No getting away from the gender gap

During recent interactions with business leaders, discussions on gender diversity have moved from issues of fairness and equality to the need for a balanced leadership, and increasing the contribution of women in terms of performance and competitiveness.

Many organisations in India have implemented measures to recruit, retain and promote women in the workforce.

The result is that today there is a higher awareness of the importance of diversity in the boardroom, filtering down to the levels below. Many companies have yearly targets for hiring women at senior leadership, mid- and entry-levels.

A leading technology company in India has more than 1,00,000 women in its workforce! Women are also fast catching up as entrepreneurs.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Survey 2013, among all early-stage entrepreneurs in India, around 32 per cent are women.

While it is encouraging to see all these positive developments, there seems to be a glaring need to make more notable and far-reaching improvements. India ranks 101 in a 136-nation survey titled ‘The Global Gender Gap Report’, released by the World Economic Forum in 2013.

The theme for 2015 International Women’s Day is ‘Make It Happen’. It is a good trigger for us to stop and think if we really want to take effective action to improve the status of women and grow their careers.

Our mindsets play a critical role in supporting or hindering the efforts. A major block is the presence of unconscious bias at the workplace. It exists on a personal and organisational level and is influenced by background, cultural environment and experiences.

The foundations can be traced to childhood. While some perceptions are not wrong and can be explained as inherent characteristics of each gender, they cannot completely guide or cloud our interactions and decisions.

There is a common perception that men are better at maths and science, and are more capable at complex problem-solving, analytical thinking, number-crunching and innovation. This unconscious bias can lead to more men being hired for technical roles. But we all know that the ability to fit into a technical role has nothing to do with gender differences and is more about individual interests and capability. Again, many hold the stereotypical view that senior roles that are risky, involve high finances, or require a great deal of travel are better-suited to men. Research has also shown that in traditionally male-dominated sectors, the call-back for resumes bearing female names is lower.

There is also a perception that once women return to work from maternity leave, their career goals get diluted with the additional family responsibilities. Research has shown that the key drivers for women who are committed to growing their careers are similar to their male peers. They are ambitious, aspire to reach top management levels and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their ambitions.

A fallout of our conditioned thinking is that gender diversity only concerns the women and all the focus is on providing them with additional opportunities to grow their careers. This does not hold true. Gender diversity cannot exclude men. It is about achieving a balanced ratio of men and women and providing equal opportunities. There is a higher focus on advancing the careers of women as factors such as unconscious bias have left them severely underrepresented in the workforce. Today, workplace practices such as safe transportation, flexible work hours, prevention of any kind of harassment and so on are as important for men as they are for women.

While there are several illustrations of unconscious bias — and it is quite common at the workplace — there are exceptions that set examples of how to overcome this issue. A start to addressing unconscious bias is by increasing awareness of this issue and being consciously aware of prejudices that influence decisions and behaviour. Organisations need to sensitise their male employees to these biases and equip them better.

The next effective step would be to make a commitment to change our mindsets, as individuals and as organisations. Tackling unconscious bias is a must if we really want to ‘Make It Happen’ and get anywhere in enhancing the careers of women.

The writer is the managing director of Anita Borg Institute India, a social enterprise focused on women in technology. March 8 is International Women’s Day

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