This thesis is composed of two studies related to gender issues in economics. The first one explores whether companies experience benefits when the firm’s CEO and owner are both women. It employs data from the 2009-2014 World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) to measure firms’ performance through growth in sales and productivity. Potential endogeneity was corrected by using the UN Gender Development Index and the average fertility rate as they comply with the exclusion restrictions. The paper uses the Control Function method with a Probit first stage estimation and an OLS main equation. The findings suggest that a female owner strengthens the female CEO’s business skills and leads to better firm performance than when the CEO is a woman and the owner is a man. The second study analyzes if there are gender differences in the socioeconomic characteristics that impact the risk aversion of a person. Gender differences in risk aversion may explain the gaps between men and women in the professional or labor field. If this situation is to be modified, it is important to understand how actors behave when facing risky situations and which variables could influence this change. In this sense, the paper draws from laboratory experiments associated with risky and uncertain decisions, representative of six cities in Latin America, through two empirical strategies: regression analysis with interactions and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. We conclude that women are more risk averse than men, and that the main variables associated with this behavior are education, age, and whether or not the person is part of the labor market / Tesis

El Espacio de Mujeres Líderes de Instituciones de Educación Superior de las Américas (EMULIES) se creó como una iniciativa en el 2011 como parte de la Organización Universitaria Interamericana (OUI). Inició sus actividades con un grupo de mujeres líderes quienes identificaron las desigualdades y discriminaciones que ellas habían sufrido para acceder a puestos de autoridad dentro de las universidades. Los puestos de toma de decisión se presentaban (y se siguen presentando generalmente) como espacios de dominio masculino en los que las mujeres deben de enfrentarse al cuestionamiento constante en soledad por el hecho de ser mujeres. Para sobrellevar estas vicisitudes, EMULIES se constituyó como un espacio que convocó a las mujeres rectoras, vicerrectoras, decanas, jefas de diversas áreas y demás, para reflexionar sobre las situaciones que vivían y para generar así estrategias de apoyo e impulso para las mujeres que ocupaban o que buscaban ocupar un puesto de liderazgo. Desde su creación, EMULIES ha desarrollado tres productos principales: los Encuentros regionales de mujeres líderes en la educación superior; un Observatorio para analizar la situación de igualdad en las universidades sobre todo en lo referente a los cargos de autoridad; y un Diplomado sobre las temáticas de género y el liderazgo en la educación superior. Son estas tres actividades las que se evaluaron en esta investigación para así poder analizar la gestión de la iniciativa (entre el 2011 y el 2016), en base a la pertinencia, eficacia y sostenibilidad a fin de generar mejoras en el ahora programa. Se ha realizado para ello una investigación cualitativa con entrevistas a profundidad a usuarias de EMULIES para conocer así sus necesidades, expectativas y valoración sobre el funcionamiento del programa. Como resultado, se ha obtenido que las acciones de EMULIES son pertinentes y bien valoradas, aunque perfectibles porque no han logrado cumplir cabalmente con sus objetivos propuestos; y la sostenibilidad depende de factores internos y externos, entre los que se pueden identificar la institucionalización de EMULIES y la identificación de recursos para su autofinanciamiento. / The Space of Women Leaders of Higher Education Institutions of the Americas (EMULIES) was created as an initiative in 2011 as part of the Interamerican Organization for Higher Education (IOHE). It started its activities with a group of women leaders who had identified the inequities and discriminations that they have suffered to access to authority positions in universities. The decision making positions were presented (and they are still like that) as spaces of masculine domination where women must face in solitude the constant questioning for the simple fact of being women. To cope with theses vicissitudes, EMULIES was constituted as a space that gathered together rectors, vice-rectors, deans, heads of different areas, among others, to reflect about the situations that they have lived and to generate strategies of support and impulse for women who occupied or who were looking forward occupying a leadership position. Since its creation, EMULIES has developed three main products: the regional Meetings of women leaders in higher education; an Observatory to analyze the situation of equality in universities, especially related to authority positions, and a Diploma on gender issues and leadership in higher education. These three activities have been evaluated in this research in order to analyze the management of EMULIES (between 2011 and 2016), based on its pertinence, effectiveness and sustainability in order to generate improvements in the program. For this purpose, a qualitative research was carried out with in-depth interviews with EMULIES users in order to know their needs, expectations and assessment of the program’s operation. As a result, it has been obtained that the actions of EMULIES are relevant and well valued, although perfectible because they have not managed to fully comply with their proposed objectives; and sustainability depends on internal and external factors, among which the institutionalization of EMULIES and the identification of resources for self-financing can be identified. / Tesis

This thesis is composed of two studies related to gender issues in economics. The first one explores whether companies experience benefits when the firm’s CEO and owner are both women. It employs data from the 2009-2014 World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) to measure firms’ performance through growth in sales and productivity. Potential endogeneity was corrected by using the UN Gender Development Index and the average fertility rate as they comply with the exclusion restrictions. The paper uses the Control Function method with a Probit first stage estimation and an OLS main equation. The findings suggest that a female owner strengthens the female CEO’s business skills and leads to better firm performance than when the CEO is a woman and the owner is a man. The second study analyzes if there are gender differences in the socioeconomic characteristics that impact the risk aversion of a person. Gender differences in risk aversion may explain the gaps between men and women in the professional or labor field. If this situation is to be modified, it is important to understand how actors behave when facing risky situations and which variables could influence this change. In this sense, the paper draws from laboratory experiments associated with risky and uncertain decisions, representative of six cities in Latin America, through two empirical strategies: regression analysis with interactions and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. We conclude that women are more risk averse than men, and that the main variables associated with this behavior are education, age, and whether or not the person is part of the labor market