DP6618 Mentoring and Segregation: Female-Led Firms and Gender Wage Policies

Author(s):	Ana Rute Cardoso, Rudolf Winter-Ebmer
Publication Date:	December 2007
Keyword(s):	female entrepreneurs, gender gap, matched employer-employee data, wages
JEL(s):	D21, J16, J31, M52
Programme Areas:	Labour Economics
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=6618

We explore the impact of mentoring of females and gender segregation on wages using a large longitudinal data set for Portugal. Female managers can protect and mentor female employees by paying them higher wages than male-led firms would do. We find that females can enjoy higher wages in female-led firms, the opposite being true for males. In both cases is a higher share of females reducing the wage level. These results are compatible with a theory where job promotion is an important factor of wage increases: if more females are to be mentored, less promotion slots are available for males, but also the expected chance of a female to be promoted is lower.