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The Broken Rung: Gender and the Leadership Gap

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  • Ingrid Haegele

Abstract

Addressing female underrepresentation in leadership positions has become a key policy objective. However, little is known about the extent to which leadership appeals differently to women. Collecting new data from a large firm, I document that women are substantially less likely to apply for early-career promotions. Realized application patterns and large-scale surveys reveal the role of an understudied feature of promotions -- having to assume responsibility over a team -- which is less appealing to women. This gender difference is not accounted for by standard explanations, such as success likelihood or confidence, but is rather a product of common design features of leadership positions.

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  • Ingrid Haegele, 2024. "The Broken Rung: Gender and the Leadership Gap," Papers 2404.07750, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2404.07750
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