03/17/97 WOMEN STORM THE SYMPHONY

WOMEN STORM THE SYMPHONY
How blind auditions cut gender bias
In part because it's hard to assess the motives of employers, the existence of sex-based discrimination is often a tricky business to prove. Things would be easier if one could compare hiring outcomes when a female applicant's sex is known with outcomes when her sex is unknown--and only her qualifications for the job are judged.
As it happens, just such a change occurred in the hiring practices of U.S. symphony orchestras over the past few decades. Starting in the 1970s, report Claudia Goldin of Harvard University and Cecilia Rouse of Princeton University, symphonies began to implement major revisions in their audition procedures for job applicants--including the use of ''screens'' to prevent audition committees from actually seeing the musician whose playing they were evaluating. At the same time, the share of female musicians in the top five American orchestras has grown from less than 5% in 1970 to 25% today.
By analyzing data from actual auditions from the late 1950s through 1995 and changes in orchestra hiring patterns in the wake of ''blind'' auditions, the two economists were able to assess the degree to which such procedures have reduced gender discrimination. They find that the use of screens in preliminary auditions substantially raised the chances of a woman's ultimately being hired. Between 25% and 45% of women's increased membership in symphony orchestras since 1970 seems to stem from their enhanced opportunity to be judged solely on musical ability.
By GENE KORETZ