How to bring Justice to gender balance in the workplace

MAJA RGOFF “How to bring Justice to gender balance in the workplace”

How to bring Justice to gender balance in the workplace ebbf ─ Barcelona 2014

….Work left to do…

•  No country in the world has yet achieved gender balance / justice in the workplace

•  Common perception in western countries that equality has been achieved

•  Widely recognized that gender equality is a valuable goal •  But what’s going on “on the ground”… What has been the

implementation of enshrined rights / policies? •  What is the disconnect ?

In the middle of a deeper, evolutionary process?

Across workplaces

Across regions

IMPORTANCE of the topic? What is at stake? EBBF CORE VALUES: Partnership between women and men in all fields of endeavor ! We promote equal partnership between women and men in the workplace, as a way of harnessing

human potential and driving a company’s prosperity.

! Humanity can be viewed as a bird, with men representing one wing and women the other. Flight depends on the equal development of both wings.

! Organisations that encourage qualities that are characteristic of women, such as developing relationships, teamwork, care, compassion, intuition and sensitivity are moving closer to the new paradigm of work whose hallmarks of success are quality, service and timeliness. Diversity of gender, as well as that of race and ethnicity, enhances a creative environment and brings new ways of thinking to companies and individuals.

! Since enterprises in developed countries rely on innovation for survival, it is crucial for them to harness human potential. Fostering the growth and development of women by welcoming their special capabilities and recognising their unique contribution will thus enhance a company's prosperity.

Strong Business Case

Non-profit research organization Catalyst (2011) : •  Corporations with the most women board directors

outperformed those with the least on return on sales (ROS) by 16% and return on invested capital (ROIC) by 26%

• Companies with sustained high representation of women—three or more women board directors in at least four of five years—significantly outperformed those with no women board directors

Strong Business Case

McKinsey & Company (2007) in two studies found : •  Greater gender diversity in top management correlates

with ‘organizational excellence’ as measured by nine criteria: leadership, direction, accountability, coordination and control, innovation, external orientation, capability, motivation, work environment and values.

•  The best-ranked companies on organizational performance tend to have an operating margin and a market capitalization more than twice as high as those of the lower-ranked companies.

Strong Business Case Most of companies (83%) responding to a 2005 European Commission study “agreed that gender and diversity initiatives have a positive impact on business” for the following reasons:

•  Access to new labour pool (access to talent) •  Benefits from enhanced reputation •  Commitment to equality and diversity as company values •  Innovation and creativity •  Improved retention and motivation •  Legal compliance •  Competitive advantage •  Economic effectiveness •  Marketing opportunities •  Enhanced customer satisfaction

DIAGNOSING THE PRESENT : where do we stand?

Boards of Directors

• Of Fortune 500 companies, only 18% of board members are female

• Women account for 7% of directors on the world’s corporate boards

• USA: 16.9% of directors are women (13.6% in 2003 & 9.6% in 1995)

• Norway: 40.5% (highest in the world) • Germany: 14%; Australia: 12%; Canada: 12.1%;

Switzerland: 10% • Japan: 1.1%

“Number of Fortune 500 women CEOs reaches historic high” •  “For those keeping score of women on the Fortune 500, here’s

some good news: The definitive ranking of America’s biggest companies boasts some 24 female CEOs, up from 20 a year ago, and more than at any point since Fortune started compiling executive gender in 1998.”

•  “That still represents a small percentage —4.8% to be exact — of the overall CEOs on the list. While just one woman led a Fortune 500 company in 1998, that number slowly rose to 15 in 2009 before declining to 12 women by 2011.”

Women in Public Sector Leadership •  Women make up about 48 % of the overall public sector workforce, but represent

less than 20% of public sector leadership across the G20 countries •  Canada (leading nation): women are 45% of public sector leaders •  Australia (37%), the U.K. (35%), South Africa (34%), Brazil (32%), and the United

States (31%) •  Over half of Germany’s public sector workforce is female (52%), but only 15% of

women have leadership positions. •  In Japan (the world’s third-largest economy), women make up 42% of the public

sector workforce, but only 3% are leaders. •  Russia, with the highest number of women represented across the public sector

(71%), has just 13% in leadership roles. •  And in India, only 7.7% of public sector leaders are female.

Pay equity

The perils of raising venture capital as a woman •  “What It's Like Raising Money As A Woman In Silicon Valley” •  “As I walked down his front steps towards my car, laptop and

business documents slung over my shoulder, I wondered how thick my skin really needed to be if I wanted to continue down this path. I had been put in another impossible situation, cornered by a lopsided power dynamic and subjected to what any HR department in the world would define as sexual harassment.”

•  “But I don’t work for a company. I run one. This wasn’t happening inside the confines of a tidy company with an employee handbook and a legal team. This was fair game – it was the wild west of fundraising and I needed to learn how to navigate the alpha male-dominated VC community as a female founder.”

