Stereotype & Identity Threat - Part 1

TL:DR - stereotype threat can affect small and large interactions whether we realize it or not. All of us have the ability to reduce or even remove this threat if we're aware of what it looks like and are armed with the tools to impact change.

The first half of the story:

Pulling out my umbrella as I get out of the car, I see a handful of people standing next to the elementary school and a couple of guys under their own umbrellas walking toward them. I assume this is where I'm to go for the Flag Football coaches kick-off meeting now that it's raining and the playground and fields are wet.

As I approach the unfamiliar faces, excited to be able to coach my daughter's team, I recognize that I am the only woman there and very quickly feel that I had walked into a masculine bubble. This is evident to me from the wide-legged, crossed armed power stance of some and nonchalant 'lets get this over with' leaning against the building of others. Ok, tamper down the "this is really cool for our kids" excitement, Stacy - no room for that here. Almost the entire group elected to stand in the rain instead of under the awning where it was dry, and someone had the Detroit Lions game playing in the background on their phone. Alright - glad to know they're still winning I guess. As the group formed I somehow knew that all eyes made their way to me, and yet nobody actually made eye contact with me. Cool. This isn't awkward at all.

As I stood there, under the dry awning, waiting for the meeting to start, I berated myself for not taking a minute to change out of my cute shoes, matching sweatshirt and long girly necklace into something more casual, more 'sporty', for the meeting. As-if that would give me more credibility.

The director started the meeting and went through all of the typical things you'd anticipate at a coaches meeting - introductions, rules, league structure. Making sure that I'm being a gold star coach, I started taking notes in my phone, and thought that everyone else must have an awesome memory because they didn't seem to need to take any. Thank God I forgot the pen and pad of paper I had planned to bring with me to take notes - how lame would that have been?

The hook & ladder play was 'name dropped' as a part of a joke that most of the guys that I secretly named the "bro" group laughed at, a couple of the "nerdy" guys had questions, and though I did have a couple of questions myself, I decided I'd look them up when I got home instead of running the risk of confirming any overachiever vibes or lack of football knowledge.

On my way home, I called my husband to tell him about the awkward experience at the meeting - apparently needing a sounding board for what I later found was an experience of what Claude Steele, a researcher and well-known author of Whistling Vivaldi, has called "stereotype threat".

At this coaches meeting I experienced a very low-risk stereotype threat. This is defined as the fear of confirming a negative stereotype about a person's group, which can lead to underperformance and lack of focus.

Football is stereotypically thought of as a male-dominated sport. More men than women tend to watch it, play it, and coach it. Which leads to the stereotype that women likely don't understand football as well as men. They care about the color of the jerseys more than the strategy of the plays. Can't say that's all wrong - some of the new jerseys are pretty sweet.

Steele's research focuses on the effects of stereotype threat in much higher-risk situations like underperformance in academics for marginalized groups & Whistling Vivaldi is truly worth the read.

None of the guys at my meeting did anything wrong or hurtful. Everyone there acted a bit distant but completely fine. That's often how stereotype threat is experienced. Simply the fact that 90% of the coaches there were men was enough to confirm the stereotype, and several cues throughout the meeting (references I didn't understand, lack of excitement/boredom from some, all knowing attitudes, and no note taking from anyone) projected the idea that I didn't quite fit in. And this idea caused me to think and act in a very specific way, which would've been different had just one additional female coach been present.

Okay, great. Why does any of this really matter?

Next week's post will dive into what I learned from Steele's research and how I've tried to apply those learnings to my experiences. Stay tuned!