The Other Half Revisited
Six more gender gaps we rarely talk about
Back in April, I published a post titled The Other Half: Six Gender Gaps We Rarely Talk About, which highlighted some underdiscussed disadvantages faced by men. It struck a nerve. Since then, I’ve come across a bunch of new examples - enough to justify a second collection.
As with the first, the point isn’t to deny that women face disadvantages; obviously, they do. The point is to paint a fuller picture of gender inequality - one that doesn’t limit itself to disparities running in only one direction.
Here, then, are six more gender gaps that cut against the grain of the dominant narrative.
1. Artificial Intelligence: Automating Bias
You might not think that an AI would care whether a job applicant is a man or a woman. Unlike us biased humans, it would focus only on what matters: the skills and other attributes of the individual applicant.
Well, it turns out you’d be wrong. Recent research by David Rozado shows that AIs evaluating résumés consistently favor applicants with female names over those with male ones, even when the résumés are otherwise identical. Seems our AI overlords have picked up some of our bad habits (see here and here for human examples of the pro-female bias in hiring).
