Thanks for your question Dan. I think for one thing, it’s not always clear that it’s good for business. In our work with companies, we always get the pushback from individuals that it feels like something is being taken away. In some tangible away, it’s true: we want a world where unconscious bias has less of an impact on who gets the job, who gets promoted, who gets mentored. And that means opening up space for new faces and voices in settings that may have traditionally only welcomed in a few archetypes. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing: just that it’s a needed correction!
That is great Katie. I think that also aligns with how we talk about it sometimes. Some men may actively oppose gender equality but many or most may simply be complicit (afraid to speak out or simply unwilling to challenge a system that to some extent benefits them).
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Then you have many other men who do speak out and seek to promote gender equality.
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Yes, and this seems to be even more urgent when looking at Industry 4.0 and the more digital skills required for new roles or changes to existing roles, to focus on diversity of all kinds on technical fields and leadership
@Katie - I wasn’t familiar with that research - if you get a chance to post a link would be grateful.
I also wonder whether sometimes we set this up as a men v women thing. There is a case for why men win in a gender equality society. As Robert Webb’s 8 year old famously said “the ‘trick’ (the patriarchy) is the thing that makes men sad and women have bad jobs”…
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Thanks @Fabio Verani for bringing that up, we need to be aware of both gender and diversity and the fact that men too have very contradictory experiences of power as our colleague Michael Kaufman has pointed out.
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@DanSeymour isnt there also something in the fact that the status quo is not benefiting the majority of men…(sole bread winners, huge pressures to conform to rigid notions of masculinity, suicide rates etc)
@Chris - when you say it’s not always clear that it’s good for business, speaking at least from the perspective of the Unstereotype Alliance, I’m not aware of any examples where ads that took a gender equality angle ended up hurting bottom line - only the opposite. Would be good to explore a bit what the examples are - I’m sure there are examples the other way, but maybe they’re instructive.
Very true Alice. One piece of patriarchy that gets missing when we discuss it is that it is about men’s power over women but also about men’s power over other men.
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Agree @Nikkivdg - this is not a one way street at all. I count myself as a “beta” male and have always been keen to work out how we can increase our influence in organisations
Yes, thats another reason that communication and courageous open conversations on this topic are so key - so that everybody realises that this is not a men vs women issue, it is more complex and nuanced than that
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So patriarchy often does not benefit many men but it does benefit some and those tend to have more power.
@Alice - exactly - I suppose I’m noting that all our answers to the first question were about the benefits to business and the world, which is fine, but I wonder whether we’re not highlighting enough that men may benefit in a narrow sense (more money, better jobs) but lose in a human sense.
Excellent food for thought there, now question 2: What are the best examples of business approaches and interventions to engage men as allies to advance gender equality across business operations from source to consumer?
@DanielSeymour @Chris.Hook.PMO I wonder if the publicity around the Gilette ad affected their bottom line? It certainly raised important issues very publicly but there are also lots of angry men out there…
@Dan - great point!. We are a member of #SEEHER and they have great data on how gender equality in advertising can generate positive returns. It’s really valuable insight and helpful for generating powerful discussions!
@DanSeymour I think my point was that it maybe doesn’t feel like it’s good for business, because there are growing pains and can cause a lot of consternation internally. Companies where we’ve done internal trainings, that’s often the feedback we get. But the argument should be made that it’s growing pains, and an important course correction.
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A2: Getting men engaged in gender equality starts with honest and open conversations with men about why gender equality can matter to (and benefit) them. Equally it is important to acknowledge any lack of awareness or indeed fears men might have about the way the world is changing and men’s position in it as women advance in the workplace.
At Mercer we started a “Men Matter” campaign to enable men to share their ideas and perspectives with other men in the Company and to open up safe spaces to have discussions about what men really want from work and their work-life balance.
We found that key things that made a difference in engaging them were:
• Acknowledging the personal dimension ie why it matters to men individually
• Reviewing the data: ie what the representation of women in the organisation is at all levels, but particularly in the leadership pipeline and at the executive level
• Discussing practical actions the men could take to actually make a difference in their teams eg role modelling, sponsoring or mentoring women, promoting flexible working and parental leave for all genders, reviewing the gender balance in their teams etc.