Leadership Unlocking Unconscious Bias: How VR Can Make Our Workplaces Better VR is finally allowing men to take a walk in women's shoes. But can "the ultimate empathy machine" change our workplaces for the better? By Angela Ledgerwood Leadership VR is finally allowing men to take a walk in women's shoes. But can "the ultimate empathy machine" change our workplaces for the better? By Angela Ledgerwood Previous article The Rise Of ‘Thoughtful Fashion’ Next article Making The Case: How To Argue The Pay Gap To A Non-Believer After years of working in Silicon Valley, engineer, animator and computer programmer Annie Harper was used to the men in her industry making assumptions about her abilities because she was a woman. “I remember sitting in an audience while our co-founder Brennan was presenting on our startup Equal Reality,” Harper explains. “During the presentation, Brennan pointed me out in the crowd as his co-founder while talking about my virtual reality graphic animation. Straight after the presentation, a man came bounding up and shook the hand of the man next me – congratulating him on his work and wanting to learn more. It hadn’t occurred to him that the 5’5″ blonde girl to his right was the animator.”It was experiencing this type of unconscious bias over and over again in Silicon Valley that inspired Harper to start Equal Reality with Brennan Hatton and Rick Martin. The idea? To harness the power of Virtual Reality so people can experience what it’s like to walk through the world as a different gender, race, age or ability-level in the workplace. diversityequalitylookingforwardworkplace Best Of Future Women Diamond Meet the leaders: Erin Vincent By Odessa Blain Diamond Meet the leaders: Malini Raj By Odessa Blain Diamond Meet the leaders: Azmeena Hussain By Odessa Blain Diamond Meet the leaders: Shannan Dodson By Odessa Blain Diamond Meet the leaders: Elly Desmarchelier By Odessa Blain Equity A sneak peek inside the sold-out budget event By Odessa Blain Equity Inside the shared joke between Gallagher and Wong By Odessa Blain Leadership “Let’s lower the bar”: Why this CEO wants women to do a whole lot less By FW Your inbox just got smarter If you’re not a member, sign up to our newsletter to get the best of Future Women in your inbox.
