Abstract
In this study, we investigate whether female managers contribute to greater gender equality in organizations. Specifically, we examine whether women’s and men’s earnings are affected by the share of female managers in their organization, and by being supervised by a female manager. We formulate opposing hypotheses arguing that women are either change agents who reduce gender inequality in earnings in their organization, or cogs in the machine who do not influence or even enlarge gender inequality in earnings. We employ unique manager-employee linked data from nine countries to test these hypotheses. Results are in line with the weak version of the women as cogs in the machine hypothesis: women’s and men’s earnings are not affected by the share of female managers in their organization, nor by being supervised by a female manager. Gender equality in earnings is thus not stimulated by female managerial representation. Between-country variations in results are discussed.
Highlights
The past decades have seen a steady increase in women’s representation in all levels of management (Jacobs, 1992; Bygren and Gahler, 2012)
This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the significance of women’s representation in managerial positions
The first goal of this study was to assess whether women’s and men’s earnings are affected by the proportion of female managers in their organization
Summary
The past decades have seen a steady increase in women’s representation in all levels of management (Jacobs, 1992; Bygren and Gahler, 2012). Managers play a key role in organizations and decide on the hiring, wages, promotions, and training of employees (Huffman, 2013). A change in the demographic representation of managers may affect inequalities among employees. Abundant studies have investigated explanations for the gender gap in earnings, but only a small proportion has concentrated on the influence of women’s representation in management (Abendroth et al, 2017). This contribution relates these two phenomena and focuses on the implications of female representation in managerial positions for gender inequality in earnings
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