but the size of the effect seems to be too large to be credibly explained by any plausible size of actual ability difference.
From the employer’s point of view the problem is that women are usually less committed to their career. Specifically, they tend to get pregnant, have kids, and then decide that racing other rats for the position of the senior assistant to the junior manager isn’t really worth it. Men are much more reliable in that respect :-/
That could affect willingness to hire, but it shouldn’t affect estimates of competence. Some of those studies that found that female names made otherwise-identical candidates less likely to get hired also looked at hirers’ estimates of how competent they were likely to be, and found that female names meant lowered estimated competence.
From the employer’s point of view the problem is that women are usually less committed to their career. Specifically, they tend to get pregnant, have kids, and then decide that racing other rats for the position of the senior assistant to the junior manager isn’t really worth it. Men are much more reliable in that respect :-/
That could affect willingness to hire, but it shouldn’t affect estimates of competence. Some of those studies that found that female names made otherwise-identical candidates less likely to get hired also looked at hirers’ estimates of how competent they were likely to be, and found that female names meant lowered estimated competence.