The 2016 Business Book Awards
Business Book of the Year
What Works: Gender Equality by Design by Iris Bohnet | Belknap Press
We tend to rail at the gods when discussing gender inequality—Fight the system! Fight the power!—but don’t know how to wrest power away from them. In What Works, Iris Bohnet is more concerned that the glacial pace with which gender equality improves is due, in part, to unconscious bias. To counter these biases, she helps us identify our unwitting prejudices and then “design” a methodology for remapping how we habitually think:
“Because the stakes are high by every measure, let me be clear. Far from all gender inequities are the result of unconscious bias, which is only one of the culprits unjustly disadvantaging some and benefiting others. And behavioral interventions are one instrument in our collective toolbox to correct for these injustices. Biases are, however, a clear cause of inequality, and behavioral designs can accomplish things that hammers cannot.”
It’s true that What Works is a complicated book. Not because Bohnet isn’t a clear writer—she is both precise and engaging—and not because the methodology she presents is particularly daunting in terms of execution. It’s complicated because gender equality is complicated, especially if we want to make sure we don’t resort to knee-jerk name-calling or victim-blaming. It’s complicated because we simply aren’t aware of all the ways in which we are biased. But if we accept the optimistic premise that most people desire gender equality and most organizations recognize the value of gender equality, then Bohnet’s approach, while uncomfortable because it makes us adjust our habits and acknowledge our shortcomings, is the way to make change.
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Leadership & Strategy
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Marketing & Sales
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Creativity & Innovation
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Personal Development & Human Behavior
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Current Events
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Narrative & Biography
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