Gender Gap Research Articles

Gender gap and the labour market structure: A neoclassical approach for the case of Turkiye

Gender gap and the labour market structure: A neoclassical approach for the case of Turkiye

Labour market gender gaps and childcare policies in countries with different social investment strategies

AbstractWe study the role of formal and informal childcare within the ECEC policies for gender employment and pay gaps, considering the life course stages distinctive for childcare tasks. The ECEC policies are framed within the types of social investment strategies identified in the EU countries to picture developments in social investments after 2005. The aggregated EU‐SILC data from 2005 to 2019 for 27 European countries have been used in the panel regression models to uncover how the caring arrangements influence labour market gendered outcomes of women at different ages (15–24, 25–49, 50–65). We find that better provision and use of early education and childcare not only contribute to early investment in human capital but it also facilitates mothers' employment and thus contributes to lowering gender employment and pay gaps. However, better coverage of care for children older than 3 years old results in negative employment effects for grandmothers. These effects vary also across countries, depending on their overall institutional setting depicted by the types of social investment strategies distinguished. Consequently, the ECEC agenda should be extended by addressing the employment of women at the pre‐retirement age. It is crucial not only for reducing gender gap in employment and pay but also in the light of challenges generated by demographic developments—the labour force shrinking and the population ageing processes.

Re-evaluating the gender gap: a cross-sectional analysis of accepted American Academy of Neurology annual meeting abstracts in 2020 and 2021

Background and objectivePrior studies reveal that invited speaker panels, editorial boards, authors of practice guidelines, and senior authors of published articles are disproportionately male in the neurology field. We aimed to analyze a gender gap in authorship of accepted abstracts to the American Academy of Neurology annual meetings in 2020 and 2021.Design/methodsThis is a cross-sectional study evaluating the proportions of female first and senior abstract authors in 2020 and 2021. Abstracts were reviewed manually (n = 3,211 in 2020; n = 2,178 in 2021). Data were collected regarding the gender of first and senior authors, subspecialties, and origin of research (USA, international, or corporate-affiliated). Then, we compared the percentages of female first and senior authors in the 2 years to assess for any short-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsAccepted abstracts with female first and senior authors comprised 46%, 34% in 2020, and the same in 2021, without change. Female senior authors had a significantly higher proportion of female first authors than their male senior author counterparts. The analysis of subspecialties with more than 100 abstracts showed the lowest percentages of female senior authors was oncology (24.7%), sleep (25.5%), headache (28.7%), and cerebrovascular disease (29%) in 2020. Cerebrovascular disease (29%) and behavioral neurology (24.7%) had the lowest percentage of female senior authors in 2021. In the analysis of the origin of research, corporate-affiliated authors had the lowest percentages of female first (34 and 36%) and senior authors (22.6 and 27.6%).ConclusionThe gender gap in neurology was reaffirmed in regards to female senior authorship overall and in subgroups of abstracts including cerebrovascular disease, headache, behavioral neurology, sleep, oncology, and corporate-affiliated research.

A (dynamic) investigation of stereotypes, belief‐updating, and behavior

AbstractUsing a controlled experiment, we study the dynamic effects of feedback on decision‐making across verbal skills and math. Before feedback, men are more optimistic about their performance and more willing to compete than women, especially in math. While feedback shifts individuals' beliefs and behavior, we see substantial persistence of gender gaps 1 week later. This is particularly true among individuals who receive negative feedback. Our results are not well‐explained by motivated reasoning; in fact, negative feedback is more likely to be recalled than positive feedback. Overall, our results highlight the challenges involved in overcoming gender gaps in dynamic settings.

