The movie industry offers a useful context to study consumer-driven gender biases, as it enables observation of how the gender of leading actors, directors, and producers relates to movie performance outcomes. Using a dataset of over 5,000 globally produced movies from 1998 to 2008, we document a distinct non-linear relationship between female representation in leading roles and audience ratings. Specifically, ratings initially decline significantly as the number of female leads increases, reaching a turning point at approximately two female leads, beyond which ratings stabilize or slightly improve (convex pattern). This negative impact on audience ratings is driven by male viewers, whose presence diminishes as female representation grows. In contrast, professional film awards exhibit a concave pattern peaking significantly at two female leads. Further accounting for selection, we reveal that audience gender biases persist even after accounting for the selective attrition of male viewers from movies featuring female leads.

This study examines the impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-specific laws criminalizing HIV non-disclosure, exposure, and transmission on voluntary testing, focusing on the role of HIV stigma. HIV criminalization signals state endorsement of discrimination against HIV-positive individuals, thereby amplifying stigma. I use a regression discontinuity design that exploits the enactment timing of legislation in Mali during a household survey offering voluntary HIV testing, where family members could infer who was tested and speculate that those tested were HIV-positive. Following the legislation, women’s testing uptake declined, especially in rural areas, with stronger effects among those with radios and without completed formal education. Women, being economically dependent on men, are vulnerable to HIV-related mistreatment from family members. Therefore, fear of being considered seropositive by family members might have more strongly discouraged women’s testing uptake compared with men’s.

This article offers new data on women and men’s occupations in Spain at the end of the nineteenth century. Our main source is the Censo de la Población de España 1887, which we combine with other sources to correct for women’s under-recording (different statistics and social reports). The main occupations of men and women based on the 1887 census are identified. By combining demographic data with other sources, we correct the under-recording of women’s work and show women’s high labor participation rates—more than 50 percent—in different judicial districts specialized in food processing, textiles, tobacco, and footwear industries. Furthermore, we provide a spatial analysis of the distribution of women’s employment.

In 2008, two Ponzi schemes, DMG and DRFE, were shut down by the Colombian government. Using matched administrative data for a sample of almost a quarter of a million of their investors, we analyze the household risk factors associated with three main outcomes: the probability of investing, the likelihood of making a profit, and the size of financial gains or losses relative to deposits. We find that education, age, and household wealth are positively associated with these outcomes, though effects are often non-linear and vary across margins. Geographical location is also important: individuals residing in the regions of origin of the schemes were substantially more likely to invest, profit, and achieve higher returns, suggesting a role for timing and access in driving outcomes. While higher education, which has been shown to be highly correlated with measures of financial literacy, improves outcomes, even the most educated groups suffer substantial losses on average. Our findings contribute to the literature on household finance, financial education, and financial literacy, and have implications for the design and targeting of financial education programs, particularly in settings with weak regulatory oversight and limited financial literacy.

This study investigates the long-term associations between a childhood allowance (parental pocket money) and financial literacy, monetary attitudes, and time-discounting preferences in adulthood, with a specific focus on gender differences, using survey data from Japan. Gender factor analyses were conducted to identify common factors in psychological attitudes toward money. Subsequently, we estimated the relationship between childhood allowance and these factors, as well as the time-discounting preference and financial literacy by gender. Interaction terms between allowance types and gender were included to examine heterogeneous associations. Our findings reveal that regular monthly allowances are associated with good budgeting habits among males, whereas females receiving any form of allowance tend to have less negative attitudes toward money. Furthermore, the relationship between a childhood allowance and time-discounting preferences varies by gender, with females being more affected by the allowance. Additionally, the association between childhood allowance and financial literacy differs by gender and varies depending on how the allowance is received. Overall, this study underscores the importance of considering childhood financial experiences to understand financial behaviors and attitudes.

This paper surveys the literature on gender differences in religiosity and on how religion shapes gender-related economic and social outcomes. Part I examines why women tend to be more religious than men, reviewing leading explanations from sociology, economics, and psychology. Part II analyzes how religion affects gender norms and attitudes, education, labor market participation, fertility, health, legal institutions, and discrimination. Across domains, we distinguish between effects driven by individual religiosity—such as beliefs and religious practice—and those driven by religious denomination. We emphasize studies that employ credible causal identification strategies, including natural experiments, instrumental variables, and policy reforms, while also reviewing correlational evidence for context. Overall, the literature suggests that religious teachings and participation often reinforce traditional gender roles, influencing women’s education, labor supply, and fertility decisions, though important heterogeneity and exceptions exist. We also highlight instances in which secular reforms or religious movements have altered these outcomes. The survey concludes by identifying gaps in the literature and outlining priorities for future empirical research.

