The Sunday Mail
Women & Leadership
Maggie Mzumara
ALTHOUGH most organisations have gender policies in place and the Constitution provides for 50:50 representation of women and men in decision-making positions, by and large, discrimination against women still continues.
While it is notable that at times women themselves do not “lean in” and/or offer themselves for advancement for different reasons, stereotypes against women continue. The reasons for this are many.
However, one of the dominant causes of discrimination against women in leadership in particular and women at work in general, can be located in cultural subtexts that continue to thrive, where women are often treated as less than men.
Often, this manifests in what is known as unconscious bias.
Others who are different and in the minority suffer the same. This speaks to the issue of diversity and inclusion.
Those who are different from what is considered the norm are often “othered”, which means treated with prejudice and subject to stereotypes.
Unconscious bias is meted against them.
Unconscious bias
Unconscious or implicit bias refers to associations that are made between different qualities and social categories such as race, gender or disability.
These judgements are made without conscious awareness.
These automatic preferences or stereotypes are a major contributor to a lack of workplace diversity.
When we make a decision, our background, life experiences and cultural values all impact our reasoning.
Over time, the human brain has developed an ability to use these experiences to create short-cuts and enable us to navigate the incredible amount of information we are exposed to on a daily basis.
This cognitive function can be helpful, but often leads to snap decisions being made, which, in many cases, can be wrong or poorly informed.
In the workplace, this can have a negative impact on recruitment decisions, slow down employee development, impair diversity and drive up attrition.
Types of unconscious bias
A common component to many people’s cognitive behaviours, the concept of unconscious bias is made even more complex by the many types of biases that can exist. Some of them include:
◆ Gender bias — preference towards one gender over another which often comes from deep-rooted beliefs about gender roles and stereotypes;
◆ Affinity bias — an unconscious preference towards people who share qualities or viewpoints with us or with someone close to us;
◆ Halo effect — viewing one particularly strong positive trait about someone in a way that overpowers our judgement of them and can skew our ability to see any of their negative traits;
◆ Horns effect — focusing on one badly perceived trait that can cloud judgement of the positive ones;
◆ Beauty bias — a social behaviour that often adversely affects women in the workplace. For example, attractive women being viewed as less competent than their male counterparts and tall people being treated like leaders from their peers from a young age;
◆ Confirmation bias — selectively seeking information to back up an opinion that is already held without looking at the bigger picture.
Impact in the workplace
Although widely recognised that diversity of thought and innovation are key to secure bottom-line results and workplace productivity, our unconscious preferences for people who are like us, continues to severely challenge our ability to create these conditions. Biases can sneak into every encounter we have, from the language used in job specifications and decisions on who to hire or promote, to managers overlooking poor performance of those they know and like.
In recruitment, biases can lead to generalisations that determine the right candidate for the job not based on their skills, but on the perceived origin of their nationality.
Gender biases are common with many job roles that historically attract one gender over the other; for example, female nurses or male engineers.
While in some industries there may be traditional stereotypes, it is important for managers to advertise and hire based on qualities and characteristics required for the job.
There is need to be wary of how easily gender biases can arise.
In some more severe cases, strong preferential bias of any kind can lead to workplace bullying, unlawful harassment or discrimination.
Overall, this puts businesses at high risk of reputational damage and any associated financial costs as issues develop.
Overcoming unconscious bias
Implicit biases can be hard to address because by their very nature, they are unconscious and may be hard to recognise and accept.
However, promoting a culture of respect for diversity encourages different ideas to be expressed, leading to greater creativity and innovation.
This is important in the workplace but also in the way that businesses respond to customer needs.
It ultimately strengthens a business brand.
Experts say, to eliminate unconscious bias in the workplace, consider the following:
◆ Educate employees on the types on unconscious bias and negatives consequences that can arise from allowing such behaviour to become normalised;
◆ Monitor each other for unconscious bias and question comments or remarks on cultural or gender stereotypes;
◆ Reconsider the rationale behind an initial decision to establish if all facts were considered or if biases have crept in;
◆ Deliberately slow down decision-making to reduce the likelihood of a making a snap decision;
◆ Invest in setting up a diversity and inclusion committee to build and maintain processes and enforce cultural behaviours that align with the diversity goals of the company.
One, Lasagna Harris, a neuroscientist who studies prejudice and social learning at University College London, said the concept of unconscious bias should not absolve people of discriminatory behaviour, but “if you are aware of these [biases] then you can bring to bear all of your critical skills and intelligence to see it’s wrong to think like that”.
Closer to home, it goes without saying that there is need to always ensure that we walk the talk in levelling the playing field for women.
Maggie Mzumara is a communication, media and leadership strategist with a passion for leadership for women. This article is written in her personal capacity. She can be reached on [email protected] or followed on Twitter at @magsmzumara
