Variable definitions
| Variable | Definition |
|---|---|
| Dependent variables | |
| FERatio | The percentage of females in top management teams including board of directors, supervisory board members and top executives |
| FERatio_management | The percentage of females in top executives |
| Wage_diff | The difference between the average salary of male and female executives in the firm, scaled by the average salary of all executives |
| Independent variables | |
| Clan | Number of genealogies per 10,000 residents in the city where the firm is incorporated |
| Clan_Surname | Proportion of the top three surnames in the city where the firm is incorporated |
| Instrumental variable | |
| Pop_density | Provincial-level indicators calculated by aligning the areas from the 26th year of the Hongwu period with current administrative districts. Population density is determined by dividing the population by the area, expressed in persons per square kilometer |
| Control variables | |
| Size | Total assets (in logarithms) |
| Leverage | The ratio of total liabilities to total assets |
| ROA | Return on total assets |
| Growth | Revenue growth rate |
| Largest_share_ratio | The ownership percentage of the largest shareholder |
| Board_size | Number of board members (in logarithms) |
| Ind_dir_ratio | Proportion of independent directors relative to the total number of board members |
| Dual | When the chairman and CEO of the two positions concurrently, take the value of 1, otherwise 0 |
| Ln_GDP_PC | Gross domestic product per capita of the province where the firm is incorporated (in logarithms) |
| First_Ind_GDP | The GDP of the first industry sector in the province where the firm is incorporated, relative to the total GDP of the province |
| MKT_index | Marketization index for the province where the firm is incorporated |
| Education | The number of universities in the province where the firm is incorporated (in logarithms) |
| Marriage | The number of marriage registrations in the province where the firm is incorporated (in logarithms) |
| Confucianism | The natural logarithm of the number of schools in each city in the Ming and Qing Dynasties |
| Social_trust | Firm trustworthiness at the provincial level, based on the question in the CGSS (2018) questionnaire: “In general, do you agree that the vast majority of people in the society can be trusted?” Responses are coded as follows: “Strongly agree” and “Agree” are assigned a value of 1, while “Neither agree nor disagree”, “Disagree”, and “Strongly disagree” are assigned a value of 0. The average value is then calculated at the province level and matched to firms based on the province where the firm is incorporated |
| Gender inequality perception variables | |
| LD_GenderPercep1 | Gender inequality perception measure from the labor demand side perspective. This measure is derived from the CGSS (2018) questionnaire, based on the question: “Do you agree with the statement: Men are inherently more capable than women?” Responses are coded as follows: “Strongly agree” and “Agree” are assigned a value of 1, while “Neither agree nor disagree”, “Disagree”, and “Strongly disagree” are assigned a value of 0. The average value is then calculated at the province level and matched to firms based on the province where the firm is incorporated |
| LD_GenderPercep2 | Another gender inequality perception measure from the labor demand side perspective. This measure is derived from the CGSS (2018) questionnaire, based on the question: “Do you agree with the statement: In times of economic depression, female employees should be fired first?” The construction method is identical to that of LD_GenderPercep1 |
| LS_GenderPercep1 | Gender inequality perception measure from the labor supply side perspective. The first measure is the female labor force participation, which is defined as the ratio of women's average weekly working hours to men's. Using responses to the CGSS (2018) question: “When you have a job, how many hours do you usually work in a week, including overtime?”, we calculate the average weekly working hours separately for women and men, and use their ratio to measure the female labor force participation |
| LS_GenderPercep2 | Gender inequality perception measure from the labor supply side perspective. The second measure is the female educational attainment, which is defined as the proportion of women with higher education in the total female population. Using data from the CGSS (2018) questionnaire, we constructed this measure based on responses to the question: “What is your current highest level of education?” Higher education is defined as a college degree or above, and respondents with such qualifications are coded as 1; otherwise, they are coded as 0 |
| Partitioning variables for cross-sectional tests | |
| SOE | A dummy variable that equals 1 if the firm is a stated-owned business, and 0 otherwise |
