Think mail-man, police-man, jack of all trades. Limiting the number of qualifications in a job description is another important way to mitigate job-listing gender bias. For African Americans, this rose by 70% and for Latinos, by 50%. Technology can be an incredible force for change, but its on us as an industry to make sure its a force for good. Explicit bias for men or women in job advertisements is no longer commonplace or legal due to affirmative action and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations. Take a minute to consider your own workforce dynamics. Gender bias is one of the most frequent types of bias that are reflected in job descriptions today. Bohnet recommends listing Humans may be programming their own biases, including around gender and race, into the algorithms behind artificial intelligence. Check My Job also analyses your job description against other critical success factors. Real-life examples of gender discrimination are caused by a mixture of Social Role and Social Dominance. Participants for this study were asked to read six job descriptions for occupations that had been altered to include either masculine or feminine language. The results of Gaucher, Friesen, and Kays first three studies led to their final study. More feminine language did not strongly correlate with decreased feelings of belongingness or job appeal. Word choice is key to making job descriptions more gender neutral. Its a word we frequently use in our conversations, but when its used in a job description, it reflects unconscious gender bias. Can a gendered job posting deter female applicants? Be mindful of gender-bias when writing job descriptions to drive applications, from both men and women. Their third study explored how gendered language on job advertisements affects diversity perception. For objective and unbiased job descriptions, companies need to balance masculine words with feminine ones to convey they value a diverse set of skills, saysAnna Beninger, Director, Research, Catalyst, and author of the new tool. Gendered wording creates perceptions about the makeup of the workforce at the workplace. Request a demo from one of our team members to learn how Mya can impact the recruiting process. Job titles are one of the most important areas of your job description. This is a loss for talent acquisition teams working to support diversity initiatives and a loss for companies as well since diverse teams are positively correlated with better financial performance. Intel is an example of a company that has proven the effectiveness of these anti-bias panels and saw diversity rates climb dramatically. They hypothesized that the presence of more men in a field could be a strong predictor for masculine gendered language in job descriptions. Explicit biases are ones that we can control and are aware of. It was refreshing. Unless we bring a diverse set of perspectives to solve the most difficult technical problems, we are not going to reach our full potential as a company.. Based on this research we created Check My Job- a free job description checking tool, which can analyse the gender bias of your job description. Companies need to be careful about using any type of language that has negative connotations. For example, Trades like electrical and plumbing are notorious for being male-dominated industries. Although women have comprised a significant portion of the workforce for decades, many job descriptions still have a Using Automation to Solve Your Financial Services Recruiting Needs, Recruiting Within the Industrial Sector: How Mya Can Help, How Mya Solves Your Healthcare Recruiting Needs. If you want to make your company more diverse and inclusive, its a good idea to start with bias in your job descriptions. Here are some other forms of bias to look out for in your job descriptions. Check My Job also analyses your job description In the example below, its in the company name itself so its difficult Bias against Asian candidates in job descriptions The same findings were not true for male participants. Society has certain expectations of what men and women are like, and how they differ, and this seeps into the language we use. Develop a more diverse and inclusive team by following these 5 steps. Download this infographic to learn how gender bias can seep into your talent management system. The post and the comments are presented only for the purpose of informing the public. Some hiring managers were a little concerned about the extended time required, but they were quickly on board once they realized how high-quality the new hires were. Racism is one example of explicit bias. It turns out that these words, when listed in job descriptions, are major deterrents for women job seekers. Gender bias can also emerge in job descriptions in the form of everyday language that we use. Gender Bias in Job Evaluation is designed to be an easy-to-use collection of resources that encompasses job evaluation projects and processes from the planning stages to monitoring and reviewing the remuneration outcome. Both of these theories posit that gender bias is influenced by social roles, however, they differ in terms of how those roles work to form our bias. Heres how: In addition to the job description, organizations have other opportunities to attract women throughout the recruitment process: If organizations hope to be on the cutting edge and leaders of their industries, they will have to tap into theentiretalent pool, including women, Beninger asserts. The gender of the ideal candidate is still conveyed, but more subtly, through implicit biases that influence wording in gendered job descriptions. Terms you might throw into a job description to make it sound more exciting, such