Gender discrimination in hiring processes in Bogota: A correspondence Study

Last registered on September 18, 2024

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Gender discrimination in hiring processes in Bogota: A correspondence Study
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012416
Initial registration date
November 01, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
January 19, 2024, 1:54 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
September 18, 2024, 3:31 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Universidad de los Andes

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
The World Bank
PI Affiliation
Universidad de los Andes
PI Affiliation
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
PI Affiliation
Inter-American Development Bank
PI Affiliation
Universidad de los Andes

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2023-10-16
End date
2023-12-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This intervention aims to determine whether employers that post online vacancies discriminate against men and women applicants based on their potential and effective parental situation. We conduct a correspondence study in one of Colombia’s largest online platforms for job seekers, where we apply with six different profiles that vary by sex, effective parental status, and potential parental status. We will apply to different types of sectors and occupations to try and capture differences across economic activities that are male or female dominated. We expect this evidence to help disentangle the effect of discrimination due to potential and effective parenthood in online job applications, for which there is scarce evidence, especially in a developing country setting.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Ham, Andres et al. 2024. "Gender discrimination in hiring processes in Bogota: A correspondence Study." AEA RCT Registry. September 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12416-2.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We want to explore whether employers discriminate against workers based on potential/effective parenthood and sex. Hence, we will send 6 resumes and profiles to each vacancy in an online job repository as follows:

i) female + potential mother + children sign
ii) female + potential mother + no children sign
iii) female + not potential mother + children sign
iv) female + not potential mother + no children sign
v) Male + children sign
vi) Male + no children sign
Intervention Start Date
2023-10-16
Intervention End Date
2023-12-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Callback rates
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Our main outcome variable is a binary variable that is zero if the profile does not receive a callback for an interview and one if the profile receives a callback

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will send 6 resumes and profiles to each vacancy combined as follows:

i) female + potential mother + children sign
ii) female + potential mother + no children sign
iii) female + not potential mother + children sign
iv) female + not potential mother + no children sign
v) Male + children sign
vi) Male + no children sign

This design will allow us to i) differentiate discrimination based on potential and effective parenthood, and ii) study discrimination patterns between and within sex groups. In the case of effective parenthood, we will signal the candidate's parental status by including or not including the father/mother's membership in a school's parent association in the resume. Furthermore, in the case of potential parenthood, we will signal the candidate's potential to have children in the future through the age. The age of potential mothers will randomly vary between 20 and 30 years old, and the age of non-potential mothers will randomly vary between 40 and 50 years old. For male applicants, the age will be the same of the female applicants.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Each vacancy we apply to will receive applications from all six profiles
Randomization Unit
Vacancy (job posting)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1000 job postings (vacancies)
Sample size: planned number of observations
6,000 applications to 1,000 job postings (vacancies)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
2,000 applications control (male); 2,000 applications T1 (female potential mothers), 2,000 applications T2 (female effective mothers)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
We conduct power calculations by simulation since we have no pre-intervention data on callback rates for individuals. We consider different number of vacancies where we will apply with the six profiles. We simulate a binary outcome with a normal distribution with mean 0.05 (5% callback rate) and standard deviation 0.25, calculating power for different effect sizes (from 1 to 10 percentage points). This process is repeated 10,000 times for each fixed number of vacancies and effect size. Sending six applications to each vacancy would allow us to estimate a minimum detectable effect of 0.032 or 3.2 percentage points from the control group mean
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Universidad de los Andes
IRB Approval Date
2023-07-10
IRB Approval Number
1767
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

PAP

MD5: 04134bfc85e8fabaf4d675833011716a

SHA1: de0489055c39cd3c0d8604a12849a23bc5c5781f

Uploaded At: November 01, 2023

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
December 01, 2023, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
December 01, 2023, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
324 occupations
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
1974
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
658 control CVs, 1316 treatment CVs
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials