Unconscious Mindsets: De-valuing the Feminine?
Three recent studies demonstrate the depth of unconscious bias that affects women. These “mindsets” keep women (and minorities) from reaching their potential in business. One study showed that transgendered men (formerly women in the workplace) got higher performance ratings and greater access once they became men. Another showed higher evaluations of the same resume when it had a man’s name than when it had a woman’s name. Another showed more positive response to an identical e-mail when the name indicated the sender was a man than when it indicated the sender was a woman or person of color. Women and people of color will be proportionally represented in leadership ranks only when these mindsets arise to conscious awareness – and change.
