Gendered ethnic discrimination and the role of recruiter gender. A field experiment

2023/09/20 by Anni Erlandsson · 1 voice · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Gender Studies in Language #Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity #Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research

paper · doi:10.1177/00016993231201482

openalex publication_date 2023/09/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

Relying on data from a large-scale field experiment in Sweden, this article studies discrimination in recruitment on the basis of gender and ethnicity combined with recruiter gender. The study includes 5641 job applications sent in response to advertised vacancies, and the employer callbacks to these. Gender and either a Swedish or a foreign-sounding name were randomly assigned to the applications, and recruiter gender was documented whenever available. Based on the callback rates, there is evidence of ethnic discrimination against foreign-named job applicants by both male and female recruiters. Also, male applicants with foreign-sounding names are discriminated more than female applicants with foreign-sounding names. Thus, the results show gendered ethnic discrimination in the Swedish labor market, and this does not appear to depend on recruiter gender in general. However, the patterns for gendered ethnic discrimination by recruiter gender vary across occupational categories.

Citations

• Evidence of ethnic discrimination in the Swedish labor market using experimental data
• Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate-Group Identities
• Social categorization and intergroup behaviour
• The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations
• The state of hiring discrimination: A meta-analysis of (almost) all recent correspondence experiments
• Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks

Cited by

• Human, Algorithm, or Both? Gender Bias in Human-Augmented Recruiting

Discussions

• In another experiment, Anni Erlandsson also find that recruiters irrespective of gender discriminates foreign-named job applicants, in particular foreign-named men struggle to be recruited: doi.org/10 [bsky, 1 points, 1 comments]

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• Gender discrimination in hiring: Intersectional effects with ethnicity and cognitive job demands.
• Hiring Gender-Occupation Incongruent Applicants