Abstract: This paper studies the role of cultural norms, specifically those regarding gendered roles in employment, in explaining the gender gap in pay using a unique matched employer-employee dataset linked with immigration records in Canada. To separate the effects of culture from markets and institutions, we investigate how inherited gender norms among immigrants shape their labor market outcomes in the host country. We find that improvements in gender norms are strongly associated with a narrower gender gap in pay and mobility. These associations persist even after accounting for education, occupation, and the child penalty, as well as a broad set of interacted fixed effects between firms and workers, suggesting that the findings are unlikely due to discrimination by firms or sorting by workers. We propose a new mechanism wherein gender norms influence the gap in how women and men find job opportunities through their social networks, leading to disparities in both wages and mobility. Distinctive from prevailing discussions on the influence of cultural norms, our results highlight that even if women do not internalize these norms, they can still face similarly disadvantaged outcomes.
Discussant: Paige Ouimet, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Abstract: Women continue to be underrepresented in corporate leadership positions. This paper studies the role of social connections in women’s career advancement. We investigate whether access to a larger share of female peers in business school affects the gender gap in senior managerial positions. Merging administrative data from a top-10 U.S. business school with public LinkedIn profiles, we first document that female MBAs are 24% less likely than male MBAs to enter senior management within 15 years of graduation. Next, we use the exogenous assignment of students into sections to show that a larger proportion of female MBA section peers increases the likelihood of entering senior management for women but not for men. This effect is driven by female-friendly firms, such as those with more generous maternity leave policies andgreater work schedule flexibility. A larger proportion of female MBA peers induces women to transition to these firms where they attain senior management roles. A survey of female MBA alumnae reveals three key mechanisms: (i) information sharing, especially related to gender-specific advice, (ii) higher ambitions and self-confidence, and (iii) increasing support from male MBA peers. These findings highlight the role of social connections in reducing the gender gap in senior management positions.
Discussant: Valentina Rutigliano, University of British Columbia
Abstract: Recent research shows that labor disruptions cause female professionals to exhibit greater losses in productivity relative to their male peers. These studies attribute part of this gender-based difference to the demands of young children or other familial obligations on females. We document a reversal in this gender gap – where females on average outperform males in their resilience to financial shocks – in a setting with matched peers that is free from the confounding effects of marriage or children. Using college transcript data from the Department of Education and a triple-differences empirical design, we find that female students are less disrupted by financial shocks than male students in their human capital investment during college.
Discussant: Constantine Yannelis, Cambridge University
