On Gender-based and Age-based Discrimination: when the social ingraining and acceptability of non discriminatory norms matter

Résumé 0

This research aims at comparing the way gender-based and age-based discriminations are expressed in recruitment settings. It takes into account how the social ingraining of non discriminatory policies influences the expression of discrimination. Concretely, given the long-term existence of non-sexist legislations, it can be assumed that gender-based discrimination would be expressed implicitly rather than explicitly. Conversely, since non-ageist policies are fairly recent, it can be supposed that age-based discrimination would be expressed either implicitly or explicitly. To validate this hypothesis, 140 participants were asked to rate the hiring chances (scale measurement) of applicants, who were either male or female and younger or older, and to provide a written justification of their decision (discursive measurement). The results generally validate the hypotheses and show that if participants rate male and female applicants similarly when using scales, their discourses reveal marks of gender-based discrimination. In the case of younger and older applicants, participants express age-based prejudices explicitly and implicitly. The discussion deals with the ways discrimination is expressed and how individuals inhibit their gender-based prejudices in a normative context.