Ask Chloé: Reducing Biased Language in Job Descriptions
Welcome to the Ask Chloé column on Security Boulevard! Each week, Chloé provides answers to readers’ questions to help guide them as they navigate the technology industry. This week, Chloé discusses the need to change job description language to be more welcoming to women and marginalized groups in tech.
Dear Chloé,
I’ve been told that certain language in job postings can reduce the number of women that apply to jobs. I would like to understand this more. It’s important to have new hires fit in with the workplace culture and also match the job description. Do you have any resources that I can share with the hiring team at my company? I want to make sure we are doing the best that we can when writing up job descriptions.
-Concerned Recruiter
Dear Concerned Recruiter,
Many times job postings include language that reinforces certain stereotypes and background traits, and yes, that can deter women and other underrepresented groups from applying. Obviously, when hiring, we want to find the best person for the role and make sure that their background also fits into the workplace culture. However, we have to acknowledge what exactly “culture fit” is. When companies reject a candidate because they are “not a good culture fit,” it often is used to mask that discrimination has taken place. The majority of research shows that the idea of someone being “not a good culture fit” has been used repeatedly to reject and fire marginalized persons.
We need to understand that these prejudices (conscious and unconscious) hold us back from having more DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) in the hiring process. To this day, we base our notions of who should have what kind of position on those who have historically held those positions. In the U.S., the majority of leadership roles have been held by cisgender white men. So, the stereotype of a person in a leadership role or a job position remains: A cisgender white male. So, when a marginalized person applies for certain roles that have been historically filled by a cis white male, they can be rejected because they are “not a good culture fit.”
It’s important when hiring that we recognize biases and stereotypes that have worked as gatekeepers to prevent marginalized persons from landing these positions. It should also be noted that language can either reinforce or reduce discrimination.
Overall, language does play a large role in reinforcing biases and stereotypes in job postings, especially when it comes to gender/sex.
When discussing language, we have to determine where certain terms lie on an agentic-communal spectrum.
Agentic language is used to describe goal achievement and assertiveness.
Communal language is used to describe team-building and social functioning.
The majority of the time, job postings use agentic language, especially for management and leadership positions. Historically, agentic language fits into what is perceived as valuable within the stereotypes of masculinity; communal language paints a picture of the stereotypes of femininity.
I want to point out that masculine- and feminine-associated words are used to reinforce gender stereotypes and is also misleading in another sense: That gender is something binary. Please note: gender is not binary.*
So, when we create job postings using agentic language, it can become a dangerous step towards potential gender/sex discrimination of job applicants. That can lead to a lack of cis women applying for roles (not to mention other marginalized groups) because they don’t feel like the job description includes them since agentic language reinforces the idea that cis males hold these roles. However, for non-management roles, the majority of job descriptions use communal language because it is still assumed that support roles are held by cis women and other marginalized groups.
I’m glad that you are looking into language as it relates to job postings. It’s certainly a step toward better hiring practices. I recommend checking out Gender Decoder; it’s a great resource you can use to check job descriptions and learn how they can be feeding into discrimination practices.
*As a society, we need to do better at understanding gender and sex and the role language has played, both historically and in the present, in reinforcing discrimination. Resource: https://lgbtlifecenter.org/pronouns/
Learn more about the award-winning tech changemaker, Chloé Messdaghi, at https://www.chloemessdaghi.com.
Have a question? Want advice? Submit your anonymous question to Chloé: [email protected].