Gender and Racial Bias in Hiring

This memo reviews the literature on gender and racial biases in hiring and other workplace evaluations and proposes remedies to reduce these biases. It contains sections that provide: 1. background data on the under representation of minorities and women among American faculty; 2. empirical evidence that cognitive biases in the evaluation of women and minority candidates contribute to their under representation; 3. a theoretical framework for understanding the mechanisms that produce biased evaluations; and 4. a series of proposed remedies derived from empirically supported theoretical accounts of how and why biases emerge and how they lead to disadvantages for women and minorities. 1. Background The profile of American faculty remains largely white and male. In 1999, full‐time faculty were 86% white and 63% male (US Department of Education, 2002). African‐ Americans hold approximately 5% of full‐time faculty positions, almost half of which are in historically black colleges and universities. Hispanics represent approximately 3% of full‐time faculty. Women appear to fare somewhat better, although the percentage of female faculty decreases with academic rank and prestige of university. For example, women make up 44% of faculty at two‐year universities, but only 25% of faculty at research universities. Women hold 45% of assistant, 35% of associate, and 21% of full professor positions. Even the relatively high percentage of women assistant professors should be viewed with caution, since it is partly the result of the lower rates