For example, José Zamora used to send in online résumés that probably contained similar qualifications as other people trying for the same job. Yet, he didn't get any results for months or any callbacks from employers until he changed his name from José to Joe. It's thought that sending résumés online should prevent bias because the employer doesn't see the potential employee's skin color. Yet, the difference of a couple letters changed or dropped meant life-changing difference to "Joe." If all it takes is a name to characterize a person, too many people are already at a disadvantage.(Carrasquillo).
I don't mind that the tech field, or any other fields, are dominated by males as long as there are no other better qualified people—either male or female—available. For this reason, I believe having significantly more than half of a workplace being male or white or Asian isn't, or at least shouldn't be, a problem. There is a problem, however, when a person is subjected to unfair bias and doesn't have the chance to succeed in a field they want to work in. Why shouldn't Tina be a techie and Tommy a teacher? Because of their genders, a person's potential is limited by prejudice they can't control starting from the day that they are born.
I agree with your response, but I think your José Zamora example has more to do with racism than with the main subject of your response, which is gender-related bias. It seems to go a little off-topic when you talk about José Zamora, but you're not wrong, racism is also a reason why it could be difficult to get hired for a job.
ReplyDeleteI wrote this on the basis of hidden bias, which I think includes gender and racial bias. Both are subtle and sometimes without even knowing it's happening. I do think I could have edited my thesis to incorporate both biases though.
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ReplyDeleteI agree on how you talked about how people should be judged by experience rather than appearances, or even a name, in which you mentioned in your example. I also wouldn't mind a gender equal system in a work base, but sometimes, women aren't interested in engineering or whatnot. What you failed to mention was that women were being payed less for the same work that they do, but are now responding as google in general.
ReplyDeleteHow do you evaluate someone's "skill" from a resume?
ReplyDeleteI can't tell if you are stating this as fact "This can justify men's dominance in the tech world, simply because they are more skilled in tech than women." Afterwards you say that this logic is flawed, but you present the statement as fact. Do you really think that this is true? Men are innately better at tech than women?
In my quote "this can justify men's dominance in the tech world, simply because they are more skilled in tech than women," I used "can" as "is able to." i think what I mean to say is that if a man happens to be better than other candidates that happen to be men and women, then he should be hired over the women but also the men. I think that it should be as difficult for a man to get a job as it is for a women.
DeleteSo, no, men are not gifted with a higher calling for technology. They are gifted for being a man at the disadvantage of the woman. If I found myself hiring between a man and woman of the same skill, it might just come down to a coin toss. The difference between an X or Y chromosome is something we can't control, so I can't find a reason to judge for it.
I enjoyed reading your blog, especially how you incorporated outside information to support your point on inequality systems. Although it seemed to go slightly off topic as a response to the "Hidden Biases at Google" article, which focused on gender diversity. Your last statement/example was a nice touch as well, yay for alliteration!
ReplyDeleteYou stated that "This can justify men's dominance in the tech world, simply because they are more skilled in tech than women" this seems a little sexist in the way is written, a better way you could have written or the thing I think you were trying to say was that there are more men than woman in the tech world making them more dominant in this field, but i wouldn't say better. Overall i enjoyed reading your blog and I agree that people are unknowingly biased toward certain groups or genders.
ReplyDeleteI like how you point out that the inequality is based on factors that people cannot help, like name and gender. I found your sentence "Because of their genders, a person's potential is limited by prejudice they can't control starting from the day that they are born," very interesting. I didn't think of it from that aspect, but I definitely agree.
ReplyDeleteYou are definitely correct in that people who are qualified for a position should be given the job. However, this thought process also ensues that women will feel out of place in the workplace and will feel incapable to aim high. If tech companies do follow the trend of employing mostly men, women would be unable to have a voice and opinion in this industry. Companies should still accept those who are qualified but should also keep in mind that they are under representing an entire gender and therefore, depriving opportunities for their products to appeal to a greater number of consumers.
ReplyDeletePeople that actively use Google have probably not read this article or anything similar to it. When we think about it, how many of us actually search for "gender inequalities in the workplace" in our daily lives? Before either of us read this article, we probably actively used Google, like a regular user of Google, both male and female. Yet a week from now, both of us, as well as the general user of Google will still be using Google. Even with the under-representation of women, more than a billion people use Google. Their services will continue to appeal to more and more people of both genders.
DeleteWhat I'm trying to say is that Google is and will continue to be successful. They don't really need to represent women in their business, because they do just fine with men. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," right?
(Apologies if I come off as sexist, I'm writing this from a somewhat objective viewpoint)
I agree with your second paragraph, the line: "It's thought that sending resumes online should prevent bias because the employer doesn't see the potential employee's skin color." because it does make sense why people would want to send their resumes online if they're a different race. Even though they sent it online, they would still eventually have to change their name in order to get accepted into a biased company.
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