The social view that women had a one dimensional role was replaced years ago - no longer do women need to choose between being the caretaker of the family or having a career.
Despite the government tax processes that encourage the stay at home caretaker role, women participate in the economic sphere. This is the logical way forward to faster advancement and growth in all fields - the world can only go so far when half of the population's talent, drive and creativity is being hidden at home.
So why is women's participation in the workforce showing a disparity between the genders' treatment and discrimination (indirect or direct) based on sex?
Indeed the gender pay gap is still an ongoing battle. According to Salt’s global report in 2020 regarding women in the workplace 51% of women report that equal pay is the most prevalent issue. While previously thought that this was due to women not having the confidence to ask for promotions or pay rises, it has been reported by Salt that women are asking for their pay raises just as often as men but are still not as successful as men.
This pay gap is not at all helped by the fact that women simply aren’t given the opportunities they should. 31% of women in the McKinsey study stated they had to provide more evidence of competency, rising to 42% of black women, compared to just 16% of men. Within the survey, over half the men stated they felt supported in order to further their careers, as opposed to the majority of women (58%) who said their firm’s advancement programmes lacked the support to further their careers.
Okay, so it is difficult to get through the door of opportunity, we knew this already… but are women at least recognised once they’ve made it inside? According to this study and previous research done, the answer is no. Only a third of women feel their potential or talent was being recognised or utilised to its full potential, nor was it rewarded within their firm.
Basically, this shows that the business model isn’t working and hinders women from progressing and actively achieving their best. Fighting against the many hurdles that the current system promotes takes years to achieve, but the current pandemic may be the answer to speed this up. While the pandemic created a big hit to businesses, it forced people to adapt the working model and promoted the shift to remote working. The current technology enables this adaption and has pushed creativity to fix holes in the technology to allow the adaption to meet our needs for remote working. At least at a basic level, workplace culture (even if just the long desk hours) has changed.
How does this shift to relying on technology for remote working benefit women in the workplace? For one thing, it removes geographic barriers, which can encourage inclusivity and access. According to Salt’s report in Britain, only 29% of women felt they could have children without affecting their careers. Not to mention that being able to afford childcare once they return to work is another hindrance. Even conquering all that, women still report having missed out on opportunities or promotions once they have returned from maternity leave. Being able to balance a work-life balance is a lot more attainable where the geographic barrier is removed, and women are able to continue care for children while working from home.
A lot of adjustment was needed for businesses to continue during this outbreak; this is proof that not only are adjustment’s realistically viable but it actually promotes productivity!
It was revealed that people in an office environment are only productive for three out of eight and a half hours a day versus the increased productivity reported based on the more flexible remote working module, which also boasts that the quality of work improved.
Organisations were able to adapt to this global disruption; it is proof that they can adapt to foster an environment that promotes women in the workplace. The Coronavirus pandemic created massive disruption and chaos, but it forced the world to analyse the way businesses operate - this is the time to learn and grow from that experience. This was not the first global pandemic that devastated the population, but the previous pandemics (the Black Death in the 14th century and 1918 flu pandemic as examples) also fostered innovation, fundamental social change, improved healthcare and inspired creativity that furthered the Arts.
While this does not solve every problem associated with women climbing the ladder of success in the workplace, it does ignite the spark and is certainly a step in the right direction. This pandemic has validated what all women already knew; they are cable, competent and able to succeed in the workforce, but the system has created hurdles that force women’s talent to stay hidden. It is time to remove the limitations and place women high up where they belong.
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*Salt is a global, award-winning digital recruitment agency:
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