I took the implicit bias test on gender and careers, and was somewhat surprised when I saw that I had a tendency to place men in career positions and women in a care taking position. I went to an all girls school from kindergarten through high school, and was always in an environment that encouraged women to pursue whatever career they wanted. I come from a background with so many women that make significant contributions in whatever field they go into. Despite my upbringing and the people I was surrounded by throughout my childhood, our general societal presumptions about gender are still in my implicit biases. I found that really interesting, because I went into that test pretty convinced I knew what my results would be, and they ended up being the opposite.
Critical Thinking
I think you bring up a unique problem within recognizing our societal implicit biases: that even if we are aware and well educated, these biases can still affect our thought processes. It brings into question what effect solutions can we implement when being aware of these biases isn’t enough?
I went to an all-girls high school also and even though I did not take this implicit bias test, in the past, I have been tested on jobs and power roles and presumptions of whether that role is a man or woman (testing implicit biases in a similar manner) and have found myself with the same implicit biases. It is very interesting to me because I have never once questioned my ability as a woman and have never felt that I did not get accepted into something or achieve a role because I was a woman so it is interesting that I have this implicit bias too.
I took the same test and also got an automatic association with males and careers. I think you brought up a couple of really interesting points on how your upbringing can affect your perceptions. Similarly to you, I grew up with a lot of women in high-power positions: my stepmom has worked in Finance for the entirety of me knowing her and one of my best friend’s mom from high school has held an executive position for the entirety of her kids lives. I think that despite knowing and respecting people that defy societal stereotypes, societal stereotypes are still largely engrained in us and can be hard to ignore.