The two terms “equality” and “diversity” are sometimes used interchangeably. However, they do not mean the same thing. Equality refers to the creation of a society where all people have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. When a nation treats individuals or groups of people in the same way, irrespective of their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, or belief, one can rightly say that the nation is upholding the principles of equality (Dobbin 2011).
Diversity, on the other hand, is all about differences. When this term is used as an addition to equality, it refers to the recognition and appreciation of both individual and group differences and treating people as individuals. As the Hampton-Alexander review demonstrates, employers have ignored differences in personality, background, and work style for a long time, and this has caused certain negative repercussions in the workplace (Pearson 2008).
The right way to ensure the needs and requirements of everybody in the society are understood and responded to within the right employment frameworks, individual and group diversity ought to be put into consideration. The inability to appreciate diversity can breed gender inequality in the society. Gender equality entails that understanding that all human beings, irrespective of their gender, are free to develop their personal abilities without facing any hindrances caused by factors such as prejudices, rigid gender roles, and stereotypes. This particular concept “gender equality” provides that different behaviors, needs, and aspirations of both men and women need to be accorded equal considerations and value. Gender equality is the goal while gender equity is a practice and a way of thinking that helps organizations to achieve the goal (Healey 2009).
The Hampton-Alexander Review is working on identifying various barriers that are preventing women from getting to the top level jobs within their respective companies. Gender discrimination is one of these barriers. This barrier does not only involve the deliberate exclusion of women from the list of those who are qualified to lead or be promoted to top leadership positions, but also the “second generation” forms. The latter form of discrimination is extremely powerful but subtle, making it hard to deal with them. They arise from a variety of factors including cultural suppositions, culture, and organizational practices that inadvertently benefit men but put women at a disadvantage (Herminia 2016).
Lack of training and empowerment is another barrier. There are very few role models for women. Since aspiring women leaders need the support of senior women whose lifestyles and behaviors they can experiment with and learn from, this factor makes it impossible for many would-be-women leaders to find credible sources of advice, and therefore, they fail to work hard to the top. Most families also value the education of boys than that of girls. The cultural belief that boys are better than girls makes it impossible for poor and middle-class families to take their girls to school. Consequently, the society has very few educated girls, which in turn makes it difficult for most girls to rise to positions of leadership (Human rights and economic challenges in Europe 2007).
Women also lack access to networks, which is a precious resource for aspiring leaders. However, differences in organizational roles and career prospects of men and women, as well as their proclivity to interact with other women, make them have feeble networks. Their lack of access to influential women is one barrier that most of them cite frequently. Most of the connections that they have are often less efficacious, which means almost no one in their networks can help them to get to be promoted to top leadership positions. This behavior is in contrast with that of men who are in positions of power, as most of them tend to empower junior men who they consider to have higher chances to succeed as leaders than women (Gender equality 2005).
Men designed many organizational structures at a time when women made up a significantly small fraction of the workforce, which means the current organizational structures focus on promoting the interest of men rather than both genders. A practical illustration of this fact is the existence of formal rotations in sales that were invited several years ago. They are, however, a significant step on the path to the top of leadership of organizations. Men have higher chances of succeeding at these jobs than women. While these structures were most likely not designed to be discriminatory, their cumulative effect puts women away from top leadership roles (Kalev 2005).
Some people also argue the most women cannot rise to top leadership positions because a majority of them perform poorly at work. The problem, however, is that extreme work demands can affect the productivity of most women. The demand for most modern corporate environments that require their top leaders to work both day and night may not help women who prioritize other duties outside work. Betsy Myers, one of the advisers to the former president of the US Clinton holds that most women view their work as just a fraction of the pie that represents their life experience. Any systems that force women to change this view cannot do them any justice. Gender equality and equity is, therefore, the only perfect way to deal with this issue as men and women need not to act and behave in the same way to be deemed resourceful (Caprino 2016).
Many individuals and organizations also still hold unto the archaic mindset that women should never rule them in any organization. In some societies, women who rise to leadership positions are considered evil and disrespectful, and they, for that reason, receive no respect for their contribution to the society, which make it hard for them to succeed in leadership. At the same time, many women in most societies consider that they have no leadership abilities; as a result, they cannot occupy any leadership positions. They hold that only men are meant to be leaders, and not women. This outdated mindset induces fear in women and makes them to reluctant to work hard to earn the respect of others and be promoted (Liebig et. al. 2015)
The glass cliff is a concept that provides that women are more likely to rise to positions of leadership during crisis, while men are likely to be lead stable organization efficiently. The glass cliff effect appears to be a good leadership hypothesis. However, it is a severe form of gender discrimination as it limits workplace diversity and at the same time leads to gender inequality. There is no study supporting the notion that women can only be great leaders during problems (Bailey 2012; Chambers 2012).
However, it has misled many people to develop discriminatory leadership structures and practices at the workplace. Since most organizations go through very short periods of instability, this theory ensures women take over leadership at the worst of times, and when they fail, women are stereotyped as poor leaders. It also requires that when a company that is headed by a man is doing well, there can be no need to replace this pattern of male leadership. Research has established that common assumptions about gender and a company’s leadership history contribute to the glass cliff. This phenomenon does not always apply to companies with a history of female leadership, which shows that as employees get used to seeing women at the highest levels of leadership, other women are encouraged to work hard and earn the right to lead others. They are not selected mainly for risky turnarounds. In addition, they are able to get more chances to run organizations that have high possibilities of continuing to succeed (Branscombe 2014).
