Gender stereotyping and wage discrimination among Italian graduates

10
labour market discrimination is characterized by unequal treatment of equally productive persons,
empirical evidence showing wage disparity greater than productivity disparities are consistent with
discrimination (Hersch 2006). Unfortunately, in our data we have no information on actual
productivity of university graduates. But we know from the psychological literature that the
assessment of productivity in the workplace is strongly influenced by stereotypes, that is non-
conscious hypotheses, beliefs or expectations that affect our judgments of others⁸. A large body of
research suggests that all of us - regardless of our sex and the social group we belong to - perceive
and treat people based on their gender (Valian 1998, Schein 2001). Adopting a stereotype-
consistent view is automatic and unintentional (Devine 1989), and often at odds with our conscious
intentions and our beliefs (Dovidio 2001)⁹. Moreover, the ways that men and women are treated
differently may be perceived as being in the best interest of women (Fuegen et al. 2004)¹⁰. Further,
and perhaps even more importantly, acting on stereotypes can be nearly imperceptible at individual
level and emerge only when aggregated across individuals.¹¹

Stereotypes and prejudice preclude the fair assessment of individual performance and create
workplace discrimination. Psychological research has demonstrated that even when the actual
qualifications of men and women have proved to be equivalent, evaluations of female employees
are less positive than for men¹².

We hypothesize that gender stereotypes as “a woman after pregnancy is a resource for the company
lost” or “think manager, think male” affect the assessment of individual productivity and represent a
major cause of statistical discrimination that is realized in the unexplained component of the gender
pay gap.

Section 4 documents how gender stereotypes impact on subjective assessment of individual
productivity, and consequently on the gender pay gap and careers of male and female graduates.

⁸ - For a general overview of cognitive analysis of stereotypes and stereotyping, see Hamilton and Trolier (1986).

⁹ - Dovidio (2001) shows that even individuals carrying strong egalitarian values and fully convinced of the duty to
give equal treatment to men and women may behave in a discriminatory manner.

¹⁰ - Adverse employment decisions based on gender stereotypes are sometimes well-intentioned and perceived by
the employer as being in the employee’s best interest. Employers may think that they are behaving considerately
when they act on stereotypes that they believe correspond to characteristics that women should have, such as the
belief that working mothers with young children should avoid extensive travel. For example, an employer might
assume that a working mother would not want to relocate to another city, even if it would mean a promotion
(Williams and Segal 2003).

¹¹ Crosby (1984), for example, demonstrated that women do not acknowledge the ways that gender discrimination
may have affected their own career experiences. They are more likely to assume personal responsibility for
receiving fewer organizational resources than their male coworkers.

¹² - See, for example, the meta-analysis by Olian, Schwab and Haberfeld (1988), and, more recently, the meta-
analysis by Swim and Sanna (1996).

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