Equality – what happens when the issue is out of the news?

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International Women’s Day was held on 8 March 2021. Many organizations took the opportunity to publicly share their own position on the topic of equal rights for women. Social media was full of inspiring stories and pledges of commitment to equal opportunities. But what happens when this topic disappears from the news again? What happens when no one is looking?

Equality – a top priority on the leadership agenda

On a day like International Women’s Day, CEOs and executives from companies around the world make bold statements professing their commitment to equality for women in the workplace. For some, it’s a very serious matter. For others, it’s just PR. Whatever the sentiment, this topic is certainly a top priority on any forward-thinking leadership agenda. And yet, when International Women’s Day is over, we are left wondering where we will actually find equality behind the words. Here are a few observations and further thoughts that focus primarily on women’s equality. Other minorities, which are not explicitly mentioned or discussed here, are of course also affected by the issue of equality.

Culture cannot be delegated

If leadership has not already internalized the issue of women’s equality and embedded it in the corporate culture, it tends to get “delegated” to HR in my experience. Senior management may have recognized that the issue is a priority, but not what it means for their personal behavior. Why not have the HR specialists come up with a concept on how to better advance women’s equality? That way, the company can show current and potential employees that they care about the issue as an organization. Unfortunately, this neglects the fact that you cannot delegate the topic if it is truly to become embedded in a corporate culture. Even the most effective and well-meaning of equality concepts help only if they are supported from the top.

Behavior comes before communication

In a next step, or even in parallel, the communications department is involved. It should report on role models and success stories as continuously as possible. In most cases, this happens far too early. For example before leadership behavior has actually changed and when there are still examples within the organization of unfair behavior towards women that have no consequences. The result is that any communication on the topic of equality appears untrustworthy. In fact, I often observe a sense of mistrust within the organization as soon as this topic is discussed.

Male part-timers need to be rebranded

In addition, I notice that the topic of equality is often approached from one side only. In the good intention to promote women, there is too much focus on vehicles and communication platforms that are primarily created for women only. Even though this is always done with the remark “men are also welcome,” there is often a lack of a strategic focus on involving men in the discussion. But there also needs to be forums and communication platforms that look at the issue of gender equality from a male perspective – alongside women. Some organizations are on this path, but many have much work to do before they successfully rebrand the male part-time employee.

Advancing women doesn’t just affect mothers

Last but not least, women’s equality doesn’t just affect mothers who want to have a career at the same time. There are also numerous women who don’t have a family and are still not on an equal footing with their male work colleagues. They are often given too little consideration, which in turn reinforces the one-sided view of equality and leads to certain women themselves also feeling excluded from this discussion.

What can companies do?

If a company truly wants to address the issue of women’s equality, the following principles will help:

1) Leadership is not afraid to bring the issue of equal opportunity fully to the table.

2) Leadership demonstrates with its behavior at all times that equal opportunity is the top priority.

3) Unfair behavior toward women has consequences. So does unfair behavior toward men (or other groups).

4) Men are equally included in the discussion of equality as women.

5) Non-mothers are included in the discussion of equality just as mothers are.

How equal opportunities for women are actually practiced and experienced in an organization will ultimately only become clear long after International Women’s Day is over. A true marker of success is that equal opportunities have become a genuine corporate value that is lived out even when no one is looking.

Some organizations are showing great progress, but there is still a lot to do. And it can only be done together.

Back to work after maternity leave

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As a mother of three, and someone with high professional ambitions, the topic “back to work” is very close to my heart, especially in connection with Next Generation Leadership. I’ve always taken the view that gender is irrelevant if someone wants to pursue a career. In fact, endless discussions about diversity have bored me.

Room for improvement

Today, I see the whole topic in a more nuanced light. There are indeed plenty of companies that still have a lot of room for improvement in this area. When it comes to new mothers and fathers reentering the work place and safeguarding their further career development, we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

Next generations must manage gender mix

According to the Schilling Report 2019, the gender mix in management remains a generational project. Although the proportion of women in executive management has reached 9% for the first time, only half of the 100 largest employers in Switzerland have a woman on the executive board.

Challenge of getting more women in management

For companies to transform successfully and sustainably, they need new, diverse leaders and leadership teams – people who can break away from traditional ways of thinking and leading. This includes having more women on the executive floor. It should no longer be exceptional for a woman to be CEO or a member of the executive board. But it often still is the need for action is real.

According to the Schilling Report 2019, it is up to the companies, the business community and society to establish conditions under which the many well-trained, experienced and competent young mothers do not feel that they have to abandon their careers to plan a family. The same applies to fathers of young children who no longer want to dedicate themselves solely to their careers.

New mother, new take on career

In recent years, I’ve often observed how even the most talented and successful women experience uncertainty about their future career development when returning to work after maternity leave. While others have shown that it is possible to reconcile career and family, the subject of careers suddenly appears in a whole new light if you are a new mother yourself.

Perceptions and preconceptions

What will my colleagues think of me when I pack up at 17:00 on the dot because I have to collect my child from daycare? What happens if I no longer want to work 100%, but only 60%, 75% or 80%? Can I retain my leadership role or should I proactively offer to relinquish it to give others development opportunities? And wouldn’t it be best for me just to accept that I’m not making such rapid progress on the career ladder now – after all, I wanted a family?

Career needs clear communication

Although these thoughts are quite real, superiors and organizations cannot read your mind. So it’s important to clearly communicate your needs as a mother (or father) and tell your supervisor how you envisage working life in the future. Again, it is up to the leaders and the company to make decisions on an individual’s career development based on general assumptions about new parents. After all, let’s not forget that many new mothers return to work even hungrier than ever after maternity leave and are extremely motivated to develop further. If they then work for an employer who encourages and challenges them in a part-time role, the right course is set for more women at management level. By investing in a woman while her children are small, companies also stand to benefit from her skillset – and loyalty – in years to come.

Takeaways for everyone

Incidentally, clearly expressing personal career needs is something everyone should do. Flexible forms of work and the part-time contracts for highly demanding and meaningful work are exactly what the next generation – currently entering the world of work – will seek. And these needs are here to stay. In a future where the employer’s market as we know it will increasingly shift to an employee’s market, companies will have to look even more closely at how they meet these needs.