ELEVATING GENDER EQUITY IN THE WORKPLACE

With 60.2% of gender-diverse companies reporting increased profits and productivity, there’s no doubt that businesses with women in leadership are highly successful. Still, the workplace environment is not fully equitable for women, especially those who belong to marginalized communities. As businesses work towards reaching their diversity, equity and inclusion goals; it is a clear necessity to promote women to leadership roles to become a top-rated company. 

Changing the culture of the workplace does not just happen by promoting women to leadership roles. Healthy work practices must be initiated and followed on a day-to-day basis to make the workplace truly equitable. Here are three places to start a necessary cultural shift in the workplace:

1. Pay team members for ALL services. Studies have found that women work more hours each year than men due to extra tasks or meetings outside their roles. These contributions are often overlooked, and contribute to inequality.

2. Assess what tasks are fair. Women are often expected to take on the more domestic tasks within an office space, such as taking meeting notes and making the coffee. Taking inventory and distributing tasks equally is a must, even on the smallest scale.

3. Positively guide your workplace dynamic. While it can be difficult in complex environments such as Zoom, monitoring subtle comments or cues in meetings can indicate what goes on outside of them. Effective leaders should be especially mindful of all sides, and proactively defend groups when necessary.