Quite a lot of people think that gender inequality is a thing of the past, something we have dealt with and should now be moving on from. Surely, you might think, with all these laws now in place allowing women equal access to work and making sexual harassment illegal, there’s nothing left to be done!
The reality is much more sobering. Giving women the legal right to work, and making it illegal to pay people less based on their gender, has not actually solved the problem of making sure that everyone is treated the same at the workplace. First of all, plenty of places of employment still put in place biased practices that intentionally boost certain groups of people over others, or turn a blind eye to the culture of harassment. Such instances are examples of ‘direct’ discrimination, where it is blatantly clear that there is a policy or action which harms one group by virtue of their gender. However, what is much more difficult to identify and address is that of ‘indirect’ discrimination. Often, policies that are ‘gender-blind’ and seek to treat everyone exactly the same can actually be perpetuating harm because they feed into ‘hidden’ biases that are preventing people from reaching their full potential at work.
That means our efforts must now focus on challenging ideas, assumptions, and subconscious biases that all of us – even the most progressive, well-meaning people – have, simply by virtue of living in our society. From a young age, we’re constantly inundated with what it means to be a man or a woman nowadays – from the media we consume, the news we read, the familial, platonic, and romantic relationships we observe and form…all these factors have instilled in us biases, assumptions, and ideas that by extension feed into decisions we make at work.
A lot can be said about what these gendered assumptions are and how they look like. For the sake of simplifying, for example, we assume men are better leaders because they are assertive, thorough, and logical. Women on the other hand make better caretakers, and are therefore better suited for careers related to cleaning, food prep, teaching and clerical support fields, for instance. However, there is nothing scientific or biological about these, and they are merely assumptions and norms passed down through social structures, placing gendered roles on individuals, regardless of their actual individual capacities or skills.
These gender roles mean that people navigate different realities based on their gender, even if they are doing the exact same job. These realities may not even have anything to do with work, and more to do with expectations and roles they have in their personal lives, but as a place of employment, not being aware of how the world is set up differently for different people can mean you’re unconsciously keeping people from achieving their full potential at work.
Importantly, gender inequality is not just about treating women equally to men – it is about understanding that no one should be treated unfairly based on their gender. Even men can suffer from inequalities or harassment, even if the problem is statistically more likely to affect women. Moreover, there are a lot of people who do not identify with either gender, or who express their gender identity differently than the traditional roles you may be familiar with, and putting in place inclusive practices would ensure equal treatment for all.
Just to give a few, very basic but realistic examples of how these biased assumptions can show up or affect one’s workload:
- An environment where gendered or sexualised jokes are common – such as commenting about one’s appearance, what they’re wearing, what they do outside of work or how many people they’re dating…people may think they’re in good fun, but more often than not, the recipient is uncomfortable and does not know how to tell the group to stop.
- When comparing two individuals, a manager might give preference for promotions, bonuses, or other job opportunities to one employee because they ‘go the extra mile’ by regularly staying after hours to do extra work, whereas their colleague leaves promptly as soon as the work day is over. However, the latter might have care responsibilities that the other person does not, such as taking care of children, a household, or relatives. Ultimately, it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that they do not assign so much work that people need to regularly work longer hours to complete it, because not everyone can – and indeed no one should – have to do this.
- Mandating that, in order to advance in their role, a certain amount of training or further study needs to be done, with no allowance for this to take place during working hours (i.e. it has to be carried out after hours). Again, not everyone is free to do so, and such policies will inadvertently favour employees who have someone at home that is taking care of all personal life responsibilities such as housework and care.
- Giving preference to employees who work full-time at the office, as opposed to those who make use of flexible arrangements, work from home, or reduced hours – for the same reasons as above.
- A uniform or dress code at work requiring women to wear skirts/dresses, heels, and make-up, with no similar impositions on men.
- Company management being made up entirely or almost entirely of men. If you look at your leadership structures and there is barely any representation of women, that is likely a key indicator that somewhere in your overall structure, there are issues of direct or indirect gender inequalities (or likely, a mix of both) at play that are preventing women from succeeding.
What can you do about it?
Understanding and acknowledging that gender inequality remains a problem is just the first step you need to take in the process of ensuring your place of work is more inclusive.
As a company, AcrossLimits has inclusion and equality as one of its core driving values, and we practice what we preach. A key step we have taken is to commit to implementing a Gender Equality Plan, a strategy that looks at integrating a gender equality dimension into our work across 5 dimensions:
- Work-life balance and an inclusive organisational culture
- Gender balance in leadership and decision-making
- Gender equality in recruitment and career progression
- Integration of gender dimension into research and training content
- Measures against gender-based violence.
Check out AcrossLimits’ Gender Equality Plan here for inspiration on how you too can set up your own Gender Equality Plan: https://www.acrosslimits.com/gender-equality-plan/
AcrossLimits is able to help your business address gender inequalities through targeted training and tailored support to help you enact your own gender equality policy. Contact [email protected] for more information.
