From «leaning in» to adopting a lower voice in meetings, much of the solution to improving women’s careers has lain on women themselves. Now a study considers another approach to achieving gender equality.
When it comes to promoting women in the workplace, much focus has been put on equipping them with the skills they need to advance. Since 2018 women's promotion to Switzerland's executive suite has advanced by one percentage point.
If corporations carry on at this rate, it will take them till 2078 to achieve gender parity, according to the Gender Intelligence Report 2021 released Tuesday.
Systemic Change
Corporations should make systemic changes to their working culture, recommends the study, jointly conducted by Advance and the University of St.Gallen surveying 320,000 employees from 90 firms. Its authors have developed a range of tools and best practices to help companies to identify, address and stub out practices that impede women’s career development.
Square One
Part of the process to becoming more inclusive involves questioning common assumptions. The report recommends companies get staff to paint a shared picture of what an inclusive workplace looks like and to describe the personal traits they associate with a leader. Another recommendation is to list the tasks that fall away from a position before advertising a job as part-time.
Key to implementing these new methods and to making them work is to tie them to measurable goals in the form of key performance indicators. Without these measures structures, processes and working culture will continue to filter out young female talent, the report says.
