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Testing for discrimination against lesbians of different marital status: A field experiment

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  • Doris Weichselbaumer

Abstract

In this paper, a correspondence testing experiment is conducted to examine sexual orientation discrimination against lesbians in Germany. Applications for four fictional female characters are sent out in response to job advertisements: a heterosexual single, a married heterosexual, a single lesbian and a lesbian who is in a ‘same-sex registered partnership’. Different results are obtained for the two cities investigated, Munich and Berlin. While single lesbians and lesbians in a registered partnership are equally discriminated in comparison to the heterosexual women in the city of Munich, no discrimination based on sexual orientation has been found in Berlin. Furthermore, for a subset of our data we can compare the effects of a randomized versus a paired testing approach, which suggests that under certain conditions, due to increased conspicuity, the paired testing approach may lead to biased results.

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  • Doris Weichselbaumer, 2013. "Testing for discrimination against lesbians of different marital status: A field experiment," NRN working papers 2013-06, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    • Handle: RePEc:jku:nrnwps:2013_06
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    Cited by:

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    2. Stijn Baert, 2014. "Career lesbians. Getting hired for not having kids?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 543-561, November.
    3. Buser, Thomas & Geijtenbeek, Lydia & Plug, Erik, 2018. "Sexual orientation, competitiveness and income," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 191-198.
    4. David Neumark, 2016. "Experimental Research on Labor Market Discrimination," NBER Working Papers 22022, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Hannah Van Borm & Marlot Dhoop & Allien Van Acker & Stijn Baert, 2020. "What does someone's gender identity signal to employers?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(6), pages 753-777, March.
    6. Diaz-Serrano, Luis & Meix-Llop, Enric, 2016. "Do schools discriminate against homosexual parents? Evidence from a randomized correspondence experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 133-142.
    7. Rich, Judy, 2014. "What Do Field Experiments of Discrimination in Markets Tell Us? A Meta Analysis of Studies Conducted since 2000," IZA Discussion Papers 8584, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Graml, Regine & Hagen, Tobias & Ziegler, Yvonne & Khachatryan, Kristine & Herman, Ricky Astrida, 2020. "Lesbische Frauen in der Arbeitswelt: The L-Word in Business," Working Paper Series 15, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Business and Law.
    9. Shahar Sansani & Arik Rozental, 2018. "Who Favours The Gay Community? Experimental Evidence Using Charitable Donations," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 1-16, January.
    10. Gaddis, S. Michael, 2018. "An Introduction to Audit Studies in the Social Sciences," SocArXiv e5hfc, Center for Open Science.
    11. Stijn Baert & Elsy Verhofstadt, 2015. "Labour market discrimination against former juvenile delinquents: evidence from a field experiment," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(11), pages 1061-1072, March.
    12. Doris Weichselbaumer, 2016. "Discrimination against female migrants wearing headscarves," Economics working papers 2016-09, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    13. Valfort, Marie-Anne, 2020. "Anti-Muslim discrimination in France: Evidence from a field experiment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    14. Maryam Dilmaghani, 2018. "Sexual Orientation, Labour Earnings, and Household Income in Canada," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 41-55, March.
    15. Weichselbaumer, Doris, 2015. "Discrimination against Migrants in Austria: An Experimental Study," IZA Discussion Papers 9354, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Weichselbaumer, Doris & Schuster, Julia, 2021. "The Effect of Photos and a Local-Sounding Name on Discrimination against Ethnic Minorities in Austria," IZA Discussion Papers 14495, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Baert, Stijn, 2017. "Hiring Discrimination: An Overview of (Almost) All Correspondence Experiments Since 2005," IZA Discussion Papers 10738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Ali M. Ahmed & Elisabeth Lång, 2017. "The employability of ex-offenders: a field experiment in the Swedish labor market," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-23, December.
    19. Koopmans, Ruud & Veit, Susanne & Yemane, Ruta, 2018. "Ethnische Hierarchien in der Bewerberauswahl: Ein Feldexperiment zu den Ursachen von Arbeitsmarktdiskriminierung," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Migration, Integration, Transnationalization SP VI 2018-104, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    20. Joseph J. Sabia & Mark Wooden & Thanh Tam Nguyen, 2017. "Sexual Identity, Same‐Sex Relationships, and Labour Market Dynamics: New Evidence from Longitudinal Data in Australia," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(4), pages 903-931, April.
    21. Dilmaghani, Maryam & Dean, Jason, 2020. "Sexual orientation and homeownership in Canada," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    22. David Neumark, 2018. "Experimental Research on Labor Market Discrimination," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 799-866, September.
    23. Gaddis, S. Michael & DiRago, Nicholas V., 2021. "Audit Studies of Housing in the United States: Established, Emerging, and Future Research," SocArXiv fn4ta, Center for Open Science.
    24. Eleonora Patacchini & Giuseppe Ragusa & Yves Zenou, 2015. "Unexplored dimensions of discrimination in Europe: homosexuality and physical appearance," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 1045-1073, October.
    25. Doris Weichselbaumer, 2020. "Multiple Discrimination against Female Immigrants Wearing Headscarves," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(3), pages 600-627, May.

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    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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