Gender stereotypes affects everyone
INEQUALITIES between men and women persist in the job market, right from the recruitment stage. But a study shows that female candidates are no longer discriminated against as much as they once were when embarking on careers in typically male-dominated professions.
The authors of this study, published in the journal Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, came to this conclusion after tracking the evolution of gender-based discrimination in hiring between 1976 and 2020. They analysed 361,645 job applications, taking various factors into account, to see whether gender stereotypes continue to hinder the career progression of women and men.
It turns out that women find it less difficult to enter male-dominated sectors. Today, they are almost as likely as their male counterparts to be selected for so-called “male-typed” professions. Before 1991, however, this was not the case. At the time, recruiters had a very gendered view of the world of work, which hindered women’s entry into some professions.
But researchers say those days are long gone.
“Discrimination against female applicants for jobs historically held by men has declined significantly and is no longer observable in the last decade,” the researchers write in their paper.
Men also face discrimination
However, the research team found that gender-based discrimination in recruitment persists when it’s directed against men. In fact, men still find it hard to enter highly female-dominated sectors, such as nursing or receptionist roles. Their applications are rarely, if ever, considered by recruiters, even if their skills or previous professional experience match the job description.
This type of discrimination is based on the idea that men do not have the emotional qualities required to perform in “female-typed” professional fields, or that they are not competent enough to perform in “male-typed” professions.
As such, there is every reason to believe that gender stereotypes continue to influence hiring decisions, even though progress has been made towards gender equality in the job market.
“Taken together, the results support the fading-of-bias account for male-typed and gender-balanced jobs (ie, non-female-typed jobs), and the persistence-of-bias account for female-typed occupations,” the researchers conclude.