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Why women don’t run: Experimental evidence on gender differences in political competition aversion

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  • Preece, Jessica
  • Stoddard, Olga

Abstract

Women's underrepresentation in leadership positions has been well documented, but the reasons behind it are not well understood. We carry out a field experiment to test a prominent theory about the source of the gender gap in leadership ambition: women's higher aversion to competitive environments. Using politics as a context for our study, we employ two distinct subject pools – highly politically active individuals and workers from an online labor market. We find that priming individuals to consider the competitive nature of politics has a strong negative effect on women's interest in political office, but not on men's interest, hence significantly increasing the gender gap in leadership ambition.

Suggested Citation

  • Preece, Jessica & Stoddard, Olga, 2015. "Why women don’t run: Experimental evidence on gender differences in political competition aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 296-308.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:117:y:2015:i:c:p:296-308
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2015.04.019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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