We did it again! GGaps Conference 2025 brought together researchers, economists, and policymakers from across the Europe. Our event focused on dissecting gender gaps across various economic and societal dimensions, emphasizing their implications for public policy, attracting a diverse group of speakers and participants who presented cutting-edge, evidence-based research on topics ranging from labor market discrimination to disparities in education and entrepreneurship. The conference fostered an interdisciplinary approach, blending economics with sociology and psychology to offer a nuanced understanding of gender gaps. Attendees, including PhD students from leading universities, engaged in vibrant discussions that enriched the discourse.

A highlight of GGaps 2025 was the pair of outstanding keynote speeches that set the tone for the conference. The first keynote was delivered by Alessandra Casarico from Università Bocconi. Titled “Firms, Gender Inequality, and Public Policy,” her talk explored workplace peer effects on fathers' parental leave uptake in Italy following a 2015 reform. She demonstrated how the reform increased leave uptake, with significant peer effects, particularly among same-gender colleagues, and noted the absence of career penalties. The keynote also highlighted positive spillovers that improve female partners' labor market outcomes. Casarico emphasized how peer dynamics enhance policy impact in Italy's gender-conservative context, marked by low female employment and fertility.

The second keynote was delivered by Klarita Gërxhani from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Titled “The Persistence of Gender Stereotypes: Research Insights from Demand & Supply,” her talk examined how gender biases arise in collaborative and competitive environments, fostering unequal treatment. On the demand side, she presented evidence from observational tenure data in economics (women get less credit for co-authored work, especially with men) and field experiments showing task-based discrimination and recruiter biases influenced by gender and beliefs. On the supply side, lab experiments in countries like Spain and Italy revealed women underperform in status-ranking competitions due to men's overconfidence and women's concern for others, with parity in non-competitive settings. 

Beyond the keynotes, GGAPS 2025 featured a rich array of presentations from emerging researchers. Topics ranged from the impact of entrance exams on women’s participation in STEM fields (Barbara Pertold-Gebicka, Charles University) to the role of social networks in workplace gender biases (Gabriela Contreras, Radboud University). Other notable talks included analyses of women’s entrepreneurship (Belén Rodríguez Moro, LUISS University) and wage negotiations in banking (Sena Coskun, IAB).

One of the key moments of the conference was the award for the best graduate student paper, reflecting GGaps’s commitment to nurturing young talent. The winner was Alejandra Villegas from Universidad Iberoamericana for her paper “The Weight of Expectation: Behavioral Evidence on Gender Norm Enforcement”. Her research provided behavioral insights into how societal expectations shape women’s economic decisions.

In closing, GGaps 2025 was a remarkable milestone in advancing the dialogue on gender gaps in applied economics, and its success would not have been possible without the extraordinary contributions of our keynote speakers, Alessandra Casarico and Klarita Gërxhani, whose visionary insights ignited transformative discussions. We extend our deepest gratitude to all speakers for their groundbreaking research, to our discussants for their thought-provoking questions, and to every participant for bringing unparalleled energy and perspectives to the table. Your collective passion and commitment have made this conference a vibrant hub of ideas and inspiration. Thank you for shaping a brighter, more equitable future.