Gender Norms, Integration Costs, And Missing Women In Firms
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
1-8-2022
Published In
Identity, Culture, And The Economics Of Gender
Abstract
Where social norms favor gender segregation, firms may find it costly to employ both men and women. If the costs of integration are largely fixed, firms will integrate only if their expected number of female employees under integration exceeds some threshold. We deploy a methodology that uses the distribution of female employment across firms to estimate the share of firms with binding integration costs and counterfactual female employment at all-male firms. Using survey data on manufacturing firms in 65 countries, we find evidence for these binding integration costs (and a corresponding excess of all-male firms) in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and South Asia but not in other regions. We also find some evidence that the intensity of gender segregation preferences is correlated with these integration costs in the MENA region.
Conference
ASSA 2022 Virtual Annual Meeting
Conference Dates
January 7-9, 2022
Recommended Citation
C. Miller, Jennifer R. Peck, and M. Seflek.
(2022).
"Gender Norms, Integration Costs, And Missing Women In Firms".
Identity, Culture, And The Economics Of Gender.
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-economics/534