2,106 fictitious job applications for entry-level positions were submitted with randomized manipulation of GPA, gender, and college major. Call-back data shows that GPA mattered little for men's. For women, mid-level performers were called back more than others.

The disadvantage of high-performing women was especially large for people with degrees in Math, as compared to English or Business. This is interesting given that STEM jobs have previously been argued to be relatively gender equal (such as in Goldin 2014).

An additional audit study was directed only at hiring professionals. These were asked to rate applicants' personality traits and give open-ended assessments. As in the first experiment, high-performing women were at a disadvantage compared to mid-performers.

For women in general, being "likeable" was the primary trait driving the hiring-professionals' decisions on who to interview for the job. Open narratives pointed to a strong skepticism of high-performing women's likeability, in particular (see cut-out)...

For low-performing men, the open narratives showed various excuses for low school performance. For these candidates, various other strengths were pointed out (see cut-out)

I personally think that the gender-gap in grades comes partly from women trying to overcome expected discrimination in the labor market, so it is super sad to see that good grades for women may even back-fire. I am curious to see this paper replicated outside the U.S.

Thank you @nquadlin for this important work!

You can follow @johannarickne.

____

Tip: mention @threader_app on a Twitter thread with the keyword “compile” to get a link to it.



Enjoy Threader? Sign up.



Since you’re here...



... we’re asking visitors like you to make a contribution to support this independent project. In these uncertain times, access to information is vital. Threader gets 1,000,000+ visits a month and our iOS Twitter client was featured as an App of the Day by Apple. Your financial support will help two developers to keep working on this app. Everyone’s contribution, big or small, is so valuable. Support Threader by becoming premium or by donating on PayPal. Thank you.



Download Threader on iOS.