Lauren Bernardi: Overcoming the barrier of unconscious bias
Women in leadership positions within the local government sphere – or any sector for that matter – face a number of obstacles, particularly unconscious biases.
Lauren Bernardi, from Bernardi HR Law, discussed those biases, the impact of intersectionality, and how local government can address these challenges during a conversation with Municipal World CEO Susan Gardner prior to the Ontario Municipal Administrators’ Association Fall Workshop.
“Unconscious bias is unconscious, right? That’s the challenge. We are all victims to unconscious bias. It’s stuff that we see in the media, stuff that we grow up with. But we all have these biases that infiltrate the work that we do and how we respond to the world,” she said. “It affects women and it affects people of any diverse background that don’t fit into a very tight norm, and we do it to ourselves as well.”
Defining Leadership Whether Female or Male
Female leadership, Bernardi explains in the video, is often defined through stereotypical male norms. These labels exclude many women, but also men as well. This leads to a “narrow idea of what leadership looks like,” where strong, tall, and charismatic are seen as being essential qualities. The reality, however, is that there are many ways to be a leader.
Bernardi also said the concept of intersectionality – including gender, sexual preference, race, religion – are all of things that influence individuals. People who deal with more than one of these tend to experience bias in a much greater and deeper level.
“It’s like compound interest – it’s worse. So, if you’re a woman of colour, it’s even harder to break into the ranks of leadership,” she said. “We have biases against all of these groups, and then you combine those biases, it makes it even tougher.”
Creating Change Through Tough Conversations
In addressing these challenges, Bernardi said, perhaps the most important thing an organization can do is work to make the unconscious, conscious. Talking about these barriers and addressing how they can be overcome, goes a long way toward breaking them down.
“It’s hard. There’s no question that it’s hard. There have been many moments in my life where I’ve walked away from something thinking I maybe should have said something that I didn’t say,” she said. “We just have to constantly try to put ourselves out there in a tactful way, not aggressive, this isn’t about accusing people or polarizing. It’s about having a conversation together about how we can effect positive change.” MW
✯ Municipal World Insider and Executive Members: You might also be interested in Mary Lynn McPherson’s article: Good Leadership: A vaccine for the organizational flu. Note that you can now access the complete collection of past articles (and more) from your membership dashboard.
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