We show that female role models increase women’s willingness to compete.
As in Niederle and Vesterlund (2007), we find that women are less willing to
enter a tournament than men, although there are no gender differences in per
formance. However, the gender gap in tournament entry disappears if subjects
are exposed to a competitive female role model. Results are stronger for the
best performing women who seem to be particularly encouraged by female role
models. Female role models also mitigate gender stereotype threats and lead
to higher self-confidence among women. By contrast, we find that competitive
male role models seem to intimidate female subjects and increase the gender
gap in tournament entry even further. Our results have implications for the
socio-political debate on how the fraction of women in top management posi
tions can be increased.
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