When Gender Discrimination Is Not About Gender
We use an experiment to show that employers prefer to hire male over female workers for a male-typed task even when they have identical resumes. Using a novel control condition, we document that this discrimination is not specific to gender. Employers are simply less willing to hire a worker from a group that performs worse on average, even when this group is instead defined by a non-stereotypical characteristic. Thus, our evidence points to an important role for beliefs in explaining gender discrimination. We also document evidence for in-group preferences that contribute to the gender discrimination observed. Finally, our design allows us to address the role of image concerns in driving our results.
Keywords: Gender; Demographics; Attitudes; Prejudice and Bias;
Citation:
Coffman, Katherine B., Christine L. Exley, and Muriel Niederle. "When Gender Discrimination Is Not About Gender." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 18-054, December 2017. (Revised January 2019.) View Details
