Best Practices to Avoid Biases Against Women in the Hiring Process

When it comes to gender bias in the workplace, women face challenges on many fronts. Biases like those that involve family planning and quid pro quo scenarios are still prevalent, but perhaps more insidious are unconscious biases that keep women out of certain fields and levels of power within an organization. Those that perpetuate these biases, particularly during the hiring process, are risking a loss of quality talent as well as valuable perspectives in their workforce. Hiring managers should be aware of biases related to gender and conscientious of ways to avoid them.

Gender Bias

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We know by now that there are far too few women CEOs, but women are absent from all levels in industries that are traditionally male-dominated, like STEM, as well. There still exists a double standard when it comes to evaluating the actions and dispositions of men vs women. For example, a man may be considered “assertive” while a woman exhibiting the same behavior would be considered “bossy;” a man is lauded as “confident” while a woman would be often called “arrogant”—by both men and women—according to this study.

Age Bias

The double standard extends to biases that affect both men and women according to the numbers. When women and men were both asked whether they felt that their age had prevented them from getting a job, men responded more than women that it had, however, the objective data leads to a different conclusion: women are overwhelmingly discriminated against because of their ages compared with men. This may have a direct correlation with something referred to as the beauty bias.

Beauty Bias

Beauty bias is just what it sounds like—a bias towards people who we consider attractive. Both men and women can experience beauty bias, but there are different causes and often more severe effects for women.

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) points out that, “Physical appearance—with the exception of color—is not considered a protected class by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; however, experts on talent selection say hiring a candidate based on appearance could be an example of workplace discrimination.”

Professional Bias

Built into our workplaces is an often errant concept of “professionalism” which often means having good hygiene at most for men, while women may not be taken as seriously in their jobs if not wearing full makeup and having their hair styled. This costs the woman money as a regular expense—a sort of tax on being employed as a woman that varies by industry—think finance, fine-dining and high-end retail; all places that pay higher wages to women.

A workplace that is composed mostly of women who spend considerable time and money on their appearance can create a culture where that is the rule. However, there is a point at which a woman can become too attractive and the relationship between beauty and opportunity becomes inversely affected. Very attractive women can be considered purposely trying to use their looks to succeed and feel threatening to others. While their attractiveness could lead to women getting more jobs, it could ultimately result in fewer women being promoted to leadership positions. “Smart and attractive might get you the job, but then you are at risk of being reviled and penalized for exactly those qualities.” So whether or not a woman is considered attractive, she will often be at a disadvantage in one way or another.

Best Practices that Result in Representation Equality

The following are some ways to prevent various biases against women from affecting their candidacy for a position:

Proactive Applicant Sourcing

To avoid bias during the interview process, first consider the initial step of selecting candidates. Does your company actively seek out female candidates and utilize organizations or recruiters that help build a talent pool of women in your industry? Does your Human Resources department use software that hides names during resume review? Do they ensure that job descriptions and keywords are non-discriminatory and unbiased? If not, these are all best practices to create a diverse workforce in general and they should be followed.

Unbiased Interviews

Once you have decided on a list of candidates to interview, make sure that the interview process is standardized. Start with a phone screening to verify resumes rather than in-person or video calls to avoid beauty bias—men will also appreciate this. Make sure all questions are determined ahead of time and use a diverse panel of interviewers that includes 50% women when possible to make a collective decision, or use an impartial observer to check biases during the interview and group discussion of candidates.

Self-awareness

Both men and women can have gender bias—it is not unique to men. Because of this you must regularly check those biases by recognizing them and making proactive efforts to avoid them. When you find personal things in common with the interviewee, make sure they are not influencing your decision—some personal tastes are specifically related to your identity groups. Make sure decisions are based solely on the person’s qualifications and avoid making personality judgments and trying to match them to your organization’s culture. “Culture fit” can often be used to exclude qualified candidates with prejudice.

All of these practices help to prevent biased judgements and resulting discrimination against all protected classes, but specifically when it comes to gender bias, look out for usage of words like “arrogant,” “bossy,” “abrasive,” or any term that can reinforce a double standard. Being honest with yourself and recognizing your biases can help you avoid disqualifying more women than men, but also consider valuing unconventional work histories like gaps, or lack of history due to caregiving and supporting a partner's career—these qualities can be baked in to the process of eliminating candidates, but could actually be considered positives. Women make up more than half the population, they should make up half of the workplace as well. Make sure your company is doing what it can to make that happen.