Gender Sorting Research Articles

Can wage transparency alleviate gender sorting in the labour market?

SUMMARY A large share of the gender wage gap can be attributed to occupation and employer choices. If workers are not well informed about these pay differences, increasing wage transparency might alleviate the gender gap. We test this hypothesis by examining the impact of mandatory wage postings. In 2011, Austria introduced a policy that requires firms to provide a minimum wage offer in job postings. To compare the pay prospects of vacancies before and after the introduction, we predict posted wages using detailed occupation–firm cells, which explain about 75% of the variation in wage postings. While we estimate a substantial gender gap of 15 log points, mandatory wage postings do not affect gender sorting into better-paying occupations and firms.

Gender sorting among economists: Evidence from the NBER

I compare the co-authorship patterns of male and female economists, using historical data on National Bureau of Economic Research working papers. Men tended to work in smaller teams than women, but co-authored more papers and so had more co-authors overall. Both men and women had more same-gender co-authors than we would expect if co-authorships were random. This was especially true for men in Macro/Finance.

Can Wage Transparency Alleviate Gender Sorting in the Labor Market?

Can Wage Transparency Alleviate Gender Sorting in the Labor Market?

Locational decisions and subjective well-being: an empirical study of Chinese urban migrants

ABSTRACT Motivated by the popularity of ‘Run away from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou’ saying in China this paper tests the determinants of subjective well-being (SWB) of long-term migrants and the extent to which migrants make optimal locational decisions in terms of SWB. China’s cities are divided into 4 core first-tier cities, 15 new first-tier cities, and non-first-tier cities (94 in the sample) reflecting different levels of economic opportunity and amenities. Migrants can only be observed in their present location. Hence, we use a semi-parametric marginal treatment effect method to compare actual and counterfactual SWB outcomes. Results shows that migrants’ SWB is greater in non-first-tier cities than first-tier cities; the determinants of SWB differ for male and female migrants; and, female migrants with urban hukou are typically better off in the four core first-tier cities as well as other first-tier cities. Overall, there is thus a marked gender differences in migrants’ optimal locational choice. From a productivity and social cohesion perspective, these results make it imperative that public policy in China addresses the gender and spatial sorting imbalances that arises from differences in SWB determinants and optimal location as ever more educated young people join the labour force.

Gender wage gap and firm market power: evidence from Chile

ABSTRACT The main aim of this work is to explain the Chilean gender wage gap using a dynamic monopsony model to estimate the labour supply elasticities at the firm level. Our results suggest that the elasticities of labour supply to firms are small, which implies that firms have labour market power. We also found that Chilean men would earn approximately 22% more than women as a result of the difference in labour supply elasticities by gender, ceteris paribus. Furthermore, we find that in the long run, the magnitude of between-firm differences in elasticities are higher than within-firm differences, which suggests that the gender wage gap is driven by structural factors that generate gender sorting to firms. Finally, since we use the same methodology and restrictions used in previous literatur for the US, we are able to empirically compare the elasticities for a high-income country (the US) are higher than those obtained for a middle-income country (Chile) for both men and women, which suggests higher labour market frictions in middle-income countries. The main difference between the US and Chile comes from the low labour supply elasticity of Chilean women, which appears to be explained from their low recruitment elasticity from non-employment.

The Intangible Gender Gap: An Asset Channel of Inequality

<ns2:p>We propose an "asset channel of inequality" that contributes to gender inequities. We establish that industries with low (high) gender pay gaps have high (low) shares of tangible assets. Because asset tangibility determines firms' ability to collateralize assets and borrow, credit conditions affect industries differently. We show that credit expansions further reduce the pay gap in low-pay-gap industries while leaving it unaffected in high-pay-gap industries, making low-pay-gap industries more appealing for women. Consequently, gender sorting across industries increases, which then cements gender roles and accentuates workplace gender bias. Ultimately, credit expansions help women "swim upstream" but also reinforce glass ceilings.</ns2:p>

Gender Wage Gap and Firm Market Power: Evidence from Chile

The main aim of this work is to explain the Chilean gender wage gap using a dynamic monopsony model to estimate the labor supply elasticities at the firm level. Our results suggest that the elasticities of labor supply to firms are small, which implies that firms have labor market power. We also found that depending on the especification, Chilean men would earn approximately 19% - 28% more than women as a result of the difference in labor supply elasticities by gender, ceteris paribus. Furthermore, we find that in the long run, the magnitude of between-firm differences in elasticities are higher than within-firm differences, which suggests that the gender wage gap is driven by structural factors that generate gender sorting to firms. Finally, using the same methodology, we find that the elasticities for a high-income countries (e.g. the United States) are higher than those obtained for a middle-income country (e.g. Chile) for both men and women, which suggests higher labor market frictions in middle-income countries. The main difference between USA and Chile comes from the low labor supply elasticity of Chilean women, which appears to be explained from their low recruitment elasticity from nonemploeyment.

