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Gender and Competition: Evidence from Academic Promotions in France

Author

Listed:
  • Clément Bosquet

    (London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE))

  • Pierre-Philippe Combes

    (Département d'économie)

  • Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa

Abstract

Differences in promotion across genders are still prevalent in many occupations.Recent work based on experimental evidence indicates that women participate less in or exert lower effort during contests. We exploit the unique features of the promotion system for French academics to look at women's attitudes towards competition in an actual labour market. Using data for academic economists over the period 1991-2008 we find that, conditional on entering the competition, there is no difference in promotions across the genders, which is difficult to reconcile with either discrimination or a poorer performance of women in contests. In contrast, women have a substantially lower probability than men to enter the promotion contest. Our data does not support that this gap is due to differences in costs or in preferences concerning department prestige, indicating that women are less willing than men to take part in contests.

Suggested Citation

  • Clément Bosquet & Pierre-Philippe Combes & Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa, 2013. "Gender and Competition: Evidence from Academic Promotions in France," Sciences Po Economics Discussion Papers 2013-17, Sciences Po Departement of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/6ggbvnr6munghes9oc99l12b6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender gaps; promotions; academic labour markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

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