In my book, Pull Each Other Up, I present real-life examples of women that have faced gender bias. It is not usually overt – though I have discussed the Bro Culture as a current very prevalent issue. In fact, recent news about Activision rushing to be purchased by Microsoft in order to avoid lawsuits relating to discrimination and harassment against women shows that it is still alive being brushed off by some Executives. In this case, it went all the way to lawsuits.
What can we do to stop bias, harassment, and discrimination in its infancy? How do we make people aware of their biases and encourage changing behavior? Today I will discuss some ways we can combat unintentional bias and microaggressions.
Situation 1:
You notice a woman in a meeting that does not speak up much, but when she does someone always seems to interrupt her. What do you do?
Ideas:
- Speak up and ask for her opinion.
- Say she looks like she has something to add.
- If someone interrupts, politely point out that they interrupted her and ask her to continue.
- Ask her questions about her idea directly, ask her to elaborate.
- If someone else tries to repeat her same ideas or information, point out that she had brought it up first and ask for her for more information.
Situation 2:
You invite a highly skilled expert woman as part of a team of mostly men to an important meeting. During the meeting, questions keep getting directed towards her male companions. What can you say to change this?
Ideas:
- Make sure you clearly introduce the woman and identify her skills and knowledge.
- Redirect appropriate questions from the male colleague to the woman to answer.
- Ask for her knowledge in a topic being discussed and if she can add anything to what has been covered.
- If the questions still go around the woman, point out that she is the expert and ask that questions go to her first.
These are simple situations that which anyone can help by speaking up. The benefits will be numerous – the discussion will benefit from a different perspective and knowledge, new ideas can be generated by the difference in opinion, and people will be more conscious about including everyone regardless of gender.
#breakthebias #womenempowerment #womenintech