Have Women in the Workplace Solved Their Diversity Problems?
We've been wondering about this for some time as many of the women in the workplace that we interact with often complain that their workplace diversity initiatives under perform and don't achieve the desired results. That senior woman rarely participate and younger women don't jump at the opportunity to join.
Yet companies spend millions of dollars on these programs. If these programs were designed to help women in the workplace success then why aren't more women participating and the results improving?
The new reality is that women in the workplace are not as rare as they used to be. There are plenty of women bosses; In fact a recent survey by Marcus Buckingham in "Find Your Strongest Life" indicated that there are more women and supervisory roles (37%) then men (31%).
Companies view diversity initiatives as important and worthy of the time and dollars invested. Programs that encourage workplace flexibility for primary caretakers such as women in the workplace are more common which can include parental leave, workplace flexibility, women's networks and other activities and resources
However this availability of programs as well as the appearance of more women in supervisory positions may lead to the false impression that diversity problems have been solved in organizations. It makes subtle problems and discrimination hard to see to the casual observer. Yet problems remain for women in the workplace
We saw this first hand during a program for a Fortune 50 company for younger high-potential women. The concern was that these future leaders were viewed as lacking the required "executive presence" to compete for higher positions amongst men. This severely impacted their chances for success. Many had become discouraged and were at risk to leave the organization.
Companies have made big efforts to counter gender bias, appointing diversity officers and running diversity programs that have raised the profile of gender equality and diversity.
But women in the workplace are still in the minority in top management jobs and many find it tough to stick with a top-flight career when they have children.
Most of our current systems and practices were designed by and for men over the last 60 years. It's when men were the primary breadwinners and there were few women in the workplace. The truth is that diversity is not a problem that women need to fix; it's a business problem that must be solved by everyone.
So no, we do not believe that gender issues have not been solved. It's just more subtle and not as obvious since there are more women in leadership roles than ever before. But there are still very few of them at the top. Much more needs to be done to support women in the workplace.
The good news is that we have a lot of women and men trying to solve this problem. Progress has been slow but improvements have resulted. We are working with them to answer these questions:
- Is your internal diversity program getting it done?
- Could your initiatives get better results?
- What fixes would you suggest?
- How can you get more senior women involved?
- and many other questions
In tough economic times, diversity program that fail to generate improvements or interest from senior leaders may find their budgets and management support/interest cut.
Yet companies spend millions of dollars on these programs. If these programs were designed to help women in the workplace success then why aren't more women participating and the results improving?
The new reality is that women in the workplace are not as rare as they used to be. There are plenty of women bosses; In fact a recent survey by Marcus Buckingham in "Find Your Strongest Life" indicated that there are more women and supervisory roles (37%) then men (31%).
Companies view diversity initiatives as important and worthy of the time and dollars invested. Programs that encourage workplace flexibility for primary caretakers such as women in the workplace are more common which can include parental leave, workplace flexibility, women's networks and other activities and resources
However this availability of programs as well as the appearance of more women in supervisory positions may lead to the false impression that diversity problems have been solved in organizations. It makes subtle problems and discrimination hard to see to the casual observer. Yet problems remain for women in the workplace
We saw this first hand during a program for a Fortune 50 company for younger high-potential women. The concern was that these future leaders were viewed as lacking the required "executive presence" to compete for higher positions amongst men. This severely impacted their chances for success. Many had become discouraged and were at risk to leave the organization.
Companies have made big efforts to counter gender bias, appointing diversity officers and running diversity programs that have raised the profile of gender equality and diversity.
But women in the workplace are still in the minority in top management jobs and many find it tough to stick with a top-flight career when they have children.
Most of our current systems and practices were designed by and for men over the last 60 years. It's when men were the primary breadwinners and there were few women in the workplace. The truth is that diversity is not a problem that women need to fix; it's a business problem that must be solved by everyone.
So no, we do not believe that gender issues have not been solved. It's just more subtle and not as obvious since there are more women in leadership roles than ever before. But there are still very few of them at the top. Much more needs to be done to support women in the workplace.
The good news is that we have a lot of women and men trying to solve this problem. Progress has been slow but improvements have resulted. We are working with them to answer these questions:
- Is your internal diversity program getting it done?
- Could your initiatives get better results?
- What fixes would you suggest?
- How can you get more senior women involved?
- and many other questions
In tough economic times, diversity program that fail to generate improvements or interest from senior leaders may find their budgets and management support/interest cut.
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