The Fairer Sex? Women Leaders and the Strategic Response to the Social Environment

Abstract

Do women as leaders behave differently from men? Using field experiments conducted in rural India, we show that women leaders are more deceptive compared to men. This is especially true in villages that have experienced a female village head as a result of an affirmative action policy designed to encourage greater representation of women in leadership positions. We find that the higher incidence of deception can be explained by female leaders correctly anticipating that men will cooperate with them at lower rates, as well as social norms where the social costs of deceptive behavior are comparatively lower for women leaders. Our findings suggest significant challenges to the effectiveness of women as leaders.