as guru, hacker, or even rockstar for the more flamboyant descriptions, can, in fact, reduce the number of applications you receive. It was inspiring.. Avoid Gender Bias. Examples include: We are a team where data drives our decisions Ability to make decisions quickly You are the driver of business decisions You might swap in these gender bias-free words instead: Actions; Moves; Gender Bias Word #7: Competitive If the position is one When you picture a paperboy, do you picture a girlor a boy? These reflect broader cultural stereotypes about men and women. Racial Discrimination in Job Interviews. Do candidates make subconscious assessments on the possibility of job discrimination based on job descriptions? Gaucher, Friesen, and Kays first study compared the different uses of gendered language in job advertisements for both male-dominated and female-dominated fields. I can see someone who looks like me. Research has shown that the following words have a masculine denotation. Social science research has called attention to the role of job descriptions in perpetuating gender inequality. As automation, technology, and the use of AI continue to rise in talent acquisition, its important that we become more intentional about the way we approach diversity hiring. In their research paper Evidence that gendered wording in job advertisements exists and sustains gender inequality, Danielle Gaucher, Justin Friesen, and Aaron C Kay conducted a series of studies on gendered language in job advertisements/descriptions. See if you can spot all 10. Stick with neutral titles such as developer or project manager, while avoiding clich terms such as ninja, rockstar, or hacker, which research has demonstrated to be male-oriented terms. So deep, in fact, that its built into a lot of the language we use to describe things. Diversity also can improve the retention and engagement of your current team. The researchers explained that given that men are associated with agency, if there are many men in a particular field, then traits associated with men (i.e., agency) should emerge within the wording of the advertisement. They concluded that this biased wording influences certain perceptions and causes women to opt-out of applying for a position. Avoid Gender Bias. Although seemingly harmless and often difficult to spot, cultural reference can be a form of racial bias if other ethnicities are not likely to identify with it. Older workers face stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination in the workplace. This linguistic gender-coding shows up in job adverts as well, and research has shown that it If you want to remove gender bias in your job descriptions, and are hiring at least 100 people per year, please reach out to us about Text Analyzer. Certain words have been proven to attract or repel some male and female candidates, according to the Journal of Personality and Social PsychologysEvidence That Gendered Wording in Job AdvertisementsExists and Sustains Gender Inequalityand other studies. For example, using words such as committed (feminine) compared to determined (its masculine How diverse is your workforce? According to a Hewlett Packard Internal Report, women will typically only apply for a job if they meet 100% of the qualifications. They help form candidates first impressions of the job and can affect whether or not they will apply. For example, the job description below for a Mechanical Engineer at a top firm has many words that are perceived as stereotypically masculine, which could inadvertently deter women from applying. For many years, terminology like Master/Slave was very common language to use in database-related job descriptions. Unfortunately, the bias is further strengthened by references to brothers joining the company which seems to imply that a female wouldnt be welcomed into the brotherhood. Just click the demo request button on this There are two tools that are particularly helpful: Textio and Gender Decoder. Make sure job descriptions have a mix of both. Academic research has shown that job descriptions can be unknowingly gender coded, which can deter female candidates. One contributing factor is unconscious gender bias in job descriptions. In this study, participants were asked to read job descriptions for various occupations that had been altered to include either masculine or feminine language and estimate the number of women in the position being advertised. This would be an example of positional bias, whereby people are put in positions at least in part due to gender stereotypes. To avoid unconscious gender bias deterring women from applying to your jobs, consider eliminating requirements that are not essential. What Is a Gender-Biased Job Listing? A gender-biased job listing includes often-coded language that is geared toward a specific gender or sex. In the example below, its in the company name itself so its difficult to avoid. 2. As these companies have shown us, diversity panels throughout the hiring process can produce astonishing results. To avoid unconscious gender bias deterring women from applying to your jobs, consider eliminating requirements that are not essential. One way to keep unconscious biases out of your job descriptions is to involve more women and underrepresented minorities in the process. Even subtle word choices in a job description can have a strong impact on the application pool. We unconsciously create predictions about the traits someone has based on their gender which leads us to form deeply-rooted gender stereotypes. But how does this affect applications? See if you can spotall 10. 