Beat Gender Bias summary

No one likes to feel excluded. Feeling isolated in a group is awful, especially when it's at the workplace. It can cause stress that can affect your quality of work. It can make the best job a nightmare. It can leave you feeling vulnerable and second-guessing yourself, leading to feelings of inferiority. This is what gender bias can feel like.

One particular leader recognized this problem and decided to do something about it. Let's check out what he did to fight gender bias in his organization.

As the CEO of the leading construction company Fulton Hogan Australia, Nick Marinelli was a successful man. And yet even he knew what it was like to feel inferior among his coworkers. When he first started his career in construction, Nick didn’t have any higher education. As a result, many of the educated people in his workplace treated him differently. They treated him with bias.

Nick worked to gain a degree and eventually rose to a leadership position. But he never forgot his experiences of feeling different, and it spurred him on to help the women in his organization. Nick noticed that although women were joining his company at the same rate as men, they also tended to leave at a much higher rate.

When he set up a workshop for female employees to come and share their experiences, they told him that one of their biggest problems was the size of the construction uniforms they were given to wear. Because these uniforms were designed for men, the women often had to roll up the sleeves and trouser legs, and even then the uniforms were ridiculously baggy. This made the women feel awkward – these uniforms obviously weren’t made for them! The uniforms made them feel like they were secondary thoughts; they knew they were sticking out among their male coworkers when all they wanted to do was fit in.

The workshops revealed another problem, too. The women’s managers seemed to be treating them differently than their male coworkers. Nick was shocked when the women told him that their managers had tried to discourage them from attending the workshops, saying that they needed to concentrate on their daily tasks. However, Nick was sure that if it had been male workers who’d asked for time off to attend the workshops, then their managers would have quickly agreed.

Nick’s experiences go to show that the best way leaders can get to the root cause of gender bias is by simply taking the time and space to listen to the women affected.