Job Market
Paper

This study examines the interactions between peers by building upon a widely cited finding in the gender literature that men interrupt women more often than women interrupt men. Using a new dataset derived from audio recordings of economic seminars, in which the gender of all speakers is identified, it finds that (i) female presenters are interrupted more frequently, earlier, and in a different manner than male presenters; (ii) these extra interruptions are mainly due to women in the audience, rather than men; (iii) female presenters with lower seniority receive more interruptions from female audience members; (iv) male audience members ask fewer questions and make more comments to female presenters; and (v) both male and female audience members interrupt female presenters with a more negative tone of voice overall. The seminar series and presentation topic are used as control variables, along with factors such as the presenter’s affiliation, seniority, and department ranking.