A new report has found that job-seekers who display pronouns on their resumes are less likely to be hired than those who exclude them.
The study was conducted by an University of Toronto economics PhD student Taryn Eames, who evaluated the findings from 7,970 fictitious CVs submitted to job vacancies across 15 occupations in six of the country’s major cities. Eames sent CVs to both corporate giants and small businesses to render her results.
Each job listing received a fictitious job application with and without pronouns included, and Eames found those without the identifier were more likely to move to the next stage of the hiring process. She also found that CVs that cited they/them as pronouns were less likely to receive a response compared to their cisgender counterparts.
According to Pink News, the study found that the use of they/them pronouns decreased the likelihood of receiving an employer response by 5.4 percentage points, compared with CVs excluding pronouns. What’s more, cisgender applicants who did disclose their pronouns still saw more responses than non-binary candidates.
“Putting they/them pronouns on your resume will disadvantage applicants in terms of average employer response,” Eames said. She also stressed the importance of applicants working in environments that respect their identity, and suggests the research as a tool for these applicants to rule out discriminatory employers.
Eames’ report said “pronoun disclosure carries political signals that are communicated regardless of implied gender identity.”
Though Eames has found consistent results through her study, more research on the implications of gender identity and the use of pronouns in work settings needs to be done to find more conclusive results.
