Where do females rise to leadership positions? A cross-sector analysis

摘要

Gender equality in the workplace includes equal wages, opportunities, and treatment. Although there have been improvements in all of these areas in the last several decades, one area of continuing concern is the low proportion of women in business leadership positions, particularly as CEOs or business owners. We use a unique dataset from all California business establishments across all sectors and sizes to examine the factors that influence gender inequality in business leadership positions. We find that females are less likely to lead firms that are larger and higher performing across almost all industries. In addition, evidence shows that women lead firms that are less stable, supporting the existence of a glass cliff.