Belated Happy International Women’s Day! Congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to help promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive world! Thank you for fuelling the progress we have seen over recent years as we advance towards true gender equality. There’s a lot to be celebrated!
That said, there’s still a lot of work to do to create a world free of gender bias and discrimination, including in the workplace. Gender stereotypes still exist as regards the type of work and industries that women are supposedly suited to and the level of responsibility that they can comfortably assume. Pay inequality remains rampant. And even in the context of our new remote working era, it has been often left up to working mums to add home-schooling and child care to their daily workload, while working dads are free to remain ‘on-call’ for work.
So what can we do to help build the momentum on all the progress made to date? How can the HR industry help close the gap? By way of a quick reminder of key areas to be addressed, please check in with The World Economic Forum or take a quick stroll through our summary of the tips it offers below.
- Make a longer shortlist when recruiting. HR can address lingering gender inequities inherent in informal recruitment processes, particularly in male-dominated industries, by adding three women candidates to the initial shortlist.
- Remove the gender pay gap by being transparent about wages. Pay brackets for specific roles help all employees to negotiate a fair wage.
- Skills-based assessments, whereby candidates are asked to perform tasks that are part of their potential new role, help to reduce the risk of unfair and unconscious bias. Structured interviews, where all candidates are asked the same questions in a predetermined order and format, also help to reduce bias.
- Organise for women to mentor men. The benefits of junior businesswomen having a mentor are well documented. But having women mentor men goes a step further to generate more empathy and co-operation between the sexes. It fosters a sense that we’re all in this together, regardless of gender, and promotes the team-spirit crucial to the collective success of teams and businesses.
- Make work-life balance a priority to encourage more women to apply and enable both them (and their partners) to balance work and home-life responsibilities. Flexible working models help couples with children to spread family responsibilities more evenly. Everyone benefits.
Clearly, we haven’t quite got to the gender equality finishing line yet. But we have certainly made great strides on this challenging journey. ABL, your trusted recruitment partner, wishes you every success as you (and we!) continue on the road to a brighter, better, fairer working world for everyone. Belated Happy International Women’s Day, to one and all!
