Gendered Occupational Titles and
Economic Outcomes
SPL OECD Meeting, 14th December 2022
S. Burlacu, D. Cappelletti, S. Marzadro, A. Tondini
Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies

Gendered Language : does it matter?
• Jakiela et al. (2019): countries where languages do
not have a gender declination have better female
labour market and education outcomes
• Female professionals with a feminine job titles
receive less favorable evaluations than female
professional with a masculine job title
(Formanowicz and Sczesny, 2016) and are
perceived by men as less warm and less competent
(Budziszewska et al., 2014).
• Cignarella et al. (2022): in past 15y, female
declination of job titles has increased, but less than
female share in those occupations
• CPO’ 21 survey (490 respondents): in Trentino,
majority of female in professions that can be
declined (without the article) use the male term.
85% among the lawyers (avvocato vs avvocata),
despite believing that the average person
associates it to a man. Report two reasons:
1.) female term perceived as “less” by others
2.) female term more subject to stereotype

The 2022 CPO Survey
Research question: Estimate the cost associated with the female-term
• Estimate whether the female-term is perceived as less by colleagues and potential clients
• Estimate whether it is associated with more gender-stereotype
Focus on lawyers as our case study:
• title can be gender-declined
• profession with high share of female
• female title is rare but in use (15%, e.g., unlike ingegnera that exists but virtually not used)
The survey was circulated to 26 professional orders of the province, 16 forwarded it to their members
The survey had a vignette study component and a survey experiment in which:
• respondents were presented different hypothetical situations
• some respondents were shown profiles with female declinations, some were not
• Profiles were modeled after professional registers (albi professionali) that are available online (with the same information)

74
68
56
28
area economico-
contabile
area giuridica area tecnica area socio-sanitaria
donne uomini
Respondents by gender and Professional Area
Composition of Respondents N=228
57% women 43% below 45 yo
Very few women use the female-declined
term to indicate their profession (10%, 15%
female lawyers)
Respondents by Professional Area and Age
Area economic-contabile: commercialisti, notai, consulenti lavoro; area giuridica: avvocat*; area tecnica: ingegner*,
agronom*, perit*, geometra, architett*. Altro: assistenti sociali, psicologi, infermier*, maestr* sci
area economico-
contabile
area giuridica area tecnica area socio-sanitaria
26-35 36-45 45-55 55+

Vignette Study Structure
Imagine you need a professional consultancy to solve a problem.
From a rapid consultation of the online register of the professional order, the following profiles have appeared.
From a scale from 1 (“Never") to 10 (“Very Likely"), what is the likelihood that you would contact each one of
these?
Fictitious but realistic profiles
2 men e 2 women
These profiles are qualitatively
identical to those available on
online registers within each
professional order
Profile 1
Profile 2
Profile 3
Profile 4

Experimental Design
Rispondenti
Gruppo di trattamento Gruppo di controllo
avvocato e avvocata
commercialista
dottore e dottoressa
VIGNETTE
SCENARIO
T
IPI
PROFILI
da
valutare
avvocato
commercialista
dottore e dottoressa
An issue pertaining to criminal law (es. assault, extortion, fraud ) or commercial law (es. Trademarks and patents,
business litigation, bankruptcy)
Family law matter (e.g., divorce, child custody)
Irregularities in the tax return form
Dermatological problem
Declinazione
poco usata
Declinazione
standard
Non declinabile
Avvocato, avvocata
(gender-declinable
but not always in
pratice)
Commercialista
(not gender-
declinable)
Dottore/dottoressa
(always gender
declinable)
Professional
profiles

Experimental Design within Vignette Study
Respondents
Treatment Group Control Group
avvocato e avvocata
commercialista
dottore e dottoressa
VIGNETTE
SCENARIO
T
IPI
PROFILI
da
valutare
avvocato
commercialista
dottore e dottoressa
An issue pertaining to criminal law (es. assault, extortion, fraud ) or commercial law (es.
Trademarks and patents, business litigation, bankruptcy)
Family law matter (e.g., divorce, child custody)
Irregularities in the tax return form
Dermatological problem
Declinazione
poco usata
Declinazione
standard
Non declinabile

Experimental Design within Vignette Study
Respondents
Treatment Group Control Group
avvocato e avvocata
commercialista
dottore e dottoressa
VIGNETTE
SCENARIO
Profiles
to
evaluate
avvocato
commercialista
dottore e dottoressa
An issue pertaining to criminal law (es. assault, extortion, fraud ) or commercial law (es.
Trademarks and patents, business litigation, bankruptcy)
Family law matter (e.g., divorce, child custody)
Irregularities in the tax return form
Dermatological problem

Impact of the declination on the gender gap
avvocato
avvocato
avvocata
avvocata
Score
Score
Score
Score
The difference in the
difference between
male and female in the
two groups gives us
the effect
avvocato
avvocato
avvocato
avvocato
Score
Score
Score
Score
Treatment Group Control Group
Lawyer based scenarios: family law or criminal/commercial law

Overall Effect: The cost of a single vowel
Large, negative, and significant effect (-0.4p)
of the female declination avvocata on relative
female scores
• Effect concentrated on respondents from
socio-economic and legal area (who start
from higher levels), zero effect on scientific
professions
• Effect stronger on female respondents
(who start from higher scores towards
women), smaller effect on males

Where is the effect coming from?
Effect stronger in absolute terms on the family
law scenario (female specialization according
to stereotypes), weaker in
criminal/commercial (male specialization
according to stereotypes)

Where is the effect coming from?
Effect stronger in absolute terms on the family
law scenario (female specialization according
to stereotypes), weaker in
criminal/commercial (male specialization
according to stereotypes)
• Women downgrade female profiles in both
lawyer-based scenarios, while men
downgrade only on the stereotypically-
female scenario.

How large is this effect?
The effect is large when compared to the other key dimensions:
 More than being young (30), and almost as much as being part of a law firm
 Roughly twice as much as 10 years experience when young

Who pays the most for this negative effect?
- Negative effect is
concentrated on those with
the least experience and
without a strong quality signal
(cassazionista)
- N.B: The Cassazionista exam can be taken
only after 10 years of experience

- this strong negative effect on young female professionals (CPO 2022) reflects actual use in the population of
female Lawyers from Trentino (CPO 2021, N=124)

Men are less apt to take care of household chores
For men, more than for women, it is very important to be successful in work
It is primarily the man who must provide for the economic needs of the family
Under conditions of labor shortages, employers should give priority to men over women
It is the man who has to make the most important decisions concerning the family
CPO 21: “Using the female declinations “activates” a gender stereotype”
How much do you agree with the following statements? (ISTAT – validated scale on
gender stereotypes)
How Italians
responded in
2018

Does seeing the female-declined term have an effect on the way men
answer?
Men (who have seen the female
declination in the scenarios) tend to
be more in agreement with gender
stereotypes

- Language counts: using the grammatically correct, female-declined term significantly
drops women’s scores
- Effects measured in a fictious, but plausible and realistic situation : respondents had
no idea about the change in declination between the two groups, and they
downgraded female profiles nonetheless  confirms CPO ’21: using avvocatA has a
cost
- Men who have seen the female term are more in agreement with gender stereotypes
confirms CPO ’21: the female terms “activates” a gender stereotype
Does this mean women should use the male-declined term? No. Aggregate benefit >>
individual cost, but:
1. Helps us understand why the female-declined terms struggle to take hold
2. Helps us think of policy interventions: coordinated, centralized interventions, not
individual!
Conclusions