“Assertive”, “active”: Half of all job advertisements are aimed at men - women do not even apply

Despite gender asterisks & Co., many job descriptions discourage women from applying.

The reason is the so-called "unconscious bias".

Skilled workers are desperately wanted everywhere, be it in the field of health, teaching and education, construction or building technology.

Gender-equitable addressing in job advertisements is important in order to be able to attract as many qualified applicants * as possible for the company.

Unfortunately, companies seem to have a lot of catching up to do in this area.

Formulations in job advertisements: Women do not feel addressed

As a new study by the

job portal

has found, half of all job advertisements examined use formulations that primarily

male applicants (a so-called “male bias”).

This is usually done unconsciously.

But many women are discouraged and do not even apply - without realizing that the language has influenced their behavior.  

Also read:

Examples of "unconscious bias" in job advertisements

For example, the sentence

in a job advertisement is a typical example of a formulation that men may feel more likely to be addressed than women.

The reason for this is the so-called "

bias" (

), as Stepstone explains in a press release.

"What is meant are assumptions or stereotypes about women and men that people unconsciously internalize and that also influence our language".

According to studies, such formulations are intended to deter women in particular.   

Male bias especially in management positions

Almost all industries have a strong male bias in their job advertisements, as Stepstone's analysis shows,

In contrast, only three industries use more feminine than masculine-coded words: hotels and restaurants, healthcare and education.

Often more women are employed in these jobs, and the wage level is lower.

"The male bias is even more evident in job advertisements for

: 62 percent address more men than women in their wording," says Stepstone. 

Also interesting:

How should a correct address in job advertisements look like?

Instead of the phrase “We are looking for a high-performing team member”, for example,

member” would be

a phrase that could motivate women in particular to apply, advises the job portal.

In order to support companies in the correct formulation of their job advertisements, StepStone has developed the "Genderbias Decoder".

The tool is intended to recognize whether a job advertisement contains gender-specific formulations and automatically suggests alternatives for more balanced formulations.