Am I being unwoke?

I think the whole pronouns thing has got a bit out of hand - people can make their wishes known without having to declare it on a form.

Oxfam is a case in point with a lot of money going to this sort of training.

I remember as a SW we had to keep attending similar courses and, as I was a SW for a long time, I can remember the information changing as different fads floated in and out.

There is nothing wrong with reminding people to be non-judgemental and to think about what might be in their minds that they are not aware of, but unfortunately the content tends to be extreme. One course I attended had a black man there who was very clear that he saw a lot of it as nonsense - not using black coffee or blackboard just made him laugh.

Dickens

I have seen a printed 'leaflet' given to me by a friend on the subject of unconscious bias, Inclusivity etc. It was very informative, well-written and concise.

It made me realise something which I already knew anyway, that I, along with others, have this bias to some degree or other.

I don't think it's necessary to hold a Course. An online Paper on the matter is sufficient. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence could understand the one I read. It's a waste of resources.

There's a lot of evidence that unconscious bias training doesn't work. It was popular in the mid teens (2013-18) and rolled out throughout many government departments, but research indicates it doesn't change behaviour and some research indicates it just helps people conceal their bias a bit better — so they still discriminate, just discriminate in a way that is less easy to pin down and do something about. Perhaps they don't say racist things about colleagues, but they find other more subtle ways of expressing their racism.

I've read an article about how unconscious bias training can make people with bias feel even more resentment and animosity because the training, when poorly conducted, can leave people feeling guilty and shamed for their bias. Unfortunately I'm not able to locate that particular article but if you google 'why doesn't unconscious bias training work?' you'll find lots of articles.

Vintagenonna

My older-wiser-kinder neighbour was listening to the bloke next door sounding off about 'woke-ness' and 'why shouldn't he refer to people any way he chose' etc. etc. etc. When bloke-next-door ground to a halt, neighbour said something like "I think of it as being like the highway code; you don't use or need all the guidance all the time but it is a way of avoiding harm when possible."

I like that.
It's very hard to answer that and still harder if you have to keep living next door to them.

Tick box stuff seems useless. Reasonable depth where you meet people from the groups who can explain how things actually do affect them and then to talk seems to me the best way of all.

When I ran courses I DID get some people who came up and said, "I never thought of it that way". Only some.

Hmm. People would call me pretty woke but am sure unconscious bias lurk Monica. Its hard to be out of your comfort zone, however one might wish to do what my mum used to say, "do as you would be done by" as an ideal..

My older-wiser-kinder neighbour was listening to the bloke next door sounding off about 'woke-ness' and 'why shouldn't he refer to people any way he chose' etc. etc. etc. When bloke-next-door ground to a halt, neighbour said something like "I think of it as being like the highway code; you don't use or need all the guidance all the time but it is a way of avoiding harm when possible."

I work for a GP. We all have to do tons of online training stupidly you can just keep clicking on "next page", answer the questions at the end, if you get too many wrong it let's you keep trying till you pass. I did a 2 hour one that included what colour bucket to use to clean different surfaces, we have a cleaner I don't know where the buckets are even kept!!!

My old workplace used to run training sessions on equality and diversity (I have run them myself) and some were really useful. Others were pretty dreadful however - tick box exercises which took no account of the existing expertise in the room. I sometimes wonder whether there should be quality control over things like this, as anyone can set up a training company, regardless of qualifications or experience, and people who have sat through some of the awful courses may think that they are up to speed with the advertised issues when they were never covered or were skated over.

The DIE training doesn’t cost that much in my experience.
You don’t have to use pronouns is you don’t want to.

Diversity inclusion and equality is a good governance issue for the charity and its Board. It’s to comply with the regulations.

Just do it, and don’t think the service is being disrupted by it- it isn’t.

Agreed, M0nica .

Siope I am not being sarky. I am stating the obvious, and we all have hidden biasses that we are incapable of seeing, however aware we are and however much training etc we do.

The biggest unconscious bias is the belief that someone has that because they are 'woke' and have had all this awareness training, that they can recognise and overcome their unconscious biasses.

I’m duolingoing French at the moment ! Everything is male or female ! Not an easy thing to get used to in these times

Perhaps you should learn German instead as they have an neuter gender!

FarNorth

Or if it lets them just nod along and/or tick boxes without seeing any relevance to their own life.

Yes, the focus of a successful session has to be on how to deal with prejudices, not just to recognise that they exist. Practical ideas are more use than theory, I think.

I don't think it is possible to change people's views on others very much, but they can learn to behave more generously to others. If someone really doesn't like children, for instance, they may always find them irritating, but can learn that talking to them with respect is more productive than assuming that they are up to no good and talking down to them.

Once a bias becomes known it is no longer an unconscious bias. Those will remain,

Oh, you are being sarky. Sorry, it’s so hard to tell sometimes from the written word.

