Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 41 No. 3 2023
Interactions with Powerful Female Colleagues Promote Diversity in Hiring
Abstract
We study the effect of hearing cases alongside female judicial colleagues on the probability that a federal judge hires a female law clerk. Federal judges are assigned to judicial panels at random and have few limitations on their choices of clerks. Using a unique dataset of federal case records merged with judicial hiring information, we find a significant effect of the fraction of copanelists who are female on a male judge’s likelihood of hiring a female clerk. This finding suggests that increases in the diversity of the upper rungs of a profession can create opportunities at the entry level.
- DOI
- 10.1086/720392
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 589-614
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref