What is Unconscious Bias?
The Equality Challenge Unit defines this as implicit bias happening by our brains making incredibly quick judgments and assessments of people and situations without us realizing. These can be influenced by our background, cultural environment, and personal experiences, and results in feelings and attitudes towards others based on race, ethnicity, age, appearance, accent, etc. Also termed as implicit social cognition, it includes both favorable and unfavorable assessments, activated without an individual’s awareness or intentional control. It is important to distinguish these from the known biases, that people can often conceal for the fear of being politically incorrect.
Are these unconscious biases hardwired into our brains as an evolutionary response, or do they emerge from assimilating information that we see around us? These kinds of bias are a result of our upbringing, where we’ve grown up, the social structure that we have been a part of, what kind of people and social groups we have been exposed to, what kind of ideas have had an impact on us, and what we see in media around us. Stereotypes are one such kind of implicit bias, where certain groups of people can be labeled by comments such as “all teenagers are lazy”. Experiments have shown that the brain categorizes people by race in less than one-tenth of a second, about 50 milliseconds before determining sex.
Why is it important to think about Unconscious Bias?
Unconscious bias can affect workplaces and organizations. It can introduce unintentional discrimination and result in poor decision-making. Unconscious Bias can be a huge setback in creating a truly diverse and inclusive workplace. It has been shown that such biases can have an impact on recruitment, mentoring and promotions. This can hamper equal opportunities for women in terms of selection and progression to a high-level management and leadership role.
A Yale University study found that male and female scientists, both trained to be objective, were more likely to hire men, and consider them more competent than women, and pay them $4,000 more per year than women. I have previously written about how women can have an unconscious bias against women. Tests have shown that even avowed feminists think of men as more competent than women. Women treat men with more respect. Women are sexist too, often unconsciously. A toxic and vicious cycle can be created that means that people tend to favor people just like themselves. So when there are white men at the top, they are likely to favor, mentor and invest in more white men just like themselves. This creates a workplace which is not diverse or inclusive and the cycle of unconscious bias against women and other minority communities is perpetuated. It also means that men in leadership roles are less likely to mentor and support women in advancing in the organization.
Although we talk about diversity and inclusivity and conscious explicit bias, organizations do not train their staff in recognizing and acknowledging implicit and ingrained cultural and social conditioning that can affect their decision-making and attitudes towards others. Research has shown the extent to which we are unconsciously biased: 67% of the British public admits to feeling uncomfortable talking to a disabled person, and 80% of employers admit to making decisions based on regional accents.
Unconscious Bias can sometimes become ingrained in an organization’s policy structures and work practices. It can also be a result of certain policies implemented by the organization, such as ‘flexible’ work practices, allowing employees to have a flexible work arrangement to accommodate families and other needs. However, unconsciously this can be perceived as ‘lazy’, and ‘not pulling their weight’ by other employees, and flexible workers might be seen as losing money and income for the organization. This is an unconscious bias that can exist without the employees realizing it to be the case.
What can organizations do about Unconscious Bias?
Implicit biases are pervasive. Everyone possesses them, even people who are trained for objectivity such as judges and scientists. Here are some strategies on how to tackle unconscious bias in the workplace:
The most important thing is to acknowledge that hidden biases exist, and create an openness and willingness to communicate and discuss these without being judged and ostracised. Unconscious Bias can be tackled when the organizational policies and leadership enables a positive working environment, where the employees feel pride in supporting others, and are rewarded for actively demonstrating a will to overcome such biases and acting to increase diversity in the workplace.
By Dr Pragya Agarwal, Creative and Social Entrepreneur, Designer, Writer and Speaker
Source: Forbes
“My biggest mistake is not recognizing the power of compounding and the ability for it to build wealth, and therefore, not investing early enough,” she says. “To me, if there is one thing that can change our society, our economy, and the world, it is getting more money in the hands of women.
Indigenous Americans make up less than 1% of board members for major, publicly traded businesses, according to DiversIQ analysis. Only five people among the 5,537 board members for the S&P 500 identify as fully or partially American Indian or Alaska Native.
These three questions can not only play a pivotal role in strengthening an organization’s DEI culture; they can also serve as team-building exercise. The process of evaluating one’s understanding of DEI principles promotes open discussions, knowledge sharing, and alignment within the team.