Toward institutional transformation: warming the chilly climate for women in STEM through macrostructural change

IntroductionAlthough the demand for graduates with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) credentials continues to climb, women remain underrepresented as both students and faculty in STEM higher education. Compounding social forces can hinder organizational change for gender equity in STEM, constraining institutions and individuals within them. This study advances macrostructural theory to examine the impact of gender composition (including group size and heterogeneity) of women faculty on structural change, as measured by gender desegregation of STEM degree earners. We advance this theory by incorporating faculty rank, rather than treating group composition as a static category.MethodThis study draws on a federal repository of data to assess institutional change in the share of STEM women faculty in the U.S. We employ quasi-experimental methods to explore the following research questions: (1) does hiring more women onto an institution’s faculty roster shrink the gender gap among STEM degree earners? and (2) does segregation of faculty by gender within institutions shape the gender gap among STEM degree earners?FindingsWhile institutional efforts herald their efforts of hiring more women faculty, our findings indicate that gender desegregation of STEM degree earners partially depends on the promotion of women faculty to tenure.DiscussionImplications for theory, policy, and practice are discussed, with a focus on institutional-level change.

Corporate social responsibility bridges in the context of tourism service providers

This research focuses on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of tourism service providers (TSPs – tour operators, travel agencies, tourism transportation agencies, among others). We analyse TSP’s collaborative efforts through CSR practices and their social, economic and environmental dimensions. Building on a qualitative framework, we conducted structured personal interviews with fifteen representatives of Jordanian TSPs. Several contributions are worth mentioning: the analysis allows for a broader understanding of CSR practices adopted by TSPs to serve as mutual support bridges between TSPs and stakeholders in the hospitality and tourism industry; CSR practices, benefits and barriers faced by TSPs; gender gap emerging from TSPs employment policies and intersectionality; TSPs and job and tourist opportunities for people with special needs; CSR practices, sustainability and community welfare, among others. This empirical article offers insights from Jordan’s small tourism businesses, a case previously not analysed. Limitations and implications for decision-makers are also discussed.

Exploring the Influence of Social Media on Financial Literacy among Millennials and Assessing the Gender Gap

The purpose of this study is to investigate how social media influences financial literacy among millennials, as well as to analyze the gender difference in financial knowledge and behavior within this group. Given the increasing integration of social media into millennials' daily lives, these platforms have the potential to significantly influence their understanding of financial matters. The study will examine how social media content, interactions, and trends influence millennials' financial knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, particularly in detecting gender differences in financial literacy. Data on millennials' social media usage patterns, financial awareness levels, and attitudes toward money management will be gathered using a combination of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews. The purpose of this research is to identify links between social media exposure and financial literacy results, as well as disparities in financial behaviors across male and female millennials. Finally, the findings will help to better understand the impact of social media on financial literacy and suggest ways for closing the gender gap in financial awareness and decision-making among millennials. Keywords: Social Media, Financial literacy, Millennials, Gender gap, Financial Knowledge, Financial Behavior, Social media influence, Financial attitudes, Financial management, Financial decision-making, Social media content

Which Idea to Pursue? Gender Differences in Novelty Avoidance During Creative Idea Selection

Despite women having made significant progress in the modern workforce, gender gaps are still evident in creative work. In this paper, we propose that, although women and men are equally capable of generating creative ideas, gender differences emerge during the idea-selection stage. Specifically, compared with men, women engage in higher novelty avoidance during idea selection—the degree to which one selects an idea that is less novel than the most novel idea one has generated. In two laboratory studies and a field survey involving creative professionals, we found significant gender differences in novelty avoidance during idea selection and identified women’s concerns about social backlash when pursuing highly novel ideas as one explanatory variable. We also experimentally manipulated gender compositions of the evaluation panel and found that women’s novelty avoidance tendency during idea selection was reduced when they were informed about the presence of women evaluators. Finally, novelty avoidance during idea selection has an inverted U-shaped relationship with idea success; because women tend to engage in higher novelty avoidance than men, novelty avoidance in women (but not men) has a negative impact on the success of their ideas. By examining gender dynamics at specific stages, our work offers theoretical and practical insights regarding gender disparities in creative work. Funding: M. Jin extends appreciation to the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 72202003, 72091314, 72172006] for financial support. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the Singapore Ministry of Education’s Social Science Research Thematic Grant [Grant MOE2017-SSRTG-042]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.16176 .

Is a Simple Checklist Associated With Improvement in Gender Representation at the AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting?

