Gender Bias in Recruiting: Developing a Social Practice Perspective

Unconscious bias training has become a popular intervention for eliminating discrimination in the workplace. Particularly recruitment processes are said to become fairer and more objective if gender biases are eliminated through training of personnel. However, the concept of gender bias, and particularly the idea that it can be trained away, has also been critiqued as too limited in its focus on individual mental processes, thereby neglecting effects of context, interaction and power. Taking this critique as our starting point, we argue that gender bias needs to be theorised in relation to a specific interaction and normative context. Building on cognitive social psychology, critical social psychology and on gender as a social practice we show that gender bias is not only an individual, but a fundamentally social activity that is embedded within organisational norms and power relations and reproduced in interaction. By theorising gender bias as a social practice, we expand the concept of genderbias beyond individual cognition. This perspective not only opens up the scope of explanation but is also a vital concept for exploring and combatting bias in recruiting.Purpose: Unconscious bias training has become a popular intervention for eliminating discrimination in the workplace. Particularly recruitment processes are said to become fairer and more objective if gender biases are eliminated through training of personnel. However, the concept of gender bias, and particularly the idea that it can be trained away, has also been critiqued as too limited in its focus on individual mental processes, thereby neglecting effects of context, interaction and power. Taking this critique as our starting point, we argue that gender bias needs to be theorised in relation to a specific interaction and normative context. This article aims at expanding the concept of gender bias beyond individual cognition. Developing a social practice perspective on gender bias in recruiting allows to widen the scope of explanation as well as intervention. Design/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual paper that contributes new insights into how to tackle (unconscious) gender bias by integrating relevant psychological literature and empirical findings. We build on cognitive social psychology, critical social psychology and on gender as a social practice to show that gender bias is not only an individual, but a fundamentally social activity that is embedded within organisational norms and power relations and reproduced in interaction. Findings: In this paper we carve out the potential for understanding gender bias as more than individual cognition and show how theorising gender bias as a social practice can become a vital concept for exploring and combatting bias in recruiting

Nutritional Factors and Susceptibility to Arsenic-Caused Skin Lesions in West Bengal, India

There has been widespread speculation about whether nutritional deficiencies increase the susceptibility to arsenic health effects. This is the first study to investigate whether dietary micronutrient and macronutrient intake modulates the well-established human risk of arsenic-induced skin lesions, including alterations in skin pigmentation and keratoses. The study was conducted in West Bengal, India, which along with Bangladesh constitutes the largest population in the world exposed to arsenic from drinking water. In this case–control study design, cases were patients with arsenic-induced skin lesions and had < 500 μg/L arsenic in their drinking water. For each case, an age- and sex-matched control was selected from participants of a 1995–1996 cross-sectional survey, whose drinking water at that time also contained < 500 μg/L arsenic. Nutritional assessment was based on a 24-hr recall for major dietary constituents and a 1-week recall for less common constituents. Modest increases in risk were related to being in the lowest quintiles of intake of animal protein [odds ratio (OR) = 1.94; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.05–3.59], calcium (OR = 1.89; 95% CI, 1.04–3.43), fiber (OR = 2.20; 95% CI, 1.15–4.21), and folate (OR = 1.67; 95% CI, 0.87–3.2). Conditional logistic regression suggested that the strongest associations were with low calcium, low animal protein, low folate, and low fiber intake. Nutrient intake was not related to arsenic exposure. We conclude that low intake of calcium, animal protein, folate, and fiber may increase susceptibility to arsenic-caused skin lesions. However, in light of the small magnitude of increased risks related to these dietary deficiencies, prevention should focus on reducing exposure to arsenic

Dose-response relationship between arsenic exposure and the serum enzymes for liver function tests in the individuals exposed to arsenic: a cross sectional study in Bangladesh

