A BBC report reveals an average gender pay disparity of 10.4 percent in the fiscal year 2019-20. In the UK, paying male and female employees differently for doing the same job is illegal, just as it is in many other countries. Nevertheless, that year, 7,572 firms reported a pay gap in favor of men, 1,286 reported a pay gap in favor of women, and just 770 reported no pay gap at all.
Women in the workforce face tremendous challenges today, including birthing and raising children, juggling hectic households, preparing healthy home-cooked meals, and providing financial stability—all while trying to find time to exercise, socialize, and squeeze in the odd moment of relaxation. Many women are still treated as “less than” in the workplace. In addition to unequal pay, common complaints from female workers include the following:
- Sexual harassment. According to a 2018 survey published by the nonprofit Stop Street Harassment, 81 percent of women said they had experienced sexual harassment of some type in their lifetime, including physical or verbal assault.
- Being overlooked for promotions. Today, women are more educated than men and constitute almost half of the workforce. However, on average, women are promoted far less often than men. Just 5 percent of CEOs are female, and less than 10 percent of the top earners in the S&P 500 are women. Women of color are even more disadvantaged, being virtually invisible on both Fortune 500 boards and S&P 500 boards. A commonly cited reason for this is a lack of visible role models, leading women to believe that a leadership role is simply unattainable.
- Racism. Research reveals that, in many cases, the remuneration a female employee receives depends largely on her ethnicity and race. Institute for Women’s Policy Research data reveals that Hispanic and Native American women receive the lowest pay in the United States, on average, earning between $28,000 and $31,000 a year, respectively. Next come white women, at $40,000. Pacific Islander and Asian women are the highest paid, with median annual earnings of $46,000.
- Fear of negotiating pay. Women commonly struggle with asking for higher pay in a job since, for a woman, it is often construed as “desperate” or “greedy” to try to negotiate better pay. According to one Glassdoor survey, 68 percent of women accepted the salary they were offered without attempting to negotiate a better deal.
With an ever-increasing skills gap today, politicians and businesses alike are having conversations about the need to get more women into every level of business, particularly at the board level. According to Debjani Ghosh, president of NASSCOM, businesses that fail to achieve this run the risk of losing relevance, customers, and traction against market rivals who embrace diversity. In an innovative economy, for businesses that want to get ahead, the answer is hiding in plain sight.
Increasing the number of female leaders within a company can be crucial to that company’s future success. In addition, with prime candidates already waiting in the wings at many companies, ready and willing to be recruited right now, businesses do not have to look far to realize the significant benefits of creating inclusive leadership in today’s digital economy.
The worrying thing is, despite the many noted benefits of gender equality in the workplace, many organizations simply are not doing very much about it. Rather than capitalizing on a critically important resource, leadership continues to overlook female employees. If this was not the case, the lamentable leadership gender gap simply would not exist.
Female employees currently represent just over 47 percent of the corporate workforce, but at the C-suite level, that number dwindles. Ultimately, many promising female employees fail to realize their full potential simply because they are not given the opportunity to advance to influential corporate roles.
Quest, a nonprofit research center based in Lexington, Massachusetts, focuses on early career female talent. Quest’s research suggests that managers make assumptions that limit the professional advancement opportunities of young female workers, such as presuming that they will opt out of challenging roles or be unwilling to travel due to family commitments.
Worryingly, the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Gender Gap Report warns that the world will not see gender equality for another 135 years. It also suggests that gender parity helps economies and societies to thrive.
Fortunately, there are actions businesses can take to close the gender gap, such as:
- Creating fair promotion and compensation procedures
- Focusing on diversity in the recruitment process
- Offering flexible and supportive employee benefits
- Holding managers accountable
- Creating a diversity and inclusion training program
Providing a workplace that is both inclusive and equitable creates the perfect platform for innovation, allowing staff members to bring their unique ideas, experiences, skills, and perspectives to the table. As Mandy Price, cofounder and CEO of Kanarys, Inc. points out, the numbers simply do not lie. Creating a diverse, inclusive workforce is good for business, and it is time for all business leaders to do something about it.
