Women’s voices: tune in, amplify

While the pandemic and its economic repercussions have changed the lives of almost every professional in the world, they have not equally impacted men and women. While they make up 39% of the global workforce, women account for 54% of job losses to date according to McKinsey, which could cost the world $1 trillion by 2030.

The International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to take stock of the situation of women’s challenges in the workplace, celebrate the achieved wins, and refine the conversations towards gender parity. 

Women are more impacted by the pandemic

Women’s jobs are more vulnerable than men’s, new LinkedIn global labour market data shows, with over 2 in 5 (43%) of women surveyed had either considered leaving or had left the workforce, permanently or temporarily, due to the impact of COVID-19. 

Globally, women have been more adversely affected by disruptions to the retail, travel and leisure industries which tend to employ a relatively greater share of women and often aren’t remote-ready roles. But women have also been pressured by the extra responsibilities they had to take on during the pandemic.

Fundamentals or social conditioning? 

Beside the workplace fundamentals, cultural conditioning might be creating more challenges for women. More than half (56%) of working professional women surveyed in the UAE said the pandemic has forced them to take on more responsibilities at home than their partner. 

This is a telling report about the health crisis’ effect on our households, but the survey, which involved over 2,000 working professionals aged 25-55 from the UAE, offered even more insights on how women have disproportionately experienced the social and economic effects of the pandemic in their homes and workplaces.

In fact, as the survey shows, the pandemic may have only exacerbated and made all too apparent the inequities women had been struggling with for years. It reveals a culture where women have been socially conditioned to feel less entitled than men, fostering an ‘unentitled mindset’ that resulted in a widening ‘entitlement gap’ – a theory established by The Female Lead’s recent Women at Work report – between women and men.

The ‘entitlement gap’ is more obvious when it comes to salary increases and promotions, as women are generally less demanding than men when negotiating a pay rise. According to the survey, women actually felt uncomfortable or embarrassed asking for a pay rise. Many of them also did not want to appear pushy or that they are asking too much. Many women who felt they deserved an increase also waited longer than men to ask their employer for a pay rise.

Let's talk about it... more

But the survey did reveal some encouraging trends, particularly in the UAE. Half of women surveyed said their company has implemented family-friendly workplace policies, including flexible working to support women, while nearly half (46%) said their company has training and targets for managers to ensure that gender-equality policies are properly enforced. In comparison, only 39% of women surveyed in the UK said their employer implemented family-friendly policies.

It is clear that a lot needs to be done to overcome the ‘entitlement gap’ in workplaces, but we are also seeing meaningful changes in many workplaces from which we can build on to achieve a bigger positive transformation. And with women stepping forward to share their experiences, we can spark more meaningful conversations that could inspire more people to be involved in finding a solution.

 To help people and businesses take steps to improve gender equality in the workplace, LinkedIn is making free online learning courses available to everyone: Leadership Strategies for Women, Planning Your Family Leave and Return, Proven Success Strategies for Women at Work, Own It: The Power of Women at Work, and Becoming a Male Ally at Work (available from February 28 to March 31).

Join the conversation on LinkedIn by @tagging a woman in your community that you’d like to celebrate with the hashtag #WeCanDoIt #IWD #WomenAtWork.