Historically, there were many powerful women leaders. The culture barriers did not affect their success but yet today women struggle for fair opportunities. Culture seems to have played an important role in women’s lives. The way it affects the opportunities women have or we can say the limitations women have are all connected to culture. Women have always been told to focus more on home responsibilities and limited their access to the outside world. This, in fact, has resulted in the lack of participation of women in leadership.
As the years have passed, the culture has modified or we can say women snatched their equal rights for making it possible for them to have a place in the working sector. Women have been excelling in all the fields they enter. Regardless of gender barriers, women are trying to create a space for them. Equal rights are given to women, yet we see them struggle for the fair chance. The updated society needs an updated culture. Men have outnumbered women and deprived them of a fair chance of leadership.
The equal number is not equality
Some people confuse the word ‘equality’ with ‘equal number’. Do not flood your office with female employees. When it comes to equality, women deserve an equal chance and value, not an equal number of co-workers. The way women are treated at work should not be gender-biased. The feedback of the workers would be beneficial for this. You can ask them about how they feel working in the environment and the changes they wish to see. Considering all this would create a beneficial platform. If your company lacks women’s participation address the issue. Study the problems and execute the proper solution to include more participation. Creating a women-friendly environment is not a big task. Stop treating women as special and treat them as normal human beings for starters.
Change it and maintain it
Ask questions such as “what’s the best organization you can imagine? What behaviors do we need to change? What opportunities might we be missing if we don’t change?” Taking actions to create change is easy but maintaining it is where the work starts. You cannot just plant a seed and expect it to grow perfectly. All the changes should be maintained properly. The senior leaders play an important role here. The seniors must know what is going on in the workspace and if all the employees are satisfied with the environment or not. Google’s leadership team, for example, has published research reports that recognize that their female employees can benefit from many kinds of perks that focus on their specific needs, from expectant mothers parking to maternity leaves. The executives at Google took this information and acted on it, all in an attempt to remedy deep-lying cultural issues. These changes may seem minor but prove important for the women-friendly environment.
Do men have it easy?
Women are about three times as likely as men to say their gender has made it harder for them to succeed at their job. Men are not experiencing these challenges as regularly as women do. The gender bias in nature has favored men for a long time. Men and women working in the same place end up having different work experiences. To understand it in a better way, many times men are considered for the promotion and women (being deserving) are still rooted out. This type of behavior also leads to a lack of women’s participation. Considering the competition, women always have to put extra efforts as compared to men. It is important to understand that considering someone as a leader should totally depend on the talent, not the gender. Keeping the talent in mind, we could give women a fair opportunity to lead.
2019 and still inequality is a serious issue
Inequality still seems to be an issue that is unsolved. Equal education rights, equal career opportunities are still not accomplished. The toxic culture may seem like a problem, but for how long? We need to have a new perspective on women’s participation and rights. Women in leadership should not be an issue we are facing in 2019. With all the updated culture and environment, women still have to struggle. Many measures are being implemented to make them feel equal but the same is not practiced. We need to change our perspective and stop stereotyping women for once. We have seen how women excelled in every field, therefore giving them a fair opportunity of leadership would prove beneficial too.
To conclude, blaming culture for the unfair treatment of women is old news. We keep updating our apps, then why can’t we update our thoughts. The issues are all blamed on culture and we do not really work for solutions. Lack of women in leadership is due to the lack of participation of women. Giving them an equal platform would surely increase the women leaders’ ratio. It would not happen magically though, with proper efforts and measures, we could give women finally the place they deserve. More women in leadership, would not only create a better place to work but also be more adaptive and productive. Modern problems need modern solutions.
Also Read: Traditional Leadership Style Versus Modern Day Business Approach.
