research@hec - Issue #37 - (Page 2)

gender parity research hec Do Grandes Ecoles entrance exams for France's reinforce the gender gap? © Biais Jean Marc HEC Paris Women are still vastly under-represented in all spheres of influence, from CEOs to boards of directors. In France, for example, only 4% of the CEOs of the 100 largest companies and 14% of board members are women. Is this state of affairs due solely to career choices, motherhood, male co-option and discrimination? Or does the selection process of the entrance exams for France's Grandes Ecoles also have an impact on women reaching positions of responsibility? B iographies Evren Örs is a professor of finance at HEC Paris. His research focuses on financial institutions and corporate finance. Particular areas of interest include the impact of deregulation on the real economy and international trade, and the role of financial incentives in the recovery of bankrupt businesses. Örs has a Ph.D. in finance from Boston College in the United States. Eloïc Peyrache graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Cachan with an Agrégation in Economics and Management. He also holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Université des Sciences Sociales de Toulouse. Since 2003, he has been teaching economics at HEC and is also associate dean for HEC Paris Grande Ecole. His current research focuses on information and personnel economics, industrial organization and contract theory. 2 * m a r c h - a P r i l 2014 Evren Örs, Frédéric Palomino and Eloïc Peyrache analyzed the performances of candidates in the entrance exam for HEC Paris. They observed that, whereas the proportion of female candidates for the science exam is more or less the same as for men (i.e. 49.16 % of the science candidates), women are under-represented in the Grande Ecole (representing 45.92% of admissions). How can we explain this statistically significant difference? REAL PERFORMANCE GENDER-GAPS Numerous researchers have tried to analyze the differences in performance between men and women in the context of experimental studies. These seem to indicate that men and women react differently to the pressure of competition. Örs, Palomino and Peyrache decided to investigate the performance of candidates in the entrance exam for HEC Paris in order to study the issue in a real-world setting. They observed that the females in their sample achieved better results on average in the baccalauréat (the French high-school finishing exam) and obtained more distinctions in particular. In addition, there are higher numbers of women in the best-ranking prep schools. However, the proportion of females in the sample of "admissibles" at HEC Paris (i.e. candidates who have passed the written phase of the exam) is no more than 46.32% and ultimately 45.92% of the "admitted". Once they have been accepted, females achieve slightly better grades than their male counterparts in the mandatory courses at the end of the first year in the Grande Ecole program. THE MATHEMATICS HYPOTHESIS According to received wisdom, women apply themselves less to scientific subjects and are "not so good at mathematics". This thesis, however, is not backed up by the study carried out by Örs, Palomino and Peyrache. The researchers found that women in science tracks (i.e. who are very good at mathematics) tend to achieve better results in the baccalauréat and are subsequently admitted to the highest-ranking prep schools for the Grandes Ecoles. However, their performance (compared to men) shows a tendency to fade in math and other subjects in both the written and oral entrance exams for HEC Paris. The hypothesis that men "have an affinity" for mathematics does not, therefore, explain the difference in performance between men and women; nor does it shed light on the differences noted between the baccalauréat and entrance exam. MALE PERFORMANCE LOCATED AT THE EXTREMES It is only when the frequency distribution of the performance measures for the entrance exam are analyzed that a partial explanation begins to appear. In the first decile, in which 10% of the candidates obtained the poorest grades, there is no difference between men and women. But from the first quartile (the 25% with the lowest grades), the men achieve better results on average than the women. The tendency for men to out-perform subsequently becomes more pronounced, both at the mid-part (median) of the distribution and in the third (75%) and last quartiles (the top 25% of the

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of research@hec - Issue #37

Cover & Contents
Do Grandes Ecoles entrance exams for France’s reinforce the gender gap?
Creative processes: negotiating technological innovations with success
Sustainable development: how is it managed in CAC 40 companies?

research@hec - Issue #37