2. How does your use of masculine-wording compare to feminine-wording? It is often seen as a form of discrimination that serves to keep the dominant group in power and strengthen the gender gap. 7. Even something as mundane as a job description contains traces of unconscious bias. Since the cause and effect relationship of gender bias has been well established in the literature, we can extrapolate the findings to other forms of bias as well. This is because these terms are perceived as masculine, and therefore geared towards a male candidate, in turn, When you picture a paperboy, do you picture a girlor a boy? Willing to work outside the standard 9-5 schedule, including early mornings, evenings, and weekends as required by tight project deadlines. The tool Textio is a great online tool to help ensure your job descriptions remain gender neutral. Words like blacklist are an example of bias language and imply Black is bad and White (e.g. This biased wording in job descriptions has been proven to still exist to this day. Studies show that gender-coded words can significantly reduce the number of women applying to your open positions, even though this type of bias is usually unconscious. Its important to be aware of the type of language you are using in your job descriptions so you can attract more diverse candidates, especially for male-dominated fields. Ability to work independently in a competitive work environment. Implementing diverse hiring panels has enabled us to cast a wider net at the outset of the hiring process and systematically helped reduce unconscious bias in our hiring, says Danielle Brown, Intels vice president of human resources and group chief human resources officer. This subsequently causes diverse candidates to avoid applying for the position. If talent acquisition forms and asks these diversity panels to introduce their thoughts and concepts earlier in the hiring process, like in the job description and in recruitment marketing content, the impacts can be even greater. To make your job descriptions more inclusive, start by taking gendered words like ninja, rock star, or guru out of your job titles and Despite the fact that women make up approximately 47% of todays workforce, there are still many male-dominated industries. They were then asked to complete six questions assessing 2 areas: The results from this study demonstrated that gendered language and perception of gender-diversity (or lack thereof) significantly decreases feelings of both belongingness and job appeal in females. Depending on the reference, some candidates may even have a negative perspective of it. Its no secret that women and other minorities face unique challenges in the workforce. When the hiring panels were first introduced in 2014, only 31.9% of employees were women or people of color. The courses guest speakers also included the CEOs of startups Applied Ltd. and Unitive, both of which use behavioral science research to help organizations take the gender bias out of all steps of the employee recruitment processincluding writing a job description, evaluating applications, and This linguistic gender-coding shows up in job adverts as well, and research has shown that it puts women off applying for jobs that are advertised with masculine-coded language. Bias Against Asian Candidates. Eaglys Social Role Theory suggests that these biases are formed from the roles each gender traditionally takes on and the behaviors they display. Language inherently has gendered associations , so including words like confident, decisive, strong and outspoken have been found to attract male candidates and deter female candidates. Even something as mundane as a job description contains traces of unconscious bias. whitelist) is good. Based on this research we created Check My Job- a free job description checking tool, which can analyse the gender bias of your job description. Involving a mix of genders and ethnicities in your hiring process in the form of a diversity committee and getting their input on talent acquisition strategy will help you attract high-quality candidates and create a more inclusive environment. Cisco experienced similar benefits when they introduced similar diversity panels that same year. The United States Department of Labor estimates that although 74% of human resources managers are female, only 27% of CEOs are. The views expressed herein are solely those of the guest blogger and do not necessarily reflect those of Catalyst. Ongig is on a mission to transform job descriptions. That number drops to just 7% for construction managers. The study also found stark regional differences in gender-biased job descriptions. Years ago, Intel made a commitment to creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce. Manchester was found to be the most gender-neutral city, with 16 per cent of adverts deemed to be gender-neutral and the Gender Bias in Job Postings. Less obvious, do women view assertiveness as a male or female attribute? Here are some real-life examples of biased job advertisements from reputable companies. This hypothesis was confirmed in their second study. Women makeup 47% of the workforce today but are often unrepresented in many industries. The software scans text and offers suggestions for improvement based on word choice, grammar and fluidity. Note: Ongigs Text Analyzer scans job descriptions (and more) for biased words like Blacklist (pictured below), gives synonyms to remove bias, and shows a pop-up explaining why people might feel excluded or offended. Diversity has been proven to drive innovation which can help you capture a greater share of the market. Science and psychology have shown that feminine language is more communal, social and emotional versus contrasting masculine language. Using gender-charged words in your job description can isolate a gender from applying. Gender bias can also