The cost of a vowel: How the gender-marked job title affects ratings of female lawyers

S. Burlacu, D. Cappelletti, S. Marzadro and A. Tondini

Economics Letters, 2024, vol. 234, issue C

Abstract: We show that using the feminine job title negatively impacts how female lawyers are perceived by other professionals. Respondents were presented with hypothetical legal issues and shown several realistic profiles of male and female lawyers, where we randomly varied whether female lawyers were presented with the predominantly used masculine term – avvocato – or with the feminine term — avvocata. Ceteris paribus, female profiles with the feminine title receive lower ratings by 0.36 (out of 10, −5%, −0.16SD). The effect is driven by female respondents and is large relative to profiles’ experience or other quality signals.

Keywords: Gender language; Job titles; Vignette study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J16 J44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:234:y:2024:i:c:s0165176523005207

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111494

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