culture, may be considered more typical of one gender than of
the other genders. That is, the binary nature of sex chromosomes
or gonads does not scale up binary brains.”
Using sex category as a proxy for characteristics of a person
can be hard to consciously control and is even harder with
respect to implicit biases (unconscious associations between sex
categories and psychological attributes). And yet making the
effort not to jump to conclusions is vital to maximizing performance
and equity.
When evaluating performance, for example, the authors recommend
(1) to disaggregate/aggregate by gender/sex only if
HR has a relevant question and action plan based on results; and
(2) to avoid using a single value to represent a category: using
a single value “pulls” for stereotyping (using a group-wise centroid
to stand for all group members) instead of characterizing
many aspects of category members and overlap and similarities
between categories.
Even when self-reported sex categories are used as a research tool
and statistically significant, large differences between sex categories
are observed, performance is characterized by overlapping distributions.
That is, even were we to stipulate that a “sex difference” is “real,”
guessing a person’s sex category from performance is highly error
prone. The book recommends:
“In practice, then, it is not only unfair but also fundamentally
unsound, inefficient and unwise to use sex categories as a proxy for
anything bearing on job performance. HR professionals would do
well to know that the scientific literature, including scientific research
on ‘sex differences,’ does not support discrimination (or, more insidiously,
having differential expectations) on the basis of sex categories.”
Finally, the authors encourage HR professionals to learn more
about the research on gender stereotypes and their influence on
workplace judgements and actions. Research by Biernat and Sesko
demonstrates that gendered beliefs lead to differential outcomes
for women and men. n
diversity
PEOPLE IN POSITIONS OF POWER AND HIGH STATUS HAVE BEEN
MOST SUCCESSFUL IN DEFINING TERMS AND BOUNDARIES.
Redefining
Opportunity comes from change.
We can help you with that.
www.agilec.ca
38 ❚ APRIL 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
