PEOPLE WITH SIMILAR SKILLS and qualifications may have very different experiences achieving success in the workplace on the basis of many factors, including gender and other aspects of identity. And organizations have struggled to make their practices—from hiring to promotions—fairer.
When attending a concert, it’s what you hear that matters—not what you see. The world’s leading orchestras depend on the virtuosic playing of instruments. And yet, for many decades, professional orchestras found that they were hiring musicians based according to what they saw. And some musicians were chosen because they had a connection to the conductor.
To make hiring fairer, some orchestras in the 1970s and 1980s implemented “blind” auditions, at which musicians played behind a screen. Since this technique has come into practice, according to a 2023 report by the League of American Orchestras, the share of female musicians in the nation’s orchestras has increased to 47%. Research by the economists Claudia Goldin and Cecilia Rouse has shown that blind auditions increased the likelihood that a female musician would be hired by 25%.
Iris Bohnet is a behavioral economist at HKS whose work focuses on how organizations can improve decision-making and increase fairness through interventions like those developed by orchestras a few decades ago. Such interventions are sometimes called “nudges,” and they can help change systems to achieve more desirable outcomes. A nudge might involve removing identifying information when reviewing cover letters and résumés in order to judge applicants blindly. “These practices are a step in the right direction,” Bohnet says, “but more needs to be done to make sure everyone can thrive in organizations once they have joined. As in every industry, women are still heavily underrepresented in positions of leadership in orchestras. Our recent research with one of the largest employers in Australia suggests that reducing ambiguity can go a long way in leveling the playing field for leadership roles as well.”
Bohnet, the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government and co-director of the Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program, is the author of the 2016 book “What Works: Gender Equality by Design” and 2025 book “Make Work Fair: Data-Driven Design for Real Results” (the latter coauthored with Siri Chilazi MPP/MBA 2016).
Bohnet’s research has helped shape organizations’ fairness practices, particularly in the areas of hiring and recruitment, promotion and performance evaluation, and building leadership pipelines. She emphasizes structural changes and behavioral design in organizations and not just changes in individual behavior.
She has advised governments (for example, as a member of the Gender Equality Advisory Council of the G7 countries) and international organizations on policies that promote fairness and reduce discrimination. Bohnet is currently serving as special adviser to the United Nations on its Gender Equality Acceleration Plan, which was launched in 2024 to increase gender equality across the United Nations system. The plan is designed to improve the ability of all U.N. entities to support member countries in advancing the rights of women and girls.
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Making fairness at work a life mission
SIRI CHILAZI MPP/MBA 2016, Bohnet’s coauthor on “Make Work Fair,” is a senior researcher at the Women and Public Policy Program. In a recent video for HKS, she explained why this work matters.
“My life’s work is to promote fairness at work and specifically to advance gender equality in organizations,” she says. “This work matters because in order for us collectively to prosper to our fullest potential, we need everyone’s full talents at the table from the private sector to the public sector, from NGOs to academia.” Chilazi researches organizational fairness and translates research insights for policymakers, organizational leaders, and the media. “We all do better when our workplaces are designed as a level playing field where everyone has a fair chance to do their best work,” she says.
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Banner image by Ronen Tivony/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images; faculty portrait by Martha Stewart