Exploring Gender Discrimination: A Multi-Trial Field Experiment in Urban Ecuador

Wladimir Zanoni, Suzanne Duryea and Jorge Paredes

No 13705, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: In this study, we investigate the extent and mechanisms of gender-based discrimination in urban Ecuador's hiring practices, a critical issue for understanding persistent gender disparities and informing policy. Using an artifactual field experiment with 392 recruiters evaluating observationally equivalent male and female job candidates, we uncover a significant preference for female candidates. Our results show that women were preferred by a margin of 15%, despite equivalent productivity assessments between genders. This suggests that hiring decisions are influenced by factors beyond assessed productivity differentials. We hypothesize that social norms advocating for gender equality significantly drive these preferences, and demonstrate that the preference for women aligns with the observed trend of narrowing the employment gender gap in survey data.

Keywords: Gender discrimination; Occupational Segregation; labor market; Stereotyping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J16 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm, nep-exp, nep-gen, nep-hrm and nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:brikps:13705

DOI: 10.18235/0013133

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