Women are told to ‘lean in’ – it’s time men stepped up
Despite an increased focus on workforce gender inequity, we’ve seen very little change in the number of women sitting at our corporate board tables.
New Zealand used to be a leader in gender diversity but now we are one of the worst globally, ranked 33 out of 35 countries.
The NZX Gender Diversity Statistics Report released in July shows that although the number of NZX main board companies with a diversity policy had increased from 45 per cent to
66 per cent, the number of female directors was up just 2 per cent to
20 per cent, and the number of female officers actually reduced
1 per cent, falling to 22 per cent. The situation in the wider business community is no better. The Westpac Diversity Dividend survey of 500 businesses showed that 60 per cent didn’t have a gender parity strategy in place. Director, economist and public policy adviser at MartinJenkins
The report also showed that the opportunities being lost through gender inequity are potentially costing our economy $881 million, and businesses with gender parity in leadership roles can expect to achieve an average 1.5 percentage point increase in profitability.
Why aren’t more male leaders taking action? Why aren’t shareholders jumping up and down?
One problem is complacency, with many male leaders not seeing parity as a big issue. But we won’t make significant progress until we male leaders consciously change our day-to-day decisions.
Tangible progress on gender equity depends on the cumulative impact of thousands of decisions about board appointments, executive recruitment, internal promotions, remuneration and working conditions. Gaining traction requires changes in systems, attitudes and behaviours.
As with most systemic behaviour-change efforts, the Government has a role to play.
The current Government set a compulsory target that women make up half of the directors on all state-sector committees and boards by 2021. This follows moves under the previous Government to require public-service organisations to report their gender pay gaps.
However, to date, this hasn’t done much to inspire the private sector to lift its game. Nor has the compelling evidence that gender equity is good for the bottom line.
With this lack of action from firms, maybe it’s time for policymakers to consider placing obligations on all employers.
Other countries are already taking action. The United Kingdom requires employers with more than 250 employees to disclose their gender pay gap data, and those with fewer than 250 employees can do so voluntarily.
In Australia, all non-public sector employers with 100 or more employees must publicly report on gender composition, pay data and working arrangements.
Iceland has introduced a requirement for organisations with 25 or more employees to prove, annually, that they pay men and women equally. Those that cannot demonstrate pay parity are subject to fines.
Of course, any new policy introduced here would need to be weighed carefully. The most promising policies are those that:
❚ increase transparency by requiring employers to publish gender pay and equity metrics;
❚ encourage organisations and leaders to take positive actions to address inequities, and to report on the results of those actions; and
❚ do not involve quotas – the evidence on ‘‘mandatory equality’’ is mixed and such policies risk creating perverse incentives and meeting with strong resistance, which is counterproductive.
These sorts of policies are likely to be met with concerns about excessive regulation, so an initial step could be to make them optional. An organisation’s decision not to comply would signal to current and potential employees that they are not valued, making it hard for them to attract and retain the best talent.
Policy is only one influencer. Ultimately, business leaders themselves need to put pressure on each other by calling out those who refuse to change. This should be a race to the top.
On this final point my argument is simple and personal. As a male business leader, I am in a privileged position to address this issue and undertake concrete steps to make a difference.
Over the past year I have decided to do something about it by looking at gender equity in our business, and ways that we can better support diversity.
I have taken practical steps including leading a pay and employment equity review, which shone the light on our practices and things we could do better.
The challenge to male business leaders in New Zealand is simple: What are you doing to support gender pay and employment equity in your organisation?
Women in business have been encouraged to ‘‘lean in’’. It’s time for men in business to ‘‘step up’’.