One of my earliest memories of bias was in 2nd or 3rd grade when I got in trouble for taking my shirt off on the playground at recess. I was hot, it was humid, so I took my shirt off, just like the boys.

Well, that was just an e-ticket to the principal’s office and not in a good Disney-like e-ticket way but in an (in)equality kind of way. 

The next time I remember experiencing bias was in 7th grade science class when the teacher underestimated my abilities to “do science” as a girl. I got in trouble a lot in that class. I still got an A despite the discouragement and downright blocking I was subjected to in that class.

Then came the CMEA music festivals – I cannot recall all the ways I experienced bias as a female trombone player. Thankfully blind auditions have made a difference for female musicians. Just don’t wear high heels that click across the floor to where you sit behind the screen. That still leads to bias and judgments.

Now, I volunteer at instrument selection night to introduce the trombone to any and all students who may be interested in learning about it. I also volunteer and teach beginning trombone. I believe I have been instrumental in encouraging females to choose trombone and the number of male/female s mirrors the population, leading me to hope that bias can be eliminated with information, opportunity, and encouragement

I was prevented from taking advanced computer science in high school (anything beyond programming in Basic), even though my mom was a computer scientist and I understood what “advanced” programming entailed. 

That led to a huge disadvantage when I arrived at UC Berkeley to major in computer science. I remember sitting in class the first day of CS50 with 500 of my fellow freshmen (and they were fellows, all 494 of the 500) and they asked us to raise our hands if we had programmed over 500 lines of code, over 1,000, etc. I hadn’t. Almost everyone else had. Not a good start to my programming days.

And, of course, as a female lawyer, I have experienced untold bias in project assignments and work opportunities. In my first job out of law school I was told not to wear pants and to wear dresses and skirts. At a video game company…

I have not let other people’s bias about what a “girl” was supposed to do/be to deter me from following my passion to be a female musician, or computer scientist, or lawyer, or anything else for that matter!

Fighting bias is now my vocation as an executive leadership coach and consultant. I help others go for what they want regardless of what others “want” for them or think they “should” do. 

On a daily basis, I help other women (and enlightened and progressive men) understand their worth an get paid for it. Equity and fairness, they matter.
#iwd2022
#bias