UNDER PRESSURE: GENDER DIFFERENCES IN OUTPUT QUALITY AND QUANTITY UNDER COMPETITION AND TIME CONSTRAINTS

Abstract

Gender gaps in income and level of position in the workplace are widespread. One explanation for this inequality is that the genders perform dierently under competi- tive conditions, as previous experimental studies have found a signi…cant gender gap in competitive tasks that are perceived to favor men. In this paper, we use a verbal task that is perceived to favor women and …nd no gender dierence under competition per se. We also reject the hypothesis that a stereotype threatexplains the inability of women to improve performance under competition. We propose an alternative expla- nation for gender inequality: namely, that women and men respond dierently to time pressure. With reduced time pressure, competition in verbal tasks greatly increases the performance of women, such that women signi…cantly outperform men. This eect appears largely due to the fact that extra time in a competition improves the quality of women's work, leading them to make fewer mistakes. On the other hand, men use this extra time to increase the quantity of work, which results in a greater number of mistakes.