Gender Discrimination in Hiring: An Examination of Mechanisms at the Intersection of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Occupational Status

Employers play a crucial role in how individuals are sorted into jobs. While there is an abundant literature on gender discrimination in hiring, most studies have primarily focussed on women’s entrance into previously male-dominated fields (e.g. engineering). Desegregation of labour markets (and a potential reduction in gender inequalities) requires that both men and women enter gender-atypical fields. Gender stereotypes that associate men and women with certain occupations are seen as a key driver of gender discrimination in hiring. However, recent studies suggest that such stereotypes might apply differently to members of the racial/ethnic majority and minority. Overall, we know little about whether the patterns and particularly the underlying mechanisms of gender discrimination in hiring are the same for men and women of the ethnic majority and minority. Moreover, occupational status has often been confounded with sex composition, masking potential explanations for the variation of gender discrimination within male- and female-dominated occupations. The objective of this project is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying gender discrimination in hiring at the intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, and occupational status with a focus on the role of stereotypes. The analytical focus is on Germany—an example for a highly sex-segregated labour market with strong occupational hierarchies. The project will use data from field and survey experiments, in which real recruiters provide evaluations of experimentally manipulated applicant profiles.