bias
Two Circles Activity
Participants will recognize the beliefs and stereotypes they were taught about their own and other racial and ethnic groups. They will also recognize that stereotypes are learned behaviors, something we are socialized to believe, and can therefore be unlearned by openly discussing and purposefully combating them. This activity helps to move participants from feelings of denial, shame or blame, to taking responsibility for unconscious behaviors.
DownloadWhite Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
This seminal work by feminist Peggy McIntosh continues to be the source for the “go to” activity on privilege-the “Privilege Walk.” Social justice facilitators typically ask participants to line up, then ask each of the questions in the series posed by McIntosh, with participants stepping forward if their answer to the question is yes and backward if their answer to the question is no. The activity can be high-risk, so don’t facilitate it unless you are with a group that has established mutual trust and rapport, and unless you can frame it up in a way that inspires learning and behavior change, and not shame and resentment. For more information about the activity along with a customized list of questions geared toward participants in the outdoor and environmental space, please search our list of activities.
DownloadStereotyping Activity
This activity is an effective introduction to how hidden biases impact our perceptions of people who are different from us, how our knee-jerk reactions can lead us to making the wrong conclusions about people, and how often we stereotype people even when we don’t intend to.
DownloadTips for having difficult conversations
We have compiled some tips and helpful phrases that can help you have that difficult conversation with someone, regardless of your relationship to them.
DownloadInclusion Tips for Outdoor Program and Field Staff
This document is for outdoor, environmental, or experiential educators and conservation program staff. This every-evolving tips sheet provides strategies for fostering a more inclusive environment for any program participant.
DownloadToolkit to Mitigate Bias in Recruitment & Hiring (Updated 11/2021))
We have compiled a list of some of the most current and salient ideas for ensuring your hiring practices are as equitable and inclusive as possible. This toolkit takes you through the entire hiring process, giving suggestions for each step. (Updated November 2021)
DownloadThe Confidence Gap
A growing body of research shows that women are less “confident” than men: they are less likely to apply for jobs for which they are qualified, they are less likely to negotiate salaries, and they are less likely to seek promotions (among other things). The article concludes with some recommendations to close what the authors have coined “the confidence gap.”
Read here.
The green insider’s club
This executive summary on the findings of Green 2.0, Dorceta Taylor’s initial report on the lack of diversity in the environmental movement and recommendations for making change, recommends that organizations focus on tracking and transparency, accountability, and allocating more resources. The report finds that foundations and the Obama administration are leading the way on diversity efforts, but that the nonprofit sector is lagging behind. Among the problems are unconscious bias, discrimination, and insular recruiting.
Read here.
The abrasiveness trap: High-achieving men and women are described differently in reviews
In a study of 248 performance reviews from 28 companies from large technology corporations to small startups, a researcher found that only 58.9% of men’s reviews contained critical feedback, while an overwhelming 87.9% of the reviews received by women did. “Abrasive” alone was used 17 times to describe 13 different women, but the word never appeared in men’s reviews. This article is a useful way to interrupt our gender biases in evaluating our peers, supervisors, and employees.
Read here.
Female academics face huge sexist bias – no wonder there are so few of them
This article discusses the results of Benjamin Schmidt’s online tool to expose gender bias in reviews of academics. Schmidt’s tool revealed that reviews of male professors are more likely to include the words positive words. Meanwhile, women are more likely to be described in negative terms. These and other disturbing patterns are relevant considerations in evaluating female staff in environmental and outdoor organizations, particularly female faculty.
Read here.
Even Babies Discriminate
A summary research on children’s’ attitudes toward race that debunks the myth that “colorblindness” is even possible (let alone desirable). Research shows children can distinguish race as young as six months old, start developing race-based preferences at toddlers and ultimately have racial biases. Research also showed parents are generally hesitant to talk about race, and that this hesitance exacerbates children’s biases.
Read here.