This study explores the gender wage gap in Türkiye between 2013 and 2022 using a novel 10-year panel dataset constructed with administrative data compiled for the first time in Türkiye, which includes approximately 14 million full-year workers in 360 subgroups by demographic, sectoral, and occupational factors. The analysis examines the long-term effects of demographic factors, such as age, education, and marital status, as well as the work-related factors, including occupation and employment sector, on the gender wage gap. The findings reveal that men working full-time in formal employment earn 10.1% more than women in Türkiye, and the study shows evidence of how the gender wage gap varies across different demographic groups. The results obtained emphasise the significant roles of marital status, occupation, age, and sector in explaining the wage differential, while education is shown not have a meaningful long-term impact on the wage gap. Moreover, contrary to expectations, the study confirms that occupational experience, the aging labour force, and increased female labour force participation contribute to the widening of the gender wage gap. These findings underline the need for targeted economic and social policies to address gender-based wage differences in a country where the labour force participation of women has traditionally been outstandingly low. This study aims to contribute to the literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of a large-scale dataset that offers new insights into gender wage differences.

This paper examines time allocation and satisfaction with time use of volunteers and non-volunteers. Using data from the German Time Use Survey, we find that volunteers spend more time on work-related activities. Moreover, time use choices are associated with women’s propensity to volunteer and men’s satisfaction with time use, which is a proxy for individual well-being. Controlling for possible endogeneity of volunteering, our results suggest that volunteering needs to be treated as endogenous for women, while volunteering is an exogenous and positive predictor for men’s time use satisfaction.

This study examines the impact of climate change, defined as long-term changes in temperature and precipitation patterns due to natural and human factors, on women's employment in Burkina Faso, highlighting labour market participation and gender disparities. Using a static computable general equilibrium model calibrated with a gender-specific social accounting matrix, it evaluates two climate scenarios: a 2.4°C temperature increase and a 7.5 per cent decrease in precipitation by 2050. The results indicate that these climate shocks significantly reduce women's employment opportunities. The supply of paid labour for women may decrease by 3.9 per cent, with skilled women experiencing greater job losses than their unskilled counterparts. In rural areas, the domestic workload could increase by up to 0.28 per cent, further limiting women's labour market participation. These changes reinforce gender inequalities and contribute to a decline in real GDP. To counter these effects, investments in climate-resilient agriculture, water and energy infrastructure, and women's entrepreneurship are essential. Gender-responsive policies are needed to promote inclusive economic growth and reduce employment disparities.

This paper studies the effect of gender imbalance on assortative matching and household income inequality. Using data across prefectures in China, we show that a higher sex ratio in the marriage market is negatively associated with both assortative marriage and household income inequality. Motivated by empirical evidence, we develop a heterogeneous-agent model to study the mechanism behind the pattern. The quantitative results of the model match the empirical evidence: a higher sex ratio is associated with a lower degree of assortative matching, which leads to a decrease in household income inequality. When we allow men and women to choose their level of education endogenously before entering the marriage market, we find that a higher sex ratio leads to a higher level of education investment among both men and women, with men investing more significantly than women.

This study explores the marriage matching of only-child individuals and the related outcomes. Specifically, we analyze two aspects: First, we investigate the marriage patterns of only children, examining whether people choose mates in a positive or negative assortative manner regarding only-child status. We find that, along with being more likely to remain single, only children are more likely to marry another only child. Second, we measure the matching premium or penalty as the difference in partners’ socioeconomic status between only-child and non-only-child individuals, where socioeconomic status is approximated by years of schooling. Our estimates indicate that among women who marry an only-child husband, only children are penalized, as their partners’ educational attainment is 0.63 years lower. Finally, we discuss the potential sources of this penalty in light of our empirical findings.

Using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model that differentiates cropping activities and labour by sex and includes household home production, this study examines the effects of rainfall variability in Burkina Faso from both a macroeconomic perspective and a gender lens. The simulation of the annual rainfall pattern observed in the country over the past decade highlights its broad economic effects and confirms the greater sensitivity of female-led cropping activities. It also underscores the differential impacts on female and male workers in the labour market and within households, revealing the interactions between the non-market and market spheres of the economy when a rainfall shock occurs. Nevertheless, additional simulations suggest that promoting water management systems or more water-stress-resistant crop varieties could help mitigate the effects of rainfall variability and that targeted measures to support female farmers could effectively reduce their specific vulnerability.

The present study examines the influence of non-economic factors on women’s labour market participation in low-income neighbourhoods of urban areas in India. For this purpose, we conducted a survey in two slum areas of Kolkata city in West Bengal – one, located in a residential neighbourhood, and another, situated in the dock area of the city and surrounded by factories. Our survey of 384 ever-married working-age women makes three noteworthy observations. First, the location of slums crucially affects the type of paid work that is available and accessible to women. Secondly, although women’s entry into the labour market maybe crisis-driven, the women workers develop an intrinsic valuation of paid work as their right, and as a means of livelihood in the process. Finally, social and community norms explain both the non-participation and the temporary withdrawal of women from the labour force. Thus, the inability and/or the unwillingness of slum women to participate in the labour market primarily stem from the strict adherence to patriarchal norms in general, and community norms in particular, either imposed on them directly by their spouses or indirectly by the community they reside in. Therefore, our analysis highlights the need for tailor-made policies that meet locality-specific needs.

