Equality at Work: We All Still Have Work to Do

“If you want to succeed here, you’re going to have to learn to play like the boys.”

I’ll never forget this advice given to me by my first career mentor on my first job out of university. She told me to wear pantsuits with large shoulder pads (I admit, it was the era of shoulder pads!) and to brush up on my sports terminology and cursing to throw around the office. “Business is a man’s world,” she told me, and in not so many words, she counseled me to try to look like them, talk like them, and do business the way they did in order to succeed. She was successful - she had worked her way up to a senior-level position - so I took her word for it. But, over time, I noticed she worked so hard on being one of the guys that she actually excluded other women in the office. And when there was an opportunity for a promotion within the ranks, she promoted my male colleague over me, her mentee, even though it was clear both my ambition and my qualifications were higher.  

I was confused. Here was a woman who had broken the glass ceiling; she was proud of being a member of the male-dominated leadership team; yet, it almost seemed that she was trying to keep other women down. I thought that if we, as women wanting to succeed in business, worked together to help each other progress, we would collectively break down more and more barriers in a traditionally male world. My mentor looked at it differently. In an industry that historically didn’t have many opportunities for women to succeed or hold power, she viewed her success from a place of scarcity and saw other women as her competition.

Competition or Collaboration?

A few years later, I returned to school to complete a Masters in Asian Business, and my thesis analyzed at the state of women in business leadership in Canada and in SouthEast Asia. Surprisingly to me, there were more females in top leadership positions in the traditionally patriarchal Asian countries than there were here. It was a different environment, to be sure, with a majority of these women coming into their positions of power through family lines, but they were respected and admired for their capabilities.  

I worked for Nortel in Asia for a number of years developing markets for next generation wireless communication infrastructure in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. I got to work side-by-side with women leaders there, and the lessons they taught me were much different than what I had been learning in Canada. These women were confident in their positions and in their abilities, and they didn’t feel a need to suppress their femininity in order to demonstrate their strength to their male counterparts. They didn’t wear pantsuits - they wore whatever they felt good in, including high heels and skirts. They spoke with quiet authority - not loudly swearing or talking ball game analogies. They embraced a collaborative work style rather than being competitive. I am grateful that many of the lessons I learned about doing business as a woman were shaped by my experiences in Asia.

As I myself progressed up the corporate ladder in the male-dominated tech industry, working globally for big players like IBM and Motorola and eventually starting my own communications agency in Australia, I became passionate about helping bridge the gender divide in business and mentoring other women through the lens of collaboration instead of competition.  

We need to work together for equality

Gender inequality still, unfortunately, exists in business in Canada, so there is still work to be done here. Women still earn only 86 cents for every dollar earned by men; we are 60% less likely than men to move from middle management to executives; and despite now outnumbering men at university, only 15% of CEOs are women. As entrepreneurs, Canadian women are less likely to start their own businesses than men (only 17% are started by women) and those who do make 58% less than their male counterparts. This is not an ideal picture for women in business, but it is also not an ideal picture for Canada’s economy as a whole. It’s estimated that if we could eliminate the gender divide with equal opportunities and equal pay, Canada’s economy could benefit by as much as $420 billion by 2026.  

So, how can we, here in Canada, make haste towards a world of equal opportunity and equal pay? I rely on the African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”. We all - men and women - need to work together to help create a business world of diversity and equality.  

Here are 7 ways to support gender equality

1. Believe the facts - Start by acknowledging that there is, in fact, work to be done.
2. Be a mentor - Young women need both male and female role models in business. When you mentor a young woman, you are empowering her to BE the change we need in the world.  
3. Collaborate - Join forces with other people to work towards equality. Numerous business groups - both those exclusively for women and those that welcome all genders - exist with a mission of advancing women in the workplace.
4. Support flexible work schedules - Since women are still largely responsible for childcare and housekeeping, flexible work schedules can help keep and support women in the workforce.
5. Be seen - If you are a woman in leadership, shout it out to the world so girls can see you! People won’t be what they can’t see, and a new survey examining young Canadians’ views on leadership says only 10% picture a woman when they think of a CEO.
6. Start young: Teach our younger generations they can do and be anything they want regardless of their gender. Show them examples of leaders who have gone against gender stereotypes so they can see people excelling at what they love doing - no matter who they are!
7. Treat others the way you want to be treated: The bottom line is to be a good person and to be fair. Hire and promote on merit, create equal opportunities for all genders, and support people who want to make a positive change in the world.

Dana Harvey is the Founder of Dana Harvey Communications, helping good leaders become great and driving the profitability of businesses through effective communication strategies. She is Co-Founder of the Women’s Collaborative Hub, a personal growth and empowerment platform for women to acknowledge, own, and share their gifts. Additionally, with her Co-Founder, Dana runs ‘Future Women’, a quarterly series of events in Vancouver that brings together men and women to advance diversity and inclusion in the technology industry. Dana speaks on stages and panels around the world on topics relating to Executive Presence, Corporate Communications, Diversity & Inclusion. To attend the next Future Woman event, January 16th, 2020, click here.