What works

For decades, the five best American orchestras had a female representation of only 5 percent. During auditions in front of male juries, female candidates consistently failed to make the cut. Are women really the inferior musicians? Or is that not the case? When one of the jurors could no longer tell whether a man or a woman was playing, the percentage suddenly increased dramatically. All it took was a curtain. In hiring, promotions, and salaries—women are significantly disadvantaged everywhere. Harvard professor Iris Bohnet demonstrates in her brilliant book that the root cause often lies in distorted perceptions that influence our decisions even when we firmly believe we are being entirely objective. Just like the jury was convinced that they were only evaluating musical performance. The answer to this dilemma does not lie in the adjustment.