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The Role of Technology in Reducing the Gender Gap in Productivity

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  • Cirera, Xavier
  • Cruz, Marcio
  • Soares Martins Neto, Antonio
  • Lee, Kyungmin
  • Nogueira, Caroline

Abstract

This paper explores new firm-level data to examine the gender gap in technology adoption and the associated effect on firm performance. The data show a small difference in technology sophistication between firms managed by women and those managed by men, but there are larger differences in terms of labor productivity. Firms with female top managers are just as likely to adopt the most sophisticated technologies for general business functions that are common across all firms except for enterprise resource planning. However, firms managed by women adopt advanced technologies less frequently for sector-specific business functions. The study also finds that firms with higher technology sophistication tend to have higher productivity and the returns to the use of more sophisticated technologies are larger in businesses managed by women, which helps to narrow the productivity gap between firms managed by women and those managed by men.

Suggested Citation

  • Cirera, Xavier & Cruz, Marcio & Soares Martins Neto, Antonio & Lee, Kyungmin & Nogueira, Caroline, 2024. "The Role of Technology in Reducing the Gender Gap in Productivity," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10771, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10771
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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