Can Job Training Decrease Women’s Self-Defeating Biases? : Experimental Evidence from Nigeria
Occupational segregation is a central contributor to the gap between male and female earnings worldwide. As new sectors of employment emerge, a key question is whether this pattern is replicated. This paper examines this question by focusing on the...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/879141499698936934/Can-job-training-decrease-women-s-self-defeating-biases-experimental-evidence-from-Nigeria http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27644 |
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okr-10986-276442021-06-14T10:13:08Z Can Job Training Decrease Women’s Self-Defeating Biases? : Experimental Evidence from Nigeria Croke, Kevin Goldstein, Markus Holla, Alaka JOB TRAINING GENDER OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY LABOR MARKET RANDOMIZED TRIAL FORMAL TRAINING AFRICA GENDER POLICY GENDER INNOVATION LAB WOMEN AND PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT Occupational segregation is a central contributor to the gap between male and female earnings worldwide. As new sectors of employment emerge, a key question is whether this pattern is replicated. This paper examines this question by focusing on the emerging information and communications technology sector in Nigeria. Using a randomized control trial, the paper examines the impacts of an information and communications technology training intervention that targeted university graduates in five major cities. The analysis finds that after two years the treatment group was 26 percent more likely to work in the information and communications technology sector. The program appears to have succeeded only in shifting employment to the new sector, as it had no average impact on the overall likelihood of being employed. However, viewed through the lens of occupational segregation, the program had a surprising effect. For women who at baseline were implicitly biased against associating women with professional attributes, the likelihood that the program induced switching into the information and communications technology sector was more than three times as large than that of unbiased women. These results suggest that training programs can help individuals overcome self-defeating biases that could hamper mobility and reduce efficiency in the labor market. 2017-07-19T18:08:35Z 2017-07-19T18:08:35Z 2017-07 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/879141499698936934/Can-job-training-decrease-women-s-self-defeating-biases-experimental-evidence-from-Nigeria http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27644 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8141 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Nigeria |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
JOB TRAINING GENDER OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY LABOR MARKET RANDOMIZED TRIAL FORMAL TRAINING AFRICA GENDER POLICY GENDER INNOVATION LAB WOMEN AND PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT |
| spellingShingle |
JOB TRAINING GENDER OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY LABOR MARKET RANDOMIZED TRIAL FORMAL TRAINING AFRICA GENDER POLICY GENDER INNOVATION LAB WOMEN AND PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT Croke, Kevin Goldstein, Markus Holla, Alaka Can Job Training Decrease Women’s Self-Defeating Biases? : Experimental Evidence from Nigeria |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Nigeria |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8141 |
| description |
Occupational segregation is a central
contributor to the gap between male and female earnings
worldwide. As new sectors of employment emerge, a key
question is whether this pattern is replicated. This paper
examines this question by focusing on the emerging
information and communications technology sector in Nigeria.
Using a randomized control trial, the paper examines the
impacts of an information and communications technology
training intervention that targeted university graduates in
five major cities. The analysis finds that after two years
the treatment group was 26 percent more likely to work in
the information and communications technology sector. The
program appears to have succeeded only in shifting
employment to the new sector, as it had no average impact on
the overall likelihood of being employed. However, viewed
through the lens of occupational segregation, the program
had a surprising effect. For women who at baseline were
implicitly biased against associating women with
professional attributes, the likelihood that the program
induced switching into the information and communications
technology sector was more than three times as large than
that of unbiased women. These results suggest that training
programs can help individuals overcome self-defeating biases
that could hamper mobility and reduce efficiency in the
labor market. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Croke, Kevin Goldstein, Markus Holla, Alaka |
| author_facet |
Croke, Kevin Goldstein, Markus Holla, Alaka |
| author_sort |
Croke, Kevin |
| title |
Can Job Training Decrease Women’s Self-Defeating Biases? : Experimental Evidence from Nigeria |
| title_short |
Can Job Training Decrease Women’s Self-Defeating Biases? : Experimental Evidence from Nigeria |
| title_full |
Can Job Training Decrease Women’s Self-Defeating Biases? : Experimental Evidence from Nigeria |
| title_fullStr |
Can Job Training Decrease Women’s Self-Defeating Biases? : Experimental Evidence from Nigeria |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Can Job Training Decrease Women’s Self-Defeating Biases? : Experimental Evidence from Nigeria |
| title_sort |
can job training decrease women’s self-defeating biases? : experimental evidence from nigeria |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2017 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/879141499698936934/Can-job-training-decrease-women-s-self-defeating-biases-experimental-evidence-from-Nigeria http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27644 |
| _version_ |
1764465630107402240 |