Gender-based career differences among young auditors in Sweden

This study examines whether or not gender-related differences affect the likelihood of promotion. Using data from the Swedish audit industry, an industry with a well-defined and well-known career ladder, and applying a model that explicitly takes the characteristics of promotion into consideration, we identified such differences. One result is that females are on average less likely to be promoted. Separate regressions for males and females identified that the promotion probability increases for male, as an effect of having a child, but the probability of promotion decreases more for males than females if males highly involves in the care of these children. Thus, females who are involved in childcare are penalised by lower probability of promotion; however, males that are highly involved in childcare have much more to lose than females do in terms of promotion. For a family this will turn into a question of how to lose the least.