Article

Do women have fewer opportunities to be hired?

Clara Cortina, M. José González e Jorge Rodríguez, Universidade Pompeu Fabra;

An experiment in gender discrimination in the jobs market shows that women aged between 37 and 39 years have an average of 30% fewer possibilities of being invited to a job interview than men with the same characteristics. Gender discrimination is greater when the applicants have children, and declines, although it never completely disappears, when they are better qualified for the job in question.
Key points
  • 1
       Over 5,600 fictitious CVs were sent to real job offers in Madrid and Barcelona. Subsequently, the probabilities of being invited to a job interview were compared between people with equivalent CVs that were only differentiated in terms of their gender, whether they had children or not and their degree of qualification for the position applied for.
  • 2
       Under equal conditions, women had an average of 30% fewer probabilities of being invited to a job interview than men with the same profile.
  • 3
       Gender differences in the recruitment process are greater when the applicants have children, although they decline, without completely disappearing, when they are better qualified for the position applied for.

To understand across all their complexity the effects of gender, number of children, and qualification for the post on the probability of being invited to a job interview, the following figure presents the response rates for different subgroups. Gender differences are maintained in all cases, although they are much smaller in the subgroup of applicants without children and with a high level of qualification. In this subgroup, and despite the equality in the curriculum of the two genders, women have a slightly lower probability of being invited to an interview (12.4%) than men (13.6%). In fact, in this subgroup the differences between men and women are very small and are not statistically significant. 

Probability of being invited to a job interview by sex, number of children and qualification for the post
Probability of being invited to a job interview by sex, number of children and qualification for the post

When women applicants have a high level of qualification for the post and do not have children, differences with respect to men with the same level of qualification practically disappear. This circumstance enables the conclusion that gender discrimination in job recruitment processes is not explained as much by negative prejudices towards women in general, but rather by gender stereotypes, according to which women are usually seen as less committed to paid employment and more oriented towards the family.

Prejudices or stereotypes?

When women applicants have a high level of qualification for the post and do not have children, differences with respect to men with the same level of qualification practically disappear. This circumstance enables the conclusion that gender discrimination in job recruitment processes is not explained as much by negative prejudices towards women in general, but rather by gender stereotypes, according to which women are usually seen as less committed to paid employment and more oriented towards the family.

Classification

Tags

Subject areas

Related content

Infodata

PhD qualifications by different branches of knowledge and by sex

While the participation of female PhD holders in Portugal is situated above the EU‑27 average in all fields of knowledge considered, in Spain the participation of female PhD holders is situated below the European average in the fields of art, humanities and social sciences.

Article

Participate or win? Women, men and competitiveness

Are women worse at competing? This article shows that factors exist, of a cultural nature, that can explain part of the discrimination that women suffer in the jobs market.

Article

Housework and childcare during the lockdown, tasks undertaken mainly by women

Despite a slight increase in participation by men, this study shows that housework and childcare represented a heavier workload for women during the lockdown.

You may also find interesting

Portugal, Social Balance Sheet 2021 - A portrait of the country and of the pandemic

Article

Portugal, Social Balance Sheet 2021 - A portrait of the country and of the pandemic


Social Inclusion

“Portugal, Social Balance Sheet” is an annual report that analyses poverty and social exclusion in Portugal.

How have covid-19 prevention measures affected professionals working at nursing homes?

Article

How have covid-19 prevention measures affected professionals working at nursing homes?


Social Inclusion

The impact of covid-19 on older people in nursing homes has been thoroughly researched, but less is known about the impact on health professionals.

The pandemic and the labour market: What we know a year later

Article

The pandemic and the labour market: What we know a year later


Social Inclusion

More than one year into the pandemic, employment and hours worked are still lower than in the pre-pandemic period. This article uses secondary data from the Labour Force Survey, conducted by Statistics Portugal, and data on the registrations at Public Employment Offices (Instituto para o Emprego e Formação Profissional).