Common problems women report

•  Women leave the corporate sector at twice the rate as men

•  39% due to corporate culture •  Corporate culture:

•  Hostile organizational culture •  ‘Work/life balance’ •  Stereotyping •  Lack of adequate mentoring

Current promising discussions

Persistent deficits in current narratives •  BBC debate: “The hand that rocks the cradle cannot rock the board room” •  “Allison Pearson took on a gathering of ferociously ambitious Chinese

businesswomen to argue that you can't excel in the boardroom and be the perfect mother at home”

•  Antiquated conceptions and gender-stereotyped roles

•  Allison Pearson argues that it is not possible to be a committed mother and excel in the boardroom, because the world of work still does not accommodate for the realities of motherhood.

•  "Every mother in this room ... runs a small country called home, she is its health minister and the secretary of state for homework and in charge of policing unsuitable boyfriends." Allison said.

Harvard Business School • The Dean of Harvard Business School, Nitin Nohria, recently

apologized to women for their treatment at the school. • Recent efforts at Harvard Business School to promote parity in

gender achievement •  Laborious, multi-pronged effort • Not uncontroversial • Students did not want to “compromise their networks” (part of

broader debate on ethics and business)

Google • Men make up 83% of Google’s engineering employees and 79%

of managers (overall 3 out of 10 employees are female) • Also “severe underrepresentation of blacks and Hispanics” •  Long-term efforts" series of workshops to unmask / dislodge

“deep-set cultural biases and an insidious frat-house attitude that pervades the tech business”

•  “Tech luminaries make sexist comments so often that it has ceased to be news that they do”

Power of hidden bias / unconscious stereotyping •  Psychological dimensions of tackling this issue •  Neuroscience, psychology " confirmation bias •  Conceptual maps developed early •  What is needed (from men and women):

•  Commitment to address the issue •  Analysis of unconscious / inadvertent patterns,

assumptions and behaviours

SOLUTIONS: Open dialogue •  Hopefully at a transitional point: NEXT WAVE OF ATTENTION

TO THIS TOPIC; bringing the unconscious to consciousness •  Assessments / analysis of workplaces & putting

transformational programs in place •  Fostering a conversation in the workplace, among friends and

colleagues •  More engagement of men & women " find common ground

•  “What we need is a public conversation about gender, power and respect, one that’s not just women talking to other women.”

SOLUTIONS : THE FUTURE •  The 40-70 hour working week ? " reduced hours and flexibility for both parents

•  Maternity and paternity leave

•  Re-entry of parents to the workplace after child-rearing (and / or “sabbatical” system)

•  Women members of Management/General Boards

•  Models of consultation

•  Models of leadership •  “If women are ever to achieve real equality as leaders, then we have to stop accepting

male behavior and male choices as the default and the ideal.”

•  Definitions of “success”

•  Definitions of “professionalism”

PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN: AT WORK AND AT HOME

•  Shift in workplace culture is only half of the picture– half of the transition

•  Men may be stigmatized and penalized for being more involved with their family

•  Policies to support: e.g. paternity leave in Netherlands versus Scandinavia

•  Supportive partners to each other •  Peer and professional support

There is no judging in ‘Dudes Group’

Need men as role models who show leadership in tackling issues which affect women o The cost of ignoring issues which predominantly affect women o Economic Costs: conservative estimate puts the welfare cost of intimate

partner violence alone at $4.4 trillion, or 5.2% of global GDP (vs civil war .2%) o cost-effective solutions o Prevalence: levels of violence

against women has reached alarming promotion with one in three women experiencing some physical or sexual violence worldwide

Engagement of women •  Do we want to perpetuate a hyper-competitive environment / leadership models? •  Women can be powerful generators of alternative realities, innovation and creative

solutions •  Honesty about the state of a given workplace, concrete problems •  Share experiences with other women; mutual support and collaboration to tackle

structural issues (takes analysis) •  Speaking up about legitimate needs in the workplace (shaping an appropriate &

effective workplace) •  Work with men " model of partnership •  Move beyond the battle of the sexes •  Interdependence of human rights / justice issues: recapture idealism of earlier

times (suffragettes who also advocated against slavery, peace movement) •  Don’t underestimate the power that women currently have

Concluding remarks: general workplace shift •  Really about power-sharing rather than “accommodation” •  “The shift of paradigms requires not only an expansion of our perceptions

and ways of thinking, but also of our values” (Fritjof Capra) •  Part of Broader paradigm shift– if we bring more gender balance and

justice to gender balance in the workplace... part of a transformative process of modern workplaces

•  Child rearing– discipline, creativity, innovation, endurance, psychological self-control, change management, etc.

•  More gratification / meaning at work; more gratification / meaning at home

Part of a general (badly needed) societal shift

“It is well established in history that where woman has not participated in human affairs the outcomes have never attained a state of completion and perfection. On the other hand, every influential undertaking of the human world wherein woman has been a participant has attained importance.” Abdu’l-Baha

"Climate change isn't an issue, it's a message. It is a message, telling us that our system is failing, that there's something fundamentally wrong with the way we're organizing our economy and thinking about our place on the planet." ~ Naomi Klein

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