Gender Non-Conformity and Wage Discrimination: the impact of prejudice by HR professionals: Professor Alison Preston, University of Western Australia

Event Date: 26 September 2018

Speaker: Professor Alison Preston, University of Western Australia

Time: 4.00-5.30pm

Location: CW506a, Strathclyde Business School, Cathedral Wing

Using an online experiment, this paper extends the wage gap literature and the literature on discrimination by exploring the differentials that stem from the effects of sex-dimorphic face shape on wages.  Since the seminal work of Hamermesh and Biddle (1994) on the economics of ‘beauty’, economists have been interested in the question of looks and earnings and of the associate wage effects. A consistent finding in the literature is that the wage penalty for below average looks (which Hamermesh and Biddle refer to as ‘plainness’ penalty) is larger for men than women. In the Hamermesh and Biddle (1994) study the male plainness penalty was 9.1% and the female plainness penalty was 5.4%.  In Australia the estimated wage penalty for below average looks is 12.9% for men and 3.9% for women (Borland and Leigh, 2014) while in the UK the estimated penalties are 17.6% for men and 10.8% for women (Harper, 2000). Hamermesh (2011) suggests that these differences may reflect sex differences in the distributions of looks within employment. If women with below average looks are less likely to participate in the labour market this could explain these effects.

In order to investigate the puzzle of why men and women may be penalised more for their below average looks we used an online laboratory experiment to examine the effects of sex- dimorphic face shape on wages. Two racial groups were considered (Caucasian and Chinese). Using facial stimuli where the face shape was diminished (morphed towards the face shape of the opposite sex) we show that HR managers have a particular distaste for a Caucasian male with an androgynous face shape and assign wages which are 11% below those assigned to the sex-typical looking male.

The Caucasian female with a masculinised face shape is also penalised although in this experiment it is only female HR managers who assign a wage penalty (of 4.1% relative to the sex-typical male) to the Caucasian female with diminished appearance.  Male HR managers do not penalise the Caucasian female facial stimuli.  The sex-differences in the wage penalties for below average looks as found in observational studies may, therefore, derive from sex-differences in the distribution of employers (wage setters) and their differing treatment of male and female facial appearance. If male employers assign greater penalties to men than women with diminished facial appearance this could explain the observed differences.

Biography

Alison Preston joined the University of Western Australia in September 2013 as Professor of Economics and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Business. From 2005 to 2013 she was Professor of Economics, Director of the Curtin Graduate School of Business (CGSB) at Curtin University in Western Australia and Co-Director of WiSER (the Women in Social and Economic Research Unit at Curtin University). She remains affiliated to WiSER.

Alison was born in New Zealand and grew up in Scotland, graduating with a BA (Hons) from Strathclyde University in 1986. She completed a PhD in economics and industrial relations at the University of Western Australia in 1998 and an MBA at Curtin University in 2007. Prior to commencing her PhD and entering academic Alison was a senior public servant in Canberra where she was Director of the Workplace Research Section in the then Commonwealth Department of Industrial Relations. Before that she was Chief Economist with the West Australian Trades and Labor Council (the peak union body).

At UWA Alison teaches the economics of public policy. She is an applied economist with a particular interest in the determinants of wages. Her research examines questions such as the role of minimum wages, the earnings of part-timers and the determinants of the gender pay gap. Other research interests include retirement incomes, superannuation and financial literacy. She is currently an editorial board member with the Industrial Relations Journal, and is a past member of the Australian Journal of Labour Economics and Australian Bulletin of Labour editorial boards. She’s also a past member of the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) state advisory committee.

In her leadership role as Deputy Dean of the UWA Faculty of Business (2013-2016), Alison was responsible for overseeing the Faculty’s operational performance and in leading the Faculty’s international accreditations (AACSB and EQUIS). Both accreditations were awarded for a five year period. She has also served on accrediting panels for the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). Prior to joining UWA she led the CGSB’s EFMD and AMBA accreditations.

Published: 11 September 2018