Gender Bias and a World without It? – A Personal Take

My first reaction when I was asked to reflect on International Women’s Day was, ‘Isn’t it a shame that we still need a day about the position of women in our world in 2022?’ Nevertheless, I can recognise that, thanks to this day and the United Nation’s efforts over the last 47 years to solve gender bias, we’ve started to see some progress overall.

A reflection on gender bias

If I were to compare what the educational and work environments were like for my grandparents and parents—versus what it is like for me—I can for sure see a difference in the opportunities I’ve accessed. In general, there is a higher consciousness about the potential disparity between men and women, in both personal and professional worlds, and it opens some discussions.

In addition, sometimes, even without knowing it, women face different forms of bias. For example, I was lucky enough to have support in any educational choice I made. However, it was not until I saw only two other girls in a class for my Mathematics and Chemistry degree that I realised women were an exception in this path. In the same way, I didn’t ask myself whether it was normal for a woman to do Ultra Trails (long distance running events), until I was asked how many women were actually running those distances. The numbers showed that it was not that common.

What about a gender-equal world?

In my view, a gender-equal world should be one where everyone feels respected, but can still act in a way that feels normal to him or her. One of my concerns is that sometimes we overcomplicate the issue. So many of us have become oversensitised, not sure what we can say and joke about anymore. Finding the right balance is the key.

That being said, I also recognised that we are all biased at some point when considering the other gender, man or woman. It is important to question whether the bias is real or just perceived. For example, is a person who identifies as ‘she’ less competent because of her sex or gender? Or is ‘she’ just not a good fit for the job? We can’t realistically be good at everything, can we?

A woman at work

I have always considered myself lucky to work in the healthcare industry, and for Medline. First, there is a good balance of men and women in our organisation. This is directly linked to the variety of jobs the industry offers. Other than that, I’ve always seen HR work to promote a greater balance at all levels of the organisation, whenever it’s possible. Finally, I regularly see posts aimed at opening the eyes of women to all the possibilities in our healthcare industry, even for careers that may not be most obvious to them.

As a woman with a developing career, one of the best tips I’ve received is to stop waiting to tick all boxes before applying to a job. Sometimes, we, as women, give further power to biases and hold ourselves back. If you can’t meet every requirement, but feel passionate about the offer and are willing to step outside of your comfort zone, go for it!

Even though gender bias still exists, we shouldn’t limit ourselves, and we should strive to create our own opportunities and push others forward in their journeys as well.