Gender Promotion Gaps and Career Aspirations

Abstract

Using a representative survey of U.S. lawyers, we document a sizeable gender gap in early partnership aspirations, which explains half of the later gender promotion gap. We further document that the correlation between aspirations and effort provides a “mechanical link” between aspirations and promotion. Early workplace experiences, such as harassment and demeaning comments, are linked to promotion aspirations. Moreover, early aspirations provide insight into eventual promotion outcomes that goes beyond what can be drawn only from expectations. Our study highlights that measuring aspirations and adapting the corporate culture that shapes them are key components for firms to improve workplace environments. This paper was accepted by Joshua Gans, business strategy. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.00715 .