Publishing While Female: are Women Held to Higher Standards? Evidence from Peer Review

Hengel, Erin ORCID: 0000-0002-2039-3521 (2022) Publishing While Female: are Women Held to Higher Standards? Evidence from Peer Review. [Internet Publication]

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueac032

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Female authors are under-represented in top economics journals. In this paper, I investigate whether higher writing standards contribute to the problem. I find that (i) female-authored papers are 1%–6% better written than equivalent papers by men; (ii) the gap widens during peer review; (iii) women improve their writing as they publish more papers (but men do not); (iv) female-authored papers take longer under review. Using a subjective expected utility framework, I argue that higher writing standards for women are consistent with these stylised facts. A counterfactual analysis suggests that senior female economists may, as a result, write at least 5% more clearly than they otherwise would. As a final exercise, I show tentative evidence that women adapt to biased treatment in ways that may disguise it as voluntary choice.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Internet Publication
Uncontrolled Keywords:	5 Gender Equality
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	21 Jan 2021 09:26
Last Modified:	23 Mar 2024 07:33
DOI:	10.1093/ej/ueac032
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3111518