Does gender matter for academic promotion? Evidence from a randomized natural experiment

This paper shows how the gender composition of committees affects promotions using data for Spain between 2002 and 2006, involving around 30,000 candidacies and 7,000 (randomly selected) evaluators.  In promotions  to associate professor positions, senior evaluators do not exhibit any gender preference. Female junior evaluators exhibit an opposite-sex preference when assessing candidates from their own institution, perhaps for strategic reasons. Our results suggest that gender quotas may not necessarily increase female representation. Their effect will depend on the extent to which academic networks are gendered, evaluators’ strategic concerns, and the position at stake.