Female Empowerment: should it just be about women empowering women? Here's a successful male's perspective on how we can collaborate for best success

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Female empowerment shouldn't just be women empowering women. Throughout my journey, I've come across many men that have played an imperative role in driving my career forward. In light of this subject, I caught up with Adam Baldwin - a successful lawyer and advocate of the women in the workplace, to understand a male's perspective on how we can collaborate to achieve success. 

Adam Baldwin is a solicitor working in the intellectual property and technology team of a global investment bank. Adam studied law at university, prior to qualifying as a solicitor at a ‘Magic Circle’ law firm. He has worked with a range of businesses in the finance, technology, sports and fashion sectors. In his spare time, Adam consults for a variety of start-up businesses and is currently working with Poppy Jamie on the launch of her new health and wellness application, Happy Not Perfect. He was also ranked in the top 10 Young Lawyers to Follow on Social Media.

It was a pleasure to be asked by Emily to be interviewed for Birkins in the Boardroom. I have always been a strong advocate of diversity in business, so was eager to share my thoughts and experiences of female role models and diversity in the boardroom.

What traits do you think women have as strengths over men?

In my experience, women are far less political in their decision making. Decisions generally seem to be taken for the ‘right’ reasons, with less overt personal agenda and a much greater foresight as to the effect of such decisions. 

I have also found women to be fantastic team leaders, often putting a greater value on relationships and growth within their teams. Engaging in self-development has always been a key driver in the female-led teams I have been a part of; something which tends to works its way down through the team, developing everyone in the process.  

What areas do you think women still have to overcome?

Women clearly bring a raft of skills and talent to the workplace, but are perhaps not as vocal as they should be about these talents they possess. To get noticed in business and have organisations truly appreciate the skillset you offer, being vocal about your abilities is very important. By working in industries where being heard and getting ‘face time’ are vital in making valuable business connections, I have learnt that being shy about your achievements is not an option when you are competing with your peers. 

Equally, it is worth remembering that people often exaggerate their abilities to get ahead. I recently attended the launch of a great new initiative called Fin4Fem, a new pilot programme designed to help source financing for female tech CEOs. In one of the panel sessions, Bridget Connell, an angel investor at Angel Academe, quipped that “if a man thinks he can do 10% of an advertised role, he will apply for it. If a woman thinks she can do 90% she will hold back, cautious that she may lack the remaining 10%”. 

Perhaps “faking it till you make it” is more of a male trait? Well, it shouldn’t be – self-assurance with a pinch of over-confidence should be a universal trait in business! 

What are the positives of having female mentors and role models?

Throughout my career, I have been surrounded by many positive female role models. My personal experience has shown the presence of women in senior roles to be extremely beneficial to the overall productivity of the team. Teams are generally closer together and have a more genuine social interaction. 

Equally, my own personal development and my approach to work have been strongly influenced by female mentors. In my first professional legal position, I had an amazing supervisor who had a lasting effect on my work ethos going forward. She was very detail orientated and extremely organised; skills which she expected me to share and develop. Previously I had been a bit more of a ‘big picture’ thinker when I came to projects, meaning this was a real learning curve. 

What other benefits have you observed in seeing women in senior business positions? 

Aside from my personal experiences in working with strong female role-models, there are clear wider trends which would suggest that having women in senior roles is great for business. Companies with a diverse board outperform the least diverse companies by 15%. Irrespective of the clear moral justification to embrace gender diversity, the prospect of increased profit would tempt even the most conservative of businessmen!

Diversity in senior business position inherently brings a broader range of skills and opinion to a business. Baroness Karen Brady said that “if you have too many like-minded people who are afraid to question you, you are all going to be too busy patting each other on the back to notice falling off the cliff.” All teams require a range of skills, opinions and skills, which typically could not be provided from one subset of society. Different thoughts, innovative thoughts and even opposing thoughts are vital. 

Do you think a gender bias still exists? 

When I started to get involved with my interest in diversity more generally a few years ago, I came across a really interesting study around gender bias in mothers’ expectations around the crawling potential of their 11-month old babies. The mothers were required to estimate their babies crawling potential on a ramp, whereby their baby would attempt to crawl down various slopes, each varying in gradient. From a medical point of view, there is no reported gender difference in the performance of infant boys and infant girls, i.e. equality. However, the results showed that mothers of girls underestimated their performance and mothers of boys overestimated their performance. Therefore, whilst the actual performance levels were the same, a gender bias determined that boys would perform better.

Now whilst this study is a few years old, there may still be a social expectation that boys can do more than girls. Equally, the lasting effects of historic opinion can still shape businesses. Given that the majority of businesses are still run by a generation largely unaware of the gender bias, it may still remain unaddressed. The good news is that the millennial generation is much more accustomed to gender parity. As we progress through the ranks of business, the bias will become a relic of the past.

Do you think there is a solution to achieving equality in the boardroom? 

Apparently, at the current rate of change it will take over 70 years to achieve gender-balanced boardrooms in the UK. Whilst the talk of diversity is admirable, in this year there are more Fortune 500 CEOs named John than there are female CEOs altogether. So we are clearly a long way away from an effective solution.

Some suggest that quotas are the most effective way of ensuring diversity. The Norwegian government passed a law that required 40% of company board members to be women by 2006. Whilst initial reactions were largely sceptical, the quota law is largely a non-issue in Norway today. Interestingly, whilst the law only affected state-owned companies and PLCs, gender balanced boards are now equally common for private companies. A diverse boardroom is simply just seen as the norm.

Quotas are not always the solution. Businesses should still be run as a meritocracy, and arbitrary appointments to ‘tick a box’ or create good PR do not solve the inherent issues. However, there are several lessons that can be learned from the Norwegian example. In order to implement the quota law, board nomination committees had to broaden the criteria for board candidacy, as the traditional criteria create a narrow (and largely male) pool of candidates. By broadening these criteria, and redefining what qualifications were relevant, it didn’t just benefit women. It broadened the recruitment field for men too, as different backgrounds, education and experiences were suddenly made relevant to board appointment. If businesses cast their net for talent a little wider I am certain that equality in the boardroom would be the natural result over time.

What advice would you give young women looking to get into law?

My advice would actually be quite simple; believe in your abilities as you are as qualified (if not more qualified!) than your male equivalents. It is common knowledge that women generally perform better in university exams. In law specifically, there are more female trainee solicitors than male. Partnerships are gradually becoming more equal in their gender split too, with the majority of law firms really embracing diversity and seeing all the merits it possesses. 

Do you have any final thoughts?

Diversity shouldn’t be seen as simply being a ‘nice to have’, an afterthought of something to achieve once a successful business has been established. A modern business should be designed with diversity in mind. Ultimately, if a business wants to attract the best talent, it needs to an accessible business, reflective of the talent in the market. It is a diverse market, full of talent from all genders, races and background. Businesses need to offer a work environment and career path that all people want to be a part of. 

If you'd like to get in touch with Adam directly, you can connect with him on LinkedIn. Alternatively, please feel free to comment below!

Best,