First large-scale research in Greece using the Gender–Career Implicit Association Test shows that unconscious gender stereotypes remain widespread – even among people who support gender equality.
A new KMOP study on gender stereotypes in Greece shows that two in three people automatically associate men with careers and women with family roles, even among people who say they support gender equality.
The study involved 1.145 participants from across Greece, and is the first large-scale research in the country using the Gender–Career Implicit Association Test (IAT).
The study introduces one of the first publicly accessible IAT platforms developed in Greece, allowing participants to explore their own automatic associations while contributing to ongoing research. The IAT measures the speed with which people associate concepts such as “man”, “woman”, “career”, and “family.” Faster responses when pairing certain ideas indicate stronger automatic associations.
Unlike traditional surveys that capture opinions, the test reveals the quick, often unconscious connections people make between social roles and gender.
The research forms part of KMOP’s applied social research activities, which aim to generate evidence that can inform policies, organisational practices, and social inclusion.
Studies using the same method in other countries, including the United States, Germany, and Sweden, consistently show that implicit gender-career associations remain widespread even in societies with stronger formal gender equality. Greece has until now lacked comparable population-level data. This study is the first step toward building that evidence base. Not as an academic exercise, but as applied knowledge that organisations, educators, and policymakers can act on. KMOP’s role in applied social research is precisely to generate this kind of evidence: grounded in rigorous methodology, but designed from the outset to be useful beyond the laboratory.
Key findings: Gender stereotypes and unconscious bias remain widespread
The results show that what people say they believe about equality does not always match the automatic associations they carry in their minds.
- Two in three participants associate men with careers
Across the full group of participants, 67% automatically showed faster response times when pairing men with career-related words and women with family-related words. This means their reaction times were measurably faster when pairing men with career-related words than the reverse.
This pattern appeared despite participants’ demographics or explicitly declared views on gender equality.
- Men and women show almost identical patterns
The study found almost no difference between men and women, suggesting that these associations reflect shared cultural norms, shaped by society, rather than attitudes held by one gender toward another.
- Education alone does not eliminate implicit bias
Interestingly, the study did not find a consistent link between higher education level and lower implicit bias. In other words, cultural conditioning may run deeper than formal learning alone. This is a question we plan to explore further as the study continues.
- What people say and what they automatically think can differ
Participants who openly supported traditional gender roles tended to show stronger automatic traditional stereotypes. However, even participants who strongly supported gender equality frequently showed automatic associations linking men with careers.
- Similar patterns appear across age groups
The research found similar patterns among younger and older participants. This suggests that growing up in a more gender-equal society has not completely removed the stereotypes that connect men with careers and women with family roles.
What the findings mean for organisations, education, and public policy
For organisations and human resources professionals
Our findings show that implicit bias appeared even among participants who explicitly support gender equality. This means awareness alone is unlikely to be sufficient – what matters is how systems and processes are designed.
Organisations can address this by adopting practices such as:
- Introduce blind CV screening in early recruitment stages as one of the most evidence-based ways to interrupt automatic associations before they influence decisions.
- Use clear, standardised evaluation criteria during interviews and hiring processes.
- Ensure diverse recruitment and promotion panels to balance perspectives in decision-making.
- Monitor gender outcomes in hiring, promotions, and pay decisions.
For education and professional development
Formal education, on its own, does not ‘undo’ cultural conditioning. Education and training programmes can help counter these patterns by:
- Include examples that challenge traditional gender roles, such as women in leadership or men in caregiving roles.
- Use case studies and real-life examples that highlight diverse career paths and role models.
- Encourage reflection on the gap between stated values and automatic assumptions.
Public Policy
Traditional gender equality metrics measure outcomes. This study measures something different: The automatic associations that partly drive those outcomes.
Policy responses should therefore:
- Incorporate implicit bias measurement into national gender equality monitoring frameworks. Greece currently lacks large-scale baseline data on automatic gender associations. This study is a first step, but policy-relevant tracking requires longitudinal, population-representative data.
- Support large-scale monitoring of social attitudes and automatic associations over time.
Take part in the Gender Stereotypes study
The study remains open to the public. By taking the test, participants can learn about their own automatic associations while contributing to the first large-scale dataset on gender stereotypes in Greece.
For further information, you can contact us at [email protected].