If these barriers are removed, and organizations become a diverse workplace, that can improve their productivity and create a synergetic environment. However, since a diverse workplace can lead to a clash of cultures and misunderstandings, managers need to adopt effective diversity management strategies.
A good overall diversity management plan should incorporate diversity strategies into the hiring process. Companies should adopt hiring policies and incorporate equal employment opportunity principles such as following government requirements, soliciting cultural organizations for qualified applicants, recruiting on college campuses. When employees in organizations reflect the diversity of their community, where women and men are respected, there is a feeling of inclusivity, which in turn increases productivity (Tackling the gender pay gap in the European Union 2014).
An effective strategy should also promote training of employees. Before starting training, an organization should make an informed decision on which areas to focus on and the specific objectives that they intend to realize. If organizations find that their in-house human resources department cannot do a great corporate presentation on diversity, it can make use of the services companies that offer this service. However, since training is just part of the overall the strategy, information presented should be reinforced in office policies and procedures. Some of the places that should reflect the diversity strategy of companies is their core values and mission statements (Schermerhorn 2013).
Policy reviews is another element that can contribute to promoting diversity. Companies should review their policies during time off and holidays. If a company wants to encourage diversity, it should recognize various religious holidays and allow their employees to celebrate them without fear of discrimination (Schermerhorn 2013).
In addition, a company should take good care of employee communication. While it is fine to have a standard office language, companies with more diverse workforce need to come up with many alternative ways to communicate with workers who speak other languages. When a company does this, it succeeds at ensuring messages are properly conveyed to all its employees and showing employees that it is supportive of a diverse workforce (Schermerhorn 2013).
As globalization advances, the need for workplace diversity increases as well. As a result of that, it is necessary to have long-term strategies. These strategies acknowledge differences and encourage free thinking.
Equal pay reviews are also useful instruments for managing diversity and equity. Companies use it to compare the pay of women and men doing the same work or work of equal value. The main aim of using this tool is to help organizations to identify any gender gaps and provide ways that work towards closing any pay gaps that are caused by nothing other than gender related discrimination (Curtis & Georghiou 2002).
In the UK, employers are under legal obligation to provide equal pay, and this is the only instrument that can help them to meet the requirements of the law. The Equality and Human Commission recommends the use of equal pay reviews in determining whether an organization is paying it employees fairly and also promoting equal pay. According to this commission, an equal pay audit involves identifying any gaps, comparing the pay of men and women, addressing the gaps, explaining the gaps using and objective criteria, and an on-going monitoring.
In certain cases, a company can use gender pay, which involves demonstrating how pay rates are distributed depending on gender in a region or country. The gender pay gap is all about the difference between the average female and male pay rates. In Scotland, private and voluntary sector employers with at least 250 employees are mandated by law to publish data on the gender pay gap (Equal Pay Review 2015).
Conclusion and Recommendations
When companies manage diversity and equality properly, they are able to ensure more women find a place in their top leadership positions. The right place to start this process is identification of barriers that stand in the way of women. The main barriers are discrimination, lack of training and empowerment, organizational structures, poor leadership, individual mindsets, institutional mindsets, and the glass cliff. The best way to remove these barriers and have an increased number of women in leadership is develop an overall diversity management plan.
Organizations that want to improve women presence on their boards should adopt four strategies to be successful. They should understand the essence of promoting diversity ideals within their ranks and ensure everyone one understands the contribution of women on their boards. Women do not have to behave like men do to fit on these boards. Organizations should also hire the right number of women and train them to perform their duties professionally. Further, they should use both equal pay and equal pay reviews to ensure no gender is unfairly disadvantaged. Finally, after setting these objectives and planning how to achieve them, a company should create an independent in-house team to monitor its progress in the management of diversity and gender equality.
References
Bailey, S, 2012, The glass cliff: exploring leadership appointment decisions in relation to applicant sex and group dynamics.
Branscombe, S 2014, How women end up on the glass cliff, viewed March 31, 2017, https://hbr.org/2011/01/how-women-end-up-on-the-glass-cliff
Caprino, K 2016, The top 6 reasons women are not leading in corporate America as we need them to, viewed March 31, 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2013/02/12/the-top-6-reasons-women-are-not-leading-in-corporate-america-as-we-need-them-to/#597c376e406e
Chambers, K 2012, The Glass Cliff: the contribution of social identity and gender stereotypes in predicting leadership preference and trust, Library and Archives Canada , Bibliothe?que et Archives Canada, Ottawa.
Curtis, S, & Georghiou, N 2002, Equal pay reviews, Scottish Parliament, Information Centre, Edinburgh.
Dobbin, F 2011, Inventing equal opportunity, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ.
Equal Pay Review:1 April 2015-31 March 2016 2015, viewed March 31, 2017, https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2017/as_equal_pay_review_1516.pdf
Gender equality: striving for justice in an unequal world: executive summary 2005, UN Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva.
Healey, J 2009, Gender equality, Spinney Press, Thirroul, N.S.W.
Herminia J ElyDeborah M. Kolb, Ignatius, A., & Review, H. B 2016, Women rising: the unseen barriers, viewed March 31, 2017, https://hbr.org/2013/09/women-rising-the-unseen-barriers
Human rights and economic challenges in Europe: gender equality: proceedings 2007, Strasbourg: Council of Europe Pub.
Kalev, A 2005, Gender and racial inequality at work: changing organizational structures and managerial diversity.
Liebig, B, Gottschall, K., & Sauer, B 2015, Gender equality theories, practices, and perspectives, Budrich, