Doctoral Dissertation Research: Gender and the Evaluation of Job Applicants in Interactive Settings

康奈尔大学的研究人员认为，在收集到男性和女性相互作用的自然环境（Biernat & Fuegen 2001）和非脚本环境（Ridgeway & Correll 2004）的详细数据之前，无法完全理解职业性别隔离。互动网站对霸权性性别信念的维持和再生产至关重要，这通常会导致女性在工作场所的微妙但累积的劣势（Ridgeway 1997）。因此，必须审查相互作用的环境，以了解和解决男女在就业中持续存在的不平等现象。本项目旨在通过将通过实验室实验建立的正式理论应用于实际的求职者与招聘他们的评估人员互动的现实环境中，为实现这一目标做出直接贡献。尽管研究人员很少能够访问招聘设置，但该项目确定了一个独特的环境，允许直接观察和收集在直接互动过程中做出的真实招聘决策的数据。这项研究着眼于西班牙的考试制度，该制度用于招聘候选人，以填补目前女性代表性不足的重要政府职位；这些工作中约有20%由女性担任。在西班牙，公务员竞争是公开的，包括各种资格测试，求职者和评估人员面对面交流。在涉及高水平的申请人-评估者互动的测试轮次中观察到重要的性别差异，但在互动最少的轮次中则没有。这个项目将审查这些相互作用的内容，并将查明妨碍妇女被征聘的具体机制。我观察、录音和转录了90个互动考试环节。对这些录音会议的分析将有助于我们理解为什么重要的性别差异只在互动回合中出现，而在其他回合中没有出现。从这项研究中获得的知识将有助于产生基于理论的干预措施，以促进各行业和工作中男女的平等代表。目前的政策措施并不总是有效，部分原因是它们脱离了社会学理论和知识。这项研究将揭示评估人员和招聘人员经常被迫选择男性求职者来填补最佳职位的具体过程。更好地了解这些过程将指导政策建议，以帮助妇女寻求获得高地位的职位。

Shelley CorrellEsther QuinteroCornell UniversityResearchers have argued that occupational sex segregation will not be fully understood until detailed data are collected on natural (Biernat & Fuegen 2001) and non-scripted settings where men and women interact (Ridgeway & Correll 2004). Interactional sites are crucial to the maintenance and reproduction of hegemonic gender beliefs which often result in subtle, but cumulative disadvantages for women in the workplace (Ridgeway 1997). Thus, it is essential to examine interactional settings to understand and address persisting inequalities between men and women in employment. This project intends to make a direct contribution to this goal by applying formal theory established via laboratory experiments to a real-world context where actual job applicants interact with evaluators who are recruiting them for jobs. Although hiring settings are rarely accessible to researchers, this project identifies a unique context that permits direct observation and data collection on real hiring decisions made in the course of direct interaction. This study looks at the Spanish exam system that is used to recruit candidates to fill important government jobs where women are currently underrepresented; about 20% of these jobs are filled by women. In Spain, civil service competitions are public and consist of various qualifying rounds of testing where job applicants and evaluators interact face-to-face. Important gender differences have been observed at testing rounds that involve a high level of applicant-evaluator interaction, but not at rounds where interaction is minimal. This project will examine the content of these interactions, and will identify the specific mechanisms that are preventing women from being recruited. I observed, voice recorded, and transcribed 90 interactive exam sessions. An analysis of these taped sessions will help us understand why important gender differences emerge only in interactive rounds but not in others. The knowledge gained from this research will serve to generate theory based interventions to promote equal representation of men and women across industries and jobs. Current policy measures are not always effective partly because they are divorced from sociological theory and knowledge. This study will shed light on the specific processes by which evaluators and recruiters are often compelled to choose male applicants to fill the best jobs. A better understanding of such processes will guide policy recommendations to help women as they seek to obtain high status positions.