Gender and Willingness to Compete for High Stakes

We examine gender differences in willingness to compete for high stakes. When strategic considerations are absent, we observe the well-known pattern that women are less likely to compete than men, but this difference derives entirely from women avoiding competition against men. When the decision is strategic and contestants should factor in the competitiveness of others, women again avoid competing against men. Men then seem to anticipate the lower competitiveness of female opponents, as evidenced by their greater tendency to compete against women. The findings shed new light on the persistent gender gap at the male-dominated top of the career ladder.