The Good Fight Against Subconscious Gender Biases

I was watching a movie called Tár the other day, which has Cate Blanchett playing the role of the titular, flawed music conductor. There is a scene in the movie in which blind auditions for the orchestra are conducted, in a huge auditorium. The senior members sat as judges in the audience seats, and black screens covered the stage and its sides from their view. The blind audition quite literally means that you don’t get to see who’s playing at all, you just listen to their performance from the other side of the black screens. There’s no way to show favouritism or make assumptions about the gender or experience of the auditioning musician. 

It made me think, how different would the corporate world look if we couldn’t bring our biases into the presentation room? What if we had blind pitches/interviews like blind auditions; would our funding/hiring decisions remain the same when not influenced by subconscious biases?

Because no matter how hard one tries, there are always unconscious biases to tackle, caused by centuries of reinforcement and stereotypes!

We say that India is a welcoming home to a thriving startup culture, but you still need the hide of an elephant to make it through the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur. Even in the corporate landscape outside startups, women professionals have it harder compared to their male peers, in every way possible. Our biases lead us to wonder – is it true that women are traditionally risk-averse, which makes them lesser inclined to succeed in cut-throat industries? How can a woman prioritize work demands when her family responsibilities show up? While men network and support their friends, what about a woman with an excellent career record, but no mentors or senior professionals to vouch for her? Can women really lead and earn the respect of their teams, and be liked for being as assertive as male managers?

Every time there is a conversation about gender and inclusion, there is a famous Harvard Business Review study I revisit. Researchers once analyzed the questions asked during venture capitalist pitching competitions, and observed that funders tend to ask male entrepreneurs about how they will promote success, and women entrepreneurs how they will prevent failure. While male founders get asked more promotion-related questions, like how will you expand your business, etc, female founders get asked prevention-related questions like how will you protect your market. Even though investors are undeniably on the lookout for the objectively best idea, one cannot deny the power of subconscious biases in the ecosystem. And it’s not just male investors who fall victim to biased thinking, it’s women investors like me too.

I personally do not keep gender in mind while investing, but more than 40% of my portfolio has companies with at least one female co-founder. But even as a first-hand witness to the transformative potential of equity in entrepreneurship, I’ve found myself succumbing to biased thinking occasionally. I remember asking a young woman entrepreneur whether she was married, or had any plans to. It was only after that I realized with a shock, I’d never asked that to any of the male entrepreneurs! Even though my question was not founded on any ill will, I realized my unconscious bias, and made it a point to not succumb to such thinking again.

But here’s the thing. Even if you do not give a flying paper airplane about gender equity, making profits is directly related to empowering more women leaders and entrepreneurs. There has been enough research done to prove that investing in companies with gender-inclusive leadership actually provides higher average returns. Studies also show that companies with women in leadership positions tend to perform better in terms of profitability and employee satisfaction. 

It's important to remember that unconscious biases are not the result of individual malice or ill will. They are a product of societal conditioning that affects all of us. However, this doesn't mean that we can't change our behavior and work towards a more equitable future. It's not enough to pay lip service to diversity and inclusion; we need to actively work towards conversations about and acknowledging our biases better. This means providing mentorship and funding opportunities to underrepresented groups, actively seeking out diverse perspectives, and educating ourselves about our own biases. If the stereotypes have some truth in them, then it’s time to find systemic solutions to solve the problems. If women are suspected of prioritizing their child-rearing responsibilities over work, then we need to create support systems and childcare facilities for working women to hand over these responsibilities, and focus better on their work.

Have you ever found yourself being biased against a woman professional or entrepreneur, to realize that you might be wrong? I want to start a conversation on this so that we can all admit our blind spots and be aware, to build a stronger ecosystem that’s accepting, generous, and truly about merit. Share your stories below in the comments, I’m ready to hear them!