The gender difference in the value of winning

•We design an all-pay auction experiment which reveals the gender of the opponent.•We find that women bid higher than men, but only when bidding against other women.•Our findings suggest that women have a higher value of winning than men.

We design an all-pay auction experiment in which we reveal the gender of the opponent. Using this design, we find that women bid higher than men, but only when bidding against other women. These findings, interpreted through a theoretical model incorporating differences in risk attitude and the value of winning, suggest that women have a higher value of winning than men.