Do Counter-Stereotypical Female Role Models Impact Women's Occupational Choices?

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of counter-stereotypical female role models on women's labor supply and occupational choices. Using hand-collected data from Gallup surveys that cover a long time series, we create a direct measure of counter-stereotypical female role models based on the fraction of local survey respondents who admire famous women in business, politics, or science. We show that the presence of counter-stereotypical female role models is associated with more women participating in the labor market, working in male-dominated industries, choosing occupations with abstract tasks, and taking managerial positions, which eventually alleviates the gender pay gap.