buzzing tools: the gender decodeR

Today, gender equity is a paramount priority for our society and workplace, and organizations work towards it during hiring, promotion, and other key people decisions. Hiring is often the first step towards expanding opportunities and bringing underrepresented groups, such as women, into the workforce.

Without realizing, we often reinforce a gender stereotype and transmit an implicit message that only men are a good fit for our role, even from the job advertisement itself! This makes women feel less attracted to the job, because they implicitly understand they might be a lower fit.

The Gender Decoder is a free online tool that identifies English words that are “gender-coded” – words that are traditionally associated with society’s expectations from men vs. women. For example, assertive is a popular word, but it is traditionally associated with men. The opposite is also true: using gender-coded language might reinforce the stereotype of “feminine” occupations and discourage men from applying.

We often reinforce a gender stereotype and transmit an implicit message that only men are a good fit for our role.

By identifying these words and replacing them with more gender-neutral words, you can encourage all fitting candidates to apply, regardless of their gender. It’s up to you then to continue reducing the bias built into people decisions and ensure a fair and equitable career journey and experience for all employees.

The Gender Decoder was built by Kat Matfield based on research by Danielle Gaucher, Justin Friesen, and Aaron C. Kay. You can access the tool here, and read the research that it is based on here.