It’s International Women’s Day on 8th March 2023. It comes around every year, yet somehow the message of gender equity still has a long way to go.
It’s no surprise that this year’s them is #EmbraceEquity. But what does that mean?
We know what inequity is. It is the fundamental injustice that we see when something does not feel right. Yet when we ask people to explain what equity is, they often struggle. It’s interesting that we know the absences of something but struggle to name its presence.
Equity is about appreciating the barriers that might exist for someone to be able to fully participate in society and then eradicating them. For women those barriers include bias towards men in leadership positions, jobs that are designed without consideration to the reality of family life and lack of access to powerful decision makers to guide their career. That paints a very damning picture, but change is possible with action.
Here’s 5 things that help to create gender equality in the workplace.
#1 Uncover the bias in your recruitment
So many companies honestly believe their recruitment process is bias-free, and are genuinely surprised when they have an overwhelming male, or overwhelmingly white workforce. The reality is that bias is often so deep rooted that we don’t even see it. One of the biggest ones is the confidence ‘v’ competence conundrum. Not only will women hold themselves back from applying for the next-level role until they are over 90% certain they can do it, but they are competing with men who only need to be 50% confident to make the same application.
“Men are assumed to be competent until proven otherwise, whereas a woman is assumed to be incompetent until she proves otherwise.”
The Authority Gap, by Mary Ann Seighart
What you can do is deconstruct your job specification and your recruitment process. What can you do to make it more attractive to all those competent, but not so confident women out there?
#2 Create a female-friendly workplace
So much time is spent on attracting women to the workplace, that many organisation’s don’t invest in making sure that these new ‘diverse’ recruits are welcomed and supported. This is like throwing money down the drain.
What are the first few days, weeks and month’s like for your new female recruit, especially if they are in the ‘only’ category in the team and workplace? Do you even consider what it might mean to be in a minority and what support they might need? Same is true for women returners who have taken a career break. How can you support their transition back to work?
Being mindful, supportive and considerate of their needs will help them to contribute fully and stay longer in your organisation. That’s a small investment with big returns.
#3 Fix the leaky leadership pipeline
Following on from #2, almost all organisations are losing a disproportionate number of women in the workplace. This has accelerated after Covid and is particularly visible at the middle manager level. More women are leaving middle management than men. It begs the question why? What is happening at this particular juncture in a woman’s career that they feel compelled to leave the workplace?
Most of the women hitting middle management are often also caught between the two caring roles. They are either bringing up children or supporting ageing parents. We know that this role falls disproportionately more to women than men in society. Just as these caring roles start to impose on their ability to be flexible at work, their workplace and their role becomes more inflexible.
Organisations need to look at the demands placed on their middle management, the outdated working patterns and performance frameworks that all assume that there is nothing more important than delivering the day job. For many women, their other responsibilities are just as important. Unless you are prepared to support them they will understandably vote with their feet.
#4 Access to power brokers
Networking and access to decision makers has a bias towards men. Networking through social events such as lunches, drinks after work, sporting events are all easier for men to participate in. This means that having the quiet word with the boss, or making your career ambitions known is far easier when you are part of the ‘in’crowd, ‘aka’ the men’s club.
Women meeting senior male colleagues, who are usually the power brokers in most organisations is more difficult. Not only is their time after work usually dedicated to domestic duties, but meeting a male colleague for lunch, or for a drink after work can be fraught with misunderstanding.
It’s time to give leader’s guidance on how to create gender-neutral networking events. Instead of the golf-day, how about a non-sporting activity such as learning a new skills or craft together? Or even a well-being day that arms everyone with some stress- busting techniques?
We can only breakdown the old boys network by thinking more explicitly about the opportunities that we create to allow everyone’s voice to be heard.
#5 Listen to your female talent and act on their feedback
Data is one way we can understand where gender inequity exists, but there’s nothing like feedback. If you ask your female employees how well their needs are met, you will gain some valuable insights. This might be something that can be done through your employee networks, if you have a women’s affinity group. Or you could bring in external facilitators to run focus groups and feedback.
By finding out where the difficulties arise for your female employees you are empowered with important information that you an act upon. Use the feedback to define initiatives, actions and opportunities that can be created to empower your female employees. Report back on your intentions and set some goals and timelines to achieve them for maximum public accountability.
If you are looking for more ways to create gender equity in your organisation, or if you are a woman looking for coaching for career success, get in touch and we can have a chat about the many ways my team and I can help.
Let’s talk about gender equity solutions