EN 
DE Do you harbor prejudices? For example, against women, men, homosexuals, heterosexuals, bankers, programmers, managers, or Microsoft? Prejudices have a greater influence on our behavior than we realize. They prevent us from fully utilizing the potential solutions in projects.
On the one hand, I hope you have prejudices, because otherwise something would be wrong with how your brain works. On the other hand, I hope you don't have prejudices against authors who write provocative introductions and presume to write about prejudices against women as representatives of the testosterone-driven sex. (Dear Alice, please forgive me for this intrusion into your domain.)
Do you – and I'm asking both women and men! – also believe that women are worse software developers than men? Or that they should prefer home and hearth to the development lab? No? Honestly? To get to the bottom of your true beliefs, I recommend you take the Implicit Association Test (IAT). You can find it at my website (Experiments).
However, if you are afraid of exposing your hidden prejudices, simply read on and continue to snuggle into the illusion that you have no prejudices against women in technical professions.
The IAT reveals which characteristics or concepts we intuitively associate with women or men. Since intuition reacts faster than conscious thought, the reaction time shows which associations are ingrained and which had to take a detour through reason.
This allows hidden biases to be uncovered. For example, the term "housework" is usually more quickly associated with the combination "female or family" than with "male or family." Even without a stopwatch, you'll notice a brief moment of inner hesitation with some of these associations. This suggests that your gut would spontaneously choose differently than your head. Pretty clever, the IAT.
But we shouldn't be ashamed of this; instead, we should face the facts. The formation of prejudices is a consequence of a vital function of our brains. They automate and generalize our thinking and behavior based on proven experiences, enabling us to react more quickly in similar situations in the future. However, this very principle leads to a dilemma when women take on roles that have previously been predominantly held by men, and vice versa.
Gender roles and associated stereotypes are determined by everyday experience, not by sporadic ideological pronouncements on equality. Take a look at the development departments and executive suites. In the customer database of MicroConsult, a training specialist for embedded systems, the percentage of women is a mere 91.
What everyday experience might this environment promote? It is that men, in particular, fill the roles offered there with masculine problem-solving strategies and masculine characteristics. Everyday experience ensures that these roles are automatically and preferentially associated with male stereotypes.
This is a disastrous starting point for women, because they essentially can't please everyone. If they orient themselves towards male problem-solving and behavioral patterns, they contradict the expectations placed on their gender. Statements like "To do a man's job, you as a woman have to be better than the men" speak volumes.
When women employ traditionally feminine problem-solving and behavioral patterns, they come into conflict with the typical expectations associated with the male-dominated role. Anyone who has to fight against macho fantasies when they hear the words "traditionally feminine problem-solving and behavioral patterns" confirms this argument, because they obviously have a very limited understanding of what constitutes a traditionally feminine problem-solving and behavioral pattern.
Some examples show how important it is to break new ground:
Since around 1980, a blind selection process has been used for musicians in the most prestigious orchestras in the USA. Applicants demonstrate their skills behind a screen without any indication of their gender. Since then, the number of female musicians in orchestras has increased fivefold!
When the distribution of food to earthquake victims in Haiti threatened to descend into chaos due to the reckless behavior of men, aid organizations decided to allow only women to distribute the food. This resulted in a fairer and more controllable distribution.
I believe that the dot-com bubble and the financial crisis were primarily caused by the excessively dominance- and competition-oriented behavior that is an expression of male-dominated strategies. Would this have happened if more women or mothers had sat on the boards of companies and banks?
If we do not resolve the conflicts between roles and genders that are based on outdated prejudices, we will squander important potential and let many opportunities pass us by.
Given the global challenges we face, it is high time we had the courage to embrace new experiences in the distribution and definition of roles. It is absurd that women should have to adapt to male role models and working conditions. These role models and working conditions must also be more strongly aligned with women's potential and needs.
So that you, dear men, will continue to read my column in the future, I confidently add: Conversely, it is equally nonsensical for men to have to adapt to female role models and working conditions.
Five tips for dealing with prejudice: Request them now!
I look forward to your suggestions below. denkanstoss@microconsult.de.
Further information
Training & coaching
MicroConsult Training & Coaching on project management
MicroConsult training and coaching - overview
Food for thought:
Column by Peter Siwon about the human side of project work
Peter Siwon: Systemic project management
