Gender equality still not a reality
DESPITE growing public concern about gender diversity in the Australian workforce, there really have been few signs of improvement in the past 30 years.
On National Women’s Day this year, Telstra promised to implement a new recruitment policy to assure at least half of short-listed job candidates must be women.
The policy aims to address the subconscious bias in the hiring process by ensuring women are not necessarily disqualified before the opportunity to interview.
This policy is the first of its kind in Australia, and places Telstra as one of the more progressive and forward-thinking organisations in regard to improving gender equality.
The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) has also been an active contributor to the gender imbalance movement.
The latest AICD recommendations has set a target of 30 per cent composition of female board members by 2018.
It is a figure that suggests there is still a journey ahead to achieving gender balance on an executive level.
The leading concern with the gender restriction mindset is we are closing the door to a wide portion of the talent pool.
Women are not given the training and promotion opportunities needed to progress in their careers. A troubling thought is that many of these gender restrictions are implemented by social constraints.
Women have unique skills and abilities. For instance, evidence from a 2014 report about women in the UK mining industry suggests women are better listeners and communicators than men.
Further research in the UK through the University of Central Lancashire found women to be more ethical in the workplace, particularly when financial rewards are involved.
Surely these attributes and traits could be positively used within an organisation.
Our rapidly changing world is experiencing technological and societal transformations.
This year Melbourne City announced it would begin trialling female figures on pedestrian
IN ORDER FOR WOMEN TO ACHIEVE EQUAL REPRESENTATION WE MUST ENCOURAGE EDUCATION, TRAINING AND PROMOTION
crossings to “reduce unconscious bias”.
However, focusing on and channelling energy into such minor diversity issues seems trivial when there is a much greater problem.
Gender equality in the A workforce is a formidable challenge. In order for women to achieve equal representation we must encourage education, training and promotion.
Reviewing recruitment policies and promotion practices within an organisation will also help in generating the much-needed shift in the recruitment mindset.