Name: Beat Gender Bias
Rating: 4 (122 reviews)
Author: Karen Morley

What’s in it for me? Promote true equality in your organization.

Why are so many organizations still not achieving gender equality? Many leaders don’t think of themselves as sexist, and yet they find themselves presiding over companies that can’t seem to retain talented women.

These blinks will give some much-needed clarity and demystify that glass ceiling. We’ll discover what gender bias looks like in the workplace today, the damaging beliefs that underpin it, and approachable solutions for boosting equality. Packed with the latest research insights and stories from real-life organizations, these blinks will be your go-to guide for a fairer, more innovative, and more productive workplace.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

the real reason there aren’t more women working in STEM;
how leaders can make their entire workforce care about gender equity; and
why diverse teams are crucial for tomorrow’s economy.

Beating gender bias starts with empathy and listening.

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.

Gender bias is often unconscious.

What do we actually mean when we talk about bias? Bias is when we judge someone based on a demographic group that they belong to. We associate certain groups with certain characteristics. For instance, if you judged someone to be less competent because they were over the age of 60, then you would be demonstrating age bias.

Gender bias doesn’t just damage women; it damages organizations, too.

As a leader, you might care about reducing gender bias. But the question is: How can you get everyone else in your organization to care, too? The answer is to get everyone to understand how it’s in their own self-interest to eliminate bias. Because when you kick gender bias to the curb, everyone wins.

The best leaders embrace both masculine and feminine traits.

Leadership that draws on extremely masculine traits, like aggression and dominance, is far from ideal. But this raises the question: What should we replace it with? Is the answer to promote leaders, either men or women, with an overtly feminine style of leadership? Let’s talk about why this isn’t a good idea, either.

The jobs of the future will be done by diverse teams.

Is your organization at risk of extinction? It might feel like your company will be around forever, but perhaps that’s what the dinosaurs thought, too, before a massive change shook their world. The only species that survived were those who were able to adapt to the new – and suddenly very harsh – environment. If you want your business to succeed, then you’ll need to make sure that you, too, can adapt. And in today’s economy, the best way to adapt is to adopt a diversity mindset.

Key ideas in Beat Gender Bias