Counter-stereotypical female role models and women’s occupational choices

This paper examines the relation between counter-stereotypical female role models and women’s labor supply and occupational choices. Using hand-collected data from Gallup surveys that cover more than 50 years, we create a direct measure of counter-stereotypical female role models based on the fraction of local survey respondents who state that they admire famous women in business, politics, or science. We show that admiring counter-stereotypical female role models is associated with more women participating in the labor market, working in male-dominated and STEM industries, and taking managerial positions, which eventually alleviates the gender pay gap.