How to #BreakTheBias in your workplace
March 8th marks International Women’s Day, a day to recognise the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women right around the world.
Alongside the celebrations, every year there is a theme to inspire action. Last year this was #ChooseToChallenge, and this year we are focusing on #BreakTheBias, which aims to shine a light on the biases that limit women in their personal and professional life.
Despite growth and an increase in understanding, gender equality is still an aspiration, not a reality. And this is found quite noticeably in the workplace, where it is reported that 73% of women have experienced bias.
We all have a role to play in building a discrimination-free workplace, so today, I'd like to provide you with some tools to reduce gender biases found within your own organisation.
We’ll be covering some important questions, including:
Why do gender biases still occur?
How do gender biases affect women in the workplace?
What are some typical biases found in the workplace?
How can we reduce workplace bias?
Why does gender equality matter?
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Why do gender biases still occur?
It is true, that as societal expectations have shifted drastically, overt discrimination against women has become less prevalent within the workplace.
During this time, there has also been a rise in the popularity of egalitarianism (the belief that all people are equal and deserve equal rights), which has left people to concede that they have little or no biases. This conclusion, however, is a dangerous mindset, as every single one of us has biases, whether we are aware of them or not.
The reason our biases can be so hard to identify comes down to our non-conscious cognitive processing (stay with me, it will make sense shortly!) - simply put, non-conscious processing is the ability of our brains to gather millions of pieces of information and then categorise them into familiar patterns from our environment. This processing gives us the ability to make snap decisions. Bringing this back to gender bias, we have all grown up with a level of sexism encoded in our messaging – irrespective of how intense or subtle these experiences were, our minds have internalised them in one way or another due to non-conscious cognitive processing.
So, what does all this mean? In short, many of us are not aware of our biases as we are unconsciously acting in accordance with our learned experiences. That doesn’t mean however, that these biases can’t be un-learnt and behaviour can’t change – we’ll explain how to identify and reduce bias-based thinking later on in the article.
“Every single one of us has biases, whether we are aware of them or not.”
How do gender biases impact women in the workforce?
The facts and research around gender bias is confronting to say the least –
Men are three times more likely to interrupt women than other men
During performance reviews, 66% of women have received negative feedback on their personal style such as “You can sometimes be abrasive”, compared to 1% of men
73% of women experience bias at work—yet less than a third of employees are able to recognise bias when they see it
In the workplace setting, unconscious biases can disrupt anything from recruitment, career progression and employment assignments, through to increased cases of harassment and discrimination.
These biases can wreak havoc on the overall organisational success of a business and negatively hold women back as they develop their careers.
What are some of the typical biases found in the workplace?
We now know that a lot of us hold unconscious bias, so the key to breaking this pattern is being able to identify this bias when it happens.
Here’s some of the common biases you might find in the workplace environment:
Likeability Bias: This bias is based on outdated assumptions and stereotypes, where we expect men to be assertive and lead, and on the flip side, expect women to be kind and nurturing. When these expectations are broken and women take on assertive characteristics, there is a bias in play that makes us like them less (aka. Likeability Bias). This particularly impacts women as they move up in seniority and apply for leadership positions, where “selling of the self” is a necessary means for promotion. This can also lead to women ‘self-selecting’ out of these senior positions.
Maternal Bias: Parenthood is one of the most cited barriers for women when it comes to taking on leadership roles. This is exaggerated by the maternal bias, where motherhood leads to false assumptions that women are less committed to their careers, and unfortunately, are seen as less capable at performing their role.
Performance and Attribution Bias: Again, this is based on the outdated and incorrect assumption that women are less competent than men. Due to this bias, we tend to underestimate women’s performance, and overestimate men’s, leading to women receiving less recognition for accomplishments and more blame for mistakes.
How can we reduce gender bias in the workplace?
As you can see, gender bias takes all different forms in the workplace. In order to counteract this pattern of thinking and break the bias, research suggests we need to create structures that embed accountability, authority and expertise.
Here’s some ways you can actively try to reduce bias in your workplace:
1.Provide access to flexible work arrangements
As it stands, women are the primary care givers of most households. One of the ways we can support women in their careers is the provision of flexible working arrangements, where they have the opportunity to move work practices out of the office and into the home. In order for this to be effective however, this also needs to be coupled with a fair and transparent performance management system.
2. Use transparent performance management systems
Transparency is key to reducing bias in performance management processes. The next time you hold performance management meetings, ensure you provide a detailed specification of all performance criteria, along with detailed information on how each candidate meets these criteria. This negates any performance or attribution bias, as women are measured on their output against criteria and nothing else. This practice also reduces the chance of women self-selecting out of leadership positions, as their performance is well documented and justified in a transparent manner.
3. Implement gender-neutral recruitment process
Gender neutral recruitment is the exclusion of gender-identifying information from employment applications. This is a proactive measure to minimise the implicit biases of those reviewing the applications and is a must if you are engaging in recruitment. Furthermore, ensure your job advertisements are presented in a ‘gender neutral’ way, using programs such as Gender decoder (a useful free online tool that can pick up on language that may discourage women from applying).
4. Have clear policies on discrimination
The implementation of non-discrimination policies within an organisation is a necessary step towards gender equality. To further increase the effectiveness of these policies, try assigning the responsibility to a particular individual or group of individuals within the business, or even link incentives to the ability of individuals to remain accountable for such policies.
Why does workplace gender equality matter?
If you’ve made it to this part of the article, you’ll understand the importance of recognising bias and reducing its presence. Achieving gender equality is so important for workplaces, not only from a moral perspective, but because it is also linked to organisational success and overall economic performance.
Workplace gender equality is associated with:
Increased organisational performance
Improved capability of organisations to attract talent and retain employees
Heightened organisational reputation
Reduced cases of sexual harassment
Whether you are motivated by the moral or business case for gender equality, each argument demonstrates the necessity of businesses to proactively mitigate the negative impacts of bias on your female employees.
There is no quick fix solution, but with the right measures and accountabilities in place, your business can thrive from a gender equal environment.
So what are the key take outs?
We all have biases
These biases do create barriers for women to excel in the workforce
Structures that embed accountability are the most effective way to increase gender equality within the workplace
We all have a role to play in creating a gender equal world – let’s do what we can to #BreakTheBias this International Women’s Day.
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Emma Weeks is a Full-Time HR Consultant with Melbourne HR and has a bachelor’s degree in Psychological Science.
Edited by Nicole Torrington, Marketing Manager at Melbourne HR.