As strange and awkward as it may seem, gender equality is still a major issue of the business universe. It is very common to bump into a toxic workplace and find employers who treat women as lower-level beings.
Some studies even show that, if nothing changes, true equality in the workforce won’t be reached until the year 2234. Yes, you read it right – 2234!
This stat alone shows how painful and long-lasting gender issues really are. But it doesn’t mean that that it’s impossible to change the workplace atmosphere and ensure equal rights for both women and men. On the contrary, all it takes is a little bit of effort and will to boost the position of ladies in your organisation.
There are all sorts of tactics and mechanisms to apply here, but we decided to explain only the most relevant solutions. In this post, you will see 15 ways to promote gender equality in the workplace.
Reevaluate Vacancy Announcements
Gender equality begins with recruiting, which is why you should reevaluate vacancy announcements to eliminate discrimination. This is important because even the smallest word or phrase could discourage women from applying.
Jake Gardner, a writer who created essaypro review and essayshark reviews, says the easiest way to do this is by removing gender-sensitive vocabulary and using neutral terms to describe job requirements: “For instance, avoid the usual pronoun ‘he’ and replace it with ‘s/he’ or ‘you.’ It’s a simple tactic but it instantly shows that your organisation is dedicated to gender equality.”
Reconsider interview questions
Another recruiting-related advice is to reconsider job interview questions and eliminate sensitive inquiries. Some questions can even jeopardise the civil right of your candidates, so you must take care of it delicately.
For example, you are not supposed to ask female candidates whether they plan to get pregnant. This question is in no relation to the position you want to fill and it shows that you are not willing to hire future mothers.
Analyse your organisation
The next thing you need to do is analyse your organisation to discover the ratio of male-female employees. If you realise that 90% of your workers are men, it is probably time to rethink the entire recruiting strategy.
There are exceptions to the rule, of course. Logistics companies will naturally hire the vast majority of male drivers and warehouse workers, but average businesses should be able to function flawlessly with the same percentage of women and men.
Don’t take employment gaps into account
If you notice a bigger employment gap in a woman’s resume, you should not react negatively but rather consider it a natural part of her professional biography.
After all, family comes first and you should encourage mothers to apply to your job announcements as well.
Create quality workplace culture
Do you know that 35% of women in full-time corporate sector jobs have experienced sexual harassment? It’s a terrible atmosphere to work in and you just have to prevent it by building quality workplace culture.
Senior managers have to empower women, engage in internal communication, and inspire other employees to embrace the rule of gender equality. At the same time, you can organise workshops and round tables to keep your employees informed about the latest trends in the field of gender equality.
Promote work-life balance
A balance between life and work is fundamental for all employees, but it matters even more to ladies raising children or planning a family. Let your workers do part of their jobs remotely and it will drastically improve their position within your team.
It will probably turn out to be a great thing for your company in general because work-life balance makes people happier and turns them into super-productive employees.
Eliminate the gender pay gap
According to the report, the full-time average weekly ordinary earnings for women are 14% less than for men. You shouldn’t allow it, so make sure to eliminate the gender pay gap. How can you do it?
The answer is simple – instead of negotiating the salary based on candidates’ previous earnings, you can introduce a pay range system which treats equally every worker on a given level of the professional hierarchy. Such a mechanism removes financial barriers between men and women.
Penalise gender-based harassment
Some men can’t really understand what it means to have gender equality in the workplace, so they keep repeating the same mistakes all over again. In this case, the only productive solution is to penalise gender-based harassment and let male colleagues pay for their actions.
Such measures can cover anything from salary reduction to contract termination. Despite being very rigid, these types of penalties are necessary if you want to create a female-friendly work environment.
Provide the same mentoring opportunities for all
Workplace learning is important for every ambitious professional in your company, so you better make sure to provide the same mentoring opportunities for all members of the team. Women must be granted equal learning options and you cannot insist on same-sex partnerships and tutoring relationships.
This is particularly important in teams with only a handful of women covering senior management positions. In such circumstances, you need to pair them with male senior managers to ensure quality learning programs.
Image: Unsplash
Don’t be afraid of criticising women
Some managers and business owners take the gender equality issue too seriously and forget the fact that female employees make mistakes as often as their male colleagues. It would be a big mistake to protect ladies from professional criticism and also some sort of a reversed sexism.
Therefore, don’t be afraid of criticising women and pointing out their mistakes. It won’t hurt ladies but rather turn them into much more productive employees long-term.
Give them leadership roles
Not too many women can climb up the corporate ladder to become senior executives. As a matter of fact, studies reveal that less than 5% of CEOs at S&P 500 companies are women. You should be smarter than that and realise that women can make great leaders just as well.
They are often more passionate about their jobs than male colleagues, they are strong communicators, and they often have to work harder than others. All this gives ladies a tremendous leadership potential.
Let women compete
Another important advice is to let the employees compete regardless of their gender. After all, who says male workers are going to perform better than ladies?
Don’t save smaller projects for anyone but rather give them all an equal opportunity to show knowledge and professional skills.
Make Result-Driven Evaluations
This suggestion goes hand in hand with the previous one. Don’t allow yourself to be biased or to analyse people based on their styles. Instead, try to take the objective viewpoint and assess employees with respect to their results and projects completed successfully.
For example, the best custom coursework agencies don’t see the difference between men and women – they can only distinguish between prolific and underperforming content creators.
Forget about stereotypes
Although we live in the 21st century, a lot of men still believe in tons of gender-related stereotypes. In their opinion, female employees are too soft and gentle.
Allegedly, they are not strong enough to deal with serious clients and negotiate properly. The list of stereotypes is almost endless, but you have to neglect it and approach women the same way you do with men.
Learn from exit interviews
There is a reason why serious organisations conduct exit interviews – they want to learn why their employees leave the organisation. This type of feedback helps businesses to improve and boost employee retention, thus making sure to keep the most talented individuals.
You should use the same strategy to discover what lady workers think about your company and use those insights to make a friendlier environment.
In Summary
Treating women and men equally at the workplace should not be an issue in 2019, but it still is. A plethora of studies reports serious gender problems all over the globe, which should be a clear signal for all employers to react and ensure the required level of gender equality in their organisations.
In this post, we selected the top 15 ways to promote gender equality in the workplace. Have you ever used any of these tactics to empower women in your company? What do you think about the problem of gender equality in general?
About the Author
Thomas Shaw is an editor, writer, and sociologist from London. Hardcore social media lover. Coffee maven. Reader. Lifelong travelaholic.