In September 2017, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) added 2 questions querying panel organizers if gender/racial diversity was considered in selecting panel presenters, beginning with the 2018 Annual Meeting (AM). This study examines how this checklist impacted the gender diversity of panel presenters at the AAO-HNS AM. This was a cross-sectional investigation comparing female representation before and after the addition of questions inquiring about diversity in 2018. A review of abstract submissions for the AMs from 2015 to 2021. AM Official Program Abstracts were used to obtain presenter names and specialty area for each panel. The percentage of female presenters, in total and stratified by specialty area, were compared before and after 2018 to quantify changes following the addition of the checklist. There was a significant increase in the proportion of female panel presenters from 22.3% (total n = 1199) in 2015 to 2017 to 33.0% (total n = 1868) in 2018 to 2021 (P < .001) and in all panel specialties. The number of female moderated panels also significantly increased after checklist implementation from 22% to 38% (P < .001). Correspondingly, the number of panels with no female representation decreased from 42% in 2015 to 2017 to 23% in 2018 to 2021 (P < .001). The addition of a checklist asking panel organizers to consider diversity in selecting panelists was associated with an increased proportion of female presenters at the AM. This simple strategy can be implemented by all medical conferences to help close the gender gap.

Premarital cohabitation and the gendered division of household labor in China

Premarital cohabitation has been understudied in China, and its impact on marriages in the region remains largely unexplored. This study examines the implications of premarital cohabitation for gender inequalities in Chinese marriages. The author analyzes how married couples with and without the experience of premarital cohabitation compare in the amounts of time they spend doing housework, whether the differences can be attributed to social and economic factors, and to what extent the experience of cohabitation equalizes the gendered division of housework. Drawing on four waves of data (2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018) from the China Family Panel Studies, this study is one of the first to provide nationally representative evidence on the relationship between premarital cohabitation and housework in China. Propensity score weighting and linear mixed effect models were employed. In contrast to findings from Western contexts, this study finds that in China, premarital cohabitation is not associated with a smaller gender gap in housework time after accounting for factors that affect selection into cohabitation. However, premarital cohabitation was associated with a significant decrease in women's housework time among urban residents and couples married after 1995, while its effect on men's housework time was not significant. Findings from this study highlight a gendered cohabitation effect on housework hours in China and underscore the importance of contextualizing the meanings of cohabitation and housework in non-Western contexts.

Regional Analysis of Gender Inequality in the Kazakh Labor Market in the Context of Sustainable Development

Kazakhstan demonstrates its commitment to promoting gender equality and works closely with the global community. Over the past decade, the gender gap in the structure of the labor force of the Republic of Kazakhstan has narrowed slightly. However, gender gaps persist. Women in Kazakhstan make up slightly more than half of the country’s total population. Still, their contribution to the republic’s economic performance, growth, and well-being is significantly below its potential. Access to the Republic’s gender statistics is essential and critical for studying and tracking changes in gender inequality. This article examines the gender dynamics of the labor market of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the macro and micro levels using a geographic information system (GIS). GIS tools provide display and analysis capabilities that are underutilized in workforce development, monitoring, and management. In this study, the authors tried to model spatial indicators of gender inequality in the labor market of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The study results show that the employment rate and the level of women’s wages are primarily related to the gender segregation of vocational education, which lays the foundation for sectoral differentiation of employment with different geographical distributions. The greater competitiveness of women in the labor market of Kazakhstan is also hampered by the so-called “glass ceiling” or low accessibility to leadership positions. The wage gap between men and women in the republic has remained unchanged for a long time and shows no signs of reduction. In addition, such an important element of the labor market as unpaid domestic work, which is carried out mainly by women, remains unrecognized.

The effects of CPI increase on disposable income: an analysis for Spain by CGE

ABSTRACT Spain is the European country where the differences between the highest and lowest incomes have increased the most in the last decade. In addition, the rise in prices would have repercussions on household disposable income, impacting income distribution and, consequently, poverty rates and inequality could even deepen the gender gap. In this context, our paper aims to analyse the impact of the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in 2022 on the disposable income of Spanish households. To do this, we employ a Computable General Equilibrium model calibrated with a Social Accounting Matrix disaggregated by income deciles and gender of the main income earner.

