The influence of gender and duration of parental leave on agency and communion assessment of job applicants
Silvana Weber, Clara Reißner, Fabian HutmacherPurpose
Over the past decades, female workforce participation has substantially increased; also, more men go on parental leave and participate in domestic and care work. While many women and men progressively try to combine traditionally communal and agentic roles, men are still stereotypically associated with agentic (i.e. assertiveness, competence) and women with communal traits (i.e. warmth, morality). Individuals who do not comply with stereotypical gender roles are likely to receive negative feedback (i.e. backlash effect), particularly in the work environment. We investigated whether the gender stereotypes described above (still) matter for parents during the application process.
Design/methodology/approach
In two vignette-based 2×2 between subjects-survey experiments (N1 = 150; N2 = 289; both conducted in Germany), we examined whether the duration of parental leave (2 months vs 12 months) influenced the assessment of qualified female and male job applicants regarding their agentic and communal attributes as well as perceived job demand-ability-fit.
Findings
Across studies, we found no differences regarding agency and job fit. Regarding communion, we found a small backlash effect for mothers (Study 1), and a small communality-bonus effect for fathers (Study 2), suggesting that taking shorter parental leave may be perceived negatively for mothers but not fathers (Study 1), whereas taking longer parental leave may be perceived positively for fathers but not mothers (Study 2).
Research limitations/implications
In sum, this suggests that mothers and fathers may be evaluated differently in the hiring context, depending on the amount of parental leave they take.
Originality/value
This research contributes to broader discussions on gender equality and work–life balance.