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chronic arsenic exposure has been shown to cause liver damage. However, serum hepatic enzyme activity as recognized on liver function tests (LFTs) showing a dose-response relationship with arsenic exposure has not yet been clearly documented. The aim of our study was to investigate the dose-response relationship between arsenic exposure and major serum enzyme marker activity associated with LFTs in the population living in arsenic-endemic areas in Bangladesh.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 200 residents living in arsenic-endemic areas in Bangladesh were selected as study subjects. Arsenic concentrations in the drinking water, hair and nails were measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS). The study subjects were stratified into quartile groups as follows, based on concentrations of arsenic in the drinking water, as well as in subjects' hair and nails: lowest, low, medium and high. The serum hepatic enzyme activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) were then assayed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Arsenic concentrations in the subjects' hair and nails were positively correlated with arsenic levels in the drinking water. As regards the exposure-response relationship with arsenic in the drinking water, the respective activities of ALP, AST and ALT were found to be significantly increased in the high-exposure groups compared to the lowest-exposure groups before and after adjustments were made for different covariates. With internal exposure markers (arsenic in hair and nails), the ALP, AST and ALT activity profiles assumed a similar shape of dose-response relationship, with very few differences seen in the higher groups compared to the lowest group, most likely due to the temporalities of exposure metrics.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study demonstrated that arsenic concentrations in the drinking water were strongly correlated with arsenic concentrations in the subjects' hair and nails. Further, this study revealed a novel exposure- and dose- response relationship between arsenic exposure metrics and serum hepatic enzyme activity. Elevated serum hepatic enzyme activities in the higher exposure gradients provided new insights into arsenic-induced liver toxicity that might be helpful for the early prognosis of arsenic-induced liver diseases.</p

Attributes of patients who attempt suicide: a comparison with the clients of the Samaritans

This study is an inquiry into alternative forms of crisis behaviour, investigating those individuals who in times of stress commit ’’attempted suicide” (a parasuicidal act) and those who, in apparently similar circumstances, seek help from a social agency. The inquiry is based on comparisons between the "attempted suicide” patients (parasuicides) admitted to the Regional Poisoning Treatment Centre at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, and the clients of the Telephone Samaritans organisation in Edinburgh. The Samaritans offer help to the suicidal and despairing. It was assumed, and the study confirms, that in general terms their clients have reached crises in problem situations similar to those of parasuicides. The study begins with a description of the demographic and social characteristics sties of a representative sample of 350 clients of the Edinburgh Telephone Samaritans at the time of the clients* first contacts. These characteristics are shown in relation to those of the population of Edinburgh, and are then compared with those of a representative sample of 292 parasuicide patients. The findings show the Samaritan clients to be a sub-group of the general population with distinguishable features. They are drawn chiefly from the younger age—groups and the lower socio-economic classes; they may be married or single but are often living alone. A marked similarity appears between the male Samaritan clients and the male parasuicides, particularly in respect of age, marital states and social class, and they tend to live in the same areas of the city. The two female groups have much less in common. One unexpected and significant feature is that,while women predominate among the parasuicide patients, the majority of the Samaritan clients are male: among the Edinburgh clients the proportion of males to females is twice as great as in the city population. The study continues with a more detailed comparison made between those clients who showed persistence in seeking help from the Samaritans and those patients who had committed parasuicidal acts but were apparently capable of seeking help had they wished to do so. For this purpose 109 Samaritan clients selected as persistent help—seekers were compared with 93 parasuicide patients selected as capable of seeking help. Again the clients are predominantly male and the parasuicides are mostly female. The study exhibits and discusses the similarities and dissimilarities between these two groups. The most notable features suggest that lack of inter-personal contact or social isolation lead distressed individuals to seek advice from outsiders (in this case the Samaritans) whereas the less isolated who experience inter-personal disharmony tend in similar situations of stress to commit parasuicjdal acts. Finally, the study considers the reasons for not seeking help given by those parasuicides capable of seeking help. The same 93 parasuicide patients were questioned as to their attitudes towards help-seeking both generally and in the context of their parasuicidal act. Their choice of action was clearly related to their subjective views of their situation. A self-reliant group either considered that no help was required or were against seeking help, while the remainder had made some effort to seek help but felt that effective help was not available. The study describes the nature of the service provided by the Samaritans, and considers what kind of service might help to reduce the incidence of parasuicide