The Effects of Sexism on American Women: The Role of Norms vs. Discrimination

We study how reported sexism in the population affects American women. Fixed-effects and TSLS estimates show that higher prevailing sexism where she was born (background sexism) and where she currently lives (residential sexism) both lower a woman's wages, labor force participation and ages of marriage and childbearing. We argue that background sexism affects outcomes through the influence of previously-encountered norms, and that estimated associations regarding specific percentiles and male versus female sexism suggest that residential sexism affects labor market outcomes through prejudice-based discrimination by men, and non-labor market outcomes through the influence of current norms of other women.

Reference Information

Author: 

Kerwin Kofi Charles,
Jonathan Guryan,
Jessica Pan
Publisher: 
NBER
Publication Date: 
August 2018