Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Title: Consequences of Affirmative Action: The Impact of Hiring a Female Professor
Author-Name: Maximilian Mähr
Author-Email: maximilian.maehr@uni-mannheim.de
Classification-JEL: I23, J16, J24, J71, J78
Keywords: Affirmative Action, Gender Diversity, Women in Academia

Abstract: 
This paper studies how appointing a female professor through affirmative action affects
hiring decisions and gender attitudes of faculty. For identification I use the introduction of
a nationwide affirmative action policy in Germany that provides subsidies to departments
appointing women to permanent full professorships. Using administrative data on all
academic personnel employed at German public universities, I find that exposure to a female
professor increases the share of female Ph.D. students but leaves hiring of women among full
professors, assistant professors, and postdoctoral researchers unaffected. The rise in female
Ph.D. enrollment is driven by individuals who completed their undergraduate studies in
the same department. Additional findings show that after a woman joins the department,
young male faculty members increase their collaboration with female colleagues. Further,
I document that research productivity and direction are unaffected by the presence of an
additional woman. Finally, I estimate that approximately two-thirds of subsidized female
appointments would have occurred without the program.


Note: 
Length: 72
Creation-Date: 2025-03
Revision-Date: 2025-04
File-URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp677
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:CRCTR224_2025_677v2