#EmpowerHer For a More Gender-Equal Workplace

Today our Central Europe CFO Jen Feinberg and I met with over 200 of our colleagues (half of them men!) at our #EmpowerHer webinar. We shared our stories and research findings about the hurdles women face in their career journey, addressing 7 typical issues and how to fix these.

A simple equation

Gender equality is not a female issue, it’s a human issue and every one of us needs to play our part by ‘calling out’ negative stereotypes, ‘calling in’ positive behaviours and using our voice to advocate for more equitable practices. It also goes beyond the workplace – research demonstrates that parity at work won’t be achieved without parity in other aspects of life, such as childcare and household maintenance. 

There is a strong incentive for all of us to make sure women succeed in our organizations. The most diverse companies – from a gender, ethnic and cultural perspective – are more likely to outperform their peers on profitability.

It’s simple. The job is not yet done + Everyone plays a role = Everyone wins.

Can you see the issue?

Men and women differ in their perception of gender bias. Specifically, men tend to be more reluctant than women to acknowledge gender bias and consequently take action against it. It’s the ‘blindness of privilege’ phenomenon – when the system is working well for us, we tend not to see its flaws for others and we aren’t comfortable to acknowledge that just belonging to a certain group or possessing an inherent trait (e.g. being a man) gives us an advantage.

Here are the challenges we talked about, and our tips.

1. Held to higher standards

Research consistently shows that women are chosen on experience (vs. men on potential) when it comes to promotions or lucrative projects . . . which requires women to have substantially more experience than their male peers to be considered for the same opportunity. Some studies show that when women present academic research they are asked significantly more questions than men presenting similar research. 

How to fix it:

• Value women’s experience
• As a manager, challenge yourself when you are giving ratings, awarding promotions
• Make sure you are using consistent criteria

2. Burden of office housework

Women are asked more often than men to perform administrative tasks or work that is important but undervalued – arrange meetings, take notes, plan social gatherings, improve processes. Research also shows that there’s an implicit expectation that women will volunteer for these tasks and when women refuse, they are seen negatively (while men don’t suffer any penalisation). Women will continue to progress more slowly than men if they hold a portfolio of tasks that are less promotable.

How to fix it:

• Acknowledge and value this work
• Do your share
• If you are a leader, allocate the work evenly to men and women on your team

3. Interrupted in meetings

Statistically, men are more likely to interrupt. When women take the risk of speaking up, they’re more often silenced by men. Interestingly, when men are interrupted by men, they don’t consider it offensive. However, when women interrupt, they are judged by men as “rude, cold and less intelligent”. The risk of having an idea stolen in a discussion is also higher for women.

How to fix it:

• When a female colleague is interrupted, interject and say you’d like to hear her first
• Openly ask women to contribute to the conversation
• Be aware of ‘stolen ideas’ and ensure the credit goes to the woman who proposed it
• Remember: when you advocate for co-workers, they benefit, and you’re seen as a leader

4. Maternal wall

Motherhood has unintended consequences for a woman’s career and puts them at a disadvantage compared to women without children or their male colleagues. The biggest penalty for them is financial – multiple studies show that mothers see their earnings drop with each child, while fathers see a raise. Another hurdle is being judged as less committed or interested in progression and also having difficulty re-entering the workforce after taking time off to raise kids. Covid-19 exacerbated the challenge, with disproportionately higher number of women taking responsibility for home-schooling their kids.

How to fix it:

• Don’t assume that women with children are less ambitious or committed
• Ask what she needs to juggle her priorities – and provide it
• Shoulder the burden of care… and be vocal about it to role-model it for others
• Push for better parental leave and work-life policies

5. Judged more harshly for failures

Decisions that backfire lead to much harsher scrutiny for female leaders than for men. Multiple experiments in various fields confirm this. The gender punishment gap is real and it also exists in the corporate world. Women fall further when they fail. Interesting fact – at firms with no female representation at the top level, the gender punishment gap is 3 times larger than in the average firm; in case of equal representation there’s no gender punishment gap.

How to fix it:

• Judge people fairly
• Create a safety net to prevent failure
• Diverse team = no gender punishment gap

6. Appearance over ability

Research demonstrates that there’s more pressure on women than on men to look a certain way. The problem is that women can’t win, regardless of whether they are seen as attractive or unattractive. While plain looking women are more likely to be penalised in the workplace for their appearance earlier in their career, women judged as attractive are often seen as less capable or qualified – especially at the senior level. In particular, women wearing bright make-up or having long hair risk not being taken ‘seriously’.

How to fix it:

• Look for objective evidence
• Avoid commentary on appearance – especially in situations where it shouldn’t matter
• Call out sexist banter – at least, don’t validate it with a laugh!

7. Stereotypes of female behaviour

Success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women. When a man is successful, his peers often like him more; when a woman is successful, both men and women often like her less. If a woman is competent, she does not seem nice enough, but if a woman seems really nice, she is considered less competent. This trade-off between success and likeability can make a big impact on a woman’s career. 

How to fix it:

• If you tend to fall into this trap, acknowledge the problem and hold yourself accountable for solving it
• Challenge yourself if you would react the same way to the opposite gender
• Speak up and challenge others - when you see behaviors being treated differently between men and women, say something

What else can you do?

Find at least one woman (and ideally several) to mentor and sponsor. Give her thoughtful input on how she can advance and put her name forward for stretch assignments and promotions. Introduce her to the influential people in your network and help her get to know key decision-makers. Make sure she has equal access to these assets, as women’s networks are predominantly female and therefore less senior. These personal connections can propel careers.

If you don’t have to think about it, it’s a privilege

Have we got you thinking? If you have never needed to worry about any of this, try to think of it as a privilege you have and someone else might not.

So here comes the key question – how will you use the privilege of your role and your voice to empower others and create a more gender-equal world?

Sources:

https://leanin.org/tips/mvp

https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/why-men-struggle-to-link-behaviour-to-gender-equality/11314468

https://www.unpri.org/pri-blog/when-harry-fired-sally-uncovering-the-gender-punishment-gap/5951.article

https://www.google.at/amp/s/hbr.org/amp/2018/04/women-of-color-get-asked-to-do-more-office-housework-heres-how-they-can-say-no