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"Have you ever tried typing \"women should,\" \"women shouldn't\" or \"women can't\" into Google? The autocomplete suggestions you get may surprise and horrify you, as a new series of ads from UN Women makes abundantly clear. \nGoogle autocomplete is a feature that suggests what your search term might be, based on its most frequent searches and the content of web pages. It is, in many ways, a neutral reflection of society. These ads feature genuine top-line results, such as \"women shouldn't have rights; women shouldn't vote; women shouldn't work.\" \nSee also: 20 Searches Made Ridiculous by Google Autocomplete\nThe autocomplete algorithm is constantly being tweaked; the ad specifies that the searches were performed on Sept. 9, 2013. So when we tried to replicate the results, we got slightly different \u2014 but no better \u2014 outcomes, such as \"women shouldn't go to college,\" \"women need to shut up\" and \"women should not speak in church.\"\nFor anyone who thought the Internet was a more enlightened place than the world at large, or that sexism was less of a problem in the 21st century, the ads are quite the wake up call. In each of four posters, autocomplete results are placed over the mouth of a woman as if to silence her. \nBelow, the organization offers what, in an ideal world, should be the autocomplete result \u2014 such as \"women need to be seen as equal.\" UN Women is a three year-old entity aimed at achieving gender equality around the world; it merges the work of four previous United Nations groups. \n\nAnd in case you're wondering, the autocomplete results for \"men should\" and \"men can't\" are fairly prescriptive \u2014 \"men should pray\" \u2014 but not nearly as stereotyping. Except for \"men can't be feminists\" \u2014 which, we hope, is just as wrong as the results above. \nReaders around the world: Do you get different autocomplete results in your country? Let us know in the comments. \n[via Adweek]Image: UN Women"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/10/18/google-autocomplete-sexism/>