The role of gender stereotypes in hiring: a field experiment
Open accessAbstract
Using correspondence testing, we investigate if employers discriminate against women based on stereotypes or prejudices. We sent four (two pairs of fictitious man–woman) résumés to 1,372 job offers from a broad selection of occupations. In one pair, candidates had equivalent curriculum vitae (CVs) except for their sex and their qualifications (meeting standards or higher). In the second pair, candidates differed by sex and parenthood status (with or without children). We interpret the observed differences in favour of men as signalling gender bias in recruitment. This bias is reduced when women have higher qualifications and increases when they have children. We interpret employers’ openness to modify their decisions when candidates’ personal characteristics differ from the group norm, and the absence of discrimination among highly qualified non-mothers, as evidence that gender bias in recruitment is largely grounded in employers’ stereotypes rather than in prejudices.
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Our results are supportive of previously reported examples of gender-based discrimination and the challenges faced by women in various spheres of life, including education and professional opportunities.
“Moreover, our results are supportive of previously reported examples of gender-based discrimination and the challenges faced by women in various spheres of life, including education and professional opportunities [90–93].”
From What is beautiful is still good: the attractiveness halo effect in the era of beauty filters (2024) · cites this paper as [90]
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- M. Jose ´Gonza ´lez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Science at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain). Her research interests include family formation, child care, father- hood, domestic work, and gender inequalities. Her re- cent work has appeared in European Journal of Women's Studies, European Societies, and Population Research and Policy Review. Clara Cortina is a Lecturer in the Department of Political and Social Science at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain). Her research interests include changes in partnership and family dynamics in contem- porary Europe. Her recent work has appeared in Demographic Research, Review of Economics of the Household, European Journal of Population, and Population and Development Review.
- Jorge Rodrı ´guez is an Associate Professor Serra Hunter in Sociology and Criminology at the Department of Political and Social Sciences in Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain). His research interests include occu- pational change, social mobility, status attainment, and social capital from a cross-national perspective, crimin- ology and its studies of violence against women. His re- cent work has appeared Social Science Research, European Political Science Review, European Sociological Review, and Sociological Methods and Research.
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What is beautiful is still good: the attractiveness halo effect in the era of beauty filters
Gulati, A., Martínez-Garcia, M., Fernández, D., Lozano, M. A., Lepri, B., & Oliver, N. (2024) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.240882 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
- Authors
- González, M. J., Cortina, C., & Rodríguez, J.
- Affiliations
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)
- Department of Political & Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Ramon Trias Fargas, 25–27, Barcelona, Spain
- Corresponding author
- González, M José
- Venue
- European Sociological Review
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2019-01-30
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 187-204
- ISSN
- 0266-7215 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-2672
- OpenAlex
- W2921785627
- Cited by
- 140
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 15.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Sociological Review (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Repositori digital de la UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Recercaixa2014
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Diversity and Inequality
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Labour Market and Migration
- Keywords
- gender stereotypes, gender discrimination in hiring, correspondence testing, resume screening, parental status, women's qualifications, employer decision-making
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