Gender Bias Is a Hiring Problem — Here’s How to Improve It

What is gender bias in regards to hiring?

What is bias in recruitment? Recruitment bias with regards to gender refers to the discriminatory treatment of job applicants and candidates based on that applicant or candidate's gender. Gender bias may not always be explicitly discriminatory, however.

Rather, much of gender bias in regards to the hiring process is unconscious. So, what is unconscious bias in recruitment? It refers to the preconceived social stereotypes that individuals have about certain groups of people; these stereotypes from outside their conscious awareness.

So why does gender bias exist? Employers tend to favor men not because they are prejudiced against women but, rather, because they have the inherent perception that men are generally more likely to perform better specific tasks, according to the research paper, When Gender Discrimination Is Not About Gender, written by Katherine B. Coffman and Christine L. Exley who are both assistant professors at Harvard Business School. They teamed up with Stanford University economics professor Muriel Niederle, as well.

“We find ample evidence of discrimination against women, as employers are significantly less likely to hire a woman compared to an equally able man,” the paper reads. “This discrimination, however, does not appear to be driven by gender-specific stereotypes or animus.”

This is known as statistical discrimination.

“With statistical discrimination, you have certain beliefs about men versus women and what they can do, and given those beliefs, you choose the person who you think is the best person to hire — you are simply acting in a way that you think will maximize your profits,” Coffman told the Harvard Business School. “With taste-based discrimination, you know a certain person will be productive, but you’re sacrificing that by not hiring that person. We did not find so much of that at all... We can all agree that taste-based discrimination is a really bad thing if you’re prejudiced against women and don’t want to hire them. But statistical discrimination, where people act on their beliefs about average differences in ability between men and women, is thornier and is particularly difficult to root out. The people doing the hiring might not even realize they are acting on those beliefs.”

Is it illegal to hire based on gender?

Yes, it is absolutely illegal for an employer to discriminate against a job applicant because of their race, color, religion, sex (including their gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 years or older), disability or genetic information. This means that, if they hire another person based on their gender, they are not hiring another candidating because of their gender.

How can I improve my gender bias?

1. Use AI for recruiting.

2. Use a structured, scripted interview process.

3. Check yourself.

4. Include both men and women in the hiring process.

5. Check your job description.

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