Gender Sorting and the Glass Ceiling in High-Tech Firms

With few exceptions, studies have conceived of the glass ceiling as reflecting internal promotion biases. In this article, the authors argue that glass ceiling patterns can also be the result of external recruitment and hiring processes. Using data on people applying by means of the Internet for jobs at 441 small- and medium-sized high-tech firms, they find evidence that the glass ceiling is produced by both internal and external hiring processes. On the supply side, females are sorted into lower-level job queues than males. On the demand side, screening biases against women also are evident, but a series of “what if” simulations suggest that demand-side screening processes play a comparatively minor role in producing the glass ceiling pattern. These results suggest that bias remediation policies designed to equalize gender differences in hiring chances are likely to be less effective than recruitment and outreach policies designed to improve gender disparities in candidate pools.

Do Employers' Responses to Crises Impact Men and Women Differently? Firm‐level Evidence from Indonesia

AbstractDo employers' responses to crises impact men and women differently? Using manufacturing census data from Indonesia this paper assesses gender differences in the impact of the East Asian crisis and to what extent these were due to differential treatment of men and women within firms and gender sorting across firms that varied in their exposure to the crisis. On average, women experienced higher job losses than their male colleagues within the same firm. However, the aggregate adverse effect of such differential treatment was more than offset by women being disproportionately employed in firms hit relatively less hard by the crisis. The null hypothesis that there were no gender differences in wage adjustment is not rejected.

National estimates of male and female enrolment in American high school choirs, bands and orchestras

The purpose of this study was to estimate, at a national level and over time, the participation rates of males and females among those students who formally enrol in American high school music ensembles. Ten cohorts of nationally representative samples of students from 1982 and 2009 were analysed using data from High School Transcript Studies conducted by the National Centre for Education Statistics. Results of the present study indicated that, for the time period studied, females were significantly overrepresented in all three traditional US high school music ensemble areas: choir, band and orchestra. As might be expected, choral music enrolment was the most consistently imbalanced by gender across the cohorts, with roughly 70% female and 30% male enrolment in each of the cohorts under study. The results of this study suggest that the US music education emphasis on ensemble music making promotes gender sorting of females into music at the high school level. This finding raises questions about the dominance of males among the ranks of working instrumental music educators and the efficacy of the profession's attempts to recruit more males into choral singing.

Gender Gaps in College Enrollment

This article uses Florida administrative data to evaluate the role that public high schools play in the growing female advantage in college enrollment. We first show evidence of gender sorting across public high schools that is beyond what one would observe if students were randomly assigned to their schools. Using regression and decomposition techniques, we then find that across-school gender sorting explains 12% and 16% of females’ higher rates of enrollment among Hispanic and Black students, respectively. This relatively large contribution of high schools to gender disparities in college enrollment among Black and Hispanic students has implications for educators at all levels.

Gender Sorting across K–12 Schools in the United States

This article documents evidence of nonrandom gender sorting across K–12 schools in the United States. The sorting exists among coed schools and at all grade levels, and it is highest in the secondary school grades. We observe some gender sorting across school sectors and types: for instance, males are slightly underrepresented in private schools and charter schools and are substantially overrepresented in irregular public schools, a large share of which educates students with special needs and juvenile justice involvement. Gender sorting within sectors and types is also quite prevalent and appears to be highest within the private schools (where single-sex schools are more common) and irregular public schools. We find that gender sorting is higher in counties that have higher shares of enrollment in private and nonregular public schools. This sorting occurs even though parents have similar stated preferences for school attributes for their sons and daughters.

Application of a New Convenience Gender Sorting Method for Mouse Spermatozoa to Mouse Reproductive Engineering Technology

In this study, we attempted to apply new convenience gender sorting methods using sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene expression on Y spermatozoa to mice. Mouse spermatozoa labeled with Cy3-SRY antibody conjugate were used for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In addition, spermatozoa conjugated with SRY antibody were conjugated with magnetic beads (Mag) and were pulled to the bottom of the medium. The supernatant of the medium was used for in vitro fertilization (IVF). The rate of males reproduced by ICSI using the spermatozoa conjugated with Cy3-SRY antibody was 86.1%. The female proportion reproduced by IVF using the spermatozoa separated in the supernatant after Mag-SRY antibody conjugation was 67.3%. These gender sorting methods are effective for the reproduction of transgenic mice.

