Erasing Institutional Bias

Chapter One

Understanding the Problem

Institutional or systemic bias is the phenomenon that exists when some groups maintain advantage over others within the context of a particular structure. Institutional bias is the result of interpersonal bias that has been institutionalized, or embedded within systems. Each of the biases enumerated in this book can operate at the interpersonal level and the institutional level. The examples of bias in this book are operating at the institutional level unless otherwise stated. The institutional biases that we will expand upon in this book include in the following order:

Occupational Bias An implicit bias that assigns fixed human or demographic attributes to a particular job or career.

Gender Bias An implicit ...