Colorism and employment bias in India: an experimental study in stratification economics

In this paper, we examine whether the prevalence of colorism in India can be linked to discrimination in hiring for people with darker skin shades. Colorism or preference for lighter skin tones has a long history primarily linked to colonialism in parts of Asia and Africa. More recently, this preference for lighter skin has become amplified by growing and global whitening product industries dominated by multinational corporations. In India, the industry has tried to link lighter skin to economic success, specifically labor market success. However, the existence of such a link is yet to be explored given the lack of skin tone–specific data in the global context. We implemented an experimental survey design in India to overcome this lack of data. Participants in our study were asked to evaluate job candidates on the basis of unchanging resumes paired with photographs manipulated to vary skin tones. We did not find a statistically significant bias in favor of resumes paired with lighter-skinned photographs. Overall, participants tended to evaluate both lighter-skinned and darker-skinned candidates similarly. Our findings suggest that colorism in India cannot be easily linked to direct instances of hiring discrimination. Differential outcomes due to preference for skin color though might operate in other economic contexts beyond entry into employment. It may also exist in social contexts like marriage and family or health outcomes and in situations where beauty ideals are more relevant. Our findings provide an important counter-narrative to the skin whitening industry’s worrisome efforts to expand their consumer base by linking lighter skin to economic success. Our methodology also provides new directions for future research on colorism, an important new global frontier in stratification economics.