WGEA releases the gender pay gap but where are the male champions of change?

Anyone that knows me will know I am fiercely passionate about fairness & empowering men & women to reach their potential; wherever & whatever that may be.

I have leaned in to many conversations over the last few weeks after the #WGEA released the much anticipated gender pay gap. This has been a topic that has won the hearts & minds of many HR & TA practitioners; but have rarely seen a business leader/ CEO or even a non-HR professional weigh into this topic. I was surprised by the lack of conversation from business leaders but enjoyed seeing some of the great progress organisations such as Sportsbet Culture Amp Canva Xero have made in the quest for pay equity.

Considering my whole career has been spent within the technology sector, I thought I would share my perspectives to what it means for tech!

The pay gap within the tech sector sits at 24%; with 41% of this working population being made of females.

Participation

Firstly, I had to read this a few times as I did not really believe this was the true participation rate. Across tech companies, I generally see a participation rate if 20% (some lower/ some slightly higher) so this was a big surprise. Attracting females into the tech sector has always been a big challenge for many organisations. Organisations who are genuinely invested to making a difference have done quite a bit in this space: building internship programmes/ grad programmes/ participating in STEM events/ sponsorships, engaging with schools & even building out career change internships to attract women who want to switch careers & move into tech. This is great, but it does not change the fundamental problem.

It is significantly more challenging for a female to move into senior leadership roles; and if they do; quite often end up opting out given the work structures that have been put into place for many years, hinder these leaders to flourish in their roles & personal life. It is very common to see a lack of mobilisation of females in the workplace when it comes to senior leadership roles. But why?

Getting a seat at the table. The struggle is real!

If you have a brain, you have a bias! In my career, I see bias as being the number one blocker time and time again. I am sure a lot of us have completed a mandatory unconscious bias training; but how many of our leaders & key decision makers; put this into action and call ourselves out on our own biases? Females definitely pull the short straw when it comes to "similarity bias", I have seen many occasions when a male may be chosen for a senior role; given the "we went to the same school", "similar interests so built a strong rapport", "good banter at the footie"...our brains fundamentally prefer people who are like us/ think like us.

As much as there is inequity in fair pay across female & male candidates; I believe a big impact we can make is encouraging more females to enter the tech sector, but setting up structures/ fair decision making to enable females to have senior leadership roles (this is what makes a big impact to the pay gap but also decision making/ diversity of thought and overall success of an organisation).

A couple of tips to continue to move the needle in creating pay equity for not only ourselves, but our peers & next generation to come;

• Don't low-ball female candidates! Or any candidate for that matter. Take a data driven compensation approach. This will ensure fairness across teams, improve morale & retention
• When shortlisting candidates, have the conversation. Why are there not enough female candidates on the panel? Who can step up? Who are the high performing female team members who we can support & get ready for the next leadership role?
• Focus on grass roots - You may not have a grad programme but what can you, as an organisation or as an indiviudal do to encourage girls & women to enter a career in tech? University events/ tech events/ mentorship programmes/ work experience placements. A big challenge to our overall pay gap is that a lot of females are also attracted to lower paid industries. Let's do our part to encourage our young women to see the career opportunities in tech/ engineering/medicine etc.
• Be a champion! Personally, I feel we are moving backwards with seeing male champions speak up on a public platform. Where are you? HR/ TA Practitioners - let's educate our leaders to their role & obligation and how they can share their belief & commitment on a public platform.

Before I sign off, also a reminder that WE are the generation who are living through the disruption of typical gender roles & empowering females careers. When I reflect on when I came to Australia, diversity was barely a topic. It is not perfect but we are making progress. Let's do this!

#techdiversity #diversityandinclusion #payequity #payfairness #datadrivendecisions #equalpayequalwork #empowergirls #calloutbias