A substantial body of literature has shown that women shy away from competition against men, which has been put forward as an explanation for the significant gender differences observed in career promotions and salary negotiations. It is therefore of crucial importance to understand the conditions under which the gender gap in competitiveness can be reduced. In this study, we explore the role of priming. Previous studies have demonstrated that primes may affect individuals’ choices; however, little is known about the causal impact of priming competition on tournament entry. Our findings replicate previous work showing that, in the absence of primes, women compete less than men. By contrast, introducing a priming task can significantly eliminate gender disparities in competitiveness. This suggests that costless and simple tools such as priming can be adopted by organisations which aim to reduce inequalities between men and women in the workplace.

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