Some learning around unconscious bias, and a look at the effects of bias in the systems around us.
I don’t believe that most of the people reading this are racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic. But it is important for us to acknowledge that we all have underlying biases that have developed culturally and that we all have been, and will continue to be, influenced by the media and environments around us. These biases can be as simple as feeling surprised that a man is interviewing for a receptionist job, or making assumptions about a female secretary who wears a lot of make-up and fitted clothing… They could lead to innocuous consequences, such as: not being friends with this person, not inviting this person to events, making jokes about someone’s profession, not hiring the best person for the job… they can also have life and death consequences.
Below are two examples of how harm can come from unconscious bias.
GENDER BIAS: The default male. Women are still associated with homelife, and men with work life. Because of this bias office spaces, seat belts, office temperatures, PPE equipment, DIY tools and just about any other ‘neutral’ apparatus you can imagine may be marked as ‘unisex’ but actually will be designed to suit men. In car accidents, women are 47% more likely to be seriously injured than men, as the safety designs (seatbelts, air bags etc) are designed for average male proportions, rather than average female proportions. Stab vests in the military and the police forces do not allow for women’s breasts or waist ratios, and face masks do not give women the same protection they give to men, as women tend to have slimmer jawlines and masks are designed for the average male jaw.
RACIAL BIAS: Life benefits of being white. Ingrained bias associating black people and crime, means that black people are 43% more likely to be pulled over and stopped by police in the UK, and ingrained bias associating black people and violence means that, in the US, they are 150% more likely to be fatally shot. Dara O’Brien (a white comedian) phrased it well in a tweet recently, “Just found out that George Floyd was originally stopped by the police because he handed over a counterfeit note in a shop. I did that once! They handed me back the note as a souvenir, and later I told the story on stage in a comedy routine. That’s some privilege right there.” The bias Dara highlights is the fact that it is likely police would have assumed a white person had the $20 bill by mistake; but believed a black person was committing fraud. That, believing a black person would react violently, they showed force and aggression, which they probably would not have done had he been white.
Admitting to having subconscious bias is uncomfortable and unpleasant, and our biases are so ingrained that we can’t change them overnight. However, by acknowledging that we have them, we can begin to put things in place to reduce the chance of acting in a biased way. For example, in the UK CVs with ‘western European’ names are nearly twice as likely to be called for interview then CVs with ‘Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somalian, Ugandan, South American or Caribbean names’. I would hope this bias would not affect me, but it might, so I can tell our recruitment agency to remove names from a CV before they send them through for me; at least now every nationality and ethnicity has an equal chance for an interview.
Action Points:
Go larger. After looking at what differences you can make, demand differences in your organisation, in your suppliers or contractors, in your government and its policies.
Understand unconscious bias, and what your own prejudices might be. Harvard have an Implicit Association Test, which is free and brilliant at opening your eyes to your own biases.
Reduce the potential for bias to affect your decisions. Remove names from CVs, create clear transparent promotion criteria, evaluate the types of events your putting on and the general level of diversity in attendance and make changes.