Gender Stereotypes, Academic Skills, and Labor Market Productivity

Last registered on November 29, 2023
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Gender Stereotypes, Academic Skills, and Labor Market Productivity
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012502
Initial registration date
November 13, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
November 29, 2023, 9:55 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Joan Martinez
Affiliation
UC Berkeley
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Christopher Campos
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-11-06
End date
2025-08-30
Keywords
Education, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
Stereotypes, Human capital investments, Gender
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
While laboratory evidence has documented that men and women differentially perceive their abilities with respect to gender-conforming tasks, there is scant evidence about how behavior in these controlled environments maps to the real world and if targeted interventions can mold these gender differences. We make progress along both fronts by studying the effects of a gender stereotype training program on job preferences among high school seniors that choose between internships that are analytically-oriented versus service-oriented. The intervention, which will be implemented in 250 Peruvian high schools, will provide students with cognitive-emotional content and actionable strategies to counteract gender stereotypes that distort their perception of their own abilities as gender-specific over an extended semester-long in-person course. By collecting rich survey data, we can quantify baseline and endline gender differences in perceived abilities with respect to gender-conforming tasks, whose malleability we aim to assess. Further linking the intervention to a job choice model enables us to estimate the moderating impact of objective and self-perceived differences in women's and men's abilities on the selection of gender-conforming jobs, documenting the implications of these differences on real-world outcomes. The findings provide insights into how future student-based policies can reduce gender gaps in the labor market.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Campos, Christopher and Joan Martinez. 2023. "Gender Stereotypes, Academic Skills, and Labor Market Productivity." AEA RCT Registry. November 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12502-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We will randomly assign a cognitive and emotional training program as treatment. The intervention centers on weekly meetings for the duration of a semester, with the primary goal of helping students map out their academic future. Participants in the treatment group engage in an actionable training program with a comprehensive and tailored curriculum designed to enable students to recognize and overcome prejudices and stereotyping regarding their abilities and job competencies. With respect to tasks involving communication and interaction, which are typically associated with females, the training program specifically seeks to dispel gender-congruent prejudices and stereotypes regarding the completion of numerical and analytical tasks, which are stereotypically associated with males.
Intervention Start Date
2024-03-25
Intervention End Date
2024-07-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Self-perception and objective measures of skills across domains of knowledge (e.g., numerical versus verbal)
Self-perception and objective measures of productivity in performing analytical versus customer-interactive tasks corresponding to four entry-level job positions.
Choices over job attributes designed to elicit preferences between job flexibility features across genders.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Cost of effort perceived when utilizing verbal and numeric skills to complete academic homework
Risk preferences
Social desirability
Gender-related behavior
Explicit gender attitudes
Implicit gender attitudes
Emotional well-being measures (self-esteem, self-efficacy, and personal autonomy)
Educational investments (i.e., extracurriculars and the development of employability skills)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct an evaluation of a randomly assigned life-planning training program to educate about the existence and consequences of gender prejudices and stereotypes regarding academic ability and job skills. Our attention is directed toward the notion that there are "gender-congruent skills" that are distinctly male for analytical tasks and female for interpersonal ones. The program emphasizes the equal potential of boys and girls in knowledge and academic potential, despite the existence of gender prejudices and stereotypes in their academic and professional careers. Participants in the program engage in interactive classroom-like sessions that include discussions, self-reflection spaces, and activities aimed at challenging and dismantling these prejudices. There will be 125 schools assigned to the treatment group and the remaining schools to the control group; the sample consists of 250 schools located in metropolitan Lima.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Computer-generated pseudo-random numbers were utilized to determine the allocation of schools into treatment and control groups prior to the surveys at the school level.
Randomization Unit
Schools
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
250 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
28,000 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
250 schools
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
With 80% accuracy, we are capable of identifying the impact of dimension 0.10 standard deviations on the primary outcomes.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Peru RCT
IRB Approval Date
2023-11-06
IRB Approval Number
IRB23-1453
Analysis Plan