Perception matters: The role of task gender stereotype on confidence and tournament selection

Abstract

Women avoid competition even when they can benefit from potential rewards. It may be that a gender difference in beliefs about future performance drives this gap. Using a laboratory experiment, we analyze differences in tournament entry using a male stereotyped task and a novel female stereotyped task. We provide robust evidence supporting the gender stereotypes of the task and find that while women enter the tournament significantly less than men under the male stereotyped task, this gender gap in willingness to compete closes and reverses under the female stereotyped task. This suggests the effect of competitiveness on gender is not exclusively about a difference in preference for competition, but may be consistent with a difference in beliefs about future performance.