Orchestrating impartiality: The impact of "blind" auditions on female musicians

A change in the audition procedures of symphony orchestras-adoption of "bli nd" auditions with a "screen" to conceal the candidate's identity from the jury-provides a test for sex-biased hiring. Using data from actual audition s, in an individual fixed-effects framework, we find that the screen increa ses the probability a woman will be advanced and hired. Although some of ou r estimates have large standard errors and there is one persistent effect i n the opposite direction, the weight of the evidence suggests that the blin d audition procedure fostered impartiality in hiring and increased the prop ortion women in symphony orchestras. (JEL J7, J16).