The Age Twist in Employers’ Gender Requests

Abstract

On one Mexican and three Chinese job boards, firms’ explicit gender requests shift dramatically away from women and towards men when firms are seeking older (as opposed to younger) workers. Observed characteristics of job ads can account for 65 percent of this “age twist”; within this “explained” component, employers’ requests for older male managers and for young women in customer contact and helping positions account for more than half. Based on its timing, the remainder of the twist, which occurs within job titles, appears to be connected to a differential effect of parenthood on firms’ requests for men versus women.

I have heard the wish expressed that one could be a girl and a beautiful girl from the age of thirteen to the age of twenty-two and after that to be a man.

–Jean de la Bruyère, Les Caractères, 1688