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I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume

qz.com

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I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume

#1

Post by Lisa2000 »

"I made one change that day. I put Mr. in front of my name [Kim] on my CV. It looked a little too formal for my liking but I got an interview for the very next job I applied for. And the one after that. It all happened in a fortnight, and the second job was a substantial increase in responsibility over anything I had done before. In the end I beat out a very competitive short-list and enjoyed that job for the next few years, further enhancing my career."

I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume
qz.com

Re: I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume

#2

Post by throwaway420 »

Interesting, enlightening, and thought-provoking article.

To me, another interesting experiment would be changing the first name of the resume to something that's nearly unambiguously male, say instead of Kim O'Grady to just Robert O'Grady, and seeing if that has the same effect.

Another interesting experiment would be adding "Mrs." in front of the name Kim and seeing if that has the same effect.

Personally speaking, I believe that technical people are sick and tired of the sausage fests at most technical companies and all other things being equal would go out of their way to hire more women.

Re: I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume

#4

Post by cliveowen »

crazygringo wrote: post #3

That's really, really sad. And the worst part is, it's surely conscious on nobody's part. There have even been studies showing this effect. What's even sadder is that there's no obvious or easy way to fix it.

There is a simple way to fix it. Namely providing a means to submit your resume that anonymizes name, gender, age and anything that could bias the reviewer's assessment. The best HR departments already do that, at least that's the hope.

Re: I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume

#6

Post by sp332 »

jessriedel wrote: post #5

There is much better data out there concerning the effect of gender (and race) on CVs. That would be much more useful than this guy's anecdotal experience.

It's not supposed to be data. It's supposed to change your perspective on the data you have.

Re: I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume

#7

Post by potatolicious »

cliveowen wrote: post #4
crazygringo wrote: post #3

That's really, really sad. And the worst part is, it's surely conscious on nobody's part. There have even been studies showing this effect. What's even sadder is that there's no obvious or easy way to fix it.

There is a simple way to fix it. Namely providing a means to submit your resume that anonymizes name, gender, age and anything that could bias the reviewer's assessment. The best HR departments already do that, at least that's the hope.

HR departments are legal shields - they will prevent bias against a protected class because that's a source of lawsuits.

Unfortunately there are many ways in which a person may be unfairly discriminated when looking for a job, than there are protected classes in the law.

Re: I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume

#8

Post by dominotw »

throwaway420 wrote: post #2

Interesting, enlightening, and thought-provoking article. To me, another interesting experiment would be changing the first name of the resume to something that's nearly unambiguously male, say instead of Kim O'Grady to just Robert O'Grady, and seeing if that has the same effect. Another interesting experiment would be adding "Mrs." in front of the name Kim and seeing if that has the same effect. Personally speaking,…

True. I would assume women would have a better chance since most men are tired of being surrounded by other men all the time at work, like you said.

What is the motivation for someone to be biased against women, seems counterintuitive.

Re: I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume

#9

Post by breadbox »

dominotw wrote: post #8
throwaway420 wrote: post #2

Interesting, enlightening, and thought-provoking article. To me, another interesting experiment would be changing the first name of the resume to something that's nearly unambiguously male, say instead of Kim O'Grady to just Robert O'Grady, and seeing if that has the same effect. Another interesting experiment would be adding "Mrs." in front of the name Kim and seeing if that has the same effect. Personally speaking,…

True. I would assume women would have a better chance since most men are tired of being surrounded by other men all the time at work, like you said. What is the motivation for someone to be biased against women, seems counterintuitive.

It's not a conscious motivation. But if you go through life working with nothing but men, it becomes harder to visualize a woman doing your job, or doing it well. (Because otherwise where are they? Thus the term "status quo".)
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