gender bias

Examples of gender bias in the following topics:

• Gender Bias

  • Gender bias exists because of the social construction and language of gender itself; recognize it and try to avoid it when speaking.
  • Before we can start talking about gender bias, it's first helpful to understand the concept of gender.
  • Just as you want to be cognizant and aware of the cultural biases that exist between both you and your audience, you'll want to be equally aware of how gender bias may factor into your speech.
  • Taking a step back and considering what gender bias you bring to the table, as well as what gender biases your audience might have of you is an important step in eliminating or at least addressing gender bias in your speech.
  • The late Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, faced both gender and cultural bias in her two brief terms as a world leader.

• Gender Bias in the Classroom

  • Gender-based achievement gaps suggest the existence of gender bias in the classroom.
  • Teachers may reinforce gender bias simply by drawing distinctions between boys and girls.
  • Teachers may reinforce gender bias simply by drawing distinctions between boys and girls.
  • Gender-based achievement gaps (especially in math and science) suggest the existence of gender bias in the classroom.
  • If test score gaps are evidence of gender bias, where does that gender bias come from?

• Sex Bias in Graduate Admissions

  • This has not negated the fact that gender bias exists in higher education.
  • Examination of the aggregate data on admissions showed a blatant, if easily misunderstood, pattern of gender discrimination against applicants.
  • In fact, most departments had a small but statistically significant bias in favor of women.
  • Therefore, the admission bias seemed to stem from courses previously taken.
  • One of the best real life examples of the presence of confounding variables occurred in a study regarding sex bias in graduate admissions here, at the University of California, Berkeley.

• Context of Culture and Gender

  • Understanding the cultural and gender context of your speech is vital to making a connection with your audience.
  • When we think of gender, we often think of male or female; that's only half of understanding gender.
  • When considering both gender and cultural contexts, we often encounter bias, both intentional and unintentional, and implicit or explicit.
  • And as much as you might be biased toward or against certain gender and cultural groups, your audience will have just as much bias as you, and in different ways.
  • Pay attention to the unique dynamic and interplay of your gender and cultural identity in relation to the cultural and gender identities of your audience members, as they invariably influence one another.

• Family and Gender Issues

  • Social expectations that women manage childcare contribute to the gender pay gap and other limitations in professional life for women.
  • In the United States, there is an observable gender pay gap, such that women are compensated at lower rates for equal work as men.
  • The gender pay gap is measured as the ratio of female to male median yearly earnings among full-time, year-round (FTYR) workers.
  • The gender pay gap has also been attributed to differences in personal and workplace characteristics between women and men (education, hours worked, occupation etc.) as well as direct and indirect discrimination in the labor market (gender stereotypes, customer and employer bias etc.).
  • Recall at least three reasons why there might be a gender pay gap

• Personal Biases

  • Confirmation bias: This is probably the most common and the most subliminal, as many people naturally exhibit this bias without even knowing it.
  • Overconfidence bias: This is another potentially disruptive personal bias and occurs when a person subjectively overestimates the reliability of their judgments versus an objectively accurate outcome.
  • Groupthink: This is a bias within group decision making that leads the group toward harmony rather than a realistic evaluation of alternatives.
  • Other personal biases can take on a variety of forms and may extend to either the holder of the bias or to external parties.
  • Personal biases toward information, intelligence, gender, ability, handicap, race, or other closely held beliefs are detrimental to decision-making processes and are often hard to counteract.

• Gender

  • Genderism is the cultural belief that gender is binary, or that there are, or should be, only two genders—male and female—and that the aspects of one's gender are inherently linked to the sex in which they were assigned at birth.
  • It reinforces negative attitudes, bias and discrimination toward people who display expressions of gender variance or nonconformity and/or whose gender identity is incongruent with their birth sex.
  • Gender neutral language and gender inclusive language aims to eliminate (or neutralize) reference to gender in terms that describe people.
  • Gender-neutral language should not be confused with genderless language, which refers to languages without grammatical gender.
  • It has become common in academic and governmental settings to rely on gender neutral language to convey inclusion of all sexes or genders (gender inclusive language).

• Exercises

  • What type of sampling bias is likely to occur?
  • Give an example of survivorship bias not presented in this text.
  • Of the variables "gender" and "trials," which is likely to be a between-subjects variable and which a within-subjects variable?

• Gender-Neutral Language

  • Gender neutrality in language minimizes assumptions about the gender or sex of people referred to in writing or speech.
  • The purpose of gender neutrality in writing is to minimize assumptions about the gender or sex of people.
  • In most cases of writing or speaking about a person whose gender is unknown, ambiguous, or irrelevant, gender-neutral language may be achieved through the use of gender-inclusive, gender-neutral, or epicene words (having characteristics of both sexes) in place of gender-specific ones.
  • The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association has an oft-cited section on "Guidelines to Reduce Bias in Language."
  • "Avoiding Heterosexual Bias in Language," published by the Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns, American Psychological Association.

• Discrimination Based on Sex and Gender

  • Discrimination based on sex and gender contributes to harassment, unequal treatment, and violence against women, girls, and transgender and gender non-conforming people.
  • Sexism or gender discrimination is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex or gender.
  • It has been linked to stereotypes and gender roles and includes the belief that males are intrinsically superior to other sexes and genders.
  • According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, the combination of anti-transgender bias with structural and individual racism means that transgender people of color experience particularly high levels of discrimination.
  • Describe the forms of gender-based discrimination that exist in society today