a prejudice or inclination towards one gender; a form of sexism, gender bias isn’t always conscious or deliberate – it can be the result of social attitudes and values that are distilled into our psychology over time and manifest in ways we may not be aware of. As a result, such attitudes need to be analysed and deliberately challenged both on an individual and group level.

An example of gender bias may be the subconscious idea that when interviewing for a position, the male applicant may be more qualified to do a job than the female applicant, even if on paper, they both have the same qualifications or experience, or that the male applicant is a better option because he won’t take maternity leave.

Gender bias can also be detrimental to men too, however: an example would be the gender bias that values a woman’s role as a housewife and/or principle caregiver of children in the home, whereas for men, househusbandry or being a stay-at-home father is typically looked down upon (especially when compared to stay-at-home mothers), and is faced with prejudice and cultural attitudes that disparage men who take on such roles – and as such, also place prejudicial attitudes upon the women who opt to be the working partner.

Gender bias can also be found in schools – hence why there is a gender gap in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics): because there is a subconscious assumption that male students are more intellectually inclined towards such subjects over females.