Patterns tested in real-life situations

Scientists carried out 30 field experiments concerning entering the labor market – a first in Greece,” says Eleni Georgakakou, the research associate who led the experiments. Thirty pairs of candidates were picked to respond to real job advertisements. Each pair had the same qualifications (same educational level, same years of experience, same language skills and so on), but one person in each was a member of at least two groups or social categories often subject to discrimination. “Both candidates said the same things on the phone, in the same way, according to the same script that allowed them to gradually reveal their traits so that we could gauge the difference in the responses,” Georgakakou says. “The Greek language helped us trace evidence of multiple discrimination as a single word – for example ‘ellinida’ (meaning ‘Greek woman’) – can be used to designate nationality as well as gender. “An employer said he was looking for a young Greek woman, which amounts to discrimination on three level, involving gender, ethnic origin and age. “The candidate that most employers appeared to be looking for was a Greek male aged up to 45. “On the other hand, the least popular candidate was elderly, non-Greek and female.” The researchers found discrimination in 57 percent of cases. Meanwhile, in 43 percent of the cases the response was the same, in the sense that both candidates were turned down. Nevertheless, rejection was in both cases prompted by discrimination, although the grounds that triggered it were different. Gender is the most common reason for discrimination, and in some cases it can work against men (reverse sexism), such as in jobs that are still viewed as “women’s work” (nurses, secretaries, cleaners). In 11 out of 30 cases, researchers found instances of multiple discrimination.