Covering in Cover Letters: Gender and Self-Presentation in Job Applications

Abstract

Despite decades of research and intervention efforts, gender-based occupational segregation remains a significant problem. An emerging body of research suggests that one way women overcome gender discrimination when applying for male-dominated jobs is by deliberately managing gender impressions. However, social role theory and research on prescriptive stereotypes suggests that these attempts to manage gender may backfire. In this research, we theorize that, while women actively respond to anticipated sexism using social-identity-based impression management (SIM) strategies (e.g., attempting to appear less feminine in cover letters), these actions can actually backfire because they clash with prescriptive gender stereotypes. Across three studies, we investigate the motivations, techniques, and outcomes of managing gender in job applications for different kinds of jobs. We find that women, but not men, manage gender when applying for gender-incongruent (i.e., male-dominated) jobs by using less feminine language, and that, paradoxically, they are less likely to be hired when they do so. The current research contributes to our understanding of the consequences of SIM strategies and shows that women’s coping behavior in response to existing gender inequalities in the labor market is a novel and ironic mechanism through which occupational gender-segregation is perpetuated.