PERSONAL REFERENCE
Upon joining my first large corporate, I was already two months pregnant. It is part of my culture to protect the sacredness of pregnancy by not telling anyone in the first three months. Since the issue was never raised during the interview or on my commencing my duties, I focussed on the work at hand to assimilate myself into this new chapter in my career. Ultimately, I reasoned that I had a few months to learn the ropes and make quick impact before going on maternity leave.
Once I was visibly pregnant, I shared the exciting news and my strategy on how I planned to ensure that I merge my new role as a Mom with my career commitments. To my sheer astonishment, I was advised that I do not qualify for the company’s maternity leave benefits because I was with the company for less than two years. I escalated the matter to the HR Manager and the HR Executive, who both advised that the policy was in place to safeguard the interests of the company and my case would not be an exception. It was clear that the company’s approach to maternity benefit policies reflects a company that is prioritising the company’s bottom line ahead of the interests of their female employees. This approach was held by the organisation notwithstanding the growing strength of what has come to be known as the “Economic Argument”, which makes a case for more women inclusive corporations as there has been a demonstrated a definite correlation between the performance of companies and the proportion of women service in their leadership (Chengadu & Scheepers, 2017).
I addressed a formal submission to the full Executive Committee of the Corporation setting out the unfairness of the policy and how it was discriminating against women. On reviewing the overall policy, I found that male employees were not subjected to similar crippling policies in respect of their paternity benefits. Male employees were entitled to their 5-day paternity leave immediately upon joining the company, without being bound to remain in the company for a period of 2 year after returning from such leave. This policy was clearly grounded on patriarchal principles.
This Executive Committee chaired by the CEO considered my submission and resolved to amend this policy and allow women to enjoy the company maternity benefits immediately upon joining the company. This was a single yet significant step towards levelling the playing fields for women in the working environment. The walk to gender equality in the workplace is much more complex that it requires a multilayers intervention.
My inaugural corporate maternity policy inequalities encounter keeps my passion for women workplace equality burning. Building on this insight and the various research conducted on the subject, here below are some insights on what companies and women could do in order to level the gendered workplace playing fields.
WHAT SHOULD COMPANIES DO?
FOCUS ON POLICY SHIFTS – According to the Institutional Theory a firm is perceived to be legitimate when its means and its ends conform to social norms, values and standards (Dang & Vo, 2012). On the surface they were driving the gender equality agenda through women award programs and some training and development initiatives. In alignment to their publicly pronounced values of fairness and commitment to equal workplace opportunities, I chose to accept employment with this company. In this regard, the company had established legitimacy from their constituencies, which Dang defined that companies could do this through either symbolic or substantive management (Dang & Vo, 2012). Symbolic management of company legitimacy refers to companies managing practices to meet the constituencies expectations without making substantial changes to the organisation. Substantive management on the other hand refers to companies making substantive changes to organisational structure and practices to align with the norms and values of their constituencies (Dang & Vo, 2012). Merely focusing on such women programmes level though, the company left the root of the problem unaddressed. Women’s development initiatives simply become icing to a “corrupt cake” if the policies and practices of the organisation remain characterised by gender bias and structural barriers to women’s capabilities. In fact, simply pouring more budget on surface level women initiatives whilst failing to analyse and review fundamental policies will continue to hamper women’s progress in the workplace.
To achieve a sustainable gender balance impact, companies should focus on substantive changes that involve changes in policy instead of individualised case-by-case approaches which are more symbolic in nature.
INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS APPROACH – Gender inequality is a historical and contextual issue. It was argued by Chengadu & Scheepers that leadership is a social process rather than an attribute of any one individual (Chengadu & Scheepers, 2015). For this reason, addressing any women in leadership issues should not be approached through the eyes of any one individual or stakeholder group. The imperative is neither a women’s only “problem” nor an HR Department’s only problem. It is important that a cohesive strategy by adopted by an organisation. Merely publishing good intentions in company public documents without an implementable strategy in place is paying symbolic service to the real issues.
