Having grown up in Southern Africa during the time of Mandela, I’m a bit perplexed and annoyed that we still need to have this conversation, but here we are.
Not only did I believe that by now this topic would be somewhat passé in advanced economies, but even more so, I definitely never expected going into the world of work that I would face any such disparities in my own career. I truly always believed that if I worked hard enough, I would have the same opportunities and get the same recognition as anyone else.
What can I say, I’m an optimist – and mostly that has served me well.
Unfortunately, at some point in my career, I was faced by own reality check when it came to my attention that I was being paid significantly less than my male colleagues – 40% less to be exact!
How this situation evolved is a story for another day – but I can tell you this: whilst it is always said that women earn less because they don’t ask, not all companies are well prepared for women asking…
Eventually, I left the corporate world to carve out my own path as an entrepreneur. Now, there were of course many other reasons I decided to do this but trying to escape the glass ceiling was one of them.
To my dismay, I soon learnt – although not from my own experiences – that the gender gap does follow women into entrepreneurship, especially when it comes to fundraising. Instead of discussing business strategy and market potential, many VCs keep the conversation focused on family planning – one of the key reasons I decided to join L.I.C., a female investment group that invests exclusively in female-founded businesses.
Clearly, as long as mainstream inequality exists, we’re all being held back – irrespective of the journey we choose.
With all the public debate currently happening around the empowerment of women, one may think that a lot is being done to advance gender equality. Everywhere I look, companies are running events and campaigns targeting women, all very celebratory and pink, with little substance being shared of what those companies are actually doing to further equality.
What has all this hype really achieved?
Whilst it’s always good to start debate to get issues into the open, statistically speaking, probably not enough. Among fifteen nations that are considered to be “gender-equal,” Singapore has been ranked the worst on gender-wage equality. And if you think we’re making progress, the wage gap between men and women actually got worse in 2018!
Across the world, unequal pay has a ripple effect on women throughout their lives. According to the WEF, the gender pension gap hovers between 30 – 40% globally. By 2050, this gap is predicted to be a staggering US$400 trillion – about five times the size of today’s global economy!
Compensation is just one dimension that’s holding us back. We all know there’s a lack of female executives, board directors and investors. Lack of opportunity is one reason for this, but so is the fierce competition between women to stay ahead, as well as the many hurdles women face balancing home and work life, still doing disproportionately more in the home – even in two-income households.
All of these factors combine to make it easy for companies to overlook women for promotions, under-pay women for their work, and ultimately under-serve women as customers.
What can we do to address the issue? Here are 3 ideas:
#1 Creating open conversation around compensation and promotion
Why is it taboo to talk about pay? Probably because there are these vast disparities (between employees) and because companies don’t want to answer for them. However, could transparent, open and clear conversation not be used as a powerful motivator to encourage employees to improve their performance and address these inequalities?
If companies were open and honest about who makes what – and more importantly why, clear professional development milestones could be developed to determine career advancement and pay to encourage employees to get from one level to the next. To give companies flexibility, such data could be made public in terms of ranges and with benefits.
Some companies in some countries have made some initial steps towards this level of transparency, however now it’s time to take that a level further and to turn this transparency and openness into common practice that affects company policies.
#2 Let’s end the ‘men versus women’ dialogue and talk about real equality
We’re in this situation because of hundreds of years of tradition and societal norms. Yes, inequality is unfair, and it sucks, but alienating men from the conversation is probably not the way to go to affect meaningful and sustainable change. If men start feeling (even more) threatened by the rise of women, the outcome will probably be just the opposite of change.
Instead of blaming men for the status quo, let’s really start talking about equality, what that actually means to each of us and what we need to do to get there as a society. For example, does the notion of “feminism” really apply when women talk about equality or is it more likely a dated concept that needs a refresh to reflect what women want today? Or wouldn’t both men and women benefit from better arrangements around parental leave and childcare for instance?
Having and raising children is a fundamental need for human kind to continue to exist, yet our current systems and structures hardly facilitate a healthy balance for either party. Surely in this modern society we live in, we could do better. If home and family were more easily taken care of, the possibility to pursue ambitious career opportunities for both parents could be hugely improved.
#3 Creating a nurturing and supportive ecosystem for mutual growth
This rarely forms part of the gender equality debate, but if we’re honest for many young women, climbing the corporate ladder is a double-edged sword. Not only do they face the challenges already discussed, but also it is incredibly rare to find senior female leaders who will nurture young talent to follow in their footsteps.
Instead, many do everything they can to maintain the position they’ve fought so hard for, keeping young talent at bay. Equally, there tends to be fierce competition between females wanting to make it to the top.
All of this takes a lot energy – energy that could probably be used better elsewhere to really make an impact. If there were a more nurturing and supportive ecosystem, perhaps instead of clinging to their positions or standing in each other’s way, women could find the head space they need to get even further ahead to dominate more boardrooms, launch more businesses and increase investor representation to start levelling the playing field for the next generation.
In this article, we’ve only talked about the inequality between men and women. However, there are of course many other types of inequality in the workplace – and beyond – that deserve our attention.
To me, it all comes down to freedom. Freedom to pursue the opportunities we want, freedom to be ourselves and to be recognised for our contribution, freedom to live meaningful, fulfilled lives, and freedom from fear for our personal safety, regardless of our identities and affiliations.
Is that really so hard?
I’d love to hear what you think about this topic. Leave a comment and let me know what ideas you have to help achieve equality.
© Marielle Reussink, Marketing Professional, Entrepreneur, Workshop Facilitator & Advisor to Start-ups
