Stereotypical Occupational Segregation & Gender Inequality: An Experimental Study

This paper attempts to distinguish ‘trust in cooperation’ from ‘trust in ability’ with respect to gender through an experimental trust game. ‘Trust in ability’ is explored in the context of hands-on mechanical ability where females are stereotypically believed to be inherently less skillful. Such stereotypes govern, explicitly or implicitly, women’s access to education & employment of certain fields, resulting in gender based occupational segregation of the labour market. This in turn intensifies gender inequality. It is observed higher probability of exhibiting stereotypical behavior among men and women paired with women despite statistically insignificant gender gap in actual performances in the mechanical task assigned. It indicates that ‘trust in ability’ can be governed by such stereotype and affect economic outcomes. It also describes the demotivating psychological process women suffer from, due to endorsement of such stereotypes by the society.