According to the ministerial circular of 18 June 2020 dealing with treatment equality in recruitment procedures, the guarantee of professional equality and the fight against selection gender bias, the University of Orleans raises the committee members’ awareness before every recruitment phase. The directives of the Civil Service Transformation Law of 6 August 2019 increases this obligation. In this way, the UO wrote the obligation to raise awareness about gender bias among selection committees in its action plan for professional equality.
It should be noted that gender bias very often interferes in the recruitment processes and affects the official selection criterions. Therefore, they break the principle of treatment equality in recruitment procedures. Major studies revealed that decisions taken during recruitment procedures were regularly influenced by gender stereotypes (Bornmann, Mutz, & Daniel, 2007; Moss-Racusin, Dovidio, Brescoll, Graham, & Handelsman, 2012; Steinpreis, Anders, & Ritzke, 1999; Treviño, Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Mixon, 2015; van den Besselaar & Sandström, 2016; van den Brink, Benschop, & Jansen, 2010; Wennerås & Wold, 1997).
Gender bias does not reflect a desire to harm. It is caused by cognitive automatisms. Everyone is influenced by gender stereotypes. It is thus essential to become aware of it when one has an evaluating role (Frith, 2015; Valian, 2005).
In this regard, the implicit association test offered below (in French) is a computerised, fast, simple, fun and educational way to become aware of the strength of some association of ideas based on gender stereotypes in our memory. This test is anonymous.