Are students really biased against female professors? — Experimental evidence from India

Abstract

We investigate the presence of gender bias in student evaluations of teaching (SETs) in India using a natural field experiment. In the first two treatments, we randomly assigned 504 students to attend an identical audio–visual lecture, manipulating the perceived gender of the professor. In two subsequent treatments, we provide additional information about the professors’ credentials to signal their competence. When we vary the perceived gender, on average, we do not find any significant differences in SETs received by female and male professors. However, the perceived-female professor receives higher SETs on average in treatments with additional information. Further, we find that in-group bias can be a potential channel to explain our results. Our findings highlight the context-dependent nature of gender bias in SETs and provide evidence of the differential impact of information by gender.