Bachelor of Arts, University of Toledo, 2018, Law and Social Thought

The gender wage gap in the United States has been an ongoing issue since women entered the workforce during the nineteenth century. There is no argument that the gap has become much smaller over time and is at its lowest today. Nonetheless, although great progress has been made towards achieving equal pay, there still exists a gap between men and women's annual salary. Accordingly, the public continues to debate why this gap exists. Is the gender wage gap present because of gender discrimination or are other factors at play? Throughout this honors thesis, I will explore this question and the arguments that attempt to provide a valid answer. First, I explain why the gender wage gap is an essential topic in today's society, while clarifying vocabulary used when discussing this subject. Next, I describe in-depth two common arguments that arise when considering what has caused the gender wage gap. The first argues that the gap results from gender discrimination in the workforce. Promoters of this argument believe that the only way to achieve equal pay is to eliminate gender discrimination. The second argument holds that gender discrimination is not the most prominent factor affecting the wage gap. Instead, advocates of this argument suggest that women's career choices are the main cause of the gender wage gap. I then discuss how the law interacts with these positions. I illustrate legal cases that prohibit gender discrimination and also cases that fall short in disallowing gender discrimination in the workforce. Finally, I argue that both positions have valid claims supported by substantial academic work. I conclude that both gender discrimination and the career choices of women play a role in maintaining the gender wage gap.

Committee: Jerry Van Hoy (Advisor) Subjects: Gender Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Sociology

The “gender gap” refers to the differences in crime rates between men and women. Criminologists have historically examined sex differences in crime using this binary male vs. female approach. Although sex – which is what the “gender gap” historically captures – is a salient and strong predictor of offending, much less attention has been given to understanding how gender identity relates to offending behaviors. Using data from a convenience sample of college students at a midsized Midwestern university, I examine how both sex and gender identity relate to offending behaviors, and if gender identity mediates the previously well- established relationship between biological sex and offending behaviors. Findings suggest that neither biological sex, nor gender identity, significantly predict decisions to engage in violent crime, property crime, or general deviant behavior. Given the critical gap in the literature, implications of this study are important for understanding the relationship between sex, gender, and crime.

Committee: Thomas Mowen Ph.D. (Committee Chair); John Boman Ph.D. (Committee Member); Wendy Manning Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology; Sociology

Master of Arts in History, Youngstown State University, 2013, Department of Humanities

Ever since America's inception, prescriptive literature has been continuously used for guidance and advice relating to suitable conduct and gender roles. This type of literature points to middle-class ideals and the belief that social mobility can be achieved through propriety and adherence to socio-gender norms. While previous scholarship has focused primarily on nineteenth century etiquette and conduct literature written by religious men under edifying pretexts or popular literature in consumer driven twentieth century magazines and advertisements, this thesis examines women's prescriptive literature books between 1920 and 1960. Prescriptive literature published during this period was authored by middle-class women and was intended to be didactic in nature. However, women authors of prescriptive literature, who functioned outside of traditional gender roles and norms were not only subjective in their advice, but perpetuated a duality of roles for women, often advising against the very social mobility they had achieved. Women authors of prescriptive literature consistently gave advice that helped to encourage and facilitate women's agency through autonomy and gender role expansion while simultaneously reinscribing women into domestic themes and redefining boundaries in their public and private lives. This thesis examines numerous prescriptive books and their authors, arguing that this literature's content, like women's lives, became diversified while maintaining ambivalence about domesticity and roles derived from the home that transferred into the public domain. Prescriptive books written between 1920 and 1960 perpetuated contradictions in gender discourse, and conflated female ideals with stereotypes and gender double standards in their education and work.

Committee: Martha Pallante PhD (Advisor); Donna DeBlasio PhD (Committee Member); Diane Barnes PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; American Literature; Gender; Gender Studies; History; Literature; Pedagogy; Reading Instruction; Sociology; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2025, Management

