This paper assesses the gender gap in career advancements in Italian universities over the 2013-2021 period, and explores the potential role of a third factor, i.e. mobility, besides competitiveness and scientific productivity typically investigated in the literature.
The results, strongly robust, show a gender gap in advancements to associate professorship of about 4 percentage points, which is only partially explained by competitiveness, while scientific productivity and mobility do not seem to play a role. The estimated gender gap almost doubles for transitions to full professorship, and it remains unaffected when both competitiveness and scientific productivity are considered. Interestingly, mobility in this case matters: the gap is still there but (as much as 5 times) smaller when career advancements occur along with a move to a different University.
Co-authors: Mariangela Zoli, Università di Roma Tor Vergata