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disparity is consistent with discrimination. Psychological research has demonstrated that even when
the actual productivity of men and women has proved to be equivalent, evaluations of female
employees are less positive than for men. Unfortunately, in our data we have no information on
actual productivity of university graduates. However, we know from the psychological literature
that the assessment of productivity in the workplace is strongly influenced by stereotypes that
preclude the fair assessment of individual performance and create workplace discrimination.
We test the hypothesis that gender stereotypes affecting the assessment of individual productivity
represent a major cause of statistical discrimination that is realized in the unexplained component of
the gender pay gap. We identify some contexts in which stereotypes are more likely to occur and we
verify that the most likely the stereotype, the higher the unexplained component of the gender pay
gap.
In order to reduce discrimination, personnel decisions should be guided by a structured program to
ensure that men and women are being evaluated on the same criteria. Test performance, number of
projects completed, amount of revenue generated, and other quantifiable indicators are relatively
easy to collect and judge, and they are also more difficult to distort in gender-consistent ways than
more subjective measures. For example, we find evidence that in contexts in which managers use
more structured evaluation procedures as in open competition (concorsi) the unexplained
component of the gender pay gap is lower.
It is important to be aware that the gender pay gap is influenced by gender stereotypes that affect
the assessment of women’s productivity when they enter the labour market or are in the early years
of their working life. Very small differences in treatment can, as they accumulate, have major
consequences in salary, promotion, and prestige, including advancement to leadership positions.
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