WORKPLACE EQUALITY
Table 1. What can leaders do? Women continue to encounter challenges when it comes to advancing in the workplace—and in many facets of society. We can highlight some important issues and also share a few action steps that are fundamental to women who are trying to progress in business across the world (
www.catalyst.org).These are only a few of the challenges women face in the workplace.
Challenges women face in the workplace 1 Equal Pay – women still make less than men.
ACTION – What can leaders do?
Women around the world continue to face a wage gap. wage audit • Implement a ‘no negotiations’ policy • Support pay transparency • Evaluate recruitment, promotion, and talent development systems for gender bias.
2 Flexible Work Arrangements – Working flexibly is an issue for many women. Flexible work arrangements (FWAs) define how, where,
• Switch their focus to productivity and results, and not time spent at the desk • Seek out managers who currently work flexibly and find out what works and what doesn’t • Encourage
and when employees’ work, allowing them to best manage your own team to be a role model and consider utilising FWAs. their career and personal priorities. Once seen as an employee benefit or an accommodation for caregivers (primarily women), flexible work arrangements are now an effective tool for organisations to attract top talent as well as a cost-savings measure to reduce turnover, productivity, and absenteeism.
3 Access to Hot Jobs and Role Models – Why don’t women have the same access to career-making roles as men?
Not all leadership opportunities are created equally, all jobs provide the same degree of and not career advancement.
4 Race and Gender Bias. Everyone has unconscious biases – even the best-
• Make a deliberate investment to help women colleagues • Model inclusive leadership behaviours • Empower employees to negotiate their roles • Be intentional about appointing
highly qualified women to your executive team, corporate board, C-suite, and/or CEO position.
• Don’t shy away from talking about uncomfortable or difficult topics. Each of us – regardless of our race or gender – has a
intentioned people – which play out in their everyday lives role to play • Be open to feedback and learning • If you see and interactions such as those in the workplace.
harmful behaviour in your workplace, say something.
Otherwise, your silence makes you complicit in it • Build trust and confront inequities head on through organisation- wide strategies.
5 Sexual Harassment – Women at all levels of employment • Develop and implement prevention strategies such as a and all levels of workplace are affected.
Sexual harassment remains a widespread, and at least one-quarter of women having reported some sort of
job turnover, and low productivity and engagement. Individually, women become depressed, experience anxiety, or quit all together in the hope of avoiding continued harassment.
6 Double-Bind – Women’s ability to lead is often undermined by gender stereotypes.
• Do not discredit the effectiveness of women leaders based on gender stereotypes • Challenge yourself whether you are
The stereotype that men ‘take charge’ and women ‘take judging people fairly – reverse the gender of the person in care’ puts women leaders in various double binds. For example, women are judged as being too hard, too soft, and never just right. Women leaders are also seen as
to advocate for women leaders • Provide diversity and
question and see if it makes a difference in your thinking 0 • Expose employees to peers – including men – who are willing
competent or liked but not both. Also, men may be seen inclusion training to help employees understand the effects of as having the ‘default’ style when it comes to their ability gender stereotyping. to lead effectively, meaning women spend part of every day repeatedly proving they too can lead. This effort leadsto women working twice as hard as their male counterparts.
IFHE DIGEST 2023 33 to report any complaints or observations of harassment
harassment on the job. This inappropriate behaviour costs • Thoroughly investigate all complaints of harassment and take employers in many ways: increased absenteeism, persistent corrective action.
highly visible community education campaign • Ensure access to workplace reporting mechanisms • Train managers
• Ensure that there are no gaps in your workplace by doing a
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