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As a minority, I've been subject to firm decisions made on the basis of extremely dubious reasoning before. Is it bias? Who knows, it's never clear-cut in any specific example. But when it just seems to keep happening and nobody can explain why, it certainly feels fishy.
And of course, being on hiring panels and hearing comments like "I don't like how she talks" or "I don't trust men who wear scarves" or "I don't think he'll fit the culture (which is mostly white)" made about candidates, and "I don't see any problem with hiring based on attractiveness" as a "joke" after a hiring decision was made in favor of a conventionally attractive woman... and later hearing comments like "I've never discriminated against anybody" come out of the same mouths? I don't buy it. I don't think I'm unbiased. I don't know how anybody could possibly think that about themselves.
I’m a minority, and arguably now considered an industry expert as well in my domain (graphics). The vast majority of time I’m the only minority involved in several circles.
I am trying to raise diversity in these groups, across age, ethnicity and gender.
But it’s so difficult to do when few others also join in that effort. Not because they’re necessarily bigoted (though some are), but they don’t see it.
The only effective means I’ve found is to actually highlight the disparity between diversity in the industry versus representation in the committees. Then suddenly people have an amazing colleague that they forgot to invite, or a rising star Junior dev who could be mentored into the role.
Sometimes people just need to be reminded that the status quo isn’t above questioning and that they have their own implicit biases that they just never reflect on.
The person in question called out bias and then asked what could be done.
That’s exactly the same as you suggested. The person I replied to then spun that out as reverse racism.
Which is a very common tactic to squash actual discussion on the topic of biases in the industry.
But I also believe that when someone cries out bias or discrimination by some group because of underrepresentation or lack of diversity, they are implying that affirmative action is the way to solve it. Maybe I'm putting words into people's mouths there, but it's just anecdotal
There’s a whole field of nuance in between “do nothing” and “affirmative action”. People deserve the benefit of not having someone else’s argument ascribed to them.