Women's Sexual Orientation and Labor Market Outcomes in Greece

¹ At the governmental level, homosexuality remains stigmatized through unequal practices in Greece. The lack of legal recognition of family structures, the persistence of threats, the perpetuation of false stereotypes, and the lack of political will shown by the authorities in the fight against discrimination are demonstrative of such attitudes (Vlami Citation2007).

² Labor market discrimination exists when two equally qualified individuals are treated differently in the labor market based on some personal characteristic unrelated to productivity (David H. Swinton Citation1977).

³ However, I suggest that many lesbians and gays reveal their sexual orientation, as hiding one's sexual preference is likely to cause anxiety and stress (Susan Pharr Citation1988; Jeff Byrne Citation1993). Coming out at work enables lesbian employees to feel confident, encourages a happier work experience, fosters openness and interaction with colleagues, and improves productivity.

⁴ Fax machines were adjusted to provide no identifying information (fax number, affiliations, or codes).

⁵ In Athens, three newspapers advertise job openings. Their classified advertisements, which are available online to registered members, are the most expedient way to search for a job. I became a member and had access to a large pool of job openings.

⁶ I chose to test for differential treatment against lesbians who enjoy music and cinema and are amiable and sociable. Someone could claim that the average lesbian is perceived to be masculine. However, as Weichselbaumer (Citation2003, 2004) has shown, gender identity does not have a statistically significant overall impact on labor market outcomes. For heterosexual as well as lesbian women, masculinity does not work as an advantage or a disadvantage.

⁷ Although it was an option, none of the firms responded in writing.

⁸ In order to avoid inconvenience to the firms, a day before the interview was to occur they were informed of the applicants' inability to continue the process.

⁹ Homosexuals tend to be overrepresented in certain sectors. The sectors and occupations chosen in real life offer a more tolerant environment, have specific non-discrimination policies, are more secure, or offer better pension and health schemes. However, choosing a job in order to avoid future discrimination is a typical example of indirect discrimination.

¹⁰ I note that both gay-friendly firms and gay entrepreneurships are scarce in Greece, in accordance with the general homophobic trends in this society.

¹¹ We had the chance to converse with employers in 62 percent of the call-backs, and raised questions regarding wage offers.

¹² I included the wage in its natural logarithmic form so that the resulting estimated coefficients are more easily interpretable as percentages.

¹³ Wage offers could be affected by the applicants' cover letter and curriculum vitae type; I thus took this effect into consideration.

¹⁴ In each call-back, the employers were asked to give wage offers. Hence, the offers for the two applicants could be affected by the call-back order.

¹⁵ The sample selection problem that arises is exogenous and does not cause bias or inconsistency in my estimation (Jeffrey M. Wooldridge Citation2006).

¹⁶ In the first and second relationship, two applicants contacted the same firm. Hence, the probability of the heterosexual applicant receiving an invitation was correlated with the probability of the lesbian applicant receiving one. In the third relationship, I expected wage offers to be correlated for the two applicants. In order to correctly analyze the data, I took these correlations into account.

¹⁷ Notice also that there is no registered partnership law in Greece, and a draft law put forward by the current government for the recognition of registered partnership (the “Cohabitation Act”) specifically excludes same-sex couples (Olivier De Schutter Citation2008).

¹⁸ Detailed descriptive statistics are available upon request.

¹⁹ It might be of interest to compare how large or small is the effect of women's sexual orientation with other “demographic” characteristics in the Athenian labor market. Nick Drydakis and Minas Vlassis (2010) found that the estimated occupational access of ethnic minorities (Albanian men) is 21 percentage points lower than those of Greeks. Also, Drydakis (Citation2009) found that the estimated occupational access of gay men is lower by 26 percentage points than those of heterosexual men. Moreover, Nick Drydakis (Citation2010) found that the estimated occupational access of seropositive patients (HIV+) is lower by 43 percentage points than that of healthy employees. As it is observed, the level of lesbian bias in the Athenian labor market is higher than gay men bias and ethnic minority bias, but lower than ill-health bias.

²⁰ Note that Mariano Bosch, Angeles Carnero, and Lidia Farre (2010) – as well as Ali M. Ahmed, Lina Andersson, and Mats Hammarstedt (2010)– found that disclosing information about applicants in the market did not eliminate stereotypical notions against minorities, suggesting the strong presence of prejudices towards them.

²¹ Sexual minorities throughout Europe have repeatedly claimed that they are made victims of discrimination in employment by being fired, not hired, or not promoted because of their orientation (De Schutter Citation2008). To address this injustice, they have turned to employers, legislative bodies, and the courts, demanding laws and personnel policies that bar such prejudice. The above incidents indicate that racism and other forms of discrimination could jeopardize the European Community's aims of full market integration and social cohesion.

²² It is unlawful to discriminate against (i) job applicants – in relation to recruitment, arrangements, decisions, and harassment; (ii) employees – in relation to terms, promotions, transfers, training, benefits, and dismissals; and (iii) ex-employees – where the discrimination is closely connected to their employment.