Gender equality at the workplace translates to many levels, including aspects like access to employment, compensation benefits, and developmental opportunities across all sectors of an organization for women.
Visibly it requires a multi-pronged strategy that cascades throughout.
Here are four ways to improve gender equality in the workplace:
Filter biases in recruitment: It is the first step that can make a difference to the pipeline. Ensure that the job description is worded carefully and does not signal a preference for one gender. Leave out adjectives like ‘dominate’, ‘rockstar’, ‘ninja’, etc.
Review the biases that can creep in this stage; assess the recruitment team and ensure that they are free of biases, regarding roles and attributes.
Make managers accountable: One way of doing this is to make them up the game of pursuing diversity and inclusion goals by embedding them into their business strategies. It would also be worthwhile to tie it to bonuses and incentives. Unless tracked and measured, they are not going to be achieved.
Have fair compensation practices: Fair compensation is not just the right thing to do because it has equality in the heart, but is also the best for business. It is a significant step to retaining top talent. The compensation program should be fair, transparent, and equitable. It is an important step to ushering in gender equality in the workplace.
Build inclusive culture: As an essential component of equality and equity, inclusiveness ensures the removal of all barriers that can hinder workforce participation. Inclusion also accounts for employee experience and engagement, linking them to belongingness and acceptance. It results in innovation and reduced attrition.
Gender equality is not a one-time process. It is a result of framing, reviewing, and recreating practices and policies that enable the organization to rise to the dynamics of change, ensuring that women do not remain underrepresented in the workplace.
