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Students (symbol image): At the end of the seminar, the participants were asked to evaluate the course and the work of the assistant
Photo: Tom Werner / Getty Images
A PhD student in interdisciplinary ecology at the University of Florida pretended to be a man for an experiment on gender-specific prejudices and received better feedback in this role than for the same job as a woman.
This is what the research team reports in the "NACTA Journal".
In an online seminar with 136 students, half of the participants were introduced to the professor's assistant as a woman, the other half as a man.
Profile photos, a biography of the actual or supposed assistant and emails of the professor, in which he always used the salutation "Ms." or "Mr." when referring to the support, should ensure that the students use the gender in chat or email communication was present.
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At the end of the seminar, the students were asked as usual to evaluate the course and thus also to evaluate the work of the assistant.
The supposed tutor only received a bad rating, while the tutor received a bad response from five students.
Feared disadvantage for scientific career
Earlier studies have already confirmed the phenomenon that women and also people of color are rated more strictly than white men, especially in MINT areas, for the area of teaching, according to the research report.
The experiment now provides an indication that this bias can also exist at the beginning of a scientific career.
"Girls are told throughout their education that they are not as good at science and math as boys," says PhD student Emily Khazan in a university statement about her experiment.
This prejudice is now evidently brought forward to her by the students.
According to the research team, this is also problematic because negative evaluations by the students could also have an impact on the future careers of the scientists, as they played a role in appointment procedures.
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