Dreber, Anna () (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics) von Essen, Emma () (Department of Economics) Ranehill, Eva () (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics)
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Recent studies find that women are less competitive than men. This gender difference in competitiveness has been suggested as a possible explanation for why men occupy the majority of top positions in many sectors. In this study we explore competitiveness in children. A related field experiment on Israeli children shows that only boys react to competition by running faster when competing in a race, and that only girls react to the gender of their opponent. Here we test if these results carry over to 8-10 year old Swedish children. We also include two more "female" sports: skipping rope and dancing. Our results contradict previous findings in two ways. First, we fail to replicate the running result. In our study, both boys and girls compete. We also find no gender differences in competition in skipping rope and dancing. Second, we find no clear effect on competitiveness of the opponent’s gender, neither on girls or boys, in any of the tasks. Our findings suggest that the gender gap in competitiveness found in previous studies on adults may be caused by factors that emerge later in life. It remains to be explored whether these factors are biological or cultural.
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Length: 14 pages Date of creation: 29 Jan 2009 Date of revision:
16 Oct 2009 Handle: RePEc:hhs:hastef:0709
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