Gender equality remains a problem at the top of UK business.
While there is a general consensus that Lord Davies’ call for more of it at board level is a good thing to aim at, many people believe the road to that particular promised land will be much longer and far more arduous than first hoped for.
The news that only eight FTSE 100 companies have said how they will hit Lord Davies target of ensuring that 25% of women directors are on the board in the next two years is not encouraging.
Admittedly, there is some debate about the accuracy of these low figures. They were challenged by a researcher working on a follow-up to Lord Davies’ report, which is due in October, and there was even some confusion over whether he wanted targets to be announced at the start or end of September.
Putting these points aside, however, the general impression is that changing the structure of their boards to more accurately reflect the balance of society is not at the top of most organisations’ agendas.
And while HR directors may well hold their hands up and say they’ve done all that they can, responsibility will have to assumed by the ‘people’ department at some point.
Female benefits
Of course times are hard for many UK companies and directives from the Government that intend to change company culture rather than boost profitability can easily fall by the wayside. But it is important to remember what benefits having women at top management level can bring.
Firstly, there is the long-standing argument that females are massively under-represented in the highest echelons of major corporations, a fact that does not reflect the true nature of our society – or an image that UK companies should want to be showing to the rest of the world.
But while female executives obviously need to be just as well-trained and experienced as their male colleagues, it is also worth remembering the sorts of special characteristics that they can bring to the boardroom.
Our research entitled Past Perspectives; Future Change, for example, found that women possess an emotional intelligence that can help in assessing the overall atmosphere of a given situation accurately, thus helping boards to react more effectively at times of crisis.
Their communication and relationship skills can also aid in the rebalancing of an often testosterone filled boardroom, while another benefit is that they tend to be natural multi-taskers. This means that females often make light work of the various strategy and steering issues that boards have to deal with on a regular basis.
Finally, after having worked hard to battle against gender discrimination on the way up, the women that do make it to the top are likely to be hard workers and unwilling give up their positions of power by taking their foot of the accelerator.
Taking action
Understanding the benefits that having more women at board level can bring and implementing a strategy to ensure that it happens are two very different things, however.
While it is obviously not the case that every business is run by chauvinistic men who are desperate to stop women progressing, it can be institutionally difficult for some to promote women in the way they would ideally want to.
But there are a few simple steps that all organisations can take to try and make it easier for women to progress. For example, tasking internal steering groups with helping the most capable women to the top can be a good place to start.
Learning and development programmes that are purely focused on ethics, diversity and inclusion can also help lay the foundations for change to corporate attitudes and policies.
This shift can be then emphasised by incorporating more diverse and inclusive language and imagery into company newsletters, internal communications and/or websites.
If firms want to go further, their existing board could even make a written commitment to hit gender targets and ensure that their shareholders are aware of it so that they can be held to account.
The fact is that for organisations truly wishing to put gender equality at the heart of their culture, there are a number of realistic starting points. Change may not happen overnight but small steps taken today will cascade down throughout the corporation and start to make a difference sooner than you might think.
Karen Murphy is co-founder of leadership development programme provider, Muika Leadership.
One Response
Supporting work-life balance is the simplest step
Some very useful suggestions from Karen, but she’s missed the simplest step of all – make work-life balance part of the company culture at all levels. The stark reality is that women all too frequently select themselves out of senior jobs as they cannot see a way to balance work and home responsibilities. Organisational cultures continue to collude with the myth that the ideal worker is one who gives 110% to their work (and usually has no other life!). Until we make the cultural shift to one where employees are assessed on outputs and contribution rather than number of hours in the workplace, women will continue to struggle.
Anna Meller
http://www.sustainableworking.co.uk