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Google ads may be highlighting gender inequality.
Based on a recent study conducted at the Carnegie Mellon University, it is now believed that, in fact, new chauvinistic approaches of Google Ads towards women have been revealed to the public.
Each and every day, our browsers appear to have become invaded by the numerous ads popping up. It is because we, as users, have allowed the internet to keep track of our daily life that now, not only has it seized and taken hold of our Web history, but also of a person’s age, gender and why not even location.
Along with the assistance of the International Computer Science Institute, scientists have been able to better deepen their knowledge of this subject with the help of AdFisher, a program which allowed scientists to keep track of the ads to which people responded to.
Through AdFisher, researchers have also been able to create almost 1000 simulated profiles, for both female and male users that shared an identical online background. In order to discover the role that Google ads networking plays when pursuing a job, it is only after, that, some of the biggest employment sites were proposed to be used.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2014, both genders have shared an equal percentage on the labor work, out of which 46.8 % were women. Having the purpose to understand how people of both genders would react to a variety of adds popping up on their screens, the experiment has proven that women, in most cases, appear to be shown distinct jobs from those advertised to men.
In particular, one job add for an executive post, appeared to have been introduced to men over 1000 times; on the other hand, the same job offer that, would earn more than 200.000 dollars, was introduced to women round 400 times to say the least.
As surprising as it may seem, studies have shown that males, are more likely to be introduced to greater opportunities in the work field , which would eventually allow them have better paying jobs than women can ever have. Although, Google has also made it possible for each user to customize what ads they can and cannot see, it is still hard to decide whether or not Google’s operational system is discriminating towards women.
By focusing on the way in which genders react to Google ads, this study has also pointed out to a far greater issue known, and that is, the never ending pay gap between men and women. Even though it may not be visible for in all cases, according to statistics, it has been proved that on an average, a woman will still earn less than each dollar men will make.
Being one of the first studies to ever provide scientists with such significant proof, it has become hard to determine whether or not Google is being sexist. It may very well be just a coincidence for women who have always been looked down upon, that Google ads are mostly targeting the male population.
Image Source: resources2.news.com.au
