If you’re tuning out because
someone speaks with an accent, it’s a good opportunity to explore if you
have an implicit bias influencing your actions.
Accent Bias: How Can We Minimize Discrimination In The Workplace?
Dr. Pragya Agarwal Contributor to Forbes
Research
has shown that we tend to unconsciously group people into a specific
social class and prejudice against them based on their accents. By
thinking that someone with a particular accent is not very smart or
clever, we are showing our unconscious bias.….
There is a large volume
of research reports on preventing biases against people based on their
skin color, ethnicity, or gender. However, accent-related biases appear
to be more acceptable and less opposed than racial, religious, or gender
discrimination, even though globally accent bias is a widely
acknowledged form of discrimination.
SunShower’s program, Defeating Unconscious Bias shows
this clearly. In a team meeting, one member speaks with a Spanish
accent and is dismissed. The DUB program offers specific action steps
that the team leader can take to counter her bias.
