News flash: Both men and women now believe having more female leadership leads to stronger companies.
This suggests closing the gender leadership gap may become a common goal men and women can work toward together.
Until recently, women may have felt they were doing all the heavy lifting toward their parity goal. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg recently rolled out Together Women Can, an initiative that encourages women to mentor and become allies with their female colleagues. As Sandberg pointed out in a recent New York Times op-ed, the popular idea is that women are not supportive of other women. Yet, it happens every day, women helping one another, professionally and personally. Connecting with other women to share ideas, work on projects and offer support is what today’s workplaces are all about.
Together Women Can challenges the notion women must obstruct each other in order to succeed. In fact, when women support one another, everyone wins.
As Sandberg explains in her book, “Lean In,” there are concrete benefits to supporting others. When women negotiate on behalf of other women on their team, they are able to boost their own salaries, too.
Yet, women can still wind up paying a penalty. A study of 300 executives discovered when men promoted diversity, their performance ratings improved slightly. However, when female executives promoted diversity, they were punished with significantly lower performance ratings and were perceived as nepotistic – trying to advance their own group.
Leading up to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last year, Ernst & Young asked respondents to name the biggest barriers and accelerators to women’s career advancements. The results – part of an initiative dubbed “Women. Fast forward: The time for gender parity is now” – showed we need to find ways to create a workplace that works for everyone. It turns out men and women have similar perceptions regarding women’s potential and the enhancements and obstacles to success. That means we have an opportunity for men and women to work together to create a culture that supports different career paths, pacing and leadership styles for everyone.
Not all workplaces currently provide equal opportunities, but all have good reasons to try. Employers need to be clear on advancement options and give everyone an equal shot.
A Pew study finds the female disadvantage is not that women lack toughness, management chops or proper skill sets. Instead, half of those surveyed think women seeking leadership positions in politics or business have to work harder to prove themselves than their male counterparts. Is that fair?
Gina O’Reilly (no relation), CEO at Nitro, recommends a solution. She says we should all practice complementary collaboration: simply recognize, respect and embrace the fact that men and women bring different but often hugely complementary skills to the table that, if nurtured and developed, can bring powerful benefits to any business.
While it’s of course important women have each other’s backs and foster a supportive, positive work environment, it’s equally valuable to involve men in improving the workplace culture and look for ways we can collaborate and get ahead together.
Bottom line, Women Fast Forward recommends employers establish a supportive environment and work to eliminate conscious and unconscious bias. Finding that men cited unconscious bias as the top barrier for women in the workplace, it’s important we act to eliminate such attitude and fully support women’s career advancements.
It’s going to take more than women helping women in the workplace to achieve parity. True equality isn’t going to happen without all of us – women and men – working together. Therefore, it’s silly to blame “the patriarchy,” which implies that all men are the “enemy.”
By working together, we can push the doors to equal opportunity wide open and invest time and money in gender diversity. That’s an investment that not only makes for a happier workplace but also a more profitable one.
Nancy O’Reilly, Psy.D., is a clinical psychologist and author of “Leading Women: 20 Influential Women Share Their Secrets to Leadership, Business, and Life.” Through DrNancyOreilly.com and the WC4G Foundation, she urges women to connect to create a better world.
