Unintended effects of gender quotas on task assignment and firm performance

We examine the unintended effects of gender‐based hiring quotas on task allocation and organizational performance using a controlled laboratory experiment designed to mirror team formation and delegation decisions. Participants in the role of employers selected workers and assigned them to either simple or challenging tasks, where performance determined firm earnings. In the absence of quotas, high‐ability women were less likely than their male counterparts to be hired or assigned to high‐responsibility tasks. Imposing a 50% gender quota increased overall female representation and their access to complex tasks, but did not improve outcomes for high‐performing women, who remain relatively less likely to be assigned to high‐responsibility tasks compared to comparable men. Moreover, firm performance declined under the quota due to weaker alignment between worker ability and task assignment. These findings suggest that while quotas enhance representational equity, they may unintentionally reduce efficiency when organizational processes fail to support merit‐based allocation—offering important implications for the design of equity‐enhancing labour market policies.