The Long Shadow of Gender Discrimination in Hiring

Episode Details

In 1958, Eastman Kodak advertised openings for chemical engineers, accountants, and lawyers, but only for men, while women were asked to apply for jobs as secretaries or stenographers. The 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed such ads. Yet, firms that expressed a stronger preference for hiring men before the law still had significantly higher shares of male workers in 1995. Lisa Kahn joins EconoFact Chats to discuss how the labor market for women has evolved since the civil rights era, what her recent research reveals about the remarkably persistent effects of employers’ pre-civil rights gender preferences, and what policies could help close the remaining gender wage gaps.

Lisa is the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at the University of Rochester. She previously served as a senior economist on President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.