings of male leaders were not affected by narcissism. Female subordinates showed no gender bias in their effectiveness evaluations of narcissistic leaders. Thus, gender differences may be an important source of inconsistencies in evaluations of narcissistic leaders.
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María del Carmen Triana, Toyah Miller & Tiffany Trzebiatowski
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Diverse boards have been seen as providing impetus for initiating change. However, diversity may introduce conflict and impede decision making, which could hinder the ability of the firm to make strategic change, especially in times when firm performance is low. Integrating threat-rigidity theory and team diversity research, we examine how board gender diversity, firm performance, and the power of women directors interact to influence the amount of strategic change. Results support a three-way interaction, indicating that when the board is not experiencing a threat as a result of low firm performance and women directors have greater power, the relationship between board gender diversity and amount of strategic change is the most positive. However, when the board is threatened by low firm performance and women directors have greater power, the relationship between board gender diversity and amount of strategic change is the most negative. Results suggest that diversity is double-edged because it can propel or impede strategic change depending on firm performance and the power of women directors.
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Period Effects, Cohort Effects, and the Narrowing Gender Wage Gap
Colin Campbell & Jessica Pearlman
Social Science Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite the abundance of sociological research on the gender wage gap, questions remain. In particular, the role of cohorts is under investigated. Using data from the Current Population Survey, we use Age-Period-Cohort analysis to uniquely estimate age, period, and cohort effects on the gender wage gap. The narrowing of the gender wage gap that occurred between 1975 and 2009 is largely due to cohort effects. Since the mid-1990s, the gender wage gap has continued to close absent of period effects. While gains in female wages contributed to declines in the gender wage gap for cohorts born before 1950, for later cohorts the narrowing of the gender wage gap is primarily a result of declines in male wages.
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Educational Evaluation Schemes and Gender Gaps in Student Achievement
Torberg Falch & Linn Renée Naper
Economics of Education Review, October 2013, Pages 12-25
Abstract:
This paper investigates whether gender gaps in student achievement are related to evaluation schemes. We exploit different evaluations at the end of compulsory education in Norway in a difference-in-differences framework. Compared to the results at anonymously evaluated central exit exams, girls get significantly higher grades than boys when the same skills are assessed by their teacher. This gender grading gap in favor of the girls is found in both languages and mathematics. We find no evidence that the competitiveness of the environment can explain why boys do relatively better on the exam. We find some evidence that the gender grading gap is related to teacher characteristics, which indicates that the teacher-student interaction during coursework favors girls in the teacher grading.
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Students' Perceptions of Teacher Biases: Experimental Economics in Schools
Amine Ouazad & Lionel Page
Journal of Public Economics, September 2013, Pages 116-130
Abstract:
We put forward a new experimental economics design with monetary incentives to estimate students' perceptions of grading discrimination. We use this design in a large field experiment which involved 1,200 British students in grade 8 classrooms across 29 schools. In this design, students are given an endowment they can invest on a task where payoff depends on performance. The task is a written verbal test which is graded non anonymously by their teacher, in a random half of the classrooms, and graded anonymously by an external examiner in the other random half of the classrooms. We find significant evidence that students' choices reflect perceptions of biases in teachers' grading practices. Our results suggest systematic gender effects: students invest more with male teachers. Moreover, if we use the choices made with an external examiner as a benchmark, this result seems to come from two effects which complement each other: when comparing students' choices with their teacher to those made with an external examiner, we find that male students invest less with female teachers while female students invest more with male teachers.
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Fewer invited talks by women in evolutionary biology symposia
J. Schroeder et al.
Journal of Evolutionary Biology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Lower visibility of female scientists, compared to male scientists, is a potential reason for the under-representation of women among senior academic ranks. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as an invited speaker at organized meetings. We analysed the sex ratio of presenters at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Congress 2011, where all abstract submissions were accepted for presentation. Women were under-represented among invited speakers at symposia (15% women) compared to all presenters (46%), regular oral presenters (41%) and plenary speakers (25%). At the ESEB congresses in 2001-2011, 9-23% of invited speakers were women. This under-representation of women is partly attributable to a larger proportion of women, than men, declining invitations: in 2011, 50% of women declined an invitation to speak compared to 26% of men. We expect invited speakers to be scientists from top ranked institutions or authors of recent papers in high-impact journals. Considering all invited speakers (including declined invitations), 23% were women. This was lower than the baseline sex ratios of early-mid career stage scientists, but was similar to senior scientists and authors that have published in high-impact journals. High-quality science by women therefore has low exposure at international meetings, which will constrain Evolutionary Biology from reaching its full potential. We wish to highlight the wider implications of turning down invitations to speak, and encourage conference organizers to implement steps to increase acceptance rates of invited talks.