emerge in job descriptions in the form of everyday language that we use. Limiting the number of qualifications in a job description is another important way to mitigate job-listing gender bias. Textio. Take a look at a few of your recent descriptions. Were happy to show you other masculine job description examples. To answer this question lets examine the researchers final study on whether the perception of a male-dominated workforce dissuades non-male candidates from applying. The concept of gendered job listings refers to the use of male or female skewing terms within job descriptions. Is It Possible to Prevent Unintentional Bias in AI? According to a Hewlett Packard Internal Report, women will typically only apply for a job if they meet 100% of the qualifications. So, what are some gender-biased language examples? These subtle biases often surface in job descriptions and can negatively impact your hiring efforts. This type of bias appears in performance evaluations. They found that job advertisements within male-dominated areas contained greater masculine wording than advertisements from female-dominated areas. Decisions is a favorite adjective used in job descriptions. Much of our gender bias as a society is culturally ingrained. Its best to avoid these types of references in your job descriptions. Sidanius and Prattos Social Dominance Theory, on the other hand, posits that gendered language in job descriptions is a subtle, covert, institutionalized practice. Gender bias runs deep and wide in our society. Think mail-man, police-man, jack of all trades. The courses guest speakers also included the CEOs of startups Applied Ltd. and Unitive, both of which use behavioral science research to help organizations take the gender bias out of all steps of the employee recruitment processincluding writing a job description, evaluating applications, and Gender Decoder is a free word decoder tool you can use to see if you are using gendered-language in your job descriptions. A gender-charged job title decreases the number of candidates that will consider the opportunity because it may unintentionally be unappealing to women. They help companies use less biased language in their writing. So this means that their machine is always learning, and the more you write, the more it learns and gives better results. Even something as mundane as a job description contains traces of unconscious bias. Textio is an augmented writing tool, which means it can predict the results youll get as you write your job description based on real-time data it collects through its AI system. For this, they investigated another more impactful consequence of gendered job description wording: Whether gendered job description wording successfully maintains gender inequality by affecting job appeal. These studies demonstrated that gender-biased language in job descriptions still exists. Diversity and Inclusion: Making Sure 2021 Is the Year of the Change. For example, focusing on traits such as being aggressive, assertive or independent rather than things like being conscientious, dedicated and sociable will typically put off women. Job descriptions play a critical role in recruiting female talent and often provide the first impression of organizational culture. To include examples, Collier & Zhang used Textio, a content analysis service promoting gender-neutral language, to find a selection of gender-skewed wordings prominent in job listings. Removing gender bias in job descriptions will allow you to experience all the benefits diversity can bring. Gender bias is the bias that has been the most thoroughly studied, however, it is not the only type of bias that exists in job descriptions. Company Description:We are a top engineering firm dominating the marketplace, boasting many leading clients. More and more licensing and certification agencies have shifted to more gender-neutral language and now use Journeyperson instead of Journeyman. Employers would be wise to follow suit.Gender-biased job titles like this one can decrease the number of female candidates that apply for your position. Do your descriptions reflect gender bias or any other implicit biases? As part of this initiative, they begin requiring that interview panels consist of at least two women and/or underrepresented minorities. Terminations are often telling in terms of how gender issues are Conversely, research shows that both women and men are less inclined to act on job ads that contain phrasing biased against their gender. For example, a 2011 study entitled Evidence That Gendered Wording Job It changes candidates perceptions about the diversity of the workplace. Although women have comprised a significant portion of the workforce for decades, many job descriptions still have a tendency to be predominantly male-oriented. Research has shown that there are two types of bias in job descriptions: Explicit bias and implicit bias. Language inherently has gendered associations , so including words like confident, decisive, strong and outspoken have been found to attract male candidates and deter female candidates. Gender bias runs deep and wide in our society. Job Descriptions Contain Gender Bias. According to augmented writing pioneers Textio, using gender-neutral language fills jobs 14 days faster than posts with a masculine or feminine bias, and attracts a more diverse mix of people. 