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Does society underestimate women? Evidence from the performance of female jockeys in horse racing

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  • Brown, Alasdair
  • Yang, Fuyu

Abstract

Women are under-represented in many top jobs. We investigate whether biased beliefs about female ability – a form of ‘mistake-based discrimination’ – are partially responsible for this under-representation. We use more than 10 years of data on the performance of female jockeys in U.K. and Irish horse racing – a sport where, uniquely, men and women compete side-by-side – to evaluate the presence of such discrimination. The odds produced by the betting market provide a window onto society's beliefs about the abilities of women in a male-dominated occupation. We find that women are slightly underestimated, winning 0.3% more races than the market predicts. Female jockeys are underestimated to a greater extent in jump racing, where their participation is low. We discuss possible reasons for this association.

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  • Brown, Alasdair & Yang, Fuyu, 2015. "Does society underestimate women? Evidence from the performance of female jockeys in horse racing," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 106-118.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:111:y:2015:i:c:p:106-118
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2014.12.031
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    Cited by:

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    2. Alexander D. Binder & Paul W. Grimes & Russell G. Winterbotham, 2021. "In the Money: Gender and Jockey Success on the Thoroughbred Racetrack," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 22(3), pages 295-328, April.
    3. Michael Leeds & Hugh Rockoff, 2019. "Beating the Odds: Black Jockeys in the Kentucky Derby, 1870-1911," NBER Working Papers 25461, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Thomas Schmid & Daniel Urban, 2023. "Female Directors and Firm Value: New Evidence from Directors’ Deaths," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(4), pages 2449-2473, April.
    5. Richard McManus & Karen Mumford & Cristina Sechel, 2022. "Measuring research excellence amongst economics lecturers in the UK," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 386-404, April.
    6. Cashmore, Vanessa & Coster, Neil & Forrest, David & McHale, Ian & Buraimo, Babatunde, 2022. "Female jockeys - what are the odds?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 703-713.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender; Glass ceiling; Discrimination; Horse racing; G14; J16;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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