Imagine two colleagues who are equal in terms of experience, expertise, and competence. They are both equally qualified, except for their gender. And that is the most important difference. Their colleagues believe that a man is competent until he makes a mistake and gets caught, but that a woman doesn’t know what she’s doing until she proves it.
Assume that the man is innocence until proven guilty and the woman is guilt until she proves to be innocent. This disparity in a court would be unthinkable and outrageous. Why is this accepted and commonplace at work?
It is fascinating to trace the roots of unconscious bias. In the field of psychology there is a phenomenon that persists across cultures, ages and ethnicities where males overestimate their ability, while females underestimate it.
The Female Humility and Male Hubris Problem
This phenomenon is so common that it even has a name. It’s called the Male Hubris and Female Humility problem. This belief is reinforced by social conditioning. For example, parents are twice as likely to search on Google for ” Does my son have a gift? ” than ” Does my daughter have a gifted child?”.
We have lower expectations for our daughters from an early age, despite the fact that girls outperform boys in school. It is no surprise that, by the time most of us are working adults, we believe that men are entitled to their seats at the table and women are fortunate to have them.
We are now in the frustrating situation where women do not receive the authority they deserve, despite their expertise and experience. Women are often misjudged and assumed to be less experienced than their male counterparts. They’re also excluded from conversations, sometimes even denied eye contact. This creates a sense of injustice, and leads to the imposter syndrome that affects 54% more women than men.
Even when women are acknowledged as subject matter experts, they are not listened to or spoken over. Women contribute ideas that are ignored, until a male coworker repeats them and praises him for it moments later. Plagiarism is often done in plain view, and it’s ignored. This encourages the practice. We have even created new terms like “The Authority Gap” and “mansplaining” to describe our experiences.
We don’t like when women show alpha male characteristics. It is especially problematic for women in the workplace, as they don’t display the same behaviours as men that we associate with good leadership. While ambition and competitiveness are considered positive traits in men, they are viewed as unfeminine and undesirable in women. If a woman’s style of leadership has masculine undertones, it is generally condemned. Women are meant to be nurturing. We are trained to hate dissonance.
Change the narrative
We need to change our narrative in order to solve these problems. To overcome our unconscious biases we must first recognise them, then actively question them, and finally address them.
We may believe mothers should not work because we were taught to stay at home by our mother. We may be afraid that women aren’t capable of handling senior roles because they might show emotions that we can’t handle. It’s important to recognize when we are making a bias judgement, and then question its validity.
Support mechanisms can be put in place to help women succeed at work. Both men and women can benefit from role models, while encouraging women to create a network of colleagues in the industry is also helpful.
The most effective way to combat bias is to make it clear that women are not to be treated as inferiors.
This is where the importance of male allies is paramount to success. Male allies can make a difference in many ways. They can do this by being vocal about sexist behavior, speaking less, giving credit to women when they deserve it, and structuring projects in a way that allows them to shine.
It is essential to address our biases if we value the diverse thought and experience of women. This is crucial for the success of any business. For those who worry about the paradox of needing the support of those in power to bring about change – men who could lose their systemic advantages – I would say the stakes are well worth it. We will lose half our workforce if we don’t make changes. When good people don’t act, bad things can happen.
