Women-only events reinforce gender bias
IWON’T be attending women in business events anymore. That’s decided. There, I’ve said it. And, perhaps ironically, it took the recent International Women’s Day for me to put the kibosh on attending these female-only affairs once and for all. Let me explain. International Women’s Day, championed the theme for 2022 of “breaking the bias”, calling for a gender-equal world free of stereotypes and discrimination.
It led me to thinking about women’s networking events and resurfaced that niggling unease that such events have always given me since launching my own business.
While such groups and events are meant to help women gain an equal footing in the economy, are they actually having the counter-effect of perpetuating such gender inequality?
Their very existence raises the question of why such events are necessary. The insinuation is that women need their own networking events, as if we will struggle to fit in a room full of powerful businessmen.
We need our own events to be able to get on and prosper, as if we are somehow less capable when faced with the might of men in the room.
If we do not belong in the same business events as men, how will we ever belong on the same top tables as them or in the heavily male-dominated boardrooms?
Such events put women in a box, marking women in business out as a sub-category that is unusual and not the norm. Instead of fighting gender inequality, they highlight and reiterate the very divide between men and women in the economy that they seek to overcome.
Now I can totally understand the popularity of these events.
Women can find the other attendees altogether more relatable for the simple reason that they face the same unique, gender-specific challenges in growing a business.
I myself found this to be true and often attended women’s networking events after launching my business.
As I started my business when pregnant and subsequently grew it with a young family, I found talking to other “mumpreneurs” very beneficial.
But by making a deal out of the gender of its attendees, we do have to question if they are reinforcing the gender stereotypes that they are seeking to break down.
While women in business events bring out a certain amount of discomfort in me, women in business awards ramp this up to a whole other level. Exactly as they say on the tin, such awards celebrate women who have exceeded in business across different sectors from finance to manufacturing.
However, the very exclusion of men reinforces the idea that they are something else and women are lesser than them. It is as if we need our own award ceremony to be in with a chance of coming away with a gong; women could not possibly go headto-head with men and expect to come up trumps.
Thus the subordination of women is subtly reinstated.
I do not want to be a hypocrite here; I myself have been awarded women in business accolades over the years.
But each time it did feel a bit, dare I say it, condescending, a little like I was receiving a pat on the back for doing well to get here considering I am a woman.
Furthermore such awards glorify women in business, suggesting that the very nature of them being there is exceptional, remarkable and worthy of special praise.
We do not see the male equivalent awards precisely because being a man in the world of business is to be expected and nothing extraordinary.
Women in business awards perpetuate the very gender bias that they seek to overcome by judging on gender as well as performance and portraying high-achieving women as the exception, not the norm.
The winners are worthy of accolade not just because they have achieved something great but because they have done this while also being female.
Not only is this patronising, the inference is also that being a successful woman in business is different – not normal and accepted.
Far from being progressive, that is harmful and counterproductive.
The ultimate in gender equality is when there is no longer any need to discuss gender, when gender becomes a non-issue or a non-topic because an unequal footing between the genders no longer exists.
It is actually more progressive, then, to move the focus away from gender to performance and achievement regardless of gender, while still maintaining an inclusionary dialogue respectful of diversity.
For as long as we give women’s achievements a gender and put women in business in their own subcategory, we are making the issue of gender inequality worse.