Genders divided on diversity progress

Corporate executives like to say gender diversity is a top priority. But male and female employees have a very different view of that agenda — and companies’ success in achieving it.

A survey by consulting giant McKinsey and the Sheryl Sandbergfunded women’s organisation Lean In shows that in the US at least, there is a sharp divide between how men and women view their companies’ efforts at advancing women.

The survey of more than 70,000 employees at 76 companies found 63 per cent of men said their company is doing what it takes to improve gender diversity, while 49 per cent of women said the same.

Fifty-five per cent of men said disrespectful behaviour in their workplaces is addressed quickly, while just 34 per cent of women said the same. Half of men said managers consider diverse candidates for open jobs, compared with just 35 per cent of women.

The report also revealed conflicting views on what might be “enough” when it comes to a company’s gender makeup. For instance, in companies where just 1 in 10 senior leaders is female, nearly 50 per cent of men said women were “well represented” in the senior ranks, compared with only one-third of women who — somewhat remarkably — said the same.

Last year, a survey by PwC of more than 800 corporate directors found that only about a quarter of the men who responded thought gender diversity on the board improved a company’s performance, while 89 per cent of female directors did. Only 38 per cent of the men said diversity improved a board’s effectiveness, compared with 92 per cent of the women.

McKinsey’s report says the pace is slow for women moving up the ranks, and maybe even stalling. Their analysis shows that at every rank — from entry-level jobs to the corner office — the percentage of women holding jobs is either flat or up just one percentage point since last year, with the number of women at the senior vice-president level three percentage points lower than last year.

The survey points to employees’ and their managers’ failure to grasp the magnitude of the problem as one reason for the glacial progress. “I don’t think there’s any [malicious] intent; it’s a pure blind spot,” says Lareina Yee, a senior partner at McKinsey.

In some companies, after decades of there being no women at the top, seeing even one among the executive bios on the website or sitting around the boardroom table can look like headway. —