Understanding and Addressing Workplace Gender Bias
To prime your thinking for our session on understanding bias, we delve into a crucial aspect often overlooked yet pivotal in driving effective change. Biases, inherent to all individuals, shape our perceptions and decisions in profound ways, influencing how we lead and interact within organizations. Despite being natural mental shortcuts, biases can be unconscious, profoundly impacting how we view and treat others.
Research, such as the Harvard Implicit Association Test, reveals startling insights into biases prevalent in society. For instance, a significant percentage of participants associate men with careers and women with family, irrespective of their gender. Additionally, biases favouring white individuals over Black counterparts persist, even among Black participants themselves.
In the workplace, women encounter various biases, including:
- Likeability Bias: Women deviating from societal gender norms face penalties in likeability, hindering career progression.
- Tribal Bias: Favouring individuals who resemble us, perpetuating disparities in mentorship, hiring, and evaluation.
- False Attribution Bias: Women receive less credit for accomplishments and are blamed more for mistakes compared to men.
- Maternal Bias: False assumptions that motherhood reduces women’s commitment and competence, limiting opportunities.
- Double Standards Bias: Underestimating women’s abilities and overestimating men’s, leading to higher performance expectations from women.
- Everyday micro-inequities that result in macro-inequities, such as subtle comments that are rooted in unconscious gender bias and undermine a woman’s sense of confidence or their sense of belonging in the team or workplace.
Challenges such as women’s voices being heard and the likeability penalty persist in workplaces. Men interrupt women nearly three times as often as they do other men, while women’s assertiveness is often met with negative feedback, whilst men are viewed as strong leaders for the same level of assertiveness. Although there is extensive and repeated research to support these findings, many people (including women) deny the gender inequity experiences of women. In the 2023 National Community Attitudes Survey, 35% of those surveyed believed many women exaggerate how unequally women are treated in Australia. Additionally, 41% of respondents agreed that “Many women mistakenly interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist.” At the same time, 41% of women and 26% of men have been sexually harassed at work.
Although these biases are difficult to shift, actionable steps include ensuring women’s ideas are heard, challenging likeability penalties by making successful behaviours in any role explicit, and celebrating women’s accomplishments. Leaders must actively question biases, advocate for equitable treatment, and create safe spaces for women to celebrate their successes.
Ultimately, understanding and addressing biases are essential for fostering inclusive workplaces where all voices are heard and valued. Every individual has a role in driving this change, regardless of their position or influence. By acknowledging biases and taking concerted action, we can create environments conducive to gender equality and meaningful progress.