Diversity in the workplace has always been something that means a lot to me. I have seen many brilliant women that were unable to advance in a company simply because of the dominant men controlling it. For this week’s writing, I want to share with you all an interesting article I found published by the Australian Human Rights Commission. This article looks at the effects of the gender bias in the Australian workplace. The section I want to focus on is “Why is women in
leadership a priority?” It coincides perfectly with what we know about gender bias in the workplace. Here are the four points provided in that section (Australian):
- Women are in fact more likely than their male counterparts to have relevant post-graduate qualifications. This is despite their tendency to undervalue their own skills and to be less forthcoming in pursuing leadership positions
- Economically, it is a worthwhile investment. According to Goldman Sachs, narrowing the gap between male and female employment rates would have huge implications for the global economy – in Australia it would boost our GDP by 11%
- Further, the current gender bias means that women are employed in roles where their productivity is not maximised. If the gender productivity gap was minimised, for example, by increasing the number of women in leadership positions, the level of economic activity in Australia could be boosted by 20%
- Economic incentives such as these would have flow-on effects for wider society as well. It would assist in addressing the problem of pension sustainability, thereby reducing the dependency ratio, lifting household savings rates and increasing tax received by the government
Now I want to show you how each one of those directly relates to what we know about gender bias barriers in the workplace for women. When I’m talking about gender bias, I’m specifically referencing the idea that there are a lot of struggles for women when it comes to having the opportunity to advance in the workplace (PSU, 2012). Men are predominantly in control management, across the board, but there is a lot of evidence to show that it is important to push for equality in management. I wanted to use an example from outside the United States mainly because it is likely something that we are all relatively unfamiliar with.
An interpersonal barrier when it comes to women in management is gender prejudice, which looks at the idea that management positions are viewed as masculine (PSU, 2012). Couple that with the general belief by women that they are less political savvy than men and we get to the first point brought up in the article (PSU, 2012). Even though women tend to feel that way, and experience prejudice, they actually found that women are more likely to have relevant post-graduate qualifications as compared to men (Australian). I found this interesting because even with that prejudice in place and the undervaluing of their own skills (by women), they discovered that women are more qualified for the advanced managerial roles.
The inhospitable corporate culture that we know of requires women to accomplish tasks without resources (PSU, 2012). Add the desire to boost global economy, and it makes sense that there is a worldwide need to decrease the gender gap between male and female employment rates. In Australia, their GDP would increased by 11% (Australian). This is significant because it contradicts the inhospitable corporate culture. If the global economy can see significant improvement by having more women in management roles, it’s safe to assume that the individual companies would also experience an economic boost. So why are women expected to accomplish tasks without resources? They can actively contribute to more profits for individual businesses, which means that there would be an increase in the availability of resources (generally speaking). I think we should all keep this in mind, because we need to move away from that inhospitable corporate culture, especially knowing that women can directly impact the notion to do so.
The third point the article makes is regarding productivity with women. It tells us that productivity if not maximized when it comes to women, which relates directly to an organizational we know of (Australian). That barrier is the lack of developmental opportunities, which states that companies often give less challenging assignments to women in order to help them advance in the organization (PSU, 2012). That seems like a good thing at first glance, but it actually results in women achieving less (PSU, 2012). We can take from this the idea that it is crucial to first give women equally challenging tasks as men, which would then help maximize their productivity. For Australia, this could mean a 20% economic boost (Australian). Imagine what other countries, such as the United States, could experience from that. Bring on the challenges!
Lastly, the article brings up all of economic incentives for Australia. These include flow-on effects such as pension sustainability, lifting household savings rates and increasing tax received by the government (Australian). The overall message I want to get out there with all of this information I provided revolves around the statement, “It just makes sense.” It makes sense to implement all of suggestions that the Australian Human Rights Commission brought up. As a man, I will say that men need to loosen up and accept the fact that women are just as capable, if not more capable, to successfully run companies and assume managerial roles. With the economy the way it is today, now would be the perfect time to address the gender gap furiously. Australia shows up what improvements can be done there, so just think what this can do for other countries and the overall global economy.
Reference
Australian Human Rights Commission. (n.d.). Women in leadership. Retrieved from http://humanrights.gov.au/sex_discrimination/programs/women_leadership.html
Penn State World Campus. (2012). Lesson 13:Leadership and Diversity.https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa12/psych485/001/content/13_lesson/05_page.html