It’s tough to prove gender bias.

It’s tough to prove gender bias.

A man is selected for hire over a woman; fewer women reach tenure track positions; there’s a gender gap in publications. Bias may be suspected in some cases, but the difficulty in using outcomes to prove it is that the differences could be due to many potential factors.

In a groundbreaking study published in PNAS last week by Corinne Moss-Racusin and colleagues, that is exactly what was done.

 

                            Fig 1.   General competence                                 Fig 2.   Suggest salary

A 2012 research study from Yale had scientists presented with application materials from a student applying for a lab manager position and who intended to go on to graduate school. Half the scientists were given the application with a male name attached, and half were given the exact same application with a female name attached. Results found that the “female” applicants were rated significantly lower than the “males” in competence, hireability, and whether the scientist would be willing to mentor the student (Fig 1.)

The scientists also offered lower starting salaries to the “female” applicants: $26,507.94 compared to $30,238.10 (Fig 2.)