Gender in Society

July 21-25, 2025 in Amsterdam, Zuidas

Faculty

Klarita Gërxhani obtained her PhD in Economics from the University of Amsterdam in 2002 and is a professor in Socio-Economics and head of department of Ethics, Governance and Society, at the School of Business and Economics (SBE) of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU).

Katharina Brütt obtained her PhD in Economics from the University of Amsterdam in 2023. Currently she is Assistant Professor at the School of Business and Economics (SBE) of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU).

Meet the lecturers 

Course

This summer school aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the connection between gender and society. It takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore various trends and theoretical perspectives, applied to significant societal challenges. Specifically, we will address economic and sociological issues, such as the wage gap between genders and the underrepresentation of women in various domains. Our focus will be on analyzing the root causes of these issues and examining potential government interventions. By the end of the course, participants will have gained a deeper knowledge of the topic and developed the skills to discuss and analyze the relationship between gender and society. Additionally, the program will cover a range of empirical research methods used to study this relationship, such as experimental techniques and causal inference, offering participants practical insights into conducting research.

Learning Objectives

• Get acquainted with key interdisciplinary literature on gender;
• Evaluate critically the scholarly validity of research findings from different methodological angles;
• Present social science research findings on gender both orally and in writing;
• Develop own research designs on gender, choosing appropriate research methods;

Schedule

The Summer School runs for 5 days, with lectures and tutorials in the morning and afternoon. 

1. This summer school will cover the following topics from economics and the broader social sciences:
2. Overview and root causes of gender inequalities in society: From the measurement of wage gaps in the labour market to the underrepresentation of women in politics
3. Models, measurement and evidence of taste-based & statistical discrimination
4. Status theories of discrimination with an application to labour-market evaluations
5. Gender differences in economic preferences and their role in explaining gender inequality in society
6. Gender differences under competition, with an emphasis on the underlying mechanisms that drive such gender differences
7. Policies to degrease gender inequality and their evaluations

Required Reading – to be read before classes

• BABCOCK, L., RECALDE, M. P., VESTERLUND, L., AND WEINGART, L. Gender differences in accepting and receiving requests for tasks with low promotability. American Economic Review 107, 3 (2017), 714–747
• BOHREN, A., IMAS, A., AND ROSENBERG, M. The dynamics of discrimination: Theory and evidence. American Economic Review 109, 10 (2019), 3395–3436
• CORRELL, S. J., AND RIDGEWAY, C. L. Expectation states theory. In Handbook of Social Psychology. Springer, 2003, pp. 29–51
• CORRELL, S. J., AND BENARD, S. Biased estimators? Comparing status and statistical theories of gender discrimination. In Advances in Group Processes. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2006, pp. 89–116
• GËRXHANI, K., BRANDTS, J., AND SCHRAM, A. Competition and gender inequality: A comprehensive analysis of effects and mechanisms. American Journal of Sociology 129, 3 (2023), 715–752
• RECALDE, M., AND VESTERLUND, L. Gender differences in negotiation and policy for improvement
• SCHRAM, A., BRANDTS, J., AND GËRXHANI, K. Social-status ranking: a hidden channel to gender inequality under competition. Experimental Economics 22 (2019), 396–418

Background reading

• BABCOCK, L., PEYSER, B., VESTERLUND, L., AND WEINGART, L. The No Club: putting a stop to women’s deadend work. Simon and Schuster, 2022
• BORDALO, P., COFFMAN, K., GENNAIOLI, N., AND SHLEIFER, A. Beliefs about gender. American Economic Review 109, 3 (2019), 739–773
• ESWARAN, M. Why gender matters in economics. Princeton University Press, 2014
• PEREZ, C. C. Invisible women: Data bias in a world designed for men. Abrams, 2019
• RIDGEWAY, C. L. Framed by gender: How gender inequality persists in the modern world. Oxford University Press, 2011
• SCHRAM, A., AND ULE, A. Handbook of research methods and applications in experimental economics. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019

Level

The Summer School welcomes master students, PhD students, post-docs as well as practitioners who are interested in learning more about the role of gender in society.

Admission requirements
The Summer School welcomes master students, PhD students, post-docs as well as practitioners with a social science background. A basic knowledge of statistical methods is useful, but no formal specific knowledge is required.