Research project Determinants of economic gender gaps: New perspectives

Despite significant progress in female labor force participation over the past half-century, persistent gender differences in earnings remain and women continue to be underrepresented in top positions. Traditional explanations for gender gaps in labor market outcomes focus on gender differences in human capital and discrimination. However, as female educational attainment increases and formal obstacles to gender equality are dismantled, we need to consider a broader range of mechanisms.

We propose a set of empirical studies that further our understanding of gender differences in labor market outcomes. The projet studies how economic gender gaps are affected by referral-based hiring, the gender composition of groups, and gender stereotypes. Despite the potential importance of these mechanisms, few previous studies empirically explore their impact on economic gender gaps. This is partly due to lack of sufficiently detailed data, and partly due to the difficulty of separating causal effects from other confounding factors. We use data from Swedish registers and experiments to quantify the causal effect of each mechanism.

Our research agenda aims to increase the understanding of the origins of economic gender gaps. Thus, our results should be of interest to international researchers as well as policy makers and employers aiming to address gender gaps in representation and wages.