Let’s not fail at the last hurdle

There’s no doubt that progress for gender equity is slowing down, and I am gutted. Having championed gender equity in the workplace for over two decades I’m nervous that we’re losing traction.

Here are 5 reasons why I’m worried:

1. Progress on equity in the Board room has stalled: The latest statistics from 50/50 Women on Boards confirmed that progress in women holding Russell board seats had slowed to just a 0.2% increase quarter on quarter, in comparison to the (still fairly slow) 2.1% previous growth. They also confirmed this was the slowest progress since the first six months of 2020 (when the world was a little distracted).?
2. Women leaders are quitting their jobs at the highest rates ever: According to McKinsey, for every woman at director level who gets promoted to the next level, two women directors are choosing to leave their company.
3. It’s taking too long to make progress: To move from 0% of Fortune 500 CEO’s being women to todays (lowly) 8.8%, has taken nearly three decades.
4. The pay gap is still alive and well: CEO statistics still show that women CEOs earn less than their male counterparts, and the gap has narrowed by just 1% since 2011.
5. The support still isn’t there: Reports show that 50% of men get guidance on reaching a P&L job compared, to just 15% of women.

What’s gone wrong? Why aren’t we making better and faster progress?

There’s plenty of evidence to demonstrate the benefits of a diverse business and in particular a diverse leadership team. We know women leaders are just as capable and ambitious as men, so what’s going wrong?

I’m concerned that in the pandemic bringing vital new meaning to life, women are no longer prepared to waste their precious time swimming against the tide in organisations that don’t see their value. From not being supported to facing direct microaggressions, from rubbing up against unconscious bias to burning out from trying to juggle careers with other commitments, life is simply too short to endure such challenges.

This has caused us to stall on the vital progress we’ve made over the last few decades, and the most impacted will be future generations of women leaders.

So, what needs to change?

I’m hoping that those organisations finding they’re losing women in their workforce or feel their progress stalling will take positive action to get a grip on the following areas:

1. Unconscious bias and microaggressions: Indirect discrimination in the workplace is sadly still a huge issue, from inappropriate banter to overtly biased decision making, there’s still a lot of work to do.
2. Manageable workloads: In many organisations, there’s still a culture that merits long hours and unmanageable workloads. Shifting from a burnout culture to a wellness culture will bring better productivity, better retention and more creativity and innovation. Taking the foot off the pedal does not mean going slower it means driving smarter.
3. High trust and real flexibility: Whilst the pandemic helped shift the stigma of working from home, there is still far too little trust and genuine autonomous working arrangements that enable women to work the way that works best for them. Neuroscientists have proven that high trust leads to better productivity so again, taking the foot of the pedal means simply driving better.
4. Driving meaningful work: There’s been lots of talk about how women see their careers beyond the pay cheque, and want more meaning in the impact they make, but the evidence on the commercial benefits of engaging employees in purposeful work is now also compelling so what is holding organisations back from this?
5. Understand and support the life rhythm of women: From supporting maternity, family-raising and menopause, it’s critical that organisations acknowledge and support the challenges that women may face at different stages of their lives and provide genuine support.

Let’s not fail at the final hurdle, we have to keep progress moving forward.?