This dissertation explores the persistent gender gap in partnerships at Big Four public accounting firms, employing a mixed-methods approach to examine both individual experiences and career trajectories. Despite women entering the profession at equal rates to men, only about 23% of partners are women. This study aims to understand why this disparity persists and how career paths influence partnership attainment. Study 1 utilized qualitative interviews with 11 female advisory partners to investigate their lived experiences in reaching partnership. Findings revealed a common internal mental model for evaluating the partnership career path, consisting of three iterative phases: partner inquiry, developing partner behaviors, and solidifying a partner identity. This process highlights the importance of personal reflection and identity development in pursuing partnership. Study 2 employed Optimal Matching Analysis to quantitatively examine the career trajectories of 312 partners (159 women, 153 men) across audit, tax, and consulting functions. Results showed no significant gender differences in time to partnership or career transitions. However, distinct patterns emerged among business units, with audit and tax partners typically achieving partnership faster than consulting partners. Notably, only about 40% of partners followed traditional linear career paths within their initial function. The integrated analysis of these findings revealed a complex interplay between individual mindsets and organizational structures in shaping the path to partnership. Key elements include early career goals, professional socialization, self-managed career progression moderated by sponsorship, and making a strong business case for partnership. This analysis highlighted that while women and men who make partner do so in similar timeframes, the journey to partnership involves navigating psychological transitions, organizational changes, and social dynamics that (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paul Salipante (Committee Chair); Diana Bilimoria (Committee Member); Tim Fogarty (Committee Member); Alexis Rittenberger (Committee Member) Subjects: Accounting; Business Administration; Gender Studies; Management

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2021, Business Administration

The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to understand the experiences of dual leadership for African American women. The research question for the study is: What are the lived experiences of African American women leaders in ministry and the workplace? The homogenous sample consisted of nine study participants from the Midwest and Northeast regions of the United States of America. The participants represented four generations ranging in age from 21-76. The participants had an average of 16 years in ministry leadership and 20 years in the workplace. Data collection involved face-to-face interviews using a video conferencing platform with an average interview time of 55 minutes guiding the data collection process. Eight principal themes containing subthemes relating to codes materialized from the data: leadership styles, experiences of microaggressions, systemic sexism, health impact, culture, perception of religiosity and faith, business and leadership relationship, and dual leadership. The study utilized the software instrument ATLAS.ti to organize systematically, code, identify and link research themes, and assist with data analysis.

Committee: Bora Pajo (Committee Member); Alynica Bowen (Committee Chair); Niccole Hyatt (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; Organizational Behavior; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Economics

This dissertation studies the importance of networks and other institutional factors on workers' labor market outcomes. I particularly focus on manager-employee networks formed within the workplace, for two main reasons: these networks play a critical role in determining the productivity of individual employees, and also affect the equitability of a given working environment, which in turn influences workers' outcomes. Because social networks are more likely to form among those who share similar backgrounds (such as gender or ethnicity), vertical co-worker connections may worsen existing intra-institutional gaps between majority and minority groups, as there is a higher chance of such bonds emerging among the majority. Hence understanding the characteristics and mechanisms of manager-employee connections may yield significant implications for policymakers in empowering a diverse workforce and redressing disparities. Despite having consequential ramifications for an employee's career outcomes, little attention has been paid to manager-employee networks in the workplace, mainly due to the limited data at hand. This, in turn, limits causal evidence in the existing literature. In the first two chapters below, using web scraping techniques, I construct unique datasets that allow me to identify co-worker connections in specific professions to provide causal evidence of the effects of manager-employee connections. In Chapter 1, I inquire whether the gender of academic leaders, i.e., college deans and department chairs, affects outcomes of faculty members in terms of (i) wages and (ii) share of female faculty in an academic unit. Exploiting data allowing for a year-by-year identification of any changes in individual departments/colleges such as chair/dean transitions, I adopt an event study design which compares female and male faculty who are exposed to a gender-constant head transition (e.g., male-to-male department chair transition) and those who are exposed to a trans (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Bruce Weinberg (Advisor); Kurt Lavetti (Committee Member); Joyce Chen (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics

Bachelor of Arts, Walsh University, 2021, Honors

This study looks at Stark County, Ohio—a national political bellwether—through the conduction of a survey at all six of its institutions of higher education, enabling the study of the gender gap and women's generational gap in a college-educated atmosphere. A total of 864 respondents among students, staff, and faculty gave responses that were used to analyze political party affiliation, political ideology, and attitudes toward public policies. While women were far more likely to identify as Democrats, chi-square and independent samples t-tests indicate that women only support more liberal pro-women policies and government program expansion; men and women has similar attitudes toward both economic and social inclusion policies. Women over 25 held more liberal attitudes toward pro-women and social inclusive policies than college-age women, but the two groups answered similarly on government programs and economic inclusion.

