Gender quotas or girls' networks? : evidence from an Italian research selection

Abstract

This article investigates the role of the gender composition of selection committees and connections in promoting women in research. Exploiting a newly collected data set on research recruitment processes to entry-level positions in a leading Italian research centre operating mainly in the hard sciences, the study finds that bias against women manifests itself at non-tenured entry level and is attenuated by the presence of a woman on the selection committee. However, the most important predictor for recruitment in the study is previous connections with the research centre, a mechanism which, due to the lower density of network links with the institute among female candidates, operates as a selection device discriminating against women. The results suggest that the gender of the committee members, network structure and type of recruitment must all be considered in approaching recruitment policy.