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Gender Discrimination in Job Ads: Evidence from China

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  • Peter Kuhn
  • Kailing Shen

Abstract

We study explicit gender discrimination in a population of ads on a Chinese Internet job board. Gender-targeted job ads are common, favor women as often as men, and are much less common in jobs requiring higher levels of skill. Employers' relative preferences for female versus male workers, on the other hand, are more strongly related to the preferred age, height, and beauty of the worker than to job skill levels. Almost two thirds of the variation in advertised gender preferences occurs within firms, and one third occurs within firmoccupation cells. Overall, these patterns are not well explained by a firm-level animus model, by a glass-ceiling model, or by models in which broad occupational categories are consistently gendered across firms. Instead, the patterns suggest a model in which firms have idiosyncratic preferences for particular job-gender matches, which are overridden in skilled positions by factors such as thinner labor markets or a greater incentive to search broadly for the most qualified candidate. JEL Codes: J16, J63, J71. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Kuhn & Kailing Shen, 2013. "Gender Discrimination in Job Ads: Evidence from China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 287-336.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:128:y:2013:i:1:p:287-336
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/qje/qjs046
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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