Making Mashed Potatoes with No Potatoes

Disclaimer:

1. The reader retains the right to not agree with this article in part or in full, because it is fully my opinion.
2. The term ‘Gender’ in this article is used to describe men and women in their biological roles not the society’s understanding of assigned roles to the two.

A noble yet very shortsighted approach to gender equality, Gender Blind Leadership.

In my spare time from my daytime job, taking care of my husband, spending time with my family/ friends, social commitments, my self-care routines, I get an opportunity to meet people from different walks of life. This time it was after the graduation ceremony of a group of young professionals in the construction industry who underwent an intensive yearlong Leadership Development Program (LDP). I was humbled to be picked to design and deliver the basic and Advanced communications skills module of the LDP module.

During the trainings, the rooms were mostly filled with a majority of men. Under these circumstances, it requires extra effort to hear the opinions of the women as they tend to quietly participate. More reflections on why this happens… I usually arrange the training rooms in semi circles, seldom use PPT slides, but spark discussions and summarize with the technicalities at the end using the discussions as examples. On most occasions, the women/ girls, look for corner seats, or sit in pairs/ groups of women.

Even though there were women who underwent the entire LDP (even though the gender gap was significantly visible) all the speakers invited from external, and the presenters chosen to showcase their innovative business solutions at the graduation ceremony were men. Foot note: This conversation is not to be stretched to the misconstrued and radicalized notion of feminism.

Afterwards, we sat for a coffee reflection with the CEO and some of the Executive Team of the company where I voiced my thoughts based on my observations on the ‘No presentation of the women in front of the guests, nor their teammates.’ I asked was there no qualified female staff to present the ideas? Were there no women within the winning teams? Was it not possible to invite other influential women in the construction industry to give the commencement speech? (Even though I am an admirer of the guest speaker that was invited, sorry! Cannot mention names here)? The response was “Whoever comes with merit, we accept. We do not recognize gender. We are a gender-blind company.”

A noble, yet in my opinion, very shortsighted approach to gender equality, Gender Blind Leadership.

I believe one solution to narrow the existing gender Gap (with in the construction industry and more generally in the realm of professional work) is the leadership’s view of Gender representation.

If you have not heard of Gender-Blind Leadership before (in the words of the CEO), is an approach to separate the person’s Gender from the role they take and the privilege that comes with it. Its intent is rooted in not taking whether the person is male or female to do a certain job and purely focusing on meritocracy.

While this is noble for women who come from a privileged background, who had equal opportunity to go to good schools, with no burdens of household work as children, early marriage or even cultural baggage of being told to not speak in public, or pursue their dreams in leu of taking care of household/ members of family, not missing school days because of not affording sanitary pads, or simply not coerced to accept society’s approval to aspire to be a leader.

It is ultra productive and unfair to those who had to push through these circumstances and still carry these loads and yet are expected to fight with equal stamina for leadership roles.

Seeing it from a point of privileged, us who had the platforms and the springboards like education, opportunity or even shear luck, we may be advocates of Gender-blind leadership. Mainly because we will not be categorized simply as “women.” We want to fight “equally,” using our merits and gaining our rightful privileges as fruits of our hard work. We want recognition for our hard work because we earned it.

But for those who are not from the village of privileges, this narrative becomes null and void!

Leadership positions do not just appear on someone’s desk. Aspiring leaders need to build a rapport and create opportunities to be visible for consideration.

Gender Blind leadership sieves all the other seen and unseen barriers women must go through to stay visible, in the name of creating ‘equal opportunities.

A few cases in points to drive the narrative of context conscious efforts to enable women climb up the ladder fast and easy.

1.Networking events create conducive environments to connect with other leaders without the barrier of hierarchy. Such networking events usually happen after work / in the evening. This makes it extra difficult for women (of variety) to attend. The younger women find it difficult to stay out late for safety reasons, the married women – mostly husbands get uncomfortable, or they rush home to take care of their children in the evening.

Effort: Help women to shore up their social capital through this networking events. Make a conscious effort to time these events to convenient times that includes everyone comfort.

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2.Most (if not all the time) when experience sharing opportunities, or trainings are organized there will be a visible set of women who are shy to speak in public yet have so much to say.

Effort 1: Design women only sessions to break the ice, or encourage the women express their opinion, and gain the confidence to speak louder.

Effort 2: In a co-gender training, be conscious of the speaking opportunities given to not only focus on the men, rather make the women comfortable by inviting them to speak even though they do not raise their hands or volunteer.

Effort 3: Be conscious of the examples given in the training to not only focus on men-related issues.

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3. When organizing events, the women are usually in the background, handing flowers at the entrance, serving refreshments, or sitting in the exhibition booth. They are seldom seen running the event or actively visible in the main event area.

Effort: Avoid having a sole female representation to ensure it is not a tokenism exercise. Look at the list of speakers and make a conscious effort to seek women speakers (not just for representation), host, panelists. Now, this may take the extra work to dig-in and identify the gems but trust me- They are there!

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4.?Women who are firm, bold, and demanding are not usually seen as a great leader. The terms used for such women are usually derogatory and does not encourage others to strive to leadership. The adjectives used for ‘good’ women leaders are usually related to motherly behaviors of being soft, accommodating, and compassionate. In contrary a soft, accommodating, and compassionate man leader is not considered a firm one set up for success.

Effort 1: Avoid labeling leadership styles of women who are bold and demanding, encourage women to have the ambition of being seen as a strong leader for speaking their minds.

Effort 2: Increase people’s awareness of the psychological driven prejudice toward female leaders and work to dispel these perceptions.

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5.?Women tend to sit at the back rows! Have you noticed, often when there is a second row or a third, women mainly occupy them?

Effort: Ask the women to come upfront / center of the room. Make it easy for them to get used to sitting at an important table.

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6.?Women do not have an inhibition to learn. Nor do they lack ambition. They are quick to advance and better themselves in the right direction. They just find it hard to beat the bias and visible/ invisible societal barriers.

Effort 1: Invest in confidence building, self esteem elevating, technical skill advancing and appropriate role modelling trainings, mentorship programs and immersive learning opportunities for women, where they do not have to compete with men for the slots.

Effort 2: Challenge women more by giving them leadership roles they can grow into with the right kind of support. Delegate/ prepare them for line management with appropriately demanding assignments.

Effort 3: Work to build a critical mass of women in executive positions – not just one or two to avoid the stereotypical boxing of them as ‘the few’.

I am sure there is much more to be said on this matter.

But Rome was not built in a night. Nor will the biases of Gender go in one night. It is all about making the conscious effort to see the potential barriers, address them and in the right way for the right reasons.

Trying to achieve a Gender-Blind Leadership in a Gender Biased World is like trying to make mash potatoes with no potato.