Search “CEO” on Google images and the first woman to appear after dozens of men is likely plastic. Barbie trumps even Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer on the Internet’s symbolic ranking of female success. And the image is actually a joke, an illustration for a 10-year-old Onion story called “CEO Barbie Criticized For Promoting Unrealistic Career Images.”
This algorithmic folly tells an uncomfortable story about how we picture — quite literally — women in the workplace. And the misrepresentation problem could hurt real women’s chances in job interviews.
Researchers at the University of Washington recently analyzed the top 100 Google image search results for 45 professions, including not only chief executives but doctors, welders and bartenders. They found female workers are generally underrepresented online, compared to occupation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. About 27 percent of American CEOs, for example, are women. But only 11 percent of the Google image results for “CEO” showed women (not including Barbie).
In addition, many images retrieved by the web’s top search engine happen to be hyper-sexualized caricatures. Some female construction workers in midriff-baring flannel and jean shorts seem better dressed for a Halloween party than, say, a demolition site. (Researchers dubbed this the “sexy construction worker problem.”)
“It’s part of a cycle: How people perceive things affects the search results, which affect how people perceive things,” said co-author Cynthia Matuszek, who now teaches computer ethics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Ms. Matuszek recalls sitting in a robotics lecture last year at the University of Washington, where she earned her doctoral degree in computer science. A male colleague illustrated researchers in his Powerpoint presentation as “all guys, classic nerds,” she said. But a caretaker was shown in a slide as “a plump woman in her 30s who was wearing a pink suit.”
The stereotypes irked Ms. Matuszek, and she’s not the only one wondering about the power of images. On Monday, the Australian economist Justin Wolfers shared a family moment with his 79,000 followers:
“My 5-year old daughter thumbing through a book on US presidents, pauses, looks up and asks ‘Do you have to be a boy to be president?’ “
Last year, Getty Images, the world’s largest photo providers to advertising agencies and media outlets, teamed up with Sheryl Sandberg’s female empowerment organization to create the Lean In Collection: 2,500 images “of female leadership in contemporary work and life.”
They sought to combat and replace insulting, inaccurate depictions of women, said Pam Grossman, Getty’s director of visual trends. Women Laughing Alone With Salad is a viral example of visual stereotypes. Search “feminism” on Shutterstock and find a woman shaving her face. Also featured: A woman ostensibly about to remove a man’s head.
“Images can influence the way we perceive each other,” Ms. Grossman said, “and, frankly, the way we perceive ourselves.”
The Lean In Collection has nearly doubled in size since it launched. Clients in more than 60 countries have now purchased the photos: a little girl in a karate uniform, a lady skater nailing a jump, a table of toasting business women. Proclaimed Ms. Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer: “You can’t be what you can’t see.”
Danielle Paquette writes for The Washington Post.
First Published: April 21, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
