Is This Bias Language in Your Job Adverts Turning Away Potential Candidates?

Does your language in job ads unintentionally attract or deter a particular gender?

📝 Gender bias in language happens when certain words or phrases carry assumptions about gender roles or abilities, reinforce stereotypes and perpetuate inequalities.

Human nature means its inevitable biases creep in, but there are simple tweaks we can make to limit bias in job ads, on the journey toward gender equality in the workplace.

MALE CODED LANGUAGE

• Strong

• Aggressive

• Dynamic

• Salesman

• Work hard, play hard

• Ninja

• Hungry

• Drive

• Dominate

• Take charge

• Win

• Champion

✨ Consider the below alternatives ✨

FEMALE-NEUTRAL CODED LANGUAGE

• Determined

• Conscientious

• Collaborative

• Connect

• Dedicated

• Enthusiastic

• Responsible

• Support

• Salesperson / Sales Rep

• Grow

• Growth

• Understand

• Communication

Did you know?

👩🏻‍⚖️ Under the Equality Act 2010, employers in the UK must create job advertisements that uphold the principles of gender equality and avoid any form of discrimination based on gender.

🛠 There are free online tools including Total Jobs and Gender Decoder which help identify certain words and provide alternative solutions.

Language doesn’t just reinforce gender biases, stay tuned to find out how words and phrases can reinforce biases relating to age, culture, disability and family status.

🙌 Being aware of the subtleties of gendered language is a crucial step towards promoting gender equality in the workplace, attracting the best pool of candidates and increasing innovation.

I'm committed to creating inclusive hiring practices. If you’re a small business committed to hiring fairly and tweaking the small stuff to impact the big, DM me to chat. 🪴 ☕️