Happy International Women’s Day! Understatement: a lot has been said and written about women, women’s rights, and the amount of women in boardrooms. Comments already heard today: why should we have this day anyway? Why isn’t there a men’s day? Well. These comments are the exact reason why I feel like sharing this blog today.
One simple observation from me: too often, I find myself in a meeting room with men only. It’s hardly 50/50, in presence alone. I’m working in IT for almost 10 years now. And I see this improving slowly, but steadily (presence in general, not in boardrooms). When I started my career as a consultant, this was my main reason to become a ‘Women of CGI’ advocate. Just to get to know my female colleagues.
No, us women are not pitiful. But in these corporates or consultancy firms it’s just nice to meet each other. Networking and increasing visibility as well as supporting each other is crucial. That’s not gender related if you ask me.
What I do realize is that I have many more chances, possibilities and opportunities than my mother used to have when she was my age. In her early career, she wasn’t able to work part-time. She didn’t want to be a full-time working mom. So she decided to quit her job.
Times changes, fortunately. Currently, many women work part-time. Great! But it’s also seen as one of the causes we lack women in top positions. According to research of Ely & Padavic in the March – April 2020 issue of Harvard Business Review, the work/family narrative is a common one. This narrative goes roughly like this: “High-level jobs require extremely long hours, women’s devotion to family makes it impossible for them to put in those hours, and their careers suffer as a result.” Guess what, their data didn’t support this narrative.
The survey is a long-term study in a consultancy firm, so these research may not be the general truth. What I find interesting though, is the problem they found was not the work/ family challenge itself but a general culture of overwork in which women were encouraged to take career-derailing accommodations to meet the demands of work and family. The men in these company mostly didn’t use these accommodations, prioritizing work over family, and feeling awful about that as well.
It is deeply rooted in our society and culture (still) that the men is the head of the family, providing for the main income. And women might be working part-time and mostly responsible for the kids. I know families where this is a conscious decision, and that’s not necessarily wrong. But what I’m wondering is: why is this still common? Why is it still an exception that women provide the main income for their families? And why is it expected from me to become a mother and work less?
Back to the research. Ely & Padavic concluded that this culture of overwork didn’t only punish women, but also men, although to a lesser degree. Only by recognizing and addressing the problem as one that affects all employees will have a chance of achieving of workplace equality. Sidenote: the consultancy firm at hand responded negatively to the research outcome. They continued to maintain that women were failing to advance because they had difficulty balancing work and family, and they insisted that any solution had to target women specifically. Now, THAT is disappointing.
But I’m not pessimistic. I see progress. I see women step up and become visible. My employer, Blue Bricks, recruits more and more awesome women (and men, for that matter). But most importantly, they stimulate and motivate personal development and growth for everyone. Because that should never be gender related.
Read the full article of Ely and Padavic in Harvard Business Review here.
Essence of Change 