Bias Lite wins Rep. Jonathan Jackson’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Illinois’s First District

When asked what inspired the creation of Bias Lite, Saanika Dutta said, “The idea for Bias-Lite began in an unexpected place: scrolling on TikTok. One night, I came across a video discussing gender bias in medical documentation and how often women’s symptoms are dismissed, misinterpreted, or under-treated. The video claimed that thousands of women die every year because their pain is not taken seriously enough. I paused the video, shocked, and wondered if that could really be true. I started researching, thinking I might find an exaggeration, but instead I found studies, statistics, and stories that were even worse than what I had heard. It left me unsettled. Something as simple as biased wording in a medical record could decide whether people lived or died. I could not stop thinking about it.

“After that, I began noticing gender bias everywhere. In my English class and in my AT European history course, I paid closer attention to how authors described women versus men. The difference was subtle yet constant: women were ‘helping,’ ‘supporting,’ or ‘behaving,’ while men were ‘leading,’ ‘achieving,’ or ‘deciding.’ Groundbreaking and history-shaping women’s contributions were often framed as secondary or surprising exceptions. These patterns were woven into the pages students read every day, yet the topic rarely appeared in our discussions. The silence around it made the bias feel almost invisible, and that bothered me.

“A few months later, during my summer internship, I coffee-chatted with a project manager who mentioned something that brought the issue full circle. She told me that employee performance reports often include biased language that affects promotions and leadership opportunities. Words like ‘emotional’ or ‘abrasive’ appeared more often in evaluations of women, while men were praised for being ‘assertive’ or ‘decisive.’

“It struck me that what I once thought was a small ‘being too dramatic’ concern turned out to be a widespread system of oppression that wasn’t just limited to history books or viral videos, but followed us into classrooms, hospitals, and workplaces.

“I wanted to do something instantly, starting in my own community. That is why I created Bias-Lite to help students, teachers, and professionals recognize biased phrasing and make more thoughtful choices. This app is my first step, and I plan to continue improving and expanding it, beginning with introducing it into schools and eventually into more areas of daily life. Ultimately, change starts when we learn to see what we once overlooked.”