Discrimination by Gender and Disability Status: Do Worker Perceptions Match Statistical Measures?

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We explore whether perceptions of discrimination are related to ordinary statistical measures. The majority of disabled respondents report feeling some discrimination due to their disability, the majority of women feel some discrimination because of their gender, and a surprising number of men also report some discrimination. We do not find a strong link between perceptions of discrimination and measured discrimination perhaps because those who perceive discrimination feel that it occurs along other dimensions than pay. However, we do find a connection between whether a person feels his or her income is inadequate and measured discrimination for all groups studied. This paper is motivated by the growing literature on measured gender discrimination and the study of persons with disabilities. We use a survey of university graduates to explore whether female (or male) perceptions of gender discrimination are related to ordinary statistical measures of discrimination, and whether persons with disabilities perceive disability discrimination as it is ordinarily measured. Kuhn (1987, 1990) studies two data sets from Canada and the United States. He finds that there is a negative and insignificant overall correlation between reports and measures of discrimination, which is largely driven by the fact that young well-educated women are both more likely to report discrimination and face the smallest measured wage gaps. Barbezat and Hughes (1990) study discrimination and perceptions of discrimination using a sample of university faculty. They find evidence consistent with Kuhn (1987) but suggest an interesting interpretation for the findings of a negative correlation between measured discrimination and the chances that women report being discriminated against. They write that "Employers are more likely to indulge in discrimination when there is a low probability that such action will be detected. Thus, a high level of measured discrimination will be accompanied, in equilibrium, by a small number of reports and vice versa." We suggest an additional explanation