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Gender and competition: evidence from academic promotions in France

Author

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  • Bosquet, Clément
  • Combes, Pierre-Philippe
  • Garcia-Penalosa, Cecilia

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

  • Bosquet, Clément & Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Garcia-Penalosa, Cecilia, 2013. "Gender and competition: evidence from academic promotions in France," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58350, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:58350
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Clément Bosquet & Pierre‐Philippe Combes & Cecilia García‐Peñalosa, 2019. "Gender and Promotions: Evidence from Academic Economists in France," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(3), pages 1020-1053, July.
    2. Damien BESANCENOT & Kim HUYNH & Francisco SERRANITO, 2015. "Co-Authorship and Individual Research Productivity in Economics: Assessing the Assortative Matching Hypothesis," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2236, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    3. Zacchia, Giulia, 2016. "Segregation or homologation? Gender differences in recent Italian economic thought," MPRA Paper 72279, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. 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.
    5. Nathalie Greenan & Joseph Lanfranchi & Yannick L'Horty & Mathieu Narcy & Guillaume Pierné, 2016. "Inégalités et discriminations dans l’accès à la fonction publique d’Etat : une évaluation par l’analyse des fichiers administratifs de concours," TEPP Research Report 2016-06, TEPP.
    6. Maria De Paola & Michela Ponzo & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2015. "Gender Differences in Attitudes Towards Competition: Evidence from the Italian Scientific Qualification," CSEF Working Papers 391, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    7. N. N., 2014. "WIFO-Monatsberichte, Heft 1/2014," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 87(1), January.
    8. Carpenter, Jeffrey & Frank, Rachel & Huet-Vaughn, Emiliano, 2018. "Gender differences in interpersonal and intrapersonal competitive behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 170-176.
    9. Nathalie Greenan & Joseph Lanfranchi & Yannick l'Horty & Mathieu Narcy & Guillaume Pierne, 2019. "L'analyse des données de concours au regard des discriminations à l'entrée dans la Fonction Publique d’État," Working Papers halshs-02149277, HAL.
    10. Heinrich Ursprung, 2019. "Endogenous Maternity Allowances as Exemplified by Academic Promotion Standards," CESifo Working Paper Series 7490, CESifo Group Munich.
    11. Jürgen Janger & Klaus Nowotny, 2014. "Bestimmungsfaktoren für die Arbeitsplatzwahl von Wissenschaftern und Wissenschafterinnen," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 87(1), pages 81-89, January.
    12. Damien Besancenot & Kim Huynh & Francisco Serranito, 2015. " Thou shalt not work alone ," CEPN Working Papers hal-01175758, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender gaps; promotions; academic labour markets;

    JEL classification:

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

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