TY - JOUR
T1 - Discrimination against Women in Hiring
AU - Osman, Adam
AU - Speer, Jamin D.
AU - Weaver, Andrew
N1 - The authors thank Sarah Wahby, Abdelrahman Nagy, Mohamed Yousef, and Mohsen Nagy from the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL); Ismail Habrouk, Nora Abou El Seoud, Farah Osman, and Theo Wilson from Education for Employment; Iris Boutros, Arjan De Haan, Rania Fazah, and Flaubert Mbiekop from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC); Mohamed El Komi and Ebaa El Sayed from the American University in Cairo; Ali Abdullah and Alia El-Mahdi from EgyPols; and the participants in the study. This work has been approved by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Internal Review Board (approval no. 16766) and University of Memphis Internal Review Board (approval no. 4166). We are thankful for financial support from the IDRC. Authors retained full intellectual freedom to design, analyze, and interpret results. All errors are our own. Contact the corresponding author, Adam Osman, at [email protected] .
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - We study discrimination in hiring and its associated outcomes for the discriminators using a unique survey of Egyptian businesses. Discrimination against women is widespread and overt: about half (51%) of establishments directly admit that they prefer to hire men. The share varies widely across industries, from 60% in retail to only 16% in IT. Using a list randomization technique, we can rule out that discrimination against women is heavily stigmatized in Egypt, meaning that establishments are willing to admit it openly. We then provide novel suggestive evidence showing that discriminating against women is associated with the employment of lower-quality workers. We also provide guidance on the use of the list randomization technique and how to interpret it in settings with limited stigma.
AB - We study discrimination in hiring and its associated outcomes for the discriminators using a unique survey of Egyptian businesses. Discrimination against women is widespread and overt: about half (51%) of establishments directly admit that they prefer to hire men. The share varies widely across industries, from 60% in retail to only 16% in IT. Using a list randomization technique, we can rule out that discrimination against women is heavily stigmatized in Egypt, meaning that establishments are willing to admit it openly. We then provide novel suggestive evidence showing that discriminating against women is associated with the employment of lower-quality workers. We also provide guidance on the use of the list randomization technique and how to interpret it in settings with limited stigma.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85205573761&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1086/729836
DO - 10.1086/729836
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85205573761
SN - 0013-0079
JO - Economic Development and Cultural Change
JF - Economic Development and Cultural Change
ER -