Being a woman with a STEM major and pursing a full-time position in the male-dominated construction industry, I am very familiar with the idea of an implicit bias. Everyone, myself included, has implicit biases. For this assignment, I took the Gender-Career implicit bias test on the Harvard University Project Implicit website.
IAT Results
During the implicit association test (IAT), I was asked to organize words into the following four categories as quickly as possible: Male, Female, Science, and Liberal Arts. My results indicated that I have a moderate automatic association for Male with Science and for Female with Liberal Arts. I found these results rather intriguing, considering I am a woman pursing an engineering degree (which according to the IAT is part of the “Science” category) and I am actively trying to combat the implicit bias and stereotypes that women do not perform as well in STEM jobs as men do. Unsurprisingly, according to the results page, most people that took this test had the same results as me. We live in a society where, although women have come a long way, in general men still dominate “Science” positions, therefore establishing an implicit bias in most people that men belong in Science and women belong in more “female-suited” Liberal Arts positions. It is possible that this implicit bias can have an unintentional effect during job recruitment and selection in STEM fields.
Effect of Implicit Bias on Reliability
During the selection process for potential new hires, a company should implement methods that are reliable so they can depend on the methods to produce appropriate, qualified employees. Implicit biases could negatively affect reliability of the selection process. For example, if an engineering firm is deciding who to hire between a man and a woman with the same qualifications, it is likely that, because of the Gender-Career implicit bias that associates men with Science, the man will get the position over the woman. Hiring or not hiring someone because of their gender produces an error in the selection process that is supposed to be consistent and dependable. Selection should be free from any bias to ensure that only job-related qualifications are being considered. If someone will be judged during selection based on a protected trait that is not related to the job, then the selection process is no longer reliable or consistent in producing the most qualified employees.
Preventing Implicit Bias
One thing I would do to prevent implicit bias is become more aware of my own implicit biases, while also spreading awareness about implicit biases to others. Awareness is an important step to uncovering unconscious biases, and helping everyone around you become aware can begin movements towards counteracting implicit bias (Knight). Especially in STEM industries like the construction industry that I will be a part of in my career, it is important for people to understand and acknowledge that implicit biases exist, and that they can have drastic effects in the workplace. Managers specifically play crucial roles during the hiring process in decreasing implicit biases (Knight). The only way for society to believe subconsciously that women belong in STEM is if they see women in these positions in the first place.
Citation:
Knight, R. (2018). “7 Practical Ways to Reduce Bias in Your Hiring Process.” SHRM, https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/talent-acquisition/7-practical-ways-to-reduce-bias-hiring-process.
