Dr. Catherine Ashcraft, NCWIT Senior Research Scientist Unconscious Biases: Addressing Stealth Barriers to Innovation & Productivity
Jan 15, 2016
Dr. Catherine Ashcraft, NCWIT Senior Research Scientist
Unconscious Biases: Addressing Stealth Barriers to Innovation &
Productivity
Women in Tech: The Facts
Women In Tech: The Facts
We’re Losing The Women Who Are Already There: An Unnecessary Corporate Brain Drain
Sources: Capturing Turnover Costs, Joins, 2000; TalentKeepers, 2010; Athena Factor, 2008
74% love work
56% leave
75% stay in workforce
Why Women Matter
Scott Page, The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies, Princeton University Press, 2009.
Groups with greater diversity solve complex problems better and faster than homogenous groups.
Diversity Enhances Teams
A group’s collective intelligence is not predicted by the IQs of its individual
members. But if a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises.
“Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups,” Science October 2010, Woolley, Chabris, Pentland, Hashmi and Malone.
Women Improve Innovation
Analysis of more than 20,000 venture-backed companies
showed that successful startups have twice as many women in senior
positions as unsuccessful companies.
Women Correlate with Success
Dow Jones VentureSource, 2011.
Analysis of more than 20,000 venture-backed companies showed that
successful startups have twice as many women in
senior positions as unsuccessful companies.
Tech companies led by women delivered higher revenues using less capital and were more likely to survive the transition from startup to established company
Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures: "High Performance Entrepreneurs: Women in High-Tech," 2010.
Women Help Companies Grow
Why the Problem Persists: Understanding and addressing unconscious biases
What the Research Says
Let’s Cut to the Chase
Technical Women Aren’t Broken
Technical Men Aren’t The Enemy
Culprit = Societal Biases We All Share
We Can Take Action Together
And EARLY ON is a particularly good time to start!
Culture By Design or By Default
Society is Biased About Gender and Technology
We all have shortcuts, “schemas” that help us
make sense of the world. But our shortcuts
sometimes make us misinterpret or miss things.That’s unconscious bias.
What Causes Societal Bias?
What do you see?
Count How Many Passes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkn3wRyb9Bk
Notice anything odd about this lung scan?
Photo: www.npr.org
More on Societal Bias – Howard vs. Heidi
Howard vs. Heidi
Howard vs. Heidi
Howard vs. Heidi
Society Organizational Culture
Subtle Dynamics
InstitutionalBarriersSchemas/
UnconsciousBiases
Employees
Unconscious Bias Is More Salient in Homogenous Organizations
Example: White male engineering students
score lower when told in advance that Asians
typically score higher on math tests
Source: Aronson, et al., 1999; Steele & Aronson, 1998
Subtle Dynamics Example: Stereotype Threat
Not speak up in meetings
Be reluctant to take leadership positions
Be overly harsh about their own work
Discount their performance
How Stereotype Threat Shows Up in Technical Environments
Slights: “Actually, Susan has a good idea.”
Exclusion: “Oops, I forgot to cc her on the email about the architecture review.”
Recognition: “No, I’m pretty sure Jane would not have had the idea to use a link algorithm.”
Isolation: “Dude, let’s talk about it over a beer!”
Subtle Dynamics Example: Micro-inequities
HiringSelecting people “like me”
Task AssignmentWomen find themselves in “low status” jobs
Performance Appraisal Men appraised for effort, skill; women for collaboration, luck
PromotionCriteria modeled implicitly on existing senior male leaders
Institutional Barriers
Institutional Barriers Example: Bias in Hiring
“Blind” orchestra auditions, with musicians behind a curtain, increased the number of female musicians
hired by 25% to 46% percent.
Goldin & Rouse (2000) The American Economic Review, 90(4), 715-741.
Invite Diversity & Actively Recruit
Evaluate Interview Questions and Include a Woman in the Interview
(Cheryan, S., Plaut, V., Davies, P., & Steele, C. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), 1045-1060; http://www.ncwit.org/physicalspaceuw
Photo: www.psfk.com
Audit Your Physical Space for Gendered Vibes
Assure inclusive team meetings and social events.
Provide Recognition, Credit, Encouragement
Audit Performance Review & Advancement Processes
Examine performance reviews for unconscious biases
Build accountability metrics into managers’ performance reviews
Clarify paths to promotion
Consciously Develop Talent
Watch for biases in task assignment/leadership opportunities
Watch for biases in career path advice
Be a Male Advocate; Inspire More Male Advocates
“Every person that becomes an advocate had to go through that door where they take the first risk and realize, ‘Oh, that wasn’t so bad.’
So I would talk about the risk-taking that you take the first or second time and how, all of a sudden, it is no longer risk-taking.”
Enable & Empathize
“When it finally started to hit me about gender diversity…We were in a big meeting and…she made a comment about how difficult it was for her to be a leader in the organization as a woman. And so, here is someone who I literally was putting on a pedestal saying this…And I…was like, “Wow!” So I asked her after the meeting… “Hey I want to go to lunch with you, I want to understand this!”
Listening to Women’s Stories
“It’s like if I work on me, I can call people in my immediate peer group when they do something… call them on it and make sure they’re aware of what they’re doing.…I guess my strategy is increasing awareness.”
Talk to Other Men
ASSUME BEST INTENTIONS
“A lot of times, the women’s voice kind of gets drowned; it’s left out in a sense. I tend to play that role of connector in group settings. So, I…say, “Wait a minute — [woman’s name] has something to say....Or, you know, “[woman’s name] looks like she wants to get in here, but [man’s name], you just keep talking and we can’t hear over you.”
Correct Biases & Microinequities
Don’t give up: this is a long distance race and not a sprint
Supervisory Program-in-a-Box Series
Women & IT – The Facts
Top Ten Ways to Be a Male Advocate for Technical Women
Top 10 Ways Managers Can Increase the Visibility of Technical Women
Keep Going with Research-Backed Resources
Questions?
How do we surface unspoken gender issues in the workplace?
How is our organization laid out – in what ways might it subtly disadvantage women or other groups?
What do men most worry about when it comes to getting involved or being a male advocate?
Small Group Questions