Committee: Koop Berry PhD (Advisor); Barbara Palmer PhD (Other) Subjects: Gender; Political Science; Public Policy; Womens Studies

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2021, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

Female superintendents across the nation comprise approximately 27% of the population (Finnan et al., 2015), while female teachers account for approximately 75% of the population (Robinson et al., 2017). In Ohio, the gender gap between male and female superintendents is more pronounced with 16.8% of superintendents identifying as female at the time of this survey (Buckeye Association of School Administrator, 2020). Research has shown that superintendent responsibilities have shifted from a managerial focus to a focus on curriculum and instruction (Kowalski et al., 2010; Leithwood et al., 2013; Maeroff, 2010). This study sought to further explore the gendered difference of superintendents by exploring the instructional competencies needed to be a superintendent in the 21st century as well as the pathway taken to the position. This mixed methods study used an electronic survey with quantitative questions as well as qualitative open-response questions. Findings revealed that there is a gendered difference in superintendent competencies, and females rate themselves higher in the curriculum and instruction competencies of the NELP standards. In Ohio, there is also a gendered pathway to the superintendency, and females were more likely to hold positions that provide background and experience in curriculum and instruction responsibilities. This research provides evidence to support that females have the background to be strong curricular superintendents that can directly impact both district and student success.

Committee: Jane Beese Ed.D (Advisor); Vergon Charles J.D. (Committee Member); Jeffords Charles Ed.D (Committee Member); Rogers Richard Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Economics

This dissertation consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I estimate wage effects of double majors and double degrees among a sample of college graduates in their early career, using the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97). I rely on selection on observables and control for individuals' test scores, family background, and school characteristics when estimating the wage effects. I further consider whether wage effects of a double major/degree can be explained by two mechanisms: the “skill-enhancing” effect (increase in the depth of knowledge accumulated in college) and the “job-matching” effect (increase in the chance of working in an occupation that is more closely related to one's college major). I examine whether estimated wage effects associated with a double major/degree (after controlling for confounding factors) decrease as a result of controlling for the depth of knowledge accumulated in college and the relatedness between college major and occupation. I find that having a double major does not make a significant difference in one's early-career post-college wages. A double degree is estimated to be associated with a 0.088 increase in log wages after controlling for confounding factors. About a third of this effect can be explained by a combination of both the “skill-enhancing” and “job-matching” effects. In the second chapter, I use the NLSY97 to study whether being mismatched in the first job (meaning the individual's occupation is not among the common occupations to which his/her college major typically leads) has a long-lasting effect on wages. I also investigate wage growth and job change patterns for different types of mismatched workers. I distinguish between demand-side mismatch due to job dissatisfaction and supply-side mismatch due to reasons other than reported job dissatisfaction. I find that both types of mismatched workers have significantly lower wages compared to matched workers, but that demand-side mismatched worker (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Audrey Light (Advisor); Bruce Weinberg (Committee Member); Kurt Lavetti (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2014, Curriculum and Instruction (Education)

West Virginia provides universal access to publicly funded preschool for all 4-year olds in the state. This approach contrasts with the approach many states and the federal government take to offering preschool, which is to provide targeted programs, focused on traditionally at-risk populations. Support for moving toward universal access has grown to include the White House, where it has been touted as a priority in recent State of the Union Addresses. This research explores West Virginia's existing program to understand the experience of the students enrolled in the 2012-2013 school year using extant data. West Virginia's Universal Preschool program uses Early Learning Scale (ELS) to assess student growth during the preschool year, the results of which are collected in a statewide database. The West Virginia State Department of Education also collects data on student and classroom demographics. This study uses hierarchical linear modeling to analyze the relationship of student characteristics and baseline and growth scores on ELS. Additional descriptive analysis of site characteristics is also provided to provide a profile of the classrooms of the 2012-2013 preschool class. This study documents a gap in ELS scores at baseline between low SES and non-low SES students and between boys and girls. No gap was apparent between white and non-white students in the analysis. Students in West Virginia's Universal Preschool program show growth through the preschool year on ELS; however, growth rates of low-SES and male children are not great enough to close the gaps that exist when the students are initially assessed. This dissertation recommends that more research needs to be done to understand how classroom, student, and socio-geographic characteristics interact to influence student baseline and growth scores on ELS in West Virginia.

Committee: Eugene Geist A (Committee Chair); Gordon Brooks P (Committee Member); James Salzman (Committee Member); Jerry Johnson D (Committee Member) Subjects: Early Childhood Education; Education; Education Policy

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2007, Educational Leadership

Since the 1970's and the passing of Title IX of the educational amendments to the Civil rights Act of 1964, the gender demographic at American colleges and universities has changed dramatically. Today the average American college or university is over 57% female, a number that is projected to exceed 60% by 2020. In addition to the fact that in comparison to their female counterparts, less male students are coming to college, we are also seeing that once in college, male students are less likely to persist through to graduation. This study investigated the effects of weekly physical activity within the context of a first-year freshman seminar experience as well as the effects of an all-male classroom experience. The students at a medium sized public state university voluntarily registered for a first-year experience learning community. There were multiple options available in respect to their learning community seminar including single gender or coeducational as well as sections with or without an added recreational component. This study is an ex post-facto investigation of the academic successes of these male students in their first collegiate term.

