Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/185336 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11876
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper investigates whether social identity considerations-through beliefs and normsdrive women's occupational choices. We implement two field experiments with potential applicants to a five-month software-coding program offered to women from low-income backgrounds in Peru and Mexico. When we correct the perception that women cannot succeed in technology by providing role models, information on returns and access to a female network, application rates double and the self-selection patterns change. Analysis of those patterns suggests that identity considerations act as barriers to entering the technology sector and that some high-cognitive skill women do not apply because of their high identity costs.
Subjects: 
occupational segregation
social norms
identity
JEL: 
J16
J24
D91
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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