  Addressing female underrepresentation in leadership positions has become a
key policy objective. However, little is known about the extent to which
leadership appeals differently to women. Collecting new data from a large firm,
I document that women are substantially less likely to apply for early-career
promotions. Realized application patterns and large-scale surveys reveal the
role of an understudied feature of promotions -- having to assume
responsibility over a team -- which is less appealing to women. This gender
difference is not accounted for by standard explanations, such as success
likelihood or confidence, but is rather a product of common design features of
leadership positions.
