It Feels Like a Great Time to Ponder: “Are You Biased against Women Leaders?" Or not?

As a woman who has reached some level of maturity I've often wondered if I harbor biases based on my experiences growing up in a particular environment, so I was excited, especially at a time when the election of a woman to the presidency of the U.S. might be imminent, to find an opportunity to explore biases I might have against women leaders through an online test from the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

Mind you, I've minimal grasp of how it all works and I recognize that one online test is not the end all be all but I trust the two collaborators I am somewhat familiar with ~ The AAUW and Harvard University to give me some insight into myself on the topic so I took the test!

Summary:  A brief introduction to the test; a copy of the thank you I received once I clicked in so you can take note of the fact that this is a real inquiry and your responses will be collected and my initial; a link to the test and my brief outcome follow.

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“Are You Biased against Women Leaders?

February 10, 2016

If asked, most of us would say that discrimination against women in the workplace is wrong and unacceptable. Unfortunately, research shows that treating women and men equally in hiring decisions, job evaluations, and leadership positions is more of an ideal than a reality.

 So if we agree that sex discrimination is wrong, why is it still happening? One answer is that many of us harbor unconscious biases that can affect our judgment, even though we may be unaware of them. Uncovering these unconscious, or implicit, biases can be the first step to eliminating them.

So how do we uncover them? AAUW has collaborated with Project Implicit and Harvard University researchers to create a test that looks at the mental associations we make between gender and a variety of concepts, many of which affect our beliefs about women in positions of leadership. … “

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Note: Per AAUW you will be taking the test and your data will be collected...

"Welcome! 

Thank you for coming to the AAUW Implicit Association Test web page. 

The AAUW Implicit Association Test (IAT) on gender and leadership and the brief informational survey that follows should take about 10-15 minutes. The AAUW IAT is designed for you to dedicate a few minutes to understanding the directions, and then, once you begin the test, push yourself to go as fast as you can. 

The AAUW IAT asks the test taker to sort words into expected categories as quickly as possible. Before you begin the task, you will see a list of the words organized by the expected category. 

After completing the AAUW IAT and brief survey items, you will receive an assessment of your performance on the AAUW IAT, a measure of the strength of your associations regarding women and leadership. 

Your AAUW IAT data and survey responses will be saved as anonymous data that may be used for AAUW research purposes that never identify the test taker. 

Please be aware you will need to use a desktop or laptop computer to complete the study. Tablet and phone users will be unable to complete the study on those devices. … “

You can take the test here

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Fascinating: I am of the mind that I am highly biased toward women in leadership but the interpretation of my my test said: Maybe not!

"Thank you for contributing to the AAUW's research on the topic of gender and leadership. 

Below is the interpretation of your AAUW Implicit Association Test (IAT) performance

Your data suggest no automatic preference between Male and Female."

(One never knows what one is going to find, does one?)

Thank you for reading!

G., aka Partisan Democrat

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