Men can play a part in achieving gender equity
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been invited to what is now a growing genre of events – celebrating women, discussing a brighter future for Ma¯ori and Pacific communities, and realising the potential of Asian New Zealanders, to name a few.
These events brought together like-minded people, often of the same gender or ethnicity, to celebrate progress and discuss how to improve outcomes further for disadvantaged groups.
It’s great that we now have organisations, awards and structures dedicated to celebrating and demonstrating the efforts of such groups, but if these groups talk only among themselves, we are unlikely to achieve lasting change. Men, generally of the same demographic, still dominate leadership and governance, influence organisational culture, and decide who gets a seat at the table.
UN Secretary General Anto´nio Guterres describes achieving gender equity as ‘‘the greatest human rights challenge in our world’’. No country is on target to achieving the sustainable development goal of gender equality by 2030.
Gender equity is not simply awomen’s issue. But many of our efforts focus solely on women – for example, getting them to lead or network like men, rather than viewing gender diversity as a signifiant issue that affects company performance.
Research shows that organisations with greater numbers of women, especially in leadership roles, perform better. One study of some 22,000 global companies, by Peterson Institute for International Economics, found that, as companies increased the number of women on their boards and leadership teams, their profit margins increased as well.
In organisations where women try to bring about change, their impact is limited. Global data from BCG shows that companies where men are actively involved in gender diversity initiatives report 96 per cent progress, compared with 30 per cent for companies where they aren’t.
Incidentally, Iwas meant to facilitate a panel at awomen’s leadership summit this week with the only male speakers on the programme – three chief executives talking about men as allies for gender equity. Due to a family commitment I’m now unable to attend, but offer here some suggestions for how men can be allies.
Actively listen when other genders describe the challenges they face, and act on proposed solutions. This applies to organisational policies aswell as activities such as team-building events that aren’t inclusive.
In meetings, watch out for dominant communication styles, which can crowd out women. Ensure everyone has the opportunity to be heard, and credit the originator of ideas rather than those who spoke the longest or loudest about it.
Ask, don’t assume. A ‘‘helpful’’ male leader assuming awoman with caring responsibilities does not want a promotion may inadvertently undermine her ambitions.
Be a good role model. Be mindful of the messages your actions convey. Do you undertake flexible work and contribute to family responsibilities? Or are you in the office all the time?
Call out inappropriate behaviours. When you don’t, you imply you are OK with it.
Support organisational initiatives. In many organisations, diversity and inclusion initiatives are typically assigned to HR teams, often dominated by women. Diversity is not an HR issue; it’s one of leadership.
UGender equity is not simply a women’s issue. But many of our efforts focus solely on women ...
nconscious bias training helps everyone become more aware of the stereotypeswe hold, and helps us respond appropriately to building amore inclusive culture. Flexible work policies, including part-time employment, remote work, parental leave, and jobsharing, are game-changers. Men need to take advantage of these too, if the policies are to have meaningful impact.
Sponsor awoman. Most of my mentors, and the managers who gave me the biggest breaks in my career, are men. Mentoring is useful; and sponsorship, where you actively advocate for a high-potential woman and support her to get the training and development she needs to grow, even more so.
And if you are a board chair or chief executive, simply talking about diversity isn’t enough – make some space. You lose the potential for better returns by keeping women away from the table.
Being amale ally makes sense, but isn’t always easy. Research shows that men who are more collaborative and less self-promoting can be viewed by all genders as being less competent. Allies can also be met with cynicism.
Gender equity efforts are proven to work best when men feel accepted by the disadvantaged group, and where they feel they can play an important role in organisational change, which benefits them too. Diversity delivers, but respect and inclusion are a two-way street – all genders need to give them for reciprocity to flourish.