Cracks in the Glass Ceiling and Gender Equality: Do Exports Shatter the Glass Ceiling?

Do female managers improve workplace outcomes for female employees? The evidence is mixed. We use Brazilian administrative employer-employee matched data over the large and unanticipated 1999 Brazilian real exchange rate devaluation and find that the share of female employees grows in female-led firms, but the male-female wage gap grows in both female- and male-led firms. This behavior is inconsistent with both theoretical models of taste-based employer discrimination and third-degree oligopsonistic labor markets by gender. Outcomes only differ between female- and male-led firms regarding managerial and supervisory employees, where female-led firms hire more female managerial and supervisory employees, yet the gender wage gap widens relative to male-led firms. We conclude that exports further crack the glass ceiling in female-led firms, though at the cost of a more expansive gender wage gap.