In cases where a strategy is in place, a further mistake made by companies is isolating the implementation of these strategies to either HR or a dedicated Women’s Development Initiative Unit or Department. As much as this has the benefit of giving the cause focus, the biggest challenge is that it ends up being an imperative isolated from the rest of the business. This misses the opportunity of mainstreaming the cause of gender equality and often results in resistance those who are in positions of making decisions that impact the wellbeing and progress of women in the workplace. The gender equality strategy should therefore be integrated across company functions and divisions as research has shown that benefits of increased women leadership result in improvements across internal and external stakeholders.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE – The strategy or women empowerment in the workplace must be lived out by the organisation, starting from the top. Leadership of the organisation must lead by example. An all-male executive leadership professing women empowerment will lose legitimacy for women empowerment in the long run. By living these values out at a leadership level, this will strongly communicate to the rest of the organisation that women empowerment is part and parcel of doing business and not a “special project” that companies embark upon when budget allows or when there is likely to be no impact on the bottom line. Leadership teams that embrace leadership diversity argument will drive more substantive changes to the women leadership agenda as they will incorporate women in leadership because of the diverse value they add especially in the face of “changing dynamics of the world order” (Chengadu & Scheepers, 2015).
WHAT SHOULD WOMEN DO?
Seemingly insurmountable as the challenge of gender equality in the workplace is, the power to start the ripple effect, lies in each individual woman. Although one individual woman may not have the power to shift the balance on their own, but they can contribute a part by increasing their own chances of success against the odds and thereby impacting other women through their success. Here are some of the steps they can take:
BET ON YOURSELF – every woman should start by being their own sponsor. Often women don’t succeed because they do not have faith in their own abilities. Women are often socialised to see their talents and leadership capacity through the masculine lens and when what we perceive does not fit into this masculine frame, an imposter syndrome results. Once a woman associates value to her level of worth and contribution, they can operate in the workplace from the position of higher self-esteem. Although there are long established social factors that have contributed to women measuring themselves against men-factors, which factors will take generations to reverse for women as a collective, each individual woman has the capacity to rise above these by adjusting the value they allocate to their own abilities. Confidence in your own worth and abilities is the launching pad for self-leadership which is the first step to personal empowerment. Betting on yourself means personal commitment to self-development. In as much as companies should have women empowerment strategies, it should start with each woman having her own personal growth strategy which will then drive and direct how she responds to or pursues opportunities for herself in any environment.
PUNCH ABOVE YOUR WEIGHT – Taking calculated risks is a major prerequisite for success. Women must position themselves to take more risks. In a work environment pursuing professional goals that are beyond the initial comfort zone. Social, political, religious and other “voices” have over generations influenced women’s definition of abilities and comfort zones. Social cognitions influence the nature of the goals and standards that are set by individuals, based on their self-perceptions (Mccormick and Martinko, 2004). The effect of this has been that most women perceive their abilities within these “socially defined limitations”. If women do not strive to punch above these, then the status quo will remain and the patriarchy continuously entrenched.
DON’T GO IT ALONE – A Women should employ the African principle of Ubuntu, which propagates the principle of collective upliftment. A woman should strive to find their tribe, an Advisory Board. Finding partners for growth is not a sign of weakness but rather of self-awareness. No one individual has all they need to succeed. Going it alone limits growth potential. Importance of creating a safe space for honest feedback, reflection and personal development. this strategy can only be sustainable if the woman is also willing to give of herself to contribute towards the growth of others. This is the true embodiment of Ubuntu.
From external corporate policy shifting to internal individual personal growth strategies, gender equality is a multi-layered dynamic, which requires every individual to start with themselves even as they fight for systematic changes for the levelling of the gender playing fields for the collective.
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Ms Zama Mkosi, A visionary and transformational leader who has experience operating at both board and c-suite level. A business lawyer, serial entrepreneur, creative industry specialist and a former CEO and COO of multiple multi-million-rand organisations with over 20 years professional experience in the public and private sector.
REFERENCE LIST
Chengadu, S., & Scheepers, C. (Eds.). (2017). Women Leadership in Emerging Markets: Featuring 46 Women Leaders. Taylor & Francis.
Dang, R., & Vo, L. C. (2012). Women on corporate boards of directors: Theories, facts and analysis. In Board directors and corporate social responsibility (pp. 3-21). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Mccormick, M. J., & Martinko, M. J. (2004). Identifying leader social cognitions: Integrating the causal reasoning perspective into social cognitive theory. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 10(4), 2-11.