Giving Unconscious Bias the Boot
“English when we win, immigrants when we lose”
Many in the UK this week have been shocked at the racist abuse that the English Football team’s Black players have received following their defeat to Italy in the UEFA European Football Championship last Sunday, despite being the team’s best result in an international tournament since 1966. The Black players have been blamed for the team’s loss, had murals of them defaced with hate speech, and random Black members of the public have been verbally and physically assaulted.
Whilst this has shocked many, it is unfortunately not a surprise. The relationship between hate speech and football has been well-documented, particularly after a team has lost. Many have taken to social media this week, posting the adage “English when we win, immigrants when we lose”, describing the attitude often expressed towards players of underrepresented ethnic groups after football matches and how they are used as scapegoats for losses.
Subtle acts of racism in football
However, racism runs deeper than these overt acts and it can manifest in many subtle ways. Last year the Professional Footballers’ Association and RunRepeat released a report on racial bias in football commentary. It was found that players with lighter skin tones were praised more for their intelligence and the quality of their football performance, and considered as more hardworking than players with darker skin tones. Players with darker skin tones were more likely to be reduced to physical attributes and characteristics, praised more for power and speed than their counterparts of a lighter skin tone.
The report goes on to highlight how this can have long-lasting effects on a players’ career, as the racial bias of the commentary shapes the public perception of each player, and therefore view the players with lighter skin tones as more successful and intelligent. I believe you can go as far as suggesting that the dehumanisation of the players with a darker skin tone, down to base attributes like speed and power, contributes to them being blamed when the team gets defeated.
Why does this bias occur?
This type of subtle bias we see here in football commentary is called ‘unconscious bias’, as the commentator is unlikely to be aware they’re doing it. Unconscious bias is something we all hold, and is formed due to the prevalence of stereotypes in society shaping how we think our entire lives. This turns toxic when they are formed from harmful stereotypes, such as women being stereotyped as doing the housework and men being stereotyped as the providers (don’t get me started on the book ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’!!). Or, to return to our football discussion, the racist stereotype that Black men are aggressive leads to the football commentators focusing on the strength and power of the Black football players over their intelligence or hard work.
Unconscious bias manifests in the daily lives of many minority groups, from people making awkward assumptions about a person based on the majority view, such as assuming every man’s romantic partner is a woman as the default; or those of an ethnic background being assumed to have less money and thus more likely to shoplift or steal, leading to them being followed around shops.
Where is unconscious bias the biggest problem?
Unfortunately, unconscious bias manifests the most during our professional lives, as workplaces have established hierarchies based on job role and level which lead to people having power over, and making decisions about, other people. This simply leaves more room for unconscious biases to creep in.
Unconscious biases are a large contributing factor to:
Candidates with names suggesting they’re from an ethnic minority group receive half the amount of interview offers when applying for jobs
Ethnic minorities being disproportionately more likely to lose their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic than white counterparts
Black professionals being over half as likely to receive a pay-rise at work than their white counterparts in similar roles
Black NHS professionals being more likely to be reprimanded and face disciplinary action for mistakes than their white colleagues.
These are just some of the ways unconscious bias manifests in the professional lives of people from underrepresented ethnic groups and leaves them at disadvantage. Women, LGBTQ+ individuals and disabled individuals, amongst other minority groups, also face unique disadvantages in the workplace due to unconscious bias.
So how can I prevent this in my organisation?
Unconscious bias is present within in every organisation, but not every organisation is taking the necessary steps to mitigate it. The first steps should always be to have an open, honest and safe conversation with your employees about it. The best way would be to use an anonymous survey to make your employees feel safe to open up. If you can find out how unconscious bias is manifesting, you can begin to remove it.
This may sound like a lot to do, but your employees deserve to feel safe and not be disadvantaged in their careers. Besides, you don’t have to face these challenges alone! Here at Avenir, we have a Complete Inclusion Diagnostic, which is designed to help you analyse how inclusive your organisation is, and how unconscious bias is manifesting. We also deliver inclusive leadership programmes and workshops designed to bring awareness to inherent biases and privileges such as our “Privilege, Bias or Merit?” and “Subtle Acts of Exclusion” workshops. Using these we can help your leaders increase their self-awareness and shift their mindsets to become inclusive change leaders, and be active allies to give unconscious bias the boot.