The challenge
Bias against women in hiring for top orchestras, which were almost all male.
The case
From the 1970s, major US symphony orchestras began holding auditions behind a screen. Women made up only 5% of players in the top five US orchestras in 1970 and 25% by 1997. Using audition records, economists Claudia Goldin and Cecilia Rouse estimated that the screen increased by 50% the chance that a woman would be advanced from certain preliminary rounds. They found the switch to blind auditions could explain 30% of the increase in the share of women among new hires. The authors noted large standard errors and one effect in the opposite direction. Later re-analyses, including by Jonatan Pallesen and statistician Andrew Gelman, argued the data are too noisy to support strong claims, and that many headline figures were not statistically significant.
Why the results were mixed
Hiding identity is a plausible, low-cost way to curb bias, but this famous example rests on weaker evidence than its reputation suggests.
Sources
- Goldin, C. & Rouse, C. (2000). Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of 'Blind' Auditions on Female Musicians. American Economic Review.
- NBER Digest (1997). Orchestrating Impartiality.
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