This is one of those oft quoted studies that looks a lot different if you actually read the study:
In other words, going to a blind audition actually reduced the likelihood of a given woman advancing in the selection round and ultimately being hired. Here is their conclusion:
Effectively they discarded a bunch of conflicting data to draw statistically insignificant conclusions. They say it was the weight of the evidence that led them to do that, but it looks awfully like they manipulated the data to get the conclusion they wanted.
There could be implicit bias, but that just shows that it’s not all black and white. It could be that we’re very friendly to Latinos and Caribbean blacks, but not African-Americans or women of any color. In my own opinion, I don’t see any bias based on race, we simply haven’t had African-American applicants. But we have had females and for whatever reason the all-female management doesn’t hire them. Weird. And of course bias is possible against your own group.
Not only is it impossible for people of different genders to be perceived the same, but even the most ardent feminists and MRAs don’t *want *people of different genders to be perceived the same. To do so would actually undermine a lot of feminist/MRA causes/goals.
Depends on the strain of feminism. There are actually some women who want to be treated like one of the guys. But most don’t, and it’s hard for a man to be sure of what the rules are.
Seems to me that the very idea that colorblindness or gender-blindness are desirable goals may be well-intentioned but is certainly misguided. What it says is that we are unable to separate stereotyping from our perceptions of someone’s ethnicity or gender, so the only way to eliminate stereotyping is to somehow not see ethnicity/gender. As another Doper said, ethnicity and gender are important parts of our identities. I think it’s foolish and maybe dehumanizing to ignore them.
I think, too, that “I don’t see color”/“I don’t see gender” are sometimes used as covers for discrimination. I had a principal who claimed he didn’t even notice gender. He claimed this after he replaced all female department heads with men.
As far as what to do about a school/company whose employees are primarily white and female (or male), I once asked a civil rights attorney about this. He suggested employers look at their pool of applicants: bias in interview questions may not matter much if you’re only attracting white applicants. Sometimes it’s a matter of establishing more of a presence in different communities or college campuses. As far as gender in teaching goes, a little less than half of all secondary school teachers are male. In elementary grades, it’s only18%. I think that’s because teaching is still regarded as “women’s work.”
You asked for guidelines about recognizing implicit gender bias, right?
Being treated as “one of the guys” is sexist. Try thinking of treating everyone as a friend, or as a contributing teammate. I believe that has a similar meaning without reference to the gender of the person.