When it comes to gender equality at your workplace, you might not be surprised to know, that a large share of females in an organization tend to feel invisible while they are at work, as compared to their male colleagues. From executive boardrooms and offices to even ordinary meetings, more and more women feel that they don’t get as much credit for their ideas as men do. Women in organizations feel that their contributions are not recognized; moreover, women bear a disproportionately higher share of family and home duties than their spouses. This, in turn, leaves them to curb their ambition for more senior positions and job roles. According to The Wall Street Journal, only a handful of the 46% women (at entry level) make it to the C-Suite.
So the important question here is that what can you do as a manager to change the current situation or even make things better. Read on, as this article gives you valuable insight into ways that you can implement at your workplace, that will help you in addressing any gender inclusion related issues.
Rethink Job Interviews
When it comes to a job interview with female candidates, interviewers must keep in mind that each and every candidate can have different needs from the job. It is the job of the interviewer to make the female candidate feel comfortable and not to ask questions that might prove to be a bit uncomfortable, or unprofessional. You should avoid asking questions like how much salary do you expect, because it has been noticed that women consistently ask lesser salaries than men.
Make Gender Equality a Part of Induction Training
Once you are done with the recruitment process, make sure to introduce gender equality education as the part of your induction training program. The young members at the job should be supported and guided in the right way, while making them understand about this issue.
Present Development Opportunities
You can help the women in your organization, build confidence and learn new skills by offering a variety of training and mentoring opportunities, for everyone in the workplace. Be it corporate team activities, training sessions, workshops or seminars, you must include something or the other that will help everyone feel that they are essential to the organization and that is why the management is investing in them.
Welcome Women Proactively
Whenever there is a new assignment or a task, ask the female members of the team to take active initiative and listen to their contributions in a proactive manner. You should be clear about stating the fact that you want to hire, promote and support women. Salary should also be monitored, and it must be made sure that the gender pay gap does not factor in.
Offer More Work Flexibility
The females of your organization will feel a bit more welcome if you allow some more flexibility in the way of your work. It is possible that women might require part-time work or work from home, more often than men and it becomes your duty to accommodate efficiently for the same.
Aim for 50-50
Your aim should be to have a 50-50 gender split in all your teams, be it at the entry level or at the topmost positions. You must not think of limiting your talent pool at any time. It should not be an uncommon thing in your organization, if either men or women ask for generic practical support like child care.
Ultimately, if you wish to address gender related issues at your workplace then these 6 ways can definitely be of help. I can vouch for a better team coordination, if everyone in the organization i.e. both men and women, are happy with the working atmosphere.
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