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Closing the gender gap in academia? Evidence from an affirmative action program

Mario Fernandes, Simon Hilber, Jan-Egbert Sturm and Andreas Walter

Research Policy, 2023, vol. 52, issue 9

Abstract: This study investigates a unique incentive-based affirmative action program in Germany’s academic labor market. By analyzing a sample of business administration professors, we document that the probability that a newly tenured professor is female increases at universities that participate in this government program compared to universities that do not. By delving deeper into the mechanisms of the program, we show that program universities lowered the entry barrier for tenured professorships regarding publication records for new female professors. While favoring women, we show that the program had no harmful effects on male professors regarding the entry barrier to tenured professorships. Overall, we provide evidence of the effectiveness of financial incentives as a means of reducing female underrepresentation in academic labor markets.

Keywords: Affirmative action; Difference-in-differences; Gender equality; Higher education; Research productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 J16 J71 M12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:52:y:2023:i:9:s004873332300149x

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2023.104865

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