Gender Gaps Conference 2023

Men and women differ in their capability to reach different goals. Whether we refer to labor market, or to some specific fields, such as politics or academia. Disparities in the probability of “success” persist despite decades of efforts to eradicate them. Against this background, the pandemic, and the subsequent lock-down measures, forced us to look deeper into households to understand the interplay between gender roles and aspirations. Gender Gaps Conference is an annual event for scholars interested in this field. The theme for 2023 will set the accent on within-household inequality, and consequences of pandemic, on equality in reaching aspirations.

We invite papers studying gender inequality from the fields of economics, management, sociology, and social psychology. Research at the intersection of professional aspirations, household roles, and consequences of the pandemic is especially welcomed. The conference is open to empirical quantitative work, experimental studies as well as qualitative work. Empirical and experimental papers with strong theoretical foundations will be considered a priority, but studies advancing econometric and statistical tools measuring gender inequality as well as specific case studies are cordially invited as well. We invite papers on a broad range of issues, including but not limited to:

• evidence from field, laboratory and natural experiments;
• econometrics of estimating the gender gaps;
• determinants of gender gaps, such as labor market and other institutions, demographic processes, cultural changes and structure change;
• country, sector, occupational, regional as well as comparative studies;
• theoretical approaches to gender gaps in employment, wages, reaching aspirations and other outcomes.

We aim to create a forum where scholars interested in the analysis of gender gaps in the labor market can present and discuss theoretical, empirical and policy-related research. The format of the conference accommodates for engaging communication about the invited papers: we plan approximately 30 minutes for a presentation and each paper will be assigned a discussant. We plan for plenary sessions, but in the case of many high quality papers submitted to the conference, we will organize additional poster sessions with ample space for discussion in a friendly atmosphere.

The keynote speakers are Abi Adams-Prassl and Libertad González

Abi Adams-Prassl is a Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford, a member of the Editorial Board of the Review of Economic Studies, and a founder of the Covid Inequality Project. Abi has a broad research agenda, covering topics from modelling decision making processes to working with text data to better understand modern labor markets. Her research was featured in leading journals, such as QJE, Labor Economics, and European Economic Review. In addition to her academic career, she has been involved in policy making as a specialist Advisor, UK Parliament Equalities Select Committee. She is also a recipient of the prestigious ERC grant.

Libertad González  is an Associate Professor of Economics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Barcelona School of Economics. Libertad's research interests are broad, but some topics stand out, such as the impact of the introduction of different policies (paternity leaves, child benefits) on gender norms and fertility choices, or health inequality. Her research was published by top journals in economics, among others American Economic Review (papers and proceedings), Journal of Public Economics, or the Journal of Human Resources.  She is also a recipient of the prestigious ERC grant.