So Yun Park, Eunsil Oh
Sociological Science January 9, 2025
10.15195/v12.a2
Abstract
For the past three decades, scholars have conducted field experiments to examine gender-based hiring discrimination in the United States. However, these studies have produced mixed results. To further interpret these findings, we performed a meta-analysis of 37 audit studies conducted between 1990 and 2022. Using an aggregated sample of 243,202 fictitious job applications, the study finds no evidence of statistically significant gender discrimination at the study level. However, a series of more focused meta-analyses reveal important variations in the extent of discrimination by occupation type and applicant race. First, the gender composition of an occupation predicts gender bias in hiring. Second, the intersection of gender and race is critical—in female-dominated jobs, White female applicants receive more callbacks than their male counterparts, but Black female applicants experience no such benefit. The study contributes to the literature on labor market and gender (in)equality by synthesizing the findings of field experiments.
For the past three decades, scholars have conducted field experiments to examine gender-based hiring discrimination in the United States. However, these studies have produced mixed results. To further interpret these findings, we performed a meta-analysis of 37 audit studies conducted between 1990 and 2022. Using an aggregated sample of 243,202 fictitious job applications, the study finds no evidence of statistically significant gender discrimination at the study level. However, a series of more focused meta-analyses reveal important variations in the extent of discrimination by occupation type and applicant race. First, the gender composition of an occupation predicts gender bias in hiring. Second, the intersection of gender and race is critical—in female-dominated jobs, White female applicants receive more callbacks than their male counterparts, but Black female applicants experience no such benefit. The study contributes to the literature on labor market and gender (in)equality by synthesizing the findings of field experiments.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. |
Reproducibility Package: Data and code are available at the Open Science Framework via https://osf.io/kp5df/.
- Citation: Park, So Yun, Eunsil Oh. 2025. “Getting a Foot in the Door: A Meta-Analysis of U.S. Audit Studies of Gender Bias in Hiring” Sociological Science 12:26-50.
- Received: September 28, 2024
- Accepted: November 14, 2024
- Editors: Ari Adut, Vida Maralani
- DOI: 10.15195/v12.a2