Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias by Pragya Agarwal

Author:Pragya Agarwal [Agarwal, Pragya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Psychology, Science
ISBN: 9781472971357
Amazon: 1472971353
Goodreads: 49678279
Publisher: Bloomsbury Sigma
Published: 2020-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

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S U G A R A N D S P I C E

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It is a common belief that men have much superior natural abilities in visuo-spatial tasks. Much of the bias that women are not as good as men at science and maths comes from a study that showed gender diff erences in 3D rotation of spatial objects, but it has consistently been shown that there is more in-group diff erence in spatial abilities than between groups, and there is no consistent variation between men ’ s and women ’ s abilities to navigate or discern spatial rotation and objects. In Chapter 5 we saw how this can lead to stereotype threat and the lack of women in STEM-related subjects. Diff erences in mathematical aptitude can also be explained by a notion of ‘ belonging ’ and of identifying with the in-group by choosing subjects and disciplinary domains where individuals feel they belong, are more similar to others and are likely to perform well. When teachers and parents give the message that ‘ girls are as good at maths as boys ’ then it is still setting boys as the standard, and so language matters. In another randomised double-blind study, science faculty from research-intensive universities rated the application materials of a student –

who was randomly assigned either a male or female name –

for a laboratory manager position. The male applicant was rated as signifi cantly more competent and hireable than the (identical) female applicant, off ered a higher starting salary and more career mentoring by the faculty members. The gender of the faculty participants did not aff ect responses, such that female and male faculty were equally likely to exhibit bias against the female student. These biases, of course, are not explicit as there is no desire to inhibit advancement of women or recruitment of more women, especially in the STEM fi elds, but instead indicative of the implicit gender bias that means we assess women to be less competent and capable. The gender bias and gap is not seen just in STEM domains but also in other ‘ softer ’ disciplines 9781472971357_Sway_1stpass.indb 239

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240 S WAY

such as philosophy and music theory (from demographic reports of various professional societies). This gap does not just lead to a lack of diversity in design of technologies (discussed in detail in Chapter 11

), but it has also been

estimated that closing the gender gap in the STEM fi eld would increase the EU GDP per capita by 0.7 – 0.9 per cent in 2030 and by 2.2 – 3.0 per cent in 2050.

When I was studying my PhD, most women were assumed to be doing social sciences or human geography

– or ‘ soft ’ sciences, as some people used to call them –

while men were assumed more likely to do the hardcore

‘ macho ’ sciences, such as geology or computational geography. I was then (in 2006) the fi rst female lecturer ever appointed to a Geomatic Engineering department

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