The Hidden Inequities of Gender-Biased Names

Unpacking Gender Bias in Names

Neeraj's life was running smoothly. She was planning to further her life and had set her sights on post-graduation. Enrolling post-graduation is a straight road for distance education; however, an entrance exam must be cracked if you wish to gain admission to a regular one/or an offline-renowned university. Neeraj applied to a university and successfully gained admission to the Master's program in philosophy.

The beginning of the course was promising, and everything went well till the orientation of the course, and then the name game started. After a month or 2, she soon encountered an unexpected challenge: name-based gender discrimination. The first incident occurred when a peer expressed curiosity and surprise upon meeting a woman named 'Neeraj'. This was Neeraj's first introduction to the idea that names, while ostensibly neutral identifiers, can carry gender biases. She learned that her name, typically associated with males, was not perceived as gender-neutral by many.

The incident marked the beginning of a series of similar incidents that profoundly affected Neeraj. She was shocked to realize that names, which she had always considered simple labels for addressing people, could be laden with gender biases and significantly influence how individuals are perceived. This shift in perception made her acutely aware of the broader implications of names in society and their impact on personal identity.