Subtle Gender Biases: Measuring & Addressing Nellie Tran, Meg A. Bond, Meg Sobkowicz- Kline, Michelle Haynes, & Julie Chen University of Massachusetts-Lowell
Workshop Workshop Overview Overview • Introduction • Making Microaggressions Visible & Measurable • Current Intervention Work • Workshop Intervention Ideas
Definition Definition MICROAGGRESSIONS • Subtle, automatic, often unconscious • Often “unintentional” • Fleeting or ambiguous • Take many forms • Behavioral • Verbal
Microaggressions are not… • - ISMS • Blatant acts with immediate impact • Not a quality of the perpetrator • Labels for people/groups Yet = Part of larger racist and sexist structures
Per Personal Experi sonal Experiences ences of of Micr Microaggr oaggressions essions • Microaggressions you have experienced or witnessed • Write on post-it notes. – 1 microaggression per post-it • Stick on the wall • Take a moment to read the experiences of colleagues
Impact Impact Psychological Impact Microaggressions • Subtle, automatic, often unconscious Binds • Often “unintentional” • Fleeting or ambiguous • Can take many forms Opportunity costs • Behavioral • Verbal
Micr Microaggr oaggressions essions are Difficu are Difficult lt to Identify to Identify • Affect victims even when they don’t consciously recognize it (e.g., Cheryan & Monin, 2005) • The more subtle the bias, the stronger the effect on the victim (Nguyen & Ryan, 2008). • Often invisible to perpetrators, victims, & bystanders • Therefore, the Subtle Gender Bias Index…
Subtle Subtle Gender Bias Gender Bias Index Index (SG (SGBI) Validation BI) Validation Process Process Step 1 – Qualitative Interviews 19 w/ STEM women at 2 universities Step 2 – Item Development & Refinement Research Team of 4 929 items created for events coded as bias Consultation & refinement with (1) social science experts and (2) STEM women academics Step 3 – Quantitative Validation (in progress) 111 item online-survey validation with academic women across all academic disciplines
Step 3 Step 3 Index T Index Trimming P rimming Process rocess Exploratory Factor Analysis of 111 items Scree plot indicated 3-4 factors Retained items with factor loadings <.4 Analyses currently include 654 women faculty* RESULTING IN 51 ITEM INDEX
Subtle Subtle Gender Bias Gender Bias Index Index (SG (SGBI) Subscales BI) Subscales 1. Work Gender Bias – 17 items - personal, interpersonal, & departmental 2. Institutional Gender Bias – 13 items - structures, programs, & policies 3. Resources & Support Inequities – 13 items - differential workplace resources, mentoring, & advice 4. Abilities & Relationship Biases – 8 items - questioning of one’s ability & non -collegial relationships
Putting in Putting into to context context Organizational Context • Composition • Policies Micro- • Leadership aggressions
Three P Three Points of In oints of Intervention tervention 3 2 1 Psychological Impact Organizational Micro- Context Binds aggressions Opportunity costs
Cur Current rent Work Work to Addr to Address ess Micr Microaggr oaggressions essions • 50/50 Lectures • Faculty Development Committee • IDEA communities • Focus Groups • Collaboration with Deans
50/50 Lect 50/50 Lecture S ure Series eries Notable scientists give two-part lectures on technical and research interests and their career paths (e.g., navigating family commitments, challenges overcome, influence of mentors)
50/50 Lecture: Outcomes 50/50 Lect ure: Outcomes Benefits to faculty host Benefits to institution • Access to established • Microaggression awareness • Cultural/academic bridging of gaps collaborators • Broader professional visibility • External visibility (internal & external) • Mentors outside University
Faculty Faculty Development Development Committee Committee • Senior faculty group convened to address institutional hurdles for young faculty • Programs, e.g.: – Enlightened Bites – Training – Promotion and Tenure workshops
Inter InterDisciplinary Disciplinary Exchange & Exchange & Advancement Advancement (IDEA (IDEA) ) Communities Communities • Learning communities of faculty who are diverse (e.g., discipline, gender, race/ethnicity, and rank) • Faculty convene around a common topical area • Focus on advancing the individual scholarly agendas of members • Include coaching for navigating the university and work-life issues
Workshop Workshop Intervention Intervention Ideas Ideas • Groups of 3-5 • How might the SGBI be helpful in intervention efforts? – For assessment-feedback cycles? – To frame or support an intervention? – Other creative uses of the measure? • Each group ~ 2-3 ideas
Than Thank You k You Nellie Tran, Ph.D. ntran@mail.sdsu.edu Julie Chen, Ph.D. Julie_Chen@uml.edu Meg Bond, Ph.D. Meg_Bond@uml.edu Meg Sobkowicz Kline margaret_sobkowiczkline@uml.edu Michelle Haynes Michelle_Haynes@uml.edu
Microaggressions Microaggressions Defined Defined the commonplace daily verbal, behavioral and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial, gender, sexual-orientation, and religious slights and insults to the target person or group (Sue, Capodilupo, et al., 2007).
Microaggressions Microaggressions Management Management 1. Learn from constant vigilance of your own biases & fears. 2. Interact with people who differ from your race, culture & ethnicity. 3. Don't be defensive. 4. Be open to discussing how your own attitudes & biases may have hurt others or revealed your own biases. 5. Be an ally. Stand personally against everyday biases and injustices.
Steps to Steps to Responding as Responding as Microaggressor Microaggressor 1. Acknowledge your role in hurting the other person 2. Acknowledge why it is a microaggression 3. Consider and mention what you will do differently 4. Check your defensiveness. Remember that it is not about you.
Coping with Coping with Microaggressions Microaggressions 1. Check with social support network. 2. Work on externalization. 3. Try to be gentle with yourself 4. Know what you can and cannot control 5. Understand that the effects last a long time 6. Try to give people a second chance
“I learned early that sometimes being a software engineer is death by 1000 paper cuts….. The cuts started early. I’m discouraged and humiliated in math classes throughout my school years …I still get anxious doing math in front of others despite being good at it… My college classes have next to no women in them. A professor makes creepy comments about “geeky girls” … Classmates don’t take me seriously ... Four years of paper cuts. Nearly every technical conference I attend has at least one person with a microphone making a comment along the lines of ”my wife/girlfriend doesn’t understand technology”... clearly intended to be a joke that the audience will identify with….But for those of us who [are not male], it’s a regular signal that we’re not considered … don’t belong. The heavy drinking makes some of us feel unsafe. A paper cut for every conference. Someone in authority pats me on the head to dismiss an argument I’m making about something at work. As though I was a child – a thing he’d be unlikely to do with a male coworker. I’m asked to take notes in meetings where I am a technical lead … male coworkers say that front- end development isn’t real software engineering. I suspect I’m paid less than male colleagues (perhaps paranoia, perhaps real – it’s a hard thing to verify). A thousand paper cuts for the working world .” Blog: http://juliepagano.tumblr.com/post/46206589124/my-experiences-in-tech-death-by-1000-paper-cuts
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