| High_GDP | A dummy variable that equals 1 if the GDP of the province where the firm is incorporated is higher than the annual median GDP of all provinces, and 0 otherwise |
| OverseaShock | A dummy variable that equals 1 if the province where the firm is incorporated historically had an open treaty port, and 0 otherwise |
| Variable | Definition |
|---|---|
| The percentage of females in top management teams including board of directors, supervisory board members and top executives | |
| The percentage of females in top executives | |
| The difference between the average salary of male and female executives in the firm, scaled by the average salary of all executives | |
| Number of genealogies per 10,000 residents in the city where the firm is incorporated | |
| Proportion of the top three surnames in the city where the firm is incorporated | |
| Provincial-level indicators calculated by aligning the areas from the 26th year of the Hongwu period with current administrative districts. Population density is determined by dividing the population by the area, expressed in persons per square kilometer | |
| Total assets (in logarithms) | |
| The ratio of total liabilities to total assets | |
| Return on total assets | |
| Revenue growth rate | |
| The ownership percentage of the largest shareholder | |
| Number of board members (in logarithms) | |
| Proportion of independent directors relative to the total number of board members | |
| When the chairman and CEO of the two positions concurrently, take the value of 1, otherwise 0 | |
| Gross domestic product per capita of the province where the firm is incorporated (in logarithms) | |
| The GDP of the first industry sector in the province where the firm is incorporated, relative to the total GDP of the province | |
| Marketization index for the province where the firm is incorporated | |
| The number of universities in the province where the firm is incorporated (in logarithms) | |
| The number of marriage registrations in the province where the firm is incorporated (in logarithms) | |
| The natural logarithm of the number of schools in each city in the Ming and Qing Dynasties | |
| Firm trustworthiness at the provincial level, based on the question in the CGSS (2018) questionnaire: “In general, do you agree that the vast majority of people in the society can be trusted?” Responses are coded as follows: “Strongly agree” and “Agree” are assigned a value of 1, while “Neither agree nor disagree”, “Disagree”, and “Strongly disagree” are assigned a value of 0. The average value is then calculated at the province level and matched to firms based on the province where the firm is incorporated | |
| Gender inequality perception measure from the labor demand side perspective. This measure is derived from the CGSS (2018) questionnaire, based on the question: “Do you agree with the statement: Men are inherently more capable than women?” Responses are coded as follows: “Strongly agree” and “Agree” are assigned a value of 1, while “Neither agree nor disagree”, “Disagree”, and “Strongly disagree” are assigned a value of 0. The average value is then calculated at the province level and matched to firms based on the province where the firm is incorporated | |
| Another gender inequality perception measure from the labor demand side perspective. This measure is derived from the CGSS (2018) questionnaire, based on the question: “Do you agree with the statement: In times of economic depression, female employees should be fired first?” The construction method is identical to that of | |
| Gender inequality perception measure from the labor supply side perspective. The first measure is the female labor force participation, which is defined as the ratio of women's average weekly working hours to men's. Using responses to the CGSS (2018) question: “When you have a job, how many hours do you usually work in a week, including overtime?”, we calculate the average weekly working hours separately for women and men, and use their ratio to measure the female labor force participation | |
| Gender inequality perception measure from the labor supply side perspective. The second measure is the female educational attainment, which is defined as the proportion of women with higher education in the total female population. Using data from the CGSS (2018) questionnaire, we constructed this measure based on responses to the question: “What is your current highest level of education?” Higher education is defined as a college degree or above, and respondents with such qualifications are coded as 1; otherwise, they are coded as 0 | |
| A dummy variable that equals 1 if the firm is a stated-owned business, and 0 otherwise | |
| A dummy variable that equals 1 if the GDP of the province where the firm is incorporated is higher than the annual median GDP of all provinces, and 0 otherwise | |
| A dummy variable that equals 1 if the province where the firm is incorporated historically had an open treaty port, and 0 otherwise | |
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