“Sekolah Ibu Program”: Women Resilience Program or Gender Blind Policy?

This article analyzes the Gender Blind Policy phenomenon in the “Sekolah Ibu Program” in Bogor City, Indonesia. This article aims to see whether there are gender gaps or inequality in the “Sekolah Ibu Program”. The “Sekolah Ibu Program” was created to reduce the divorce rate in Bogor City, Indonesia. The divorce trend in Bogor City has increased in the last three years. Therefore, the Bogor City government created a program to suppress divorce cases. In the “Sekolah Ibu Program”, there are learning modules such as parenting patterns, family health, family resilience, and others, so women are expected to have more knowledge about family resilience. The method used by the author in this research is Cresswell's qualitative case study approach. The author uses Naila Kabeer's Gender Blind Policy theory, which uses four indicators to determine the phenomenon in the program: participation, benefits, control, and access. These four indicators used to see the inequality and the gender gap in this program. The result shows that there is still a gender gap, such as what occurs in the “Sekolah Ibu Program”, where there are still limitations between women and their participation in the program.

Reducing the gender gap on adolescents’ interest in study fields: The impact of perceived changes in ingroup gender norms and gender prototypicality

AbstractDespite some progress towards gender equality in Western societies, traditional gender norms still shape career choices, perpetuating a gender gap where girls are more likely to pursue traditionally feminine fields like healthcare, elementary education, and domestic roles (HEED), while boys are drawn to masculine domains such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This research investigates whether, and under which conditions, the perception that gender norms are progressively changing towards less gender dichotomy can reduce this gender gap in academic fields. We recruited a sample of 642 high-school students (394 women and 248 men), and experimentally manipulated both the salience of changes in gender norm (stability vs change) and participants’ gender prototypicality. The main dependent variable was participants’ interest in stereotypically feminine (HEED) and masculine (STEM) academic fields. The results indicated a slight decrease in the gender gap for stereotypically feminine fields (HEED) among participants who saw themselves as typical members of their gender group, but no significant change was observed for stereotypically masculine fields (STEM). These findings suggest that shifting perceptions of gender norms may have a limited effect on modifying traditional educational and career choices, underscoring the resilience of entrenched gender stereotypes.

Exploring Gender Differences in Computational Thinking Among K-12 Students: A Meta-Analysis Investigating Influential Factors

This study employs meta-analysis to synthesize findings from 30 articles investigating gender differences in computational thinking (CT) among K-12 students. Encompassing 51 independent effect sizes, the meta-analysis involves a participant pool of 9181 individuals from various countries, comprising 4254 males and 4927 females. Results indicate statistically significant gender differences in CT (Hedges’s g = 0.091, p &lt; .05), albeit with a modest effect size, revealing higher CT scores among males compared to females. Further moderation analyses unveil the multifaceted nature of these gender differences. Specifically, while gender differences become significant during high school, recent studies suggest a gradual reduction in CT gender differences with societal progress among K-12 students. Moreover, findings illustrate variations in gender differences across geographical regions. Notably, while the overall gender disparity in CT is non-significant in the “East Asia and Pacific” region, it widens in “North America” and “Europe”, with males scoring higher than females. Conversely, in “Europe and Central Asia”, such gender differences present inconsistent outcomes, with females scoring higher than males. Importantly, assessment tool type does not significantly influence gender differences. Lastly, this study offers recommendations to address CT gender gaps, providing valuable insights for promoting gender equality in education.

Exploring the stability of the gender gap in faculty perceptions of gender climate at a rural regional university.

