Why are there so few Women in Executive Positions? An Analysis of Gender Differences in the Life-Cycle of Executive Employment

Anders Frederiksen () and Timothy Halliday

No 2015-6, Working Papers from University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Abstract: “Glass ceilings†and “sticky floors†are typical explanations for the low representation of women in top executive positions, but a focus on gender differences in promotions provides only a partial explanation. We consider the life-cycle of executive employment, which allows for a full characterization of the gender composition of executive management. We establish that there are few women in executive management because they have lower levels of human capital, are underrepresented in lower-level jobs, and are less likely to be perceived as high-productivity employees. We do not find that women have uniformly unfavorable promotion and demotion probabilities.

Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2015-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm, nep-pr~ and nep-ltv
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https://uhero.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/WP_2015-6.pdf First version, 2015 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Why are there so few women in executive positions? An analysis of gender differences in the life-cycle of executive employment (2015)
Working Paper: Why Are There So Few Women in Executive Positions? An Analysis of Gender Differences in the Life-Cycle of Executive Employment (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hae:wpaper:2015-6

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