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Breaking the Glass Ceiling with "No": Gender Differences in Accepting and Receiving Requests for Non-Promotable Tasks

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Abstract

Gender differences in task allocations may help sustain vertical gender segregation in labormarkets. If women hold more non-promotable tasks then they may progress more slowly than men inorganizations. Examining environments where a volunteer must be found for a task that everyoneprefers be completed by someone else (writing a report, serving on a committee, etc.) we find that,relative to men, women more frequently volunteer, more frequently are asked to volunteer, and morefrequently accept requests to volunteer. These differences are consistent with the belief that women,less than men, say ‘No’ to request to perform non-promotable tasks.

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  • Lise Vesterlund, 2015. "Breaking the Glass Ceiling with "No": Gender Differences in Accepting and Receiving Requests for Non-Promotable Tasks," Working Paper 5663, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh.
    • Handle: RePEc:pit:wpaper:5663
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    2. Manuel Bagues & Mauro Sylos-Labini & Natalia Zinovyeva, 2017. "Does the Gender Composition of Scientific Committees Matter?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(4), pages 1207-1238, April.
    3. Exley, Christine L. & Petrie, Ragan, 2018. "The impact of a surprise donation ask," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 152-167.
    4. Andrew J. Healy & Jennifer G. Pate, 2018. "Cost asymmetry and incomplete information in a volunteer’s dilemma experiment," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 51(3), pages 465-491, October.
    5. Berge, Lars Ivar Oppedal & Juniwaty, Kartika Sari & Sekei, Linda Helgesson, 2016. "Gender composition and group dynamics: Evidence from a laboratory experiment with microfinance clients," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PA), pages 1-20.
    6. Villas-Boas, Sofia B. & Taylor, Rebecca L.C. & Deakin, Elizabeth, 2019. "Effects of peer comparisons on low-promotability tasks: Evidence from a university field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 351-366.

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