To create our implicit bias test, we met via Zoom to brainstorm some ideas. We narrowed down themes surrounding the overall importance of discovering underlying bias and thought about implications of this in the workplace. Our readings this semester focused alot around the discrimination of women in the workplace, highlighting on women of color. From there, we started to jot down some questions/thoughts we could possibly ask on the survey regarding women in the workplace, asking for feedback from each group member. We then were able to narrow down our questions and frame them in a way to understand what information we would be getting from our test takers and what this means. We created the measure of our questions to be the Likert Scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree). Test takers are forced to pick at least one of these options, with no definite correct answer. With this scale, we are able to clearly see where the test taker bias lies. We framed our questions around the ideas of stereotypes, inclusion, workplace contributions, and personal lives all regarding the bias of women in the workplace. Along with these questions, we collected demographic information in the beginning of our test to compare results to our test across gender (men, women, non-binary, prefer not to answer) and ethnicity (white, non-white). Guiding the creation of these questions, we looked back at class readings. In “Code, Craft, and Curiosity” by Beth Andres-Beck, the author discusses the impact of imposter syndrome on performance. They defined imposter syndrome as personal failing and stated “Imposter syndrome is a rational response to insufficient feedback.” This relates to our test of women in the workplace because if women are not acknowledged in the workplace or given the same stance as others, they will succumb to not improving their performance or not contributing as much due to the lack of recognition.

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS: The form has been filled by more than 50 participants. We kept the email submission as optional because some participants provide more accurate information when kept anonymous. The demographic questions consist of a “prefer not to answer” option as well so that the participants do not feel forced to reveal their gender identities or other personal information. In order to achieve accurate results for bias, all the questions must be answered. Hence, the questionnaire comprises mandatory questions to be answered. To logically interpret our data received, we made use of the demographic results and understood it through multiple excel sheets. In general, the majority of our respondents picked neutral on the questions. However, on understanding the depth of it, we came to the following interpretation based on different groups of respondents.

Gender Level: It was quite surprising to see how differently people responded based on the gender differences. A majority of men answered 15/16 questions as neutral. A majority of them disagreed with the statement “Women at managerial positions are generally aggressive and can’t make logical decisions.” This reflects that men in general do not pay as much attention to hegemony in workplaces based on gender differences. From the various readings throughout this course, especially the book by Safia Noble, “Algorithms of Oppression,” we came to know that women of color, and women in general face oppression in workspaces and even by some algorithms such as the search engines. Hence, we may claim through the results that men are mostly neutral to biases because they are not the ones to face a lot of issues with them. Whereas, the women, non-binary, and prefer not to answer categories come up with a variety of answers and not just neutral majority. Among women, we notice a sharp conflict in majority answers for questions 1 and 2, stated as “Diversity in the workplace leads to creative thinking and different perspectives that are valuable,” and “Women of color should be encouraged to contribute as much as white women in the workplace,” and Hence we see that women answered all the questions with profound thought. In particular, the results of these two questions may suggest that women of color need more encouragement than white women in workplaces. The other categories also conflict over these two questions, and also “Stereotype threats directly affect women's performance in the workplace.” So, we can say that stereotype threats affect some women, while it doesn’t affect everybody’s performance. Overall, it is important for workplaces and educational institutions to encourage men to support the right. Although they might not face hegemony, it is better for those who face it if men also speak up against gender biases to make their workplace better and safer for all gender groups.

Ethnicity Level: Another demographic that we used to analyze our data was what ethnic background our survey takers come from. We received the most responses from white and asian people. It was interesting to note that asian people tended to answer questions very differently from white people. We received a higher rate of “Neutral” responses from white people and received varied responses from asian people. Some responses that we received from white people had extreme responses. For example, people from white ethnic backgrounds seemed to “Strongly Disagree” with statements such as “Women at managerial positions are generally aggressive and can’t make logical decisions” and “It isn’t necessary to have equality training at work because the workplace is already equal enough”. On the other hand, “Strongly Agree” for statements such as, “For a job entailing the same responsibilities, there should be equal pay regardless of gender” For asian people, we received a variety of responses and the majority of responses were almost never “Neutral”, but for statements that we received extreme responses from white people seemed to be in line with the responses we received from asian people. We did not receive many extreme responses from this group of people, except for the statement, “I think that a man is a better fit to be CEO of a company than a woman” for which people chose “Strongly Disagree”. This was in line with the responses we received from other ethnic backgrounds such as Black or Hispanic. Most people of color seemed to be on the same page about statements related to diversity in a workplace and the role of women in a workplace. Through the analysis that we conducted using other demographics, we were able to note that the most “Neutral” responses came from white men currently engaged in their undergraduate education. It is important for employers to recognize and value the diversity of their workforce, including differences in ethnicity. This can help create a positive and inclusive work environment for all employees and can also bring a range of perspectives and experiences to the workplace. It is important to recognize that diversity should not be used as a superficial way to meet quotas or for tokenization. Instead, diversity should be actively promoted and supported within the workplace, with policies and practices in place to ensure that all employees feel valued and included.

Education Level: One demographic that we examined results from was the highest education level that the survey taker had attained. Those who had attained a higher educational attainment tended to answer questions in a way that indicated they were less biased than those with lower educational attainment. This was not the case with the group that had attended “Some College”, as there was a higher rate of “Neutral” responses to questions. The one question that this group answered significantly different from the other groups was that they tended to strongly disagree with the question “Women at managerial positions are generally aggressive and can’t make logical decisions”. It is possible that the strong wording of this question caused the group to spend more time considering this question than the other questions that they tended to be “Neutral” on. This would mean that many of the neutral responses were coming from those who were still engaged in their undergraduate education. It seems that these individuals did not put as much time into the completion of the survey as those who had both lesser and greater levels of education. This is similar to the trend that we saw with how Men answered the questions on the survey. In fact, men happened to be the largest proportion of the “Some College” group, with 63% identifying as a man. Looking at this through the lens of intersectionality, it could be interpreted that men who have some amount of college education are in more of a privileged position. This privileged position could be leading to Men not taking the survey as seriously. This is backed up by a meta-analysis that was assembled by Wright State University, where it is found that diversity training is 40% less effective in groups that have >60% men when compared to groups that have <40% men [1]. Therefore, bias against women in the workplace is a complex and multifaceted issue that requires a concerted effort to address. By acknowledging and addressing the various forms of bias and discrimination that women face in the workplace, we can create more inclusive and equitable environments that allow all individuals to thrive and reach their full potential.