What Works

Gender Equality by Design

By: Iris Bohnet

Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow

Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

Gender equality is a moral and a business imperative. But unconscious bias holds us back, and de-biasing people’s minds has proven to be difficult and expensive. Diversity training programs have had limited success, and individual effort alone often invites backlash. Behavioral design offers a new solution. By de-biasing organizations instead of individuals, we can make smart changes that have big impacts. Presenting research-based solutions, Iris Bohnet hands us the tools we need to move the needle in classrooms and boardrooms, in hiring and promotion, benefiting businesses, governments, and the lives of millions. What Works is built on new insights into the human mind. It draws on data collected by companies, universities, and governments in Australia, India, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, Zambia, and other countries, often in randomized controlled trials. It points out dozens of evidence-based interventions that could be adopted right now and demonstrates how research is addressing gender bias, improving lives and performance. What Works shows what more can be done - often at shockingly low cost and surprisingly high speed.

©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Excellent book every women and executive should read

This book is exactly what I needed to learn practical ideas about how to move the organizations I work for and with towards gender equality. Every leader and female should read it. I wish I could speak with Iris Boneht over coffee. Her work is fascinating.

Listen fo systems design to change behavior.

I loved this listen. To recap my heading this read helps people interested in systems design for the means of changing behaviors relating to gender bias, understand flaws that they themselves or the institutions where they work or study commit that inhibit fair and or equitable treatment, access, and promotion for women and other folks who experience gender, sexual, and other bias. It is research based includes web resources, modifications that can be accomplished pulling from simple changes regarding the art and messaging that we hang on walls to more complex and long range goals including hiring, interviewing, and ethical workplace practices, as well as examples of ways that planning and implementing fundamental societal shifts have benefitted women, girls, and others in minority groups. Iris Bohnet, is my new favorite economust!

Very Objective Information

The book provides a lot of quantitive objective information that helps us to realize the importance of gender equality and how much we are biased in general.

Full of eye-opening research and tips

If you’re interested in the topic of equality (in general, not necessarily just gender inequality), this book presents a very compelling set of experiments and data showing the magnitude of the problem at both individual and society level. It then shows tips on how things have changed in different places around the world and proposes ways to apply these changes. These topics of human behaviour are often rather complex and hard to exactly measure and the book usually highlights these shortcomings as well. A lot of the tips presented seem more fitting for people in management or leadership or education roles that can directly impact the change, but if you’re keen on the topic, you can find some interesting things to take away regardless of your career choice.

Overall, definitely the most complete book I’ve read on this topic, full of eye-opening studies on inequality with a set of blueprints to try and see if we can decrease the amount of bias based on gender and race.