The decision to work is an important yet understudied facet of women’s economic empowerment. This study explores the relationship between married women’s agency over the decision to work, workforce participation, and control over financial resources, using cross-sectional survey data collected in 2022 in India’s three most populous states: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Employing logistic regression, inverse probability weighting, and partial identification approaches, we demonstrate that married women in all three states are significantly more likely to engage in paid work when they alone have the final say over the decision to work, compared to when their spouse is the primary decision-maker. We also find that sole decision-making about paid work is positively related to married women’s control over money in Bihar and Maharashtra, and with savings and remittances in Maharashtra. In Maharashtra, women who jointly decide about employment with their spouse are also more likely to work than women whose husbands are the sole decision-makers. Joint decision-making is positively associated with women’s control over money in all three states. Our study highlights work-related agency as an important pathway to married women’s economic opportunities and inclusion in India, and is among the first to empirically examine the relationship between women’s work-related decision-making and economic outcomes. These results align with existing evidence on the positive relationship between women’s household bargaining power and health and human capital outcomes, and offer support for designing programmes to promote women’s participation in the workforce.

Our study contributes to the literature on choice shifts in group decision-making by analyzing how the level of risk-taking within a group is influenced by its gender composition. In particular, we investigate experimentally whether group composition affects how preferences ‘shift’ when comparing individual and group choices. Consistent with hypotheses derived from previous literature, we show that male-dominated groups shift toward riskier decisions in a way that is not explained by any simple preference aggregation mechanism. We discuss potential channels for the observed pattern of choice shifts.

Although evidence suggests men are more generous to women than to men, it may stem from paternalism and could reverse when women excel in important skills for one’s career success, such as cognitive skills. Using a dictator game, this paper studies whether male dictators allocate less to female receivers than to male receivers when these receivers have higher intelligence quotients (IQs) than dictators. By exogenously varying the receivers’ IQ relative to the dictators’, I do not find evidence consistent with this hypothesis; if anything, male dictators allocate slightly more to female receivers with higher IQs than to male receivers with equivalent IQs. The results hold both in mean and distribution and are robust to the so-called “beauty premium.” Also, female dictators’ allocations are qualitatively similar to male dictators. These findings suggest that women who excel in cognitive skills may not receive less favorable treatment than equally intelligent men in the labor market.

This study examines the heterogeneous effects of economic freedom on human capital accumulation across 83 developing countries between 2000 and 2018. Employing a range of econometric techniques including quantiles via moments regression, the analysis explores both average and distributional impacts of economic freedom on human capital, disaggregated by gender and employment status. The findings reveal that economic freedom positively influences human capital development, with stronger effects in countries with lower human capital levels. Among the five dimensions of economic freedom, freedom to trade internationally, legal systems, and property rights are most strongly associated with human capital accumulation. The results also indicate that women and employed individuals benefit more from economic freedom, highlighting its potential to reduce gender disparities and enhance labour productivity. These findings underscore the importance of institutional reforms promoting economic freedom as a pathway to human capital development in developing economies.

The social organisation of productive and reproductive labour leaves women disproportionately vulnerable to climatic changes and extreme weather events. In the Indian context, this could further reduce women’s labour force participation rates from levels that are already relatively low. Employment opportunities for women in the clean energy sector have been noted to create transformative changes in their lives only with policies such as government intervention to provide accessible public services. Towards this end, I propose a gendered and green job guarantee programme directed towards education, health, public transport (or universal basic services), climate mitigation, and climate adaptation activities.

The intersections between gendered livelihoods and the climate crisis, as well as the gendered and environmental implications of the existing rural employment guarantee in India, are reviewed. Gender-disaggregated employment creation through the proposed job guarantee programme and the budgetary implications are estimated, along with suggestions for potential sources of financing. The programme is estimated to result in the creation of 36 million guaranteed jobs, which accounts for 6% of the workforce as of 2023. Of these jobs, women’s employment opportunities constitute 11.6 million. The number of guaranteed jobs created for women accounts for 4% of the rural female workforce and 11.6% of the urban female workforce. Thus, a gendered and green job guarantee programme in India could be an effective form of government intervention to address the interlinked issues of women’s work and climate action in India.

Over the past half-century, there have been significant advances towards workplace gender equality. However, Australia’s working women continue to earn less than men. A key reason is that occupational segregation has maintained very high levels of feminisation in frontline care and other occupations, including in many ‘ancillary’ or supportive roles, which employ large numbers of women and where skills may not be readily recognised and valued. This article explores the way one set of highly segregated ancillary occupations, receptionists, are vulnerable to gender-based undervaluation and argues that this group warrants further attention in strategies to promote workplace gender equality. First, the article outlines the legislative changes, which have recast regulatory attention to low pay and undervaluation in highly feminised occupations and industries, then draws on Australian Bureau of Statistics data to show the presence of several ancillary occupations among Australia’s most feminised. The article then narrows to examine health care reception and reviews the small body of literature that explores the complex, invisible skills this work involves. The example of health care reception underlines the need for gender equality strategies that challenge constructions of women’s jobs as peripheral and subordinate to male-dominated roles, and which recognise and make visible the skills and contributions that women make in a fuller range of feminised occupations.