Gender differences in public speaking: Experimental economics applications

Although the social, economic, and cultural gap between men and women has tended to close over the past 50 years, the problem of the gender pay gap and underrepresentation of women in the institutional, academic, and political arenas is an ongoing problem even in industrialized countries. More recently, emerging literature has suggested that the willingness to speak in public is an essential determinant of leadership preferences. Although it's crucial for career prospects and leadership positions, research shows that two-thirds of the population have a fear of public speaking to varying degrees. In particular, women have reported higher fear of public speaking than men. Most existing literature has focused on the willingness to speak in public in traditional face-to-face settings; our knowledge of whether preferences have changed in the virtual environment is very limited. Are there any gender differences in public speaking online as well? This study analyses whether the preference for public speaking in the online environment differs according to gender. We conducted two field experiments to analyze whether men and women differ in preferences for speaking in public on online platforms. In the first experiment, willingness to speak in public was defined as a binary preference, and for the second experiment, public speaking aversion was defined as a continuous preference. The first field experiment on the Zoom platform involved more than 500 students who could gain extra twenty points for the final exam if they presented their homework in front of the class while keeping their cameras on during the presentation. The second experiment conducted on Microsoft Teams platform involved 521 students who could earn money if they gave a five-minute presentation in front of their class. As a result, although female participants reported more anxiety about public speaking than males, there was no statistically significant difference based on gender in either experiment. Increasing the number of institutional, academic, and political activities carried out on online platforms can give women a greater voice in society. In this way, it can increase the possibility of promotion to leadership positions.