The Effects of Sexism on American Women: The Role of Norms vs. Discrimination (WP-18-19)
Kerwin Kofi Charles, Jonathan Guryan, and Jessica Pan
The researchers 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. The researchers 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.