In the age of automation, the work environment for women even today is stuck in a time warp but after a year marked by crisis and uncertainty, corporates globally are at crossroads.
The crisis presents an opportunity to arrest the loss of decades of painstaking progress towards gender diversity at work. But, only if companies make significant investments by building a more flexible and empathetic workplace to nurture a culture in which women have an equal opportunity to achieve their potential.
Over the years, women have undoubtedly been subject to biases: higher performance standards, harsher judgment for mistakes, penalties for being mothers and taking advantage of flexible work options, coworkers consciously or unconsciously assuming that women are less committed to their jobs or performance-evaluating managers assuming that women don’t contribute as much. It is a systemic rot that unfairly works against women at work. Bias training top-down and bottom-up is the only way to address and mitigate it. What we don’t challenge doesn’t change, and gender biases cannot be wished away unless women stand up and voice their dissent without fear.
The pandemic has intensified many challenges women already faced at work – working mothers for instance have always worked a ‘double shift’ – a full day of work, followed by child care and household chores. Companies need to look for ways to re-establish work-life boundaries by setting hours for meetings, putting policies in place for responding to emails outside typical business hours and for improving communication around work hours and availability within teams. The most important thing companies can do is communicate that employee performance will be measured on results – not based on when, where, and how many hours they work.
Strengthening employee communication is key to build trust in the workplace. Creating a safe environment for women to feel heard and understood, to influence and lead on challenging equality issues is a great start.. Gender differences are a reality and addressing as well as celebrating them while pertinent, should not be the only agenda of policymaking in a workplace. Putting equality at the core of business strategy can be the driver to create real change in the workplace. Equal representation and leveling the playing field are starting points for us to have more women at work and grooming more women to take on leadership roles.
The pandemic ushered in more flexibility, along with added responsibilities and fewer boundaries. For women, who typically shoulder more duties at home regardless of their breadwinning status, that has felt less like freedom and more like pressure to always be ‘on’. Corporates have realized the need to increase focus on supporting employees as ‘whole people’. When people feel happy to bring all of themselves to work they are more optimistic about their company and as a result more committed to their job. This makes them less likely to consider downshifting their role or leaving the workforce.
The gender pay gap exists because women by virtue of their societal conditioning are ‘unentitled’ and less demanding. Business leaders can pave the way forward and correct this in their organizations so women feel valued and get their fair share of pay.
Perceived gender differences like assertiveness or autonomy impact workplace confidence, especially in male-dominated environments but cognizance of the role women on the team play in shaping future business success will help challenge any bias. No woman for example should be afraid to take a period day. That is the kind of trust and freedom organizations should be willing to foster. The length of a woman’s skirt should never be the subject of conversation or scrutiny. Equality pulse checks, strict POSH guidelines, and creating an environment that is inclusive are steps in achieving this ambition.
From ensuring offices have baby and breast-friendly spaces to parental leave and benefits as well as safe travel allowances, companies need to go that extra mile not just for the women employees but also their families. Paternity leave for men is as crucial as maternity leave so child-bearing and child-rearing doesn’t remain only a woman’s responsibility.
Traditional role clusters that kept women out of STEM companies for example need to be destroyed. The ‘broken rung’ and the theory of the ‘glass ceiling’ which holds back the advancement of young women into managerial positions need to be addressed. A fantastic way to do this is to ensure hiring and appraisals are gender blind. In addition to increasing female confidence, gender-blindness helps reduce gender disparities in risk-taking and negotiation.
Businesses that know women’s leadership matters need to reimagine how to achieve it in this new world of work not just for women today but also leaders of the future. Women in leadership have a vast and more meaningful impact on a company’s culture – they are more likely to embrace employee-friendly policies and programs and to champion diversity. Just as business leaders have taken steps to reshape their businesses, they now have a responsibility to reshape how women work in ways that benefit everyone. The choices companies make today will have consequences on empowering women at work for decades ahead.
Contributed by: Petal Gangurde, Vice President – Marketing XYXX, a premium men’s innerwear and loungewear brand made in India.
The post Empowering women at the workplace appeared first on TMM.