TY - JOUR
T1 - (Mis)perceptions about the Gender Gap in the Labor Market
AU - Malul, Miki
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Association for Social Economics.
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - People’s perceptions about the gender gap might influence their attitudes about the need for policy interventions to reduce it. How accurate are these perceptions? Which gender has a better understanding about the actual gender gap? Using a survey-based experiment with a representative sample of 538 Israelis, we found a significant gap between perceptions and reality with regard to wages, attributes of employment, seniority within the company and education. The misperceptions were significantly higher among males. We also found that in general, both men and women underestimated the contribution of the latter to the workforce and their level of education. Similarly, they both overestimated the percentage of women in positions such as CEOs and company chairs. The results suggest the need to increase the awareness of the gender gap, particularly among men. Such awareness is the first step in narrowing the gender gap.
AB - People’s perceptions about the gender gap might influence their attitudes about the need for policy interventions to reduce it. How accurate are these perceptions? Which gender has a better understanding about the actual gender gap? Using a survey-based experiment with a representative sample of 538 Israelis, we found a significant gap between perceptions and reality with regard to wages, attributes of employment, seniority within the company and education. The misperceptions were significantly higher among males. We also found that in general, both men and women underestimated the contribution of the latter to the workforce and their level of education. Similarly, they both overestimated the percentage of women in positions such as CEOs and company chairs. The results suggest the need to increase the awareness of the gender gap, particularly among men. Such awareness is the first step in narrowing the gender gap.
KW - Gender gap
KW - labor market
KW - perceptions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103427164&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/07360932.2021.1904430
DO - 10.1080/07360932.2021.1904430
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85103427164
JO - The Forum for Social Economics
JF - The Forum for Social Economics
SN - 0736-0932
ER -