Here it is, the year 2021 and gender discrimination remains, unbelievably, an unresolved problem in far too many workplaces. Despite the fact that attention has been drawn to the issue for almost fifty years, there is still a fundamental injustice in the way women are treated in work environments that are directly dominated by male senior management or at least influenced by the attitude, mindset, and practices of traditional leadership.
Although women make up about 50% of the workforce, they still experience discrimination in several important areas. These include unequal compensation, a shortage of organizational upward mobility, a shortage of key decision-making power, and sexual harassment. These are deep deficiencies and injustices in the culture of work. The time has passed to eradicate these imperfections from our workplaces. Such shortcomings are not only ethically unfair, they depress the hitherto unrealized productive potential of half the workforce.
It’s not that there haven’t been attempts to remedy gender inequalities in the workplace. Many senior management teams acknowledge the historical existence of entrenched male-oriented favoritism and sexism in their workplaces and elsewhere. This recognition has materialized with initiatives to make their businesses and organizations more fair and equitable. However, the problem persists. Cases of gender discrimination continue to be documented and challenged within management offices, human resources departments, and law firms, resulting in the deployment of considerable resources for seemingly endless management of the consequences of bad behavior.
Elisabeth Kelan from the University of Essex in the UK has been researching gender equality issues for over twenty years. She has determined that there is widespread agreement that gender inequality is prevalent across the board, but interestingly these same people will not admit to such incidents occurring in their own specific workplaces. Why is this so? Dr. Kelan sees several reasons for this. For starters, many see discrimination as a flaw in their competitors or other companies, but not in their own more virtuous workplaces. Second, there is a belief that the issue was worse in the past, but is largely being resolved, stating that all mitigation efforts made thus far have worked to reduce it to a lesser issue. Finally, there are those who do not fully appreciate gender equality as a big problem, and if it occurs, it is not their fault.
If we accept Dr. Kelan’s findings as authentic, the question arises: “What are people thinking?” What I think they are thinking is what has always been thought. At levels, the big and little men see themselves as better leaders, wiser decision makers, more insightful managers, stronger negotiators, and superior competitors. And let’s face it, there are some traditionalist women who think these roles are more masculine in nature as well.
Even if one looks at the data and intellectually accepts gender discrimination as a problem, it does not automatically follow that the necessary behavior changes will occur. When I reflect on my own past, I see relevant examples. I have long believed that gender equality in the workplace was a quality worth pursuing. It’s a no-brainer. However, were there cases where I was more inclined to accept a male colleague’s opinion over a woman’s during a meeting, or thought a female colleague was too sensitive and not tough enough, or paid more attention to the appearance of a woman instead of listening to her? thoughts? Shamefully, the answer is yes. It is these small but significant actions that prevent us from making progress in accepting women as full and equal partners at work.
Anti-bias training programs and the like may make some difference in altering operating behaviors, but further progress may be better if each of us takes a deeper look at how we interact with each other beyond superficial manners. Clarifying the personal values that drive our behavior patterns can reveal more about us individually and strengthen needed improvements than any mission statement or management protocol. The time has come to put an end to gender discrimination.