Ever been in the kind of situation where you see a job ad and after reading a bit about it, you go all ‘Nah this is not for me’ no matter your area of expertise?
Explanation
We’ve all been in situations like above with the exception of a very few. While the reasons range from eligibility to your talents or skills, there is one another reason which unconsciously triggers a sense of insecurity in us. That, is called gender biasness. It is never intentional, as long as people respect the law, however, it is enough to turn off a man or a woman from applying to your specific company or a vacancy.
Examples of Gender Biased Adverts
As already discussed, it is never intentional but if you see 90% of men or women applying for a job which should have an equal rating then your advert is gender biased. Question is: how would you know whether your advert is biased or not?
Use of Certain Words
The use of certain words in job descriptions will give you your answer. For example, if an advert or a description is filled with words like ‘analytics, aggressive, determined or willed and independent’ then you will see the female population shaking their head and saying ‘no’. On the other hand, the use of words like ‘responsible, dedicated, supportive and collaborative’ can encourage men to ignore it.
Eliminate Pronouns
The use of pronouns can also be depicted in a negative manner. It is better to refrain from using a pronoun in the first place and just focus on the second person tone or simply “you” rather than “he” or “S/he”. You will notice a remarkable difference and a much friendly as well as encouraging vibe which will enable people to apply regardless of their gender.
Using of Tools
While writing out the descriptions, it is best to use tools like “Textio” so as to avoid making a mistake. Tools like textio makes sure you do not use adjectives which will only encourage male or female. It will rather urge you to use gender neutral words which will encourage both to apply for a certain post.
Employing Editors
If by any chance, you do not have access to tools then hire some good editors which will give you an honest opinion based on your scribbling. Let them see the writing from their perspective and then give you suggestions regarding it.
Emphasizing Process
Keep in mind that jobs like engineering or hard work in factories attract male audience more than the female so try putting emphasis on the neutrality here. Similar goes for primary teachers or teachers in general, it attracts the female audience so put emphasis on proper equality. Encourage the females that they too could carry out work in the factory like a male can and vice versa.
Criteria Options
Lastly, while putting up an ad, do not bombard it completely by adding a lot of conditions and rules. Study shows that women usually reject such jobs containing a lot of conditions regardless of their talents and skills while men tend to go for all of it or simply ignore it completely.
