Working Paper: NBER ID: w24904
Authors: Kerwin Kofi Charles; Jonathan Guryan; Jessica Pan
Abstract: We study how reported sexism in the population affects American women. Fixed-effects and TSLS estimates show that higher prevailing sexism where she was born (background sexism) and where she currently lives (residential sexism) both lower a woman's wages, labor force participation and ages of marriage and childbearing. We argue that background sexism affects outcomes through the influence of previously-encountered norms, and that estimated associations regarding specific percentiles and male versus female sexism suggest that residential sexism affects labor market outcomes through prejudice-based discrimination by men, and non-labor market outcomes through the influence of current norms of other women.
Keywords: sexism; women's outcomes; labor market; discrimination; norms
JEL Codes: J12; J13; J16; J22; J31; J7; Z10
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Residential sexism (J16) | Labor market outcomes driven by discrimination (J79) |
| Residential sexism (J16) | Non-labor market outcomes driven by internalization of norms (J48) |
| Higher levels of background sexism (J16) | Lower labor force participation (J49) |
| Higher levels of background sexism (J16) | Lower wages (J31) |
| Higher levels of background sexism (J16) | Later ages of marriage (J12) |
| Higher levels of background sexism (J16) | Later ages of childbearing (J13) |
| Higher levels of background sexism (J16) | Increased likelihood of never being married (J12) |
| Residential sexism (J16) | Younger marriages (J12) |
| Residential sexism (J16) | Younger childbearing (J13) |
| Residential sexism (J16) | Larger gender gaps in employment (J79) |
| Residential sexism (J16) | No significant effect on wages (J39) |