Economic Behavior and Gender Typicality: The Predictive Power of Femininity and Masculinity

Abstract

Are gender gaps in economic behavior, labor market outcomes and political preferences driven by biological sex, or by heterogeneity in gender-typical traits? Using a U.S. sample and machine learning, we develop and validate a measure of gender typicality capturing masculinity and femininity as separate dimensions. We show that confidence, competitiveness, and risk preferences are associated with masculinity, whereas altruism and concerns for equality and efficiency are associated with femininity, after accounting for biological sex. Gender typicality also predicts labor market outcomes beyond biological sex: masculinity is associated with higher income, managerial positions, performance-based pay, and willingness to negotiate. Finally, we show that political preferences vary with conformity to gender-typical traits. By leveraging latent heterogeneity in gender typicality, our framework reconciles disparate findings in the gender literature and informs targeted organizational and policy interventions.