Gender Sorting and the Glass Ceiling in High Tech

Past studies of gender and hierarchy document that the proportion of women declines as one looks up levels of the organizational hierarchy. With few exceptions, studies have conceived of the glass ceiling as reflecting disparities in internal promotion. Recent research has questioned this exclusive focus on internal processes, demonstrating that glass ceiling patterns can also be the result of external recruitment. Using data on people applying via the Internet to jobs at a medium sized high tech firm, we examine the external supply of candidates at the point of application to the firm. We find a “glass ceiling” pattern where the proportion of female applicants in the candidate pool declines as one looks up the four levels of the organization’s hierarchy. Females tend to apply to lower level jobs than do males, and part of this difference explained by observed human capital factors of education, work, and management experience. Networks also contribute to this gendered pattern of job application, with male network referrals applying to higher level jobs than do female network referrals. However, networks do not account for the pattern: even among non-referred applicants, females apply to lower level jobs than do males. In addition to these gender differences at the point of application, we find evidence that demand-side screening processes contribute to the glass ceiling pattern: females are less likely than males to be offered jobs as one looks up levels of the firm’s hierarchy. These results suggest that it should not be assumed that the “glass ceiling” is the result of internal promotion processes: the same pattern can be produced by supply-side or demand-side processes operating in the hiring of externals.

Gender Sorting at the Application Interface

We document gender sorting of candidates into gender-typed jobs at the point of initial application to a company. At this step of the hiring process, the firm has implemented a policy whereby organizational screeners’ discretion has been eliminated such that there is no opportunity for contact between hiring agents and applicants. Thus, the job choices studied here offer unique insight as they are uncontaminated by screeners’ steering of candidates toward gender-typed jobs. Even in the absence of steering, we find clear patterns of gendered job choices that line up with gender stereotypes of job roles. Moreover, these gendered patterns recur both within individuals and within race groups. Comparing our findings to the pattern of job sorting in the external local labor market, we find that supply-side factors do not fully account for the levels job sex segregation observed in the open labor market. Although probably not the entire story, we show clear evidence that supply-side sorting processes are important factors contributing to job sex segregation.

Disadvantage, Ethnic Niching or Pursuit of a Vision?

As immigrant groups grow older, host societies are faced with new challenges of integration. In a labor market that is structured by ethnicity and gender, the demand for culturally competent care provides immigrant women with the opportunity to become entrepreneurs within the care sector. This article analyzes 20 in-depth interviews with immigrant women from 13 countries who are entrepreneurs in home-help services for elderly people. The article analyzes the complex motives behind the women’s entrepreneurship. Ethnic entrepreneurship has mainly been approached as a way for immigrants to survive in the labor market—the disadvantage theory—or as a means to create job opportunities for co-ethnics within ethnic economies. Opposed to this, three main motives appear in the analysis: first, the processes of ethnic and gender sorting in the care sector; second, ethnic strategies in the labor market; and third, the wish to gain independence and improve the quality of care. Only in a few cases is ethnic entrepreneurship practiced within ethnic economies; instead, it is mainly found within cross-cultural economies, consisting of employees and customers of mixed origin who are embedded in a majority society. The women construct their ethnic identities to compete in the segmented Swedish labor market by creating ethnic identities of care that are adjusted to meet the needs of their customers in a cross-cultural society.

Stretched Thin: Poor Families, Welfare Work, and Welfare Reform. By Sandra Morgen, Joan Acker, and Jill Weigt. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010. Pp. 256. $59.95 (cloth); $22.95 (paper).

<i>Stretched Thin: Poor Families, Welfare Work, and Welfare Reform</i>. By Sandra Morgen, Joan Acker, and Jill Weigt. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010. Pp. 256. $59.95 (cloth); $22.95 (paper).

Competing for jobs: Labor queues and gender sorting in the hiring process

While much research has documented the pattern and extent of sex segregation of workers once they are employed, few studies have addressed the pre-hire mechanisms that are posited to produce sex segregation in employment. While the notion of a labor queue—the rank order of the set of people that employers choose among—plays a prominent role in pre-hire accounts of job sex sorting mechanisms, few studies have examined the ways in which job candidates are sorted into labor queues. In this paper, we explore the mechanisms by which labor queues contribute to the gendering of jobs by studying the hiring process for all jobs at a call center. Being placed in a queue has a clear gendering effect on the hiring process: the sex distribution of applicants who are matched to queues and those who are rejected at this phase diverge, and among those assigned to queues, women are prevalent in queues for low pay, low status jobs. The screening process also contributes to the gendering of the population of hires at this firm. Females are more prevalent among hires than they are among candidates at initial queue assignment. Among high status jobs, however, males are more prevalent than females. Moreover, there are important wage implications associated with matching to queues. While there are large between-queue sex differences in the paid wages associated with allocation to queues, once allocated to queues the wage differences between male and female candidates are nil. Consequently, the roots of gender wage inequality in this setting lie in the initial sorting of candidates to labor queues.

SORTING GENDER OUT IN A CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

Psychologists believe grade schoolers' free play in the United States is universally biased toward single-gender groups. In a study of grade schoolers in a children's museum, already-acquainted kindergartners to sixth graders (453 girls and 502 boys) were observed at three exhibits. While boys chose more automobile play and girls more supermarketing, one-quarter of each group played in settings dominated by the other gender. Boys had no group-size preference; girls had a strong preference for small groups. That preference accounts for most of the gender differences found in children's gender sorting in a novel environment. However, the ubiquity of gender segregation in large groups of grade schoolers was disconfirmed for this setting.