Author(s)

Carol Isaac, Joseph Balloun, Tracey Wofford

Department of Educational Leadership, Mercer University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Although higher education promotes the advancement of women, the number of women in executive leadership positions has remained stagnant over the last decade. Research has suggested that gender inequity frequently arises from implicit or unconscious bias. This mixed-methods study illustrates the results of a 1-hour bias literacy workshop that provided strategies to mitigate unconscious bias for 67 graduate students, including K-12 and higher education administrators. Results demonstrated significant pre-post differences for the Perceived Constraints Scale (p = .05) which suggested that one month after the workshop, participants still perceived greater constraints with implicit bias and decision-making. Qualitative findings indicated that participants reported increased awareness because of the use of the implicit association test, illustrating Stage 2 (Contemplation) within Prochaska’s Stages of Change model. This study suggests that the strategies provided by this brief workshop are important for future interventions regarding implicit bias.

Bias Literacy, Implicit Bias, Intervention, Training, Mixed Methods

Isaac, C. , Balloun, J. and Wofford, T. (2020) Bias Literacy for Gender Equity: A Brief Intervention. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 8, 59-71. doi: 10.4236/jss.2020.86006.