Gender discrimination in the labour market : A meta-analysis of field experiments, researching gender discrimination in the labour markets hiring process

In this article, a meta-analysis was conducted using correspondence tests from 2004 and later, researching gender discrimination in the labour markets hiring process. A total of 19 correspondence tests were found from 12 different countries across the world. Comparisons of call-back rates for job applications between male and female applicants were made. I created a call-back ratio, dividing the female applicants’ call-back rate by the male applicants’ call-back rate for each study and regressed on two different variables, “equality score” and “work incentives rating”, meant to measure gender equality of countries. My hypothesis is that females are still discriminated against in the world’s labour markets. Statistical discrimination is my main theory of why discrimination of female applicants would occur in the labour market. The method of meta-analysis is useful for observing overall trends and drawing broad conclusions regarding a subject. The equality score is significantly correlated with higher call-back rates for both genders, bot it is not correlated with the call-back ratio, and therefore, does not seem to be correlated with gender discrimination. Providing more work incentives are correlated with lower call-back rates for both genders, but these findings are not significant at any level. The call-back ratio is unaffected by the work incentives rating, showing no correlation with discrimination. The main findings show no discrimination of female applicants, but rather points to discrimination of male applicants. This could be to a perceived image of men being more threatening.