Gender Gap in Leadership Self-selection and Retention: An Experimental Analysis

This paper investigates the gender gap in leadership participation and the mechanism behind this observation, by examining the role of backlash and its impact on self-selection. Through an online experiment simulating the real-world work environment, I find evidence suggesting that women are significantly less likely than men to self-select into leadership roles initially. Once in a leadership role, a substantive proportion of both men and women stepped out in the following periods, with no significant gender difference. Although the results do not perfectly align with the existing literature, they provide the grounds for future studies to continue.