Combating Stereotype Threat in the Wild
A 2007 report regarding Stereotype Threat: the effect where demographics that have a stereotype about them will perform worse simply by being reminded of it. Though dated, the report is just as useful to read today as back then, especially given the recent rise in debate over the gender gap in the STEM fields—all of which draw the vast majority of their workers from respective higher education courses. Note in particular the conclusive lesson:
In fact, though more research needs to be done, I see absolutely no reason for educators not to begin moving gender and race questions to the end of tests, and to include passages in test instructions that suggest that there are no gender/race differences in performance on the test. They would have nothing to lose, and as these studies suggest, there may be much to gain from taking these simple measures to reduce racial and gender gaps in performance.
The same ideas apply to job postings. How you phrase them will influence what kind of audience you attract with them, and which kind of people will apply.
