Re-Thinking the Gender Gap: Gender and Firm Production

Gender diversity in the workplace has become a significant global economic challenge. Recent research reveals that closing the gender gap in in the workforce could lead to a global GDP increase of roughly $12trillion by 2025. ... [ view full abstract ]

Gender diversity in the workplace has become a significant global economic challenge. Recent research reveals that closing the gender gap in in the workforce could lead to a global GDP increase of roughly $12trillion by 2025. There has been extensive literature exploring the challenge of why women are so underrepresented in the workforce and how to best address this disparity. One widely accepted explanation for the gap is that women shy away from competition, which explains their decreased participation in often inherently competitive work environments. However, I wonder if there is another lens through which to view the challenge: instead of asking what women can do to cultivate the necessary qualities for success, what could companies be doing to create work environments in which their female employees are most likely to be successful? For my senior research, I am conducting an economics experiment to explore how men and women respond to different firm structures. My research question asks, holding compensation constant, do men and women perform differentially well or poorly based on the organization of production?