Or if it lets them just nod along and/or tick boxes without seeing any relevance to their own life.

If like to think people were willing to explore their possible unconscious bias and the way it affects how they interact with others.
I think that’s the important thing - knowing how our implicit bias affects the way we interact with others? Just knowing our biases is pointless otherwise.

The bias will be there - it’s an evolutionary advantage - but recognising it and learning how we (as individuals) respond to it is the only way the tests/courses will have any benefit. Many people will write off results they don’t like as ‘biased’ or ‘woke’, and refuse to acknowledge that they (like everyone) have bias, as it is almost always presented as negative. It isn’t. A preference for kittens over snakes makes perfect sense, as does being able to recognise people from one’s own side in a war, or someone more likely to attack.

If we recognise that, but learn ways to restrict our biases to when it is necessary to employ them (eg not at work or in a volunteer role) then the course could be useful. If it simply leaves attendees feeling uncomfortable about themselves or resentful for having had their biases pointed out, then it has been counterproductive IMO.

Siope Once a bias becomes known it is no longer an unconscious bias. Those will remain,

Personally, as a catholic I have always found the simple christian belief that'we are all equal in the sight of God' has always governed my relationships with other people, and of course I have unconscious biasses, but I have always consciously to eliminate any I become aware of.

However nothing has yet managed to eliminate my belief that drivers who overtake you, as you stop for a red light, and that has happened several times recently, are anything but selfish and stupid.

Using a name or omit the need altogether is my method, to avoid saying the wrong thing.
I have a relative who has transitioned, including a slight change of name. When you have known them for over 20 years it is hard to get it right every time now . They have never said to me “ My pronouns are….”

I have a very conscious bias against the term woke I think it is absolutely ridiculous an yes I am sure I have unconscious biases against a lot of things but under no circumstances would I attend any course that tried to brainwash me into believing that to have them made me a bad person or a person who needed to be trained in some way to make me more acceptable in a workplace.
All of our experiences in life form the way we view events but 99% of us are capable of realising this and are capable of going through life being kind and considerate.

Cabbie21 we do often use 3rd person pronouns in normal speech eg "Where's Mary?" "Oh, she's in the store room."
As I don't want to use wrong-sex pronouns, tho, if I knew Mary was a transwoman I'd reply "Oh, in the store room."

Nelliethelephant- The charity I volunteer for has twice as many volunteers as paid employees. We would all feel very insulted if we were considered to be monkeys.
When I trained there was a huge module on inclusion and discrimination, long before the word woke was invented ( apart from as a verb- I woke up at 6 o’ clock.)

I don’t get this business of pronouns. There is rarely a need to use any other than you and your, when speaking to someone.
If we are talking about someone, it could be breaking a confidence. Or gossiping.

Monica I thought at first you were being sarcastic, but in case you are being serious. I can think of half a dozen exercises - all allowing participants to discover their own biases - off the top of my head.

The best known are probably Implicit Association Tests (IAT) (and several IATs developed by Harvard Uni are online for anyone who fancies a bash) but I favour the Tag Game (see S M Fowler 2006), and the Trust List activity to explore affinity bias.

Going back to the OP: there is quite a lot of evidence that good training in identifying unconscious bias can bring about individual change, and can be effective in reducing implicit bias, but these biases are unlikely to be completely eradicated and training needs to be supported and reinforced by appropriate changes to organisational structures, policies and procedures. A sensible question for your organisation would be, therefore, how they intend to identify and implement any necessary organisational change.

Rainbows don't belong to LGBTQ, the same way red roses don't belong to the UK or the colours red white and blue.

Someone designed a flag, lots of which exist

You can still love rainbows

It's just the chosen symbol

Maybe finding a smaller closer to home charity that needs your willing help would be better overall, after all you are volunteering and giving your time for free, you need to be able to relax and enjoy it at least.

MerylStreep

FarNorth

Here's something that is woke and not only a waste of money but actually harmful as it makes life more difficult for people with sight problems.

That crossing could send someone with Alzheimer’s into a complete meltdown, unable to move: I’ve seen it happen.
Spitting nails 😡
If I lived in Reading I’d be very tempted to go out in the early hours with a can black spray paint.

Besides which, the stripes go the wrong way, someone could walk along the road by mistake.
Just saying.

Who decided that rainbows belong to the LGBTQ community?
They belong to everyone.
Like the rain and the sun which produce them.

I worked for three major charities in my life and the question from a member of the public asking about staff salaries frequently landed on my desk. One even suggested that we should be unpaid! It wasn't very hard to convince most complainants that "pay peanuts and you get monkeys" was a valid reason to pay the going rate, and usually not more as many people actually want to work for charities!

How can you know what your unconscious bias is? That is a contradiction in terms.