On 11 May 2023, the 27th Xi Xian Academic Luncheon, co-hosted by IIDPF and the School of Public Finance and Taxation, was successfully held in Conference Room 119, Wenqin Building. Dr. Qian Yiwei from Southwest University of Finance and Economics, as the guest speaker of this academic luncheon, gave a lecture entitled "Does Greater Flexibility of Online Labour Markets Encourage Female Participation? Evidence from an Online Freelancing Platform". The luncheon was hosted by IIDPF's full-time researcher, Dr Li Shanshan, and attended by more than 30 participants, including IIDPF's Executive Director, Professor Lu Yuanping, Associate Professor Huang Hongwei from the School of Public Administration, and Dr Wan Xin.
Exploring job flexibility helps to improve gender differences in the labour market and expand online employment channels. Dr Qian used experimental data to examine whether the flexibility of online employment platforms facilitates female labour force employment. Conducted on an international free labour market platform, the experiment used job flexibility in job advertisements and differences in labour remuneration. The study found that while both men and women preferred job flexibility, women were twice as likely to be employed for job flexibility as men. In the meantime, female applicants were less willing to give up job flexibility for higher pay compared to men.
Dr Qian Yiwei gave a fascinating talk to the attendees, and also stimulated in-depth thinking about the research topic. During the discussion session, faculty and students in the audience spoke enthusiastically and had in-depth exchanges on the research questions, experimental design and future research directions. Dr Qian's paper is important for research on improving gender differences in the labour market and promoting female employment.