Increasing awareness of gender barriers and biases in academic institutions is an essential component of institutional change strategies to promote equity and inclusion. There is an established perception gap in recognizing gender inequities in the workplace, whereby men faculty under acknowledge the stressors, barriers, and biases faced by their women faculty colleagues. This study explored the gender gap in faculty perceptions of institutional diversity climate at a rural comprehensive regional university in the United States. In addition to gender, differences across academic discipline and time were explored using 2 (men and women) x 2 (STEM and other) x 2 (2017 and 2022) between-groups ANOVAs. Results revealed a gender gap that persisted across time and perceptions of stressors, diversity climate, student behavior, leadership, and fairness in promotion/tenure procedures, with marginalized (women) faculty consistently reporting greater barriers/concern for women faculty relative to the perceptions of their men faculty colleagues. These findings are largely consistent with the extant literature and are discussed both with regard to future research directions and recommendations for reducing the perception gap and addressing institutional barriers to gender equity.

Gender health care inequalities in health crisis: when uncertainty can lead to inequality

BackgroundIn health crisis, inequalities in access to and use of health care services become more evident. The objective of this study is to analyse the existence and evolution of gender inequalities in access to and use of healthcare services in the context of the COVID-19 health crisis.MethodsRetrospective cohort study using data from all individuals with a confirmed COVID-19 infection from March 2020 to March 2022 in Aragón (Spain) (390,099 cases). Health care access and use was analysed by gender for the different pandemic waves. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to evaluate the effect of sex in health care. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition methods were performed to explain gender gaps observed.ResultsThe health care received throughout the COVID-19 pandemic differed between men and women. Women were admitted to hospital and intensive care units less frequently than men and their stays were shorter. Differences observed between men and women narrowed throughout the pandemic, but persisted even after adjusting for age, socioeconomic status, morbidity burden or the patient's place of residence. Differences in sociodemographic characteristics and morbidity burden could explain partially the gender inequalities found, mainly in the later phases of the pandemic, but not in the earlier waves.ConclusionsThere were gender inequalities in access to and use of health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inequalities were greater in the first waves of the pandemic, but did not disappear. Analysis of health crises must take into account an intersectional gender perspective to ensure equitable health care.

The Gender Publication Gap Revisited: Evidence from the International Political Science Review

ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, there has been consensus in the literature of a submission and publication gap that favors men. Important research in the intervening years has explored the many reasons for this output gap: imbalanced administrative workloads; bias in top journals against female-dominated subfields and methodological approaches; and lower confidence levels among women, sometimes known as the “Matthew effect.” However, in the intervening period, there has been a notable emphasis on recruiting more women into academia, and the importance of publishing for career development has intensified. Journal case studies have highlighted a growth in output by women academics but show that men are still overrepresented. Using a case study of the International Political Science Review (IPSR), we contribute to the emerging body of work that shows that the gender gap has diminished or even been eliminated. We present data on submissions and acceptances by gender, and we base our comparisons in the gender balance of the departments of submitting authors. The results are clear, for IPSR, the gender gap has closed and women now publish on a par with their men colleagues in their department.

The gender gap in attitudes toward workplace technological change

Abstract We provide the first systematic analysis of how attitudes toward workplace automation and artificial intelligence (AI) vary by gender, using survey data from ten countries. Our analyses reveal a significant gender gap in the perceived fairness of automation and AI, similar in magnitude to that of job offshoring. Drawing on the literature on economic shocks, we examine four explanations based on gender differences in (a) economic self-interest, (b) technological knowledge, (c) sociotropic concerns and (d) social status perceptions. Including these variables in our models, however, narrows the observed gender gap by only 40%. To better understand the sources of attitudinal variation by gender, we rely on Kitagawa–Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, which shows that distributional differences in group characteristics, specifically women’s lower levels of technological knowledge and self-reported social status, account for approximately one-third of the gap, while the other two-thirds are explained by differences in how specific variables differentially influence attitudes.

Normative conflict and the gender gap in cooperation

A normative conflict arises when individuals derive different benefits from cooperation. We analyze experimental data from three published studies to investigate the impact of normative conflict on the cooperative behavior of men and women. We find that women exhibit significantly lower levels of cooperation in the presence of normative conflict. We observe no significant gender differences in cooperation in the absence of normative conflict.