Gender discrimination in the workplace remains a real problem. Whether you call it DEI or something else, corporate equality initiatives have failed.
McKinsey found that women and men have the same ambition levels, but 11% fewer women want promotions.
At every stage of the corporate ladder, women are still underrepresented.
The report found:
“Women early in their careers are far less likely than men to be people managers. As a result, far more entry-level men are on a path that can lead to promotion. Our survey revealed that four in ten entry-level women have not received a promotion, stretch assignment, or opportunity to participate in leadership or career training in the past two years.”
On top of that, there are fewer women in leadership roles than a few years ago. Despite 80% of businesses telling McKinsey that inclusion is still important. So what’s going wrong? And what can businesses do about gender discrimination in the workplace?
What to do about gender discrimination in the workplace
Clearly, hiring more women into leadership positions isn’t doing what everyone thought it would. More visibility doesn’t mean more acceptance. Just ask female MPs in the UK—despite making up 50% of the cabinet, the gender discrimination in the workplace and ‘boys’ club’ attitude has gotten worse, not better.
Lucy Powell, Deputy Labour Party Leader, said:
“It created more of a culture of not feeling that you could speak out on things […] for fear of giving you a black mark against your name. That is the culture and the atmosphere that we really need to address.”
How can one of the most powerful women in the country still feel that way? It just proves that getting more women into leadership positions is only part of the challenge.
Offer training
No one wants to hear this, but it’s true. You have to educate everyone within your organization about gender biases and unconscious biases. Even your CEO.
Attitudes have a trickle-down effect, and the only way to learn to think differently is to learn what it’s like for people who don’t come from the same background as you.
This sort of education is essential when it comes to reducing gender discrimination in the workplace.
Skip the stereotypes—and teach emotional regulation
The assumption has always been that women are more emotional. But are we?
Women aren’t allowed to show anger, for example. Society tells us that to do so is ugly and unbecoming. (Insert eye roll here.)
Men, meanwhile, can show anger, even in the workplace. They might shout at someone who’s made a mistake, for example. Their (often female) assistant might tell people to avoid him when he’s in a bad mood.
This pandering to one type of emotion but vilifying it in other genders is part of the problem. It is undeniably an example of gender discrimination in the workplace. It’s time businesses put more effort into teaching people how not to stereotype and instead have proper emotional regulation.
Colleagues and employees are not verbal battering rams. Managers shouldn’t shout at them because they didn’t get their way or something went wrong.
Coaching is a useful tool for teaching emotional regulation, especially as someone climbs the corporate ladder.
Over half of managers never receive any coaching or management training, so doing this would invest in your company’s future, both in terms of leaders and the rest of your workforce. It will create a better environment for everyone, too, while decreasing gender discrimination in the workplace.
Lead by example
Your C-suite’s attitude to everyone else is a contagious disease. If they make even the tiniest sexist comment, it makes that attitude more accepted for everyone else to express.
So then it gives those who feel much more strongly the impression that they can make such comments—or worse.
Your leadership must set an example. They must treat everyone, from the rest of the C-Suite right down to the cleaner or any office pets, as their equal. No talking down, no talking over, and no ignoring or taking credit for other people’s ideas.
Combatting gender discrimination in the workplace should be part of combatting all discrimination.
Update your dress code
Do you have a dress code or is it based on vibes? If the men come in suits and you have no formal dress code written down, I guarantee the women panic about what to wear.
Samantha Harman discusses this predicament in her book, Just Get Dressed. It’s about enclothed cognition: how the clothes we wear impact how we feel about ourselves.
If a man repeats the same suit every day, no one notices. This is also a conscious choice that comes from privilege, she argues. Steve Jobs’ signature turtleneck was from Japanese designer Issey Miyake and cost $300.
What if a woman tried this hack?
A couple of news channels in Canada and Australia asked the same question. In response, viewers emailed them asking if the female outfits were due to budget cuts. Nobody noticed the men repeating their suits.
Even our clothes carry double standards. If that’s not gender discrimination in the workplace, I don’t know what is.
Organize employee groups
An ERG designed for women to support each other not only offers a place to discuss juggling family, relationships, health, and work, but they can also discuss when they’ve faced gender discrimination in the workplace.
It can act as a canary in a coal mine, giving you information on where the problems lie so that you can do something before they get worse.
Want help organizing your ERGs? Workrowd has everything you need. Get in touch to find out more.
Don’t blame the men
There is no one person in an organization who creates a toxic culture, and it isn’t the fault of the men who work for you.
In fact, women can be guilty of this kind of attitude, too.
They climbed to the top, space feels limited, and they don’t want anyone to come in and replace them. This isn’t every woman—the same as not all men are sexist—but it’s something to be aware of.
For instance, when someone is placed on a hiring panel in the name of “diversity” they’re less likely to pick the person like them so that they’re not seen as biased.
I ran a women’s magazine a few years ago, and the biggest criticisms came from other women. Many of the men I spoke to, meanwhile, were happy to write for me and did amazing biographies on women like Boudica and Christine McVie from Fleetwood Mac. In fact, I’d say the men were more supportive.
All this ties back to training: everyone needs it, because very few of us are aware of our unconscious biases.
That is, after all, why they’re unconscious. It’s also why it can be so hard to combat gender discrimination in the workplace.
Conclusion
Just because rates of gender discrimination in the workplace have gotten worse and instances have become harder to spot, that doesn’t mean there isn’t something you can do about it. It’s on leadership and HR to create a culture where everyone feels included and is treated with respect. Failing to do this will open the doors to people who do see themselves as superior to others and refuse to treat everyone as their equal.
