Gender Differences in Response to Incentives

We have been talking for a long time about ideas to incentivise students to unleash creativity etc,. An interesting paper below from Cornell looks at gender differences in response to incentives. On the positive side, it seems to be the case that men react well increasing performance by 10% in reaction to the incentive in the paper. Women, on the other hand, do not show a response in particular when the environment is mostly male. The paper concludes by arguing that such incentives may improve performance but at the expense of gender equity. On the other hand, given the gap that is opening up across education, perhaps it is worth thinking of these incentive schemes as a way of addressing the fact that men in particular tend to be more present-orientated and competition-driven. This paper looked at graduate students but competitive scholarships at Leaving Certificate and undergraduate level would also be worth thinking about.

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/cheri/wp/cheri_wp95.pdf