Mind the Job: The Role of Occupational Characteristics in Explaining Gender Discrimination

Clara Cortina (), Jorge Rodríguez () and M. José González ()
Additional contact information
Clara Cortina: Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Jorge Rodríguez: Universitat Pompeu Fabra
M. José González: Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2021, vol. 156, issue 1, No 5, 110 pages

Abstract: Abstract Using correspondence testing, we investigate how job characteristics affect gender discrimination in hiring. In particular, we analyse whether discrimination against women is moderated by the occupation’s sex composition, required level of decision-making and expected educational level. To do so, we carried out a correspondence study in 2016, in which we sent two pairs of matched male–female applications to 1371 job postings for a heterogeneous selection of occupations in two large cities in Spain. Differences in response rates and response order by gender were then used as a tool to assess discrimination. The results show that job characteristics matter for gender discrimination and that their effects are complementary. Women were particularly discriminated against in connection with jobs that involved decision-making, in male-dominated and mixed occupations, and in jobs requiring both high and low education levels. This discrimination is likely to stem from the activation of both stereotypes and prejudices.

Keywords: Gender stereotypes; Gender discrimination; Correspondence testing; Field experiments; Hiring (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-021-02646-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:soinre:v:156:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-021-02646-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11205-021-02646-2

Access Statistics for this article

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement is currently edited by Filomena Maggino

More articles in Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().