What the research says.
Research shows that the number of women in leadership has grown and we’re making movements in the right direction, albeit slow. But gender parity still remains out of reach. Women are underrepresented at every level. With 48% of women at entry level, the proportion massively decreases as you move through the levels of seniority, 39% at Manager level, to 24% at CSuite.
However, in a report by Credit Suisse there was clear evidence that companies with a higher proportion of women in decision making roles generate higher return. In fact, where there is a majority of women at the top of management, businesses show superior sales growth and high cash flow returns on investment. So it impacts the bottom line!
The question is, why are we still so far from parity? The answer is complicated – women are faced with many things that prevent them from moving to senior leadership, this includes bias, raising families, the natural traits of females, opportunity and so on.
With all of this in mind and as we head towards International Women’s Day we have created a checklist of things that you can do to support your female colleagues to succeed in the workplace. Because only WE can make this change happen.
Top 5 things you can do to help your female colleague in the workplace.
- Encourage non manager women to lead projects at work. By doing this you’re not just getting a different way of working, but also allowing your colleagues to gain the needed experience for moving through seniority.
- Give Women Credit. Did you know that women are undervalued by others? When women and men work together on tasks, women are given less credit for successful outcomes and blamed more for failure! Sounds outrageous doesn’t it? Trust me – it happens. So giving them the credit they deserve gives them the encouragement to do more.
- Give women a voice in meetings. Women have grown up expecting to be given less airtime and interrupted more. This will also happen in the meeting room. Ensure that when you see a female colleague being spoken over or not listened to – call it out and give them a voice. It will impact the success of your project.
- Encourage your female colleagues to apply for promotions. Women tend to get promoted based on their accomplishments; men more so on potential. It’s no wonder that women suffer from imposter syndrome. By encouraging and being encouraging about a female colleague you may just empower them to put in for that promotion.
- Mentor women. Find a woman that would like to be mentored, regardless of your position. The importance is to be able to share lessons and experiences. Find someone who has a motivation to succeed and is eager to learn. Set out a plan for what the mentoring will deliver – this could be from helping with presentation skills to shadowing you on projects.
We hope you find these useful and we urge you to try some of these out as you continue to support better diversity in the workplace.
#IWD2020 #EachforEqual #betterstartshere