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The Role of Gender in Scholarly Authorship
Jevin West et al.
PLoS ONE, July 2013
Abstract:
Gender disparities appear to be decreasing in academia according to a number of metrics, such as grant funding, hiring, acceptance at scholarly journals, and productivity, and it might be tempting to think that gender inequity will soon be a problem of the past. However, a large-scale analysis based on over eight million papers across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities reveals a number of understated and persistent ways in which gender inequities remain. For instance, even where raw publication counts seem to be equal between genders, close inspection reveals that, in certain fields, men predominate in the prestigious first and last author positions. Moreover, women are significantly underrepresented as authors of single-authored papers. Academics should be aware of the subtle ways that gender disparities can occur in scholarly authorship.
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An-Chih Wang et al.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, November 2013, Pages 101-113
Abstract:
Using a predominantly male research and development (R&D) sample and a predominantly female customer service personnel sample, we investigated how authoritarian and benevolent leadership styles interact with leader gender to influence subordinate performance (i.e., task performance, citizenship behavior, and creativity). Our research extends role congruity theory (Eagly & Karau, 2002) by adopting and attribution principles to offer a more comprehensive framework for explaining how leader gender affects the impact of leadership styles on subordinate performance. Our results suggest that the negative relationship between authoritarian leadership and subordinate performance is stronger for female than for male leaders and that the positive relationship between benevolent leadership and subordinate performance is stronger for male than for female leaders. Accordingly, in addition to leaders' engaging in gender-role congruent behaviors, a useful strategy is to adopt behaviors that are perceived as a positive deviation from their gender role.
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The Male-Female Gap in Post-Baccalaureate School Quality
Adam Stevenson
Economics of Education Review, October 2013, Pages 153-165
Abstract:
Women are less likely than men to earn degrees from high quality post-baccalaureate programs, and this tendency has been growing over time. I show that, aside from the biomedical sciences, this can not be explained by changes in the type of program where women tend to earn degrees. Instead, sorting by quality within degree program is the main contributor to the growing gap. Most of this sorting is due to the initial choice in which program type to apply to. No gender differences in selection with respect to ability or program quality arise as students progress through the admissions, enrollment or persistence choices.
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Gender and Banking: Are Women Better Loan Officers?
Thorsten Beck, Patrick Behr & Andre Guettler
Review of Finance, July 2013, Pages 1279-1321
Abstract:
Using a unique data set for a commercial bank in Albania, we analyze gender differences in loan officers' performance. Loans screened and monitored by female loan officers have a lower likelihood to turn problematic than loans handled by male loan officers. This effect cannot be explained by borrower or loan officer selection or differences in screening, work load, and experience. However, while the performance gap always exists for female borrowers, female loan officers only gain a performance advantage with male borrowers with experience and do not have an advantage with borrowers that are legal entities. We therefore interpret this as suggestive evidence for female loan officers' better capacity to build trust relationships with borrowers.
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Benjamin Mako Hill & Aaron Shaw
PLoS ONE, June 2013
Abstract:
Opt-in surveys are the most widespread method used to study participation in online communities, but produce biased results in the absence of adjustments for non-response. A 2008 survey conducted by the Wikimedia Foundation and United Nations University at Maastricht is the source of a frequently cited statistic that less than 13% of Wikipedia contributors are female. However, the same study suggested that only 39.9% of Wikipedia readers in the US were female - a finding contradicted by a representative survey of American adults by the Pew Research Center conducted less than two months later. Combining these two datasets through an application and extension of a propensity score estimation technique used to model survey non-response bias, we construct revised estimates, contingent on explicit assumptions, for several of the Wikimedia Foundation and United Nations University at Maastricht claims about Wikipedia editors. We estimate that the proportion of female US adult editors was 27.5% higher than the original study reported (22.7%, versus 17.8%), and that the total proportion of female editors was 26.8% higher (16.1%, versus 12.7%).