CWF Seminar: Corporate gender culture

We apply computational linguistic models to Australian publicly listed firms’ reports to a gender-equality statutory agency to construct the first systematic measure of ‘corporate gender culture’ — firms’ practices pertaining to the treatment of women across a range of dimensions, from recruitment and promotion to maternity leave and sexual harassment. While different practices are associated with female representation at different levels of the hierarchy (employees, managers, executives, board), the practice most robustly associated with firm performance consists in human capital formation opportunities open to all. We use a unique historical experiment that durably shaped gender norms in Australia to establish that: (i) corporate gender culture is shaped by local societal gender norms; and (ii) the relationship between corporate gender culture and firm performance is likely causal. Upon examining the impact of the introduction of government-funded parental leave in 2011, we observe that culture evolves slowly, but policy can shape gender diversity and corporate gender culture.

About the speaker

Pauline Grosjean’s research deals with how culture and institutions shape economic development. Some of her work on trust, violence, and political preferences has been published in the American Economic Review, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of the European Economic Association, Journal of Economic Growth, and The Journal of Law and Economics. Recent projects focus on the origins and persistence of gender roles. Pauline received her PhD from Toulouse School of Economics and a MA from Ecole Normale Superieure. She was the Ciriacy-Wantrup Post-doctoral fellow at UC Berkeley in 2008 and 2009, and an economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development from 2006 to 2008.

Date and Time

Tue., 28 May 2019
2:30–7:00 PM AEST

Location

Finance Decision Lab (4EaR 110)
4 Eastern Road
Macquarie University NSW 2109

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Flyer

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