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Gender and competition: evidence from academic promotions in France

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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.

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  • 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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    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. Laura Hospido & Luc Laeven & Ana Lamo, 2022. "The Gender Promotion Gap: Evidence from Central Banking," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(5), pages 981-996, December.
    3. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1mv0mm6vqb8dibn34slm9vhu6d is not listed on IDEAS
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    5. Clot, Sophie & Della Giusta, Marina & Razzu, Giovanni, 2020. "Gender Gaps in Competition: New Experimental Evidence from UK Professionals," IZA Discussion Papers 13323, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Pascale Petit & Mathieu Bunel & Yannick L’Horty, 2020. "Les discriminations à l’embauche dans la sphère publique : effets respectifs de l’adresse et de l’origine," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 71(1), pages 31-56.
    7. Zacchia, Giulia, 2016. "Segregation or homologation? Gender differences in recent Italian economic thought," MPRA Paper 72279, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1mv0mm6vqb8dibn34slm9vhu6d is not listed on IDEAS
    9. 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.
    10. Souleymane Mbaye, 2019. "Trois évaluations d’actions de lutte contre les discriminations," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph19-01 edited by Pascale Petit.
    11. 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.
    12. Ursprung, Heinrich, 2019. "Endogenous maternity allowances as exemplified by academic promotion standards," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-11.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Wifo, 2014. "WIFO-Monatsberichte, Heft 1/2014," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 87(1), January.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. Sarah Fleche & Anthony Lepinteur & Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2018. "Gender Norms and Relative Working Hours: Why Do Women Suffer More Than Men from Working Longer Hours Than Their Partners?," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 163-168, May.
    21. Emre Özel, 2024. "What is Gender Bias in Grant Peer review?," Working Papers halshs-03862027, HAL.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender gaps; promotions; academic labour markets;
    All these keywords.

    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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