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  2. ASSA Annual Meeting
  3. 2022
  4. Preliminary Program
  5. Gender Inequality I
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Gender Inequality I

Paper Session

Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (EST)

Hosted By: Association for Social Economics & International Association for Feminist Economics
  • Chair: Ying Zhen, Wesleyan College

Gender and Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Music Industry

Ying Zhen
,
Wesleyan College

Abstract

This study summarizes and analyzes the gender and racial discrimination that musicians may face in the music labor market of the United States, with a focus of exploring the gender and race interactions’ effects on the economic return of musicians. This study is based on a survey of 1,227 musicians in the U.S. in 2018, which was conducted by the Music Industry Research Association (MIRA) and the Princeton University Survey Research Center, in partnership with MusiCares. The survey reveals that women make up about one third of musicians, and report experiencing high rates of discrimination and sexual harassment. 72% of female musicians report that they have been discriminated against because of their gender, and 67% report that they have been the victim of sexual harassment; corresponding figures for U.S. women more generally are 28% and 42%, respectively. 63% of Non-white musicians said they faced racial discrimination, as compared to 36% of Non-white self-employed workers nationwide. Although the descriptive statistics suggest that musicians are suffering from both gender and racial discrimination, no initial empirical evidence has been found that they would have a negative impact on musicians’ music-related earnings. The interaction effects between gender and race in both general and specific forms on music-related earnings are explored to further explore the possible effect of gender/racial discrimination on the economic return to musicians’ music-related activities; however, although some race-associated differences have been found, the evidence of racial discrimination on the economic return is not strong.

The Evolution of Gender Wealth Inequality in the United States in a Changing Institutional Context

Hanna Szymborska
,
Birmingham City University

Abstract

This paper analyzes the patterns of household-level gender wealth inequality in light of financial sector transformation in the USA since the 1980s. Securitization, the subprime lending expansion, and wider liberalization measures influenced wealth disparities by determining access to different types of wealth, asset values, and relative indebtedness. The evolution of the gender wealth gap in the context of these institutional changes is not yet clearly established in the literature. Using the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances between 1989-2019, the paper examines changes in wealth inequality between unpartnered male-headed and female-headed households and its determinants. It finds substantial heterogeneity of the gender wealth gap, and within-group inequality for female-headed households, across different categories of marital status, family structure, race/ethnicity, and percentile of wealth distribution. Homeownership is estimated to have an equalizing impact, while differences in employment income, age, self-employment, and ownership of high-yielding assets are associated with increasing wealth disparities.

Linking Extreme Precipitation Events with Early Marriages among Girls: Quantitative Evidence from Himalayan State of Uttarakhand

Jheelum Sarkar
,
Jawaharlal Nehru University

Abstract

Extreme weather events such as droughts, flash floods have tremendous physical as well as economic costs to our society, especially the socioeconomically marginalised population. The hard-hit families, as growing body of work indicates, often marry off their daughters to reduce per head family expenditure and at the same time “protecting chastity” of daughters through “marriage prospects”. Recent catastrophic floods in the middle of the day on February 2021 in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand have caused rampant devastation in the mountainous state. With more than 80 percent of this Himalayan state covered by mountains, Uttarakhand is ecologically fragile and vulnerable to floods and landslides in the region. Using district-wise data from National Family Health Survey data and rainfall data for each district of Uttarakhand from Indian Meteorological Department. Employing Principal Component Analysis, the analysis shows that climatic factors play significant role in influencing early female marriages across rural areas compared to urban areas of each district, apart from its socioeconomic and demographic determinants for years of 2004-05 and 2015-16 in each district of climate hotspot state along with interpolation for the trend in recent years. Hence, it is suggestive that climate-related policies concerning hotspot regions must be inclusive of measures that ensures physical and financial protection of hard-hit households that in turn impedes marrying off young girls as coping strategies to extreme weather events.

The Impact of Austerity on Gender Inequality in Time Allocation

Anamika Sen
,
University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Abstract

The economic slowdown caused by the Great Recession prompted several states in the US to cut back on fiscal spending. Existing literature (Albelda 2013, Périvier 2018) indicates that austerity measures could increase the gender inequality present in the allocation of time between paid and unpaid work. There are two main channels that make this outcome likely – the reduction in social welfare spending may have a greater impact on the time spent by women on unpaid work as they are usually the largest users of these services. Furthermore, a decline in public sector employment can have a significant effect on women as they comprise a considerable share of this workforce. Despite its significance in policy making, there is a dearth of empirical literature that examine the gender effects of austerity. Utilizing the American Time Use Survey data and information on state fiscal spending from 2005-2015, I analyze the impact of education spending declines on time spent doing unpaid work across genders. Preliminary results indicate that such austerity measures increased the gender inequality in time allocated for unpaid work.

Who benefits from piped water supply? Evidence from a gendered analysis in India

Ashish Sedai
,
Colorado State University

Abstract

The disproportionate burden on women of water collection and distribution in the household in developing economies calls for a study on the relationship between piped water supply and gender differences in employment, women’s health, child health and education. We use spatiotemporal data from the largest gender disaggregated human development survey in India, 2005–2012, and carry out econometric analyses using individual fixed effects, conditionally exogenous village fixed effects and instrumental variable regressions to evaluate the effects. Results show that village access to piped water increases the likelihood of wage salary employment by 5.4 percentage points, and annual earnings increase by 30 percent for women, comparatively higher than men. With piped water, women’s self-reported health improves, child’s health and education outcomes also improve. Our study recommends evaluating the social demand curve for piped water supply, and the consideration of piped water supply as a basic necessity as part of a broader strategy to reduce gender differences.
JEL Classifications
  • B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches
  • Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology