The Impact of Employer Discrimination on Female Labor Market Outcomes : Experimental Evidence from Tunisia
The role of employer discrimination in widening labor market differences between men and women has been hypothesized and investigated in different settings. Using a field experiment, this paper examines the presence and magnitude of gender-based di...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/876761597329961148/The-Impact-of-Employer-Discrimination-on-Female-Labor-Market-Outcomes-Experimental-Evidence-from-Tunisia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34368 |
| Summary: | The role of employer discrimination in
widening labor market differences between men and women has
been hypothesized and investigated in different settings.
Using a field experiment, this paper examines the presence
and magnitude of gender-based discrimination by employers at
the point of screening in Tunisia. The study sent out 1,571
fictitious and substantially identical pairs of male and
female resumes in response to online job advertisements. On
average, women were 2.4 percentage points more likely than
men to receive a callback from an employer. However, this
average effect hides substantial heterogeneity across
economic sectors. In the information technology sector,
women were 15 percentage points less likely to receive a
callback than men. No discrimination against or in favor of
women is found in engineering, whereas in marketing and
finance, women were 19 and 4 percentage points more likely
to receive a callback, respectively. The paper also finds
that, unlike men, women may suffer from discrimination based
on their physical appearance. Veiled women were 8.5
percentage points less likely to receive a callback than
non-veiled women. Overall, the findings suggest that, at the
point of screening, employer discrimination against women in
Tunisia is sector specific, and, on its own, it cannot fully
explain the complex challenge of female unemployment in the country. |
|---|