John McClung

ECON 496
Reaction Paper
November 11, 2014
Women and Competition
The topic of competition is greatly emphasized in Babcocks Nice Girls Dont Ask,
Busers Gender, Competitiveness and Career, Niederles Do Women Shy Away from
Competition? Do Men Compete Too Much?, as well as Gneezys Performance in Competitive
Environments: Gender Differences. These papers evaluate gender differences in competition as
well as what factors can affect the levels of competitiveness.
Overall, these writings find that women are typically less competitive than men. They
show that men are more likely to enter competitive environments than women as seen in the
tournament games that are used to experiment with this assumption. Niederle and Vesterlund
propose several of the theories used to explain gender differences in competition: 1) Men enter
the tournament more than women because they like to compete; 2) Men enter the tournament
more than women because they are more overconfident; 3) Men enter the tournament more
than women because they are less risk averse; 4) Men enter the tournament more than women
because they are less averse to feedback (Niederle 1070-1072).
An important takeaway from these readings is the effect that these differences in
competition play in the gender wage gap. Buser, Niederle, and Oosterbeek write it has been

hypothesized that these gender differences in competitiveness may help explain gender
differences in actual education and labor market outcomes (Buser 1). More competitive fields
are typically higher paying, therefore, if women are shying away from competitive industries
like sales and finance that this could account for a large percentage of the gender gap in
earnings.
Babcok et al studied the differences in men and women to negotiate for a higher
income. They explain [women] are often socialized from an early age not to promote their
own interests and to focus instead on the needs of othersthe message girls receive- from
parents, teachers, other children, the media, and society in general- can be so powerful that
when they grow up they may not realize that theyve internalized this behavior, or they may
realize it but not understand how it affects their willingness to negotiate. Women tend to
assume that they will be recognized and rewarded for working hard and doing a good job.
Unlike men, they havent been taught that they can ask for more (Babcock 14).
Ultimately it is important to encourage women from a young age to be more
competitive. Over time this will increase the likelihood of women to enter more competitive
career fields as well as negotiate more competitively for higher incomes.