id: gender bias

• why is gender bias an issue?


  theory and research may not accurately represent the experience and behaviour of men and women
• what is androcentrism?


  male-centred
• what is alpha bias?


  the differences between sexes are exaggerated
• what is an example of alpha bias?


  freud’s theory of gender and moral development
• what is beta bias?


  ignoring or minimising the differences between men and women
• what is an example of beta bias?


  asch’s (1955) conformity studies
• how does gender bias promote sexism in the research process?


  a lack of women at a senior research level means female concerns may not be reflected in the research questions asked
• what are the implications of gender bias?


  gender biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour, fail to challenge negative stereotypes and validate discriminatory practices - tavris (1993)
• what did tavris (1993) highlight?


  a widespread (invisible) custom found throughout social science, medicine, law, and history where men are treated as the normal standard with women as abnormal
• how can gender bias work against men too?


  research has suggested that males are less sensitive than females and more aggressive
• how can gender bias work against men too?

  research has suggested that males are less sensitive than females and more aggressiveresearch has suggested that males are less sensitive than females and more aggressive
• what can understanding gender bia slead to?

  reflexivity (dambrin and lambert, 2008)
• what is reflexivity?


  how a person’s values, beliefs, acquaintances and interests influence his or her research work
• what did dambrin and lambert (2008) study?


  the lack of women in executive positions in accountancy and reflected on how their own gender-related experiences influenced their understanding of events
• what did worrell and remer (1992) suggest to avoid gender bias?


  women should be studied in real life context, they should genuinely participate in research, they should not be objects of study, and diversity within groups of women should be examined as opposed to differences between men and women