When it comes to gender diversity in the workplace, we’ve certainly come a long way, but have so much more to do in order to achieve even a remote level of fairness across the business sector.
For some reason, even though organizations that embrace gender equality in the workplace have a much better chance of succeeding, there are still a significant amount of companies that refuse to take a step in the right direction. According to research by McKinsey’s, gender-diverse companies are actually 15% more likely to outperform their peers. Similarly, ethically-diverse organizations are as much as 35% more likely to outperform their peers.
According to the “Gender Diversity: The Commercial Imperative” report commissioned by Shelby Jennings, 40% of male respondents were convinced that gender diversity doesn’t improve an organization’s financial performance.
60% of employees never received basic conflict management classes or lessons.
“It’s often very hard for people with innate privilege to see it,” said Dr. Ruth Sealy, associate professor of management at Exeter University. “It’s interesting that research shows that men and women also see different reasons for the lack of women’s progress.”
Thankfully, organizations and even entire nations are working towards debunking some of the myths associated with gender equality in the workplace.
According to Women Love Tech, a new grassroots campaign is encouraging all Australian organizations and individuals to implement change in order to increase workplace gender diversity.
100 Days for Change is in its second official month, and has already received pledges and support from more than 200 organizations and individual workers across Australia.
Here are some of the highlights that have emerged throughout the first month and a half of the 100 Days for Change initiative:
- Fancy Firms — Launched a documentary series profiling inspiring female leaders.
- The Salvation Army — Launched new policies, workshops, and leadership development.
- Prompt Engineering — Provided working mothers with flexible hours and support.
- The Nine Network — Launched a mentoring program for female employees.
- Driveco — Began using gender-neutral language in their recruitment drives.
- Northrop — Increased women in leadership roles and regulated flexible work arrangements.
