The project is based on two main experiments.

Audit Study: The Role of Gender Stereotypes in Hiring

Using correspondence testing, we investigated if employers discriminate against women based on stereotypes or prejudices. We sent four (two pairs of fictitious man–woman) résumés to 1,371 job offers from a broad selection of occupations In one pair, candidates had equivalent CVs except for their sex and their qualifications (meeting standards or higher). In the second pair, candidates differed by sex and parenthood status (with or without children). We interpret the observed differences in favour of men as signalling gender bias in recruitment. This bias is reduced when women have higher qualifications and increases when they have children. We interpret employers’ openness to modify their decisions when candidates’ personal characteristics differ from the group norm, and the absence of discrimination among highly qualified non-mothers, as evidence that gender bias in recruitment is largely grounded in employers’ stereotypes rather than in prejudices.

Factorial Survey Experiment on Job Promotion: the Role of Gender, Parenthood and Work Flexibility

We analyse the role of gender, parenthood and work flexibility measures on the likelihood of internal promotion in Spain. Based on theories of discrimination and labour market signalling, we hypothesised that employers favour fathers more than mothers for promotion, independent of workplace flexibility measures. Hypotheses were tested using data from a survey experiment, in which 71 supervisors from private companies evaluated short vignettes of six different candidates for job promotion into positions that require decision-making and team supervision skills. Several candidate characteristics were experimentally manipulated, while others were kept constant to avoid a lack of information and minimise statistical discrimination. Contrary to the stereotype content model, the father candidates were not perceived to be more competent than the mother candidates and did not receive higher scores for promotion. However, flexibility (to work 35 hours per week and telework) led to lower promotion scores, partly due to being perceived as less committed candidates. Thus, while there was no direct penalty, an indirect penalty to mothers was observed. Although the statutory right to reduce working hours for care reasons seems a major social achievement, this experiment showed that mothers were indirectly penalised in terms of their likelihood for promotion.