8. Likewise, some words link to gender. Textio is a bias checker that runs on an augmented writing platform. Its a word we frequently use in our conversations, but when its used in a job description, it reflects unconscious gender bias. Proven experience with production planning. Men are traditionally seen as a provider with traits like strength and leadership while women are seen as caregivers and are often thought to have traits like nurturing and warmness. These tech startups are using AI to try to make gender bias in the workplace a thing of the past. The figure below shows some of how the choice of words can lead to bias. So deep, in fact, that its built into a lot of the language we use to describe things. Are all of your receptionists female and all your maintenance personnel male? You can upload your job description and receive a score with suggestions on how to improve your writing. Language inherently has gendered associations, so including words like confident, decisive, strong and outspoken have been found to attract male candidates and deter female candidates. A new position has become available in your office that youre dying to go for They demonstrated that wording differences may not be entirely innocuous: Masculine wording led people to predict that there are relatively more men within the relevant occupation. Finding subtle bias in job ads. Regardless of how gender bias is formed, it often results in the use of gendered language in descriptions. Some words can conjure up other words, images, and feelings. Company Description: We are a top engineering firm dominating the marketplace, boasting Textio is an augmented writing tool, which means it can predict the results youll get as you write your job description based on real-time data it collects through its AI system. Textio. Academic research has shown that job descriptions can be unknowingly gender coded, which can deter female candidates. Research has identified the following words as feminine. Think about bossy and feisty: we almost never use these words to describe men. Diversity panels work because they remove biases and help the applicant form a sense of belonging and give the interview panel a fresh perspective. The chances that an underrepresented minority would be hired rose dramatically in just a short period of time. Guys is one example. Consider creating a diversity committee made up of both women and men from different backgrounds and ethnicities to review the job descriptions as part of your internal approval process. With these strategies, organizations can begin to make progress today.. Lets see some of the insights presented by the app : Use of Gendered Keywords in Job Descriptions Implicit biases, on the other hand, are our unconscious perceptions, stereotypes, and beliefs we have developed from our past experiences and influences. Many of these unconscious biases can be attributed to either Eaglys Social Role Theory or Sidanius and Prattos Social Dominance Theory. The following tips have been adapted from Catalysts new tool for Catalystmember organizations,Advancing Women in Tech-Intensive Industries: Transforming Organizational Cultures. A gender-biased job listing includes often-coded language that is geared toward a specific gender or sex. Think about bossy and feisty: we almost never use these words to describe men. An interview is the first face-to-face For companies struggling to attract women, editing job descriptions is an easy place to start and has the potential to result in very tangible gains, Beninger advises. Researchhas shown that masculine wording of job descriptions, including adjectives like superior, competitive, and determined, results in women perceiving that they would not belong in the work environment. Put your current job descriptions to the test. Karenga Ross, an employee who was hired using this system stated Its nice to be able to look across that table and see someone whom I can aspire to be. Rework your job descriptions Job listings play an important role in recruiting talent and often provide the first impression of a company's culture. Ironically, they can exacerbate the very gender inequities they are striving to reducelike the anemic number of These evaluations are part of the process to identify, develop, and promote talented individuals and are designed to be meritocratic. Examples include: We are a team where data drives our decisions Ability to make decisions quickly You are the driver of business decisions 2021 Mya Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. In addition to creating a diversity committee, recruiting technology can also help you keep your job descriptions bias-free. Positional Bias. Terminations. This theory suggests that we form groups based on our roles and seek to maintain the groups stability. Catalyst does not endorse any political candidates. Just copy and paste your description into the website and click check this ad. Gender Decoder will search through your description and identify both feminine and masculine words used. Founded in 1962, Catalyst drives change with pioneering research, practical tools, and proven solutions to accelerate and advance women into leadershipbecause progress for women is progress for everyone., Artificial Intelligence: The New Frontier for Confronting Gender Bias, Infographic: Break the Cycle Eliminating Gender Bias in Talent Management Systems. In the example below, the employer uses a gendered-term in the title. Word association is inevitable. So, whats behind these workforce dynamics? London was found to have the most male-biased language, which covered 47 per cent of job adverts. Pick Job Titles that are Gender-Neutral: The job title is the first thing most job Many other biases are reflected in job descriptions. Male-oriented titles Overall, Gaucher, Friesen, and Kay determined that masculine wording reflected in real job advertisements primarily serves to keep women out of the areas that men typically occupy.. Without realising it, we all use language that is subtly gender-coded.

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