Deprogramming Gender Bias

Medallia © Copyright 2015. Confidential. 1

Deprogramming Gender BiasDr. Lauren Jackman


We Value Diversity

• Understanding different perspectives

• Smarter and more innovative

• More discussion, uncovering of unique information, consideration of alternative views

• Consistently out-perform: capture new emerging markets, increases in market share and sales revenue

• Female leaders challenge hierarchies and protect shareholders

Building for diverse users

Better Team Performance

Better Company Performance


• In leadership roles

• In tech roles

Women are Under-Represented

Facebook

Linkedin

Yahoo

Apple

Google

Medallia


Why?

Pipeline & Continued

Engagement

Biases: Implicit & Explicit


Implicit Bias:Attitudes and stereotypes that

affect our understanding, behavior, and decision making at

an unconscious level


1: Socialized

• Friends, family, media representations

Why Might We Have Biases?


2) We use mental shortcuts for parsing large amounts of information

Why Might We Have Biases?

“I’d love for you to meet our head of

Engineering!”

“Looking forward to meeting him!

These can lead us down the wrong path:


System 1 System 2

Unconscious Conscious

Implicit Explicit

Automatic Deliberate

Fast Slow

Associative Rule Based

Large capacity Small capacity

Dual Process Theory


Male• AGENTIC

• Assertive

• Competent

• Independent

• Strategic

Gender Stereotypes

Female• COMMUNAL

• Helpful

• Expressive

• Friendly

• NurturingSource: Eagly & Wood (1991) The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology



Use of the word “genius” to describe professors


Stereotypes About the Culture of Computer Science• Socially isolated, focused on technology

• Not collaborative, not a helping field

• Masculine interests, “Genius”

People

Work

Values

Source: Master, Allison; Cheryan, Sapna; Meltzoff, Andrew N (2015) Journal of Educational Psychology



What can we do?Time to Brainstorm!


• Policies that support equality (e.g., flexible hours, parental leave)

• Partner with groups that can help you target diversity in pipeline

• Teach employees about implicit bias

• Don’t interrupt

• Practice mindfulness

Strategies for Combatting Bias


• Target diversity

• Job Descriptions

• Requirements

• Think of hiring in terms of classes/groups

RecruitingStructure for Success

Source: Brooks & Purdie-Vaughns (2007) Harvard Journal of Law and Gender


Evaluating CandidatesStructure for Success

• Know what skills are most important for the role before evaluating any candidates

Source: Uhlmann & Cohen (2005) Psychological Science


Evaluating CandidatesStructure for Success

Source: Goldin & Rouse (2000) The American Economic Review


(They Impact Ambient Belonging)Be Aware of Gendered Cues

Source: Cheryan, Plaut, Davies, & Steele (2009) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology


Thank you!

Deprogramming Gender Bias

Recruiting & HR