Google Targeted Ads and the Gender Gap – High paying jobs shown to man more than women research finds

Using AdFisher, we conducted 21 experiments using 17,370 agents that collected over 600,000 ads. Our experiments found instances of discrimination, opacity, and choice in targeted ads of Google. Discrimination, is at some level, inherent to profiling: the point of profiling is to treat some people differently. While customization can be helpful, we highlight a case where the customization appears inappropriate taking on the negative connotations of discrimination. In particular, we found that males were shown ads encouraging the seeking of coaching services for high paying jobs more than females.

Gender and Jobs. In this experiment, we examine how changing the gender demographic on Google Ad Settings affects the ads served and interests inferred for agents browsing employment related websites. We set up AdFisher to have the agents in one group visit the Google Ad Settings page and set the gender bit to female while agents in the other group set theirs to male. All the agents then visited the top 100 websites listed under the Employment category of Alexa. The agents then collect ads from Times of India.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 1408.6491] Automated Experiments on Ad Privacy Settings: A Tale of Opacity, Choice, and Discrimination.