Visibility as Vulnerability: Transgender Passing Privilege and Hiring Discrimination

Last registered on August 31, 2025

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Visibility as Vulnerability: Transgender Passing Privilege and Hiring Discrimination

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0016014

Initial registration date

May 13, 2025

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

May 21, 2025, 2:17 PM EDT

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

Last updated

August 31, 2025, 3:52 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Germany

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Taryn Eames

Affiliation

University of Toronto

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-05-14

End date

2026-01-31

Keywords

Gender, Labor

Additional Keywords

field experiment, correspondence study, transgender, discrimination

JEL code(s)

C93, J15, J16, J23, J71

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Transgender people experience worse labor market outcomes compared to similar cisgender peers; recently, research has found causal evidence of discrimination against this group in multiple settings. I propose a field experiment and a set of survey experiments involving fictitious A.I.-generated headshots, where the extent to which individuals “pass” as cisgender is experimentally manipulated, as is whether applicants indirectly discloses their transgender identity via a male-to-female name change. I aim to measure (1) discrimination against transgender women, (2) whether not "passing" as cisgender exacerbates discrimination (i.e., is there "passing privilege"), and (3) what mechanisms may be driving discrimination.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Eames, Taryn. 2025. "Visibility as Vulnerability: Transgender Passing Privilege and Hiring Discrimination." AEA RCT Registry. August 31. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16014-2.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

A resume audit study design will be leveraged to estimate hiring discrimination against transgender women who may (1) indirectly disclose their identity via a male-to-female name change and/or (2) not "pass" as cisgender (i.e., it is clear from their headshot that they were assigned male at birth). Outcomes for these treated applicants will be compared to a control applicant who (1) may or may not disclose a female-to-female name change and (2) always "passes" as cisgender.

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2025-05-14

Intervention End Date

2026-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Positive employer response to job applications is the outcome of interest. Emails and phones will be set up and carefully tracked to identify applicants for whom employers respond.

Two additional outcomes may also be identified (given feasibility): (1) whether employers open a worker's application materials and (2) how long these materials are kept open for.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Employer response will be viewed as "positive" if they contact the applicant and either offer an interview, request additional information from the applicant, or request the applicant contact them.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Weekly, job posting data will be scraped from the major job posting website in Germany (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) in the occupations of interest, and a list of target job postings will be created (omitting companies we have applied for previously, omitting temporary work from employment agencies, omitting postings where the application occurs on an external job board or portal). A team of research assistants will aid in generating pairs of ficitious, randomized, matched applications to e-mail to employers and securing additional job posting information (like what e-mail to send applications to).

Employer response will be carefully tracked via phone and email. Upon contact, employers will be promptly contacted, where applicants will let them know they have recently found work and are therefore no longer interested in the position. The outcome of interest is whether the employer responds positively—that is, whether they offer the applicant an interview, request additional information about qualifications, request the applicant contacts them back, etc.

A version of the experiment may be conducted where trackable links are sent in place of PDF attachments in emails. Whether or not this occurs will depend on the results of a pilot test (will enough employers click on such links, especially in the context of Germany people are extremely vigilant about data protection and privacy).

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization is done in office by a computer. In particular, the computer program by Lahey and Beasley (2009) is used to construct resume randomization logic. A detailed breakdown is included in the pre-analysis plan.

Randomization Unit

Randomization occurs at the firm (job posting) level.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

9,000 pairs of matched applications sent to the same number of job postings

Sample size: planned number of observations

18,000 total applications

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

3,000 per treatment arm (pass as cisgender and disclose MtF name change / do not pass as cisgender and disclose MtF name change / do not pass as cisgender and do not disclose a name change).

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB