This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

« Back to Results

Exploring Mechanisms Underlying the Gender Gap: Promotion, Perceptions, and Professional Networks

Paper Session

Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Hilton Atlanta, 401
Hosted By: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association
  • Chair: Joyce Chen, Ohio State University

The Gender Pay Gap in Academia: Evidence from The Ohio State University

Joyce Chen
,
Ohio State University
Daniel Crown
,
Ohio State University

Abstract

We utilize human resources data from The Ohio State University to assess the gender wage gap. We find a persistent gap of 11% among regular, tenure-track faculty, after accounting for fiscal year, ethnicity, clinical appointments, experience, and department. While the presence of a statistically significant gender wage gap is robust, the magnitude of the gap varies substantially depending on how the sample of interest is defined. In assessing gender wage gaps, researchers and universities must be attentive to issues of attrition and classification. Transparency about how estimates are affected by sample exclusions and variable definitions will yield insight into possible sources of gender bias.

Collaboration Networks Among Female Economists: An Examination of Coauthorship Using the CSWEP Mentoring Data

Donna Ginther
,
University of Kansas
Rina Na
,
University of Kansas

Abstract

The “leaky pipeline” at virtually every rank of academic economics indicates that women are less likely to progress up the career ladder than men. The American Economic Association’s CeMENT program provides professional development for economists at research-intensive institutions. A recent study revealed that participants have more and are more likely to have top journal publications (Blau, Currie, Croson & Ginther 2010). Others have found that lack of research networks is associated with women economist’s lower rates of publication (McDowell, Singell & Slater 2006). The CeMENT program randomly assigns women to treatment and control groups. As such it is an exogenous shock to professional networks for those who are treated. We examine the coauthorship networks of CeMENT participants in comparison to those in the control group. Journal publications and associated bibilometrics of the treatment and control group economists and the mentors of the treated group were retrieved from their CVs and Web of Science. We measure the magnitude of research networks by the total number of co-authors of journal publications, and then investigate whether the participants have growing networks by producing more collaborative works and more coauthors compared to the control group. We will also examine whether there are collaborations among the participated female professors and mentors after the treatment.

Expectations Bias and Gender

Wen Chen
,
Freddie Mac
Jill McCluskey
,
Washington State University

Abstract

Several theories have been offered to explain the “glass ceiling”, whereby women are underrepresented among senior management. We examine the problem from the perspective of investors who take positions based on their expectations of the CEO’s abilities. Stock prices provide continuous measures of the market’s valuation of firms, taking into account investors’ beliefs about the ability of men and women in top management. As a result, financial data can potentially provide insights into gender 4 discrimination. Our empirical analysis starts with examining market reactions to new CEO announcements. We find evidence to support that investors are less confident in the leadership of women, suggested by statistically significantly more negative three-day cumulative standardized abnormal returns generated by an announcement of a female CEO relative to the announcement of a male CEO. If expectations about the ability of female CEOs are systematically biased downward, then this suggests, post female-CEO announcement, that female-lead firms should yield excess returns. We examine whether investors adjust their biased beliefs when actual performance is realized. Specifically, we test whether excess returns from female-led firms are persistent. Holding stocks in female-led firms yields 30 basis point excess returns, suggesting female-firms are systematically underestimated and they consistently outperform expectations.
Discussant(s)
Shulamit Kahn
,
Boston University
JEL Classifications
  • Z0 - General