The Reasons for Gender Bias in the Workplace
Long history of gender discrimination and biases along with social beliefs about different traits of men and women are the main reasons for inequality at the workplace. Since men are usually seen to be decisive and strong, they are seen as good leaders. Women, on the other hand, are believed to be more caring and sympathetic, but at the same time more emotional and less logical. These stereotypes lead to discrimination against women.
I can’t say that I’ve been facing a lot of discrimination during my life, but I definitely had some experience with gender biases and the glass ceiling in the worplace.
My Personal Story
Being a young professional with several years of experience in a marketing field, I was planning to build a career of my dream. Since at my current workplace there was no more room to progress, I decided to move forward and consider other companies with the opportunities for career growth. I was lucky enough to be interviewed by the HR manager and Head of marketing 2 weeks later for the VP of marketing position in a bank.
The company had 2 open positions – Marketing Manager and a VP of Marketing. And although I applied for VP of marketing I was offered the Marketing Manager position. What overwhelmed me here was the reason for this. I was told by the Head of Marketing that another candidate applied for a marketing manager position and he’d like him to become a VP of marketing. Although I had more experience and was a more suitable candidate, he prefers to work more closely with another man rather than a woman.
I felt frustrated and humiliated, thinking that this is my fault, trying to analyze if I’ve done anything wrong. I was young and didn’t realize that the problem lies in the gender biases and sexism, and that this is actually illegal.
Although I was lucky enough to find another great job and build a career in marketing that I’m proud of, that situation made me less confident and more vulnerable.
Steps to Overcome the Gender Bias
As mentioned before, a lot of progress was made in the gender equality field to provide men and women with equal rights. Still, it won’t be true to say that both genders always have equal chances for success. So what can be actually done in order to overcome gender bias and create a world with equal opportunities.
Grow Awareness
The first step to take is to admit that the problem still exists. We should realize that probably each of us lives with some biases, so the task is to notice them when they arise and understand how they are affecting our actions. If you’d like to find out more about your own gender, racial and other forms of stereotypes you can also take the Implicit Association Test, provided by Harvard University – https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
Change Your Attitude
Trying to accept both genders in counter-stereotypical roles will help to break the gender stereotypes and allow all members of our society to freely manifest themselves.
Educate Others
Try not only to change your personal attitude, but also help the organization you work for to reduce gender biases. You can act as a thought leader and have conversations about discrimination history and importance of gender balance for the business success. Provide your HR leaders with useful information, help them to ensure that they consider gender balance when shortlisting candidates, etc.
Summing Up
It’s important to acknowledge that we are all part of the problem, either consciously or unconsciously we are living within our stereotypes. To realize this and to take corrective action is something that can actually help to create a better word with equal opportunities for ourselves and our posterity.