Women are Normal People Too

Women have been underrepresented and treated as a less than since the beginning. In a male dominated society, women have always had to work twice as hard to achieve what they wanted and earn half the respect. What I appreciate in this article is that Google has recognized the problem, and addressed it. Although things are not completely fixed they are making progress. What they've recognized as well is that the bias is not always upfront and straightforward, it is also done subconsciously. What I felt was the best line in the article was, “The lecture begins with a dismal fact: Everyone is a little bit racist or sexist.” This right away tells they are aware of the problem. The goal is to eliminate this bias, to eliminate any idea that a woman cannot fulfill, or is in any way incapable, of a job because of her gender. Any person should be looked at as a person and the question they should be asked is: are they qualified to do the job?

 

As the article goes on the situation brightens. “Which one of you does the dishes?’ The strange, sexist undertone of the question was immediately seized upon by a senior executive in the crowd, who yelled, ‘Unconscious bias!” and “Mr. Bock saw all of these actions as evidence that the training was working. “Suddenly you go from being completely oblivious to going, ‘Oh my god, it’s everywhere,’ ” he said.” These statements confirm what I said. Google recognizes the issue, and I believe this is another step in the right direction. Women’s rights and Title IX were just two pieces of a whole movement that we still are in the process of; the equal treatment of women. We’re still trying to reach the point where we can say that there is no difference between two people in the workplace based on gender, only by ability and work ethic. There will be no more, “She just a women,” nor “Why send a women to do a man’s job.” When the shock and awe of a woman holding a position, that’s usually held by a man, passes; we will have reached our goal. Hopefully, Google’s attempt at eliminating hidden bias will encourage other companies. I can’t expect a world revolution to come out of this, but maybe a few companies will look into their establishments and ask themselves, “Is our workplace honestly fair to everyone?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/technology/exposing-hidden-biases-at-google-to-improve-diversity.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news