Gender Discrimination in Hiring: Evidence from a Cross-National Harmonized Field Experiment

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedGender discrimination is often regarded as an important driver of women’s disadvantage in the labour market, yet earlier studies show mixed results. However, because different studies employ different research designs, the estimates of discrimination cannot be compared across countries. By utilizing data from the first harmonized comparative field experiment on gender discrimination in hiring in six countries, we can directly compare employers’ callbacks to fictitious male and female applicants. The countries included vary in a number of key institutional, economic, and cultural dimensions, yet we found no sign of discrimination against women. This cross-national finding constitutes an important and robust piece of evidence. Second, we found discrimination against men in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK, and no discrimination against men in Norway and the United States. However, in the pooled data the gender gradient hardly differs across countries. Our findings suggest that although employers operate in quite different institutional contexts, they regard female applicants as more suitable for jobs in female-dominated occupations, ceteris paribus, while we find no evidence that they regard male applicants as more suitable anywhere.This project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 649255; the Research Council of Norway, grant number 287016; The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), (016.Vidi.185.041)Peer reviewe

Wind-Driven Saltation: An Overlooked Challenge for Life on Mars

Numerous studies have demonstrated that the martian surface environment is hostile to life because of its rough radiation climate and the reactive chemistry of the regolith. Physical processes such as erosion and transport of mineral particles by wind-driven saltation have hitherto not been considered as a life hazard. We report a series of experiments where bacterial endospores (spores of Bacillus subtilis) were exposed to a simulated saltating martian environment. We observed that 50% of the spores that are known to be highly resistant to radiation and oxidizing chemicals were destroyed by saltation-mediated abrasion within one minute. Scanning electron micrographs show that the spores were not only damaged by abrasion but were eradicated during the saltation process. We suggest that abrasion mediated by wind-driven saltation should be included as a factor that defines the habitability of the martian surface environment. The process may efficiently protect the martian surface from forward contamination with terrestrial microbial life-forms. Abrasion mediated by wind-driven saltation should also be considered as a major challenge to indigenous martian surface life if it exists/existed

Stereotypic information about drinkers and students' observed alcohol intake: An experimental study on prototype-behavior relations in males and females in a naturalistic drinking context

Item does not contain fulltextBackground: Cross-sectional and longitudinal research has shown that favorable drinker prototypes (i.e., perceptions about the typical drinker) are related to higher levels of alcohol consumption in adolescents and college students. So far, few studies have experimentally tested the causality of this relationship and it is not clear what type of manipulation affects drinker prototypes and drinking levels. Methods: In an experimental 1-factor design with two levels, we tested the short-term effects of exposing students to either positive or negative stereotypic information about drinkers on their drinker prototypes and actual drinking behaviors. We exposed 192 male and female college students to positive drinker prototype information (drinkers in general were presented as being attractive, sociable and successful), or to negative information (unattractive, unsociable and unsuccessful). Subsequently, participants' levels of alcohol consumption were observed unobtrusively while they were interacting with peers in a naturalistic drinking context, namely a bar lab. Results: Participants exposed to positive stereotypic information about drinkers reported more favorable drinker prototypes than participants exposed to negative stereotypic information. Multilevel analyses revealed that men's subsequent alcohol consumption in the bar lab was higher in the positive prototype condition than in the negative prototype condition. For women, no prototype effects on alcohol use were found. Conclusions: These findings underline that drinker prototypes affect actual alcohol use in men and suggest that changing perceptions of drinkers may be a useful tool in alcohol prevention programs

Callovian (Middle Jurassic) dinoflagellate cysts from the Algarve Basin, southern Portugal

The palynology of three Callovian (Middle Jurassic) limestone-marl successions from the Algarve Basin in southern Portugal was studied. These localities are Baleeira Harbour, Mareta Beach and Telheiro Quarry; they provide a composite. succession, tied to ammonite zones, through the Lower, Middle and Upper Callovian from the western and eastern subbasins of the Algarve Basin. The three sections generally yielded relatively abundant marine and continental palynofloras. Diversity is low to moderate and the dinoflagellate cyst associations are dominated by Ctenidodinium spp., the Ellipsoidictyum/Valensiella group, Gonyaulacysta jurassica subsp. adecta, Korystocysta spp., Meiourogonyaulax spp., Pareodinia ceratophora, Sentusidinium spp., Surculosphaeridium? vestitum and Systematophora spp. Some intra-Callovian marker bioevents were recorded; these include the range bases of Ctenidodinium ornatum, Gonyaulacysta eisenackii, Korystocysta pachyderma, Mendicodinium groenlandicum, Rigaudella spp. and Surculosphaeridium? vestitum. The occurrences of Endoscrinium acroferum and Impletosphaeridium varispinosum in the Early to Middle Callovian of Mareta Beach and Telheiro Quarry are also characteristic of this interval. At Baleeira Harbour, the presence of Ctenidodinium continuum and Gonyaulacysta centriconnata in the Peltoceras athleta Zone confirms the Late Callovian age of this section. The successions studied were deposited in restricted infralittoral neritic marine environments which lack deep water circulation, and possibly represent restricted embayments. The relatively low diversity nature of the dinoflagellate cyst assemblages appears to be largely due to the highly enclosed nature of this depocentre. Many Callovian index dinoflagellate cyst taxa which are found in northwest Europe are absent in the Algarve Basin. These forms may have been intolerant of enclosed palaeoenvironments which have restricted or no deep circulation. The Callovian marine palynofloras from the Algarve Basin compare well to the few other published records from the Iberian Peninsula of this age. However they are significantly less diverse than coeval floras from elsewhere in the extensive Mid Latitude Callovian phytoprovince. Many typically Callovian dinoflagellate cysts are cosmopolitan, however some provincialism is clearly manifested. The Arctic and Austral Callovian phytoprovinces are characterised by key endemic taxa such as Paragonyaulacysta retiphragmata and Ternia balmei, which are not present in the Algarve Basin and are assumed to have been polar forms

The GEMM Study: A Cross-National Harmonized Field Experiment on Hiring Discrimination

The GEMM Study (N=19,181) employs an innovative field-experimental research design that allows for the comparative analysis of hiring discrimination across 53 ethnic groups in five strategically selected countries: Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, Norway and the Netherlands. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 649255 (GEMM Project)