Publications

25 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence

Women make up more than half of the labor force in the United States and earn almost 60 percent of advanced degrees, yet they bring home less pay and fill fewer seats in the C-suite than men, particularly in male-dominated professions like finance and technology. This... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

February 2009
Article

Beyond Gender and Negotiation to Gendered Negotiations

By: Deborah M. Kolb and Kathleen L. McGinn

Keywords: Negotiation; Gender

January 2025
Module Note

Understanding and Addressing Gender Gaps

By: Katherine Coffman

This module provides a framework for students to analyze how gender stereotypes, through their impact on beliefs about others and beliefs about ourselves, contribute to gender gaps in the workplace. The module proceeds in three parts. First, through a case and an... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

Non-Binary Gender Economics

By: Katherine B. Coffman, Lucas C. Coffman and Keith Marzilli Ericson

Economics research has largely overlooked non-binary individuals. We aim to jump-start the literature by providing data on several economically-important beliefs and preferences. Among many results, non-binary individuals report more gender-based discrimination and... View Details

Keywords: Inclusion; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Personal Characteristics

January 2022
Article

Determinants of Gender Differences in Change in Pay among Job-Switching Executives

By: Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and Eric Lin

The authors investigate what determines differences in change in pay between men and women executives who move to new employers. Using proprietary data of 2,034 executive placements from a global search firm, the authors observe narrower pay differences between men and... View Details

Keywords: Executive Pay; Executive Labor Market; Gender Pay Gap; External Recruitment; Executive Compensation; Gender; Human Capital

May 2017
Teaching Note

Gender at Work

By: Boris Groysberg and Colleen Ammerman

Teaching Note for HBS No. 416-026. View Details

2019
Article

When Gender Diversity Makes Firms More Productive

By: Stephen Turban, Dan Wu and Letian Zhang

Does diversity make a company more productive? Many say yes—some researchers argue that gender diversity leads to more innovative thinking and signals to investors that a company is competently run. Others say no—conflicting research indicates that gender diversity can... View Details

Keywords: Gender; Diversity; Performance; Performance Productivity

Register to Read

2022
Working Paper

Beliefs about Gender Differences in Social Preferences

By: Christine L Exley, Oliver P. Hauser, Molly Moore and John-Henry Pezzuto

While there is a vast (and mixed) literature on gender differences in social preferences, little is known about believed gender differences in social preferences. This paper documents robust evidence for believed gender differences in social preferences. Across a wide... View Details

Keywords: Social Preferences; Gender; Behavior; Attitudes; Values and Beliefs

11 Jun 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Gender in Job Negotiations: A Two-Level Game

Keywords: by Hannah Riley Bowles & Kathleen L. McGinn

March 2022
Article

Gender Gaps in Venture Capital Performance

By: Paul A. Gompers, Vladimir Muhkarlyamov, Emily Weisburst and Yuhai Xuan

We explore gender differences in performance in a comprehensive sample of venture capital investments in the United States. Investments by female venture capital investors have significantly lower success rates than investments by their male colleagues when controlling... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Performance; Gender

08 May 2013
Research & Ideas

A Company’s Evolving View of Gender Equity

1991 and 2009, a period when the growing number of highly educated women in the workforce tested widely held understandings about gender and professional work, write the authors, Harvard Business School professors Lakshmi Ramarajan and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Accounting

2008
Working Paper

Gender in Job Negotiations: A Two-Level Game

By: Hannah Riley Bowles and Kathleen L. McGinn

We propose a two-level-game (Putnam, 1988) perspective on gender in job negotiations. At Level 1, candidates negotiate with the employers. At Level 2, candidates negotiate with domestic partners. In order to illuminate the interplay between these two levels, we review... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Jobs and Positions; Game Theory; Gender

17 Apr 2013
Research Event

Conference Challenges Gender Conventions

Held on the HBS campus in late February, the conference on "Gender and Work: Challenging Conventional Wisdom" brought together scholars and practitioners for a thoughtful, forward-looking discussion about gender in... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

October 2008
Article

Gender in Job Negotiations: A Two-Level Game

By: Hannah Riley Bowles and Kathleen McGinn

We propose taking a two-level-game perspective on gender in job negotiations. At Level One, candidates negotiate with employers. At Level Two, candidates negotiate with household members. In order to illuminate the interplay between these two levels, we review research... View Details

Keywords: Perspective; Negotiation; Research; Organizational Culture; Body of Literature; Jobs and Positions; Gender; Labor

11 Feb 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Gender Stereotypes in Deliberation and Team Decisions

Keywords: by Katherine B. Coffman, Clio Bryant Flikkema, and Olga Shurchkov

July 2020
Background Note

Gender Diversity on Boards: Views from Norway

By: Aiyesha Dey

The issue of gender diversity on boards has received increased attention in U.S markets over the past few years. In 2018, California introduced a law which required boards of U.S-listed firms with headquarters in California to include at least one female director by... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Decisions; Gender; Diversity; Governing and Advisory Boards; Norway; United States

Educators

2025
Working Paper

Global Evidence on Gender Gaps and Generative AI

By: Nicholas G. Otis, Solène Delecourt, Katelynn Cranney and Rembrand Koning

Generative AI has the potential to transform productivity and reduce inequality, but only if adopted broadly. In this paper, we show that recently identified gender gaps in generative AI use are nearly universal. Synthesizing data from 18 studies covering more than... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Technology Adoption; Behavior

21 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

HBS Research Focuses on Gender Issues and Fixes

business management. Here are recent articles and working papers on faculty research that focus on gender issues in the workplace and offer specific actions that companies can use to address them. We will be highlighting more work in this... View Details

2022
Working Paper

The Gender Minority Gaps in Confidence and Self-Evaluations

By: Billur Aksoy, Christine L. Exley and Judd B. Kessler

An increasing share of the population identifies as something other than male or female. Yet, we know very little about the economic preferences and beliefs of gender minorities. In this paper, we document a “gender minority gap” in confidence and in self-evaluations.... View Details

Keywords: Self-evaluation; Confidence; Gender; Identity; Perception; Income