Task Assignment Bias and Intellectual Marginalization

Women and students of color may experience intellectual marginalization and/or task assignment bias while working on teams (Meadows et al., 2015). Intellectual marginalization occurs when the ideas of marginalized groups are ignored. Task assignment bias, which occurs when students assign tasks to themselves or others, can result in women and students of color being assigned tasks that are less considered valuable or desirable. For example, a woman on the team may be assigned a secretarial role rather than a role in project research or leadership. Ideas generated by White male students are frequently given priority, while ideas expressed by women and students of color may not be written down or considered (Stoddard & Pfeifer, 2018). One of the effects of intellectual marginalization is that some AHN students feel they must work harder than their teammates in order to overcome stereotypes (Meadows et al., 2015).