Does being confident matter equally for women and men?

Abstract

Being confident matters, but does it matter equally for women and men? Extending research on the gender gap in confidence, we consider whether the economic return of being self-confident is gendered. Analyzing data from Statistics Canada’s 2016 General Social Survey (N= 19,294), we find that not only are women less self-assured than men but the earning power of being confident is also less strong among women than men. In other words, gender moderates the impact of confidence on personal income. The economic return for being self-confident is lower among women than men, while compensation for men is higher than what should be observed in a non-discriminatory world. The fact that being confident is rewarded unequally between genders suggests that social bias against women is one major source for women’s lack of confidence. If left unaddressed, the unequal economic return of self-confidence will continue to obstruct the movement toward equal pay for equal work and lead women to accept that their underestimation is a normalized aspect of personal and community life.