Keyword: microaggression
Take at least three Implicit Association Test (IAT) here (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html) to identify what your unconscious biases are. Be ready to discuss in Soft Skills.
There are multiple topics to choose from: Age, Gender, Sexuality, Skin-tone, Ethnicity, etc.
Remember: Awareness is the first step to combatting bias.
Being aware of biases can help uncover whether you have been limiting yourself with particular choices, actions, and/or opportunities.
Participants will understand how to recognize systemic problems and contribute to an inclusive community culture.
- Unconscious bias
- Privilege
- Allyship
- Common issues
- Microaggressions
- Empathy
- Strategies to combat
Diversity is an action and inclusion is a collective experience. Both is more powerful than either are on their own.
Does it matter? Yes! Diverse voices = increased creativity, new ideas, greater variety of perspectives and solutions to problems
i) Unconscious bias (also known as implicit bias) - a social stereotype about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. These biases may include that instinctive categorization of others such as age, weight, skin color, gender, educational level, disability, sexuality, accent, social status, and job title.
- Example: Name on a resume sets the first impression, affecting the likelihood of getting hired
ii) Privilege - generally "unearned" social advantage (born with, given). Social advantages include education, mental health, child care, race, religion, family structure, access to transportation.
- Example: Christian privilege means that holidays such as Christmas are recognized and practiced in December.
iii) Allyship - a member of a social group that enjoys some privilege that is working to end oppression and understand their own privilege. In other words, an ally is anyone who supports or empowers another marginalized person or group.
- Good practices: know the issues and know yourself (and your biases); understand that you can make mistakes too; listen more and speak less; do not expect to be educated by others (do the research yourself); be accountable for mistakes; our needs are secondary to the group that you seek to work with
- Examples: Ensuring inclusivity on lunch/dinner invitations; stopping an inappropriate joke; encouraging broad participation in team discussion
iv) Microaggressions - a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group. Examples include, "You don't look like an engineer" or "Where are you really from"?
- When you are the target: Criticize the microaggression, not the microaggressor, by explaining how the statement or behavior made you feel.
- When you are the microaggressor: Try not to be defensive - the person is taking a risk by sharing the information; acknowledge the other person's hurt and apologize.
v) Empathy - a person's ability to recognize and share emotions of another; involves, first, seeing someone else’s situation from their perspective, and, second, sharing their emotions, including, if any, their distress
vi) Strategies to combat - Understand the context and evaluate your options; address the inappropriate comment; take care of yourself.
- That YOU do not have any biases.
- That you will not encounter any biases at your workplace or during your daily routine. Be prepared to either step away or use strategies that can help inform the person from making another mistake.
From each of the concepts from the lesson, imagine where you stand (can be the concept itself or an action, behavior, or situation). Think of ways a company can be more inclusive at the workplace.
Think of when you are stressed, feeling tired, rushed, as these situations tend to activate our biases. How may these feelings influence your behavior when working with a group? Or with someone who works under you?