Gender/IPE

trade, foreign aid, automation, social policy

Under Review:

  1. Protectionism Reconsidered: Economic Insecurity and the Gender Gap in Trade Attitudes
    Abstract

    While previous research has revealed a gender gap in trade attitudes and the rise of populism and economic protectionism, it has paid less attention to why women continue to support protectionism despite their lack of populist attitudes. The gender gap in trade attitudes has not closed despite the rise of populism, which has taken place particularly among men. Why are women consistently more protectionist than men, and when does men's populism turn into protectionism? I examine the causal process of preference formation across genders using a decomposition analysis, a survey experiment, and structural topic models. I argue that economic insecurity leads both women and men to form protectionist attitudes. My findings suggest that, for women, persistent gender discrimination leads to the perception of negative trade effects on their gender group, fostering protectionism. For men, stochastic trade shocks activate populism, which transforms into protectionism when they perceive adverse trade effects on their country.

  2. Beyond Paternalism: How Leadership Diversity Shapes Foreign Aid Perceptions in South Africa (with Simone Dietrich and Rikio Inouye)
    Abstract

    This paper examines how the racial and gender composition of donor leadership shapes public opinion in recipient countries. Focusing on South Africa, we explore whether the inclusion of women and Black individuals in U.S. foreign aid leadership influences perceptions of aid programs. Given the legacy of neocolonialism in foreign assistance, we argue that such non-traditional leadership signals a break from paternalistic models, enhancing perceived alignment with recipient needs. Using a two-wave survey experiment conducted in South Africa in 2024, we manipulate the race and gender composition of U.S. aid leaders. We find that both descriptive representation and greater inclusion of marginalized groups improve favorability toward U.S. leadership, especially among women and Black respondents. However, the effects weaken among individuals with sexist attitudes. Our findings highlight how non-traditional leadership can enhance perceived responsiveness, contributing to broader debates on aid effectiveness, international legitimacy, and the intersectional politics of foreign policy institutions.


Selected Working Papers:

  1. Automation, Economic Insecurity, and Gendered Social Policy Attitudes: Evidence from South Korea (with Jae-wook Lee)
    Abstract

    Recent advances in automation have raised concerns about job insecurity, potentially increasing support for social policies. While existing research links policy preferences to individuals’ economic vulnerability, the role of identity—particularly gender—remains underexplored. We argue that automation-driven layoffs do not universally increase support for social protection; rather, their effects are shaped by gender norms. Using a survey experiment in South Korea, we show that automation-driven job loss increases support for an ex-ante protective measure (e.g., Automation Tax) only when male workers are affected. This selective protection reflects the male-breadwinner model, which views male labor as more essential to household income and male job loss as more socially disruptive. The disparity in social policy preferences by laid-off's gender profile is pronounced among individuals who hold sexist attitudes. Our findings reveal how gendered beliefs about labor value shape social protection preferences, highlighting identity-based biases in responses to economic change.

  2. Protectionism for Him, Welfare for Her: The Trade Origins of Gendered Political Cleavages (with Thomas M. Flaherty)
    Abstract

    What explains gendered political cleavages over globalization? Although earlier work suggests that women support trade barriers more than men, recent populist movements reveal the opposite. We develop a theory that incorporates family economic structures into the specific factors model of trade preferences, showing how traditional gender roles reshape the distributional effects of economic policies: male family members benefit more from protectionism, while female members benefit more from welfare compensation. We test this by tracking how exogenous trade shocks propagate through families to affect survey respondents’ policy preferences. When respondents’ family members suffer increased import competition, males significantly turn to trade and migration restrictions, while females turn to family-oriented welfare policies. These indirect family effects also shape electoral behavior, fueling male support for populists and decreasing female participation in elections. The findings underscore the importance of moving beyond individual voter characteristics to understand fully gendered political cleavages over economic policy.

  3. Measuring Women’s Experiences in Gendered Labor Markets
    Abstract

    This paper examines whether gender policy indicators (GPIs) accurately reflect women's economic rights in practice. Despite international and state-level efforts, it remains unclear if these legal advancements have improved women's real-world labor market experiences. Existing GPIs often overlook country-specific contexts and latent heterogeneity, leading to an incomplete understanding of gender inequality. To address this gap, I use item response theory (IRT) and Women, Business, and Law (WBL) data to create the Latent Gender Equality (LGE) Index, a time-series cross-sectional measure of gender equality in 187 countries from 1991 to 2017.