Committee: Charles Ryan (Advisor) Subjects:

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2002, Arts and Sciences : Political Science

Monitoring the popularity of the president is a vital aspect of public opinion research today. Presidential approval has become a very closely watched political indicator in the United States. The measure of job approval has grown in importance over time. It is now argued by many that a president's personal standing with the public is a very important aspect of his political power. While pollsters often report on "gaps" in presidential approval, citing differences in approval between socio-demographic groups, in most cases, the socio-demographic gaps referred to by pollsters are the products of simple bivariate analyses. Seldom are further steps taken by pollsters to investigate the reality of whether or not these gaps in approval actually exist when controlling for other factors. The focus of this research is directed towards the "gender gap" in presidential approval. In the literature review that follows, we see in detail that there is a gap between women and men, with women tending to the left and men tending to the right on many issues, including presidential approval. But does this frequently observed "gender gap" reflect a real difference in the political preferences of American men and women, or is it just an artifact of simple bivariate analyses, with many uncontrolled variables? In addition, does this "gender gap" interact with other socio-demographic variables to move presidential approval? This thesis tests the reality of the "Gender Gap" through a multivariate analysis of Ohio Polls conducted during the administration of Bill Clinton.

Committee: Dr. George F. Bishop (Advisor) Subjects: Political Science, General

PHD, Kent State University, 2010, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology

Using two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), I investigated the relationships among bullying behaviors, internet use, and academic achievement for Black, Hispanic, and White boys and girls. I assessed three measures of academic achievement, including scores on mathematics, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. The four goals of this research project were 1) to investigate the relationships among bullying behaviors, internet use (e.g., chatting, e-mailing, surfing) and academic achievement, 2) to explore whether bullying behaviors and internet use affects academic achievement over time, 3) to test if internet use moderates the relationship between bullying behaviors and academic achievement, and 4) to test if race and gender gaps in achievement persist once accounting for the relationships among bullying behavior, internet use, and social capital. Findings indicate bullying by itself does not have a significant association with achievement outcomes, while the influence of internet use varies in significance and direction of effect based on type of use. Chatting was the only measure of internet use that consistently had a significant negative relationship across all achievement outcomes. The association between bullying behaviors and academic achievement was moderated by some forms of internet use such that at low levels of bullying, children with low levels of internet use had significantly higher test scores. As levels of bullying increased, low/high internet users test scores converged to the point that at high levels of bullying behaviors, differences in test scores between low/high internet users were statistically insignificant. Email use and surfing the web were found to moderate the association between bullying behaviors and reading comprehension. Surfing moderated bullying and math scores. Chatting moderated the relationship between bullying and each of the three outcomes. Lastly, there were no significant race or gender dif (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Andre Christie-Mizell PhD (Committee Chair); Amoaba Gooden PhD (Committee Member); Nicole Rousseau PhD (Committee Member); Robert Peralta PhD (Committee Member); Richard Serpe PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Education; Educational Sociology; Gender; Hispanic Americans; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2013, Economics

Along with cognitive skills, noncognitive skills have been increasingly adopted to analyze individual behavior. My dissertation comprises of two chapters which combine economics with psychology theories and applied econometric methods to examine the role of noncognitive skills at different developmental stages; first, I study the formation of noncognitive skills in early childhood and, second, I examine the effect of noncognitive skills on the gender wage gap during mid- and late- adulthood. In the first chapter I propose a novel mechanism through which mothers produce high quality (skilled) children by focusing on maternal life satisfaction, which I interpret as maternal happiness. The goal of this first chapter is to identify a causal maternal life satisfaction effect on child outcomes, and to see if inferences about the effects of marriage remain after we have conditioned on maternal life satisfaction. Because happiness and family structure are entwined—with marriage potentially increasing happiness and happiness increasing the probability of marriage—I must separate the effects of happiness from the effects of marital status. Using data for U.K. children ages 3-7 from the Millennium Cohort Study, I simultaneously model maternal happiness, marital status, and a value-added, child skill production function; I use a cognitive test score and several behavioral scores as alternative child skill measures. This three-equation model accounts for the endogeneity of happiness and marital status, which enables me to identify separate causal effects of both on child cognitive and noncognitive skills. Embedded in chapter one is a discussion about an improved method for constructing cognitive and noncognitive skill measures. I calculate theta-scores from item response theory (IRT) models to account for the latent nature of child skills. I find that both marriage and happiness are predicted to improve test scores, with marriage primarily improving cognitive test scores and (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Audrey Light (Advisor); Randall Olsen (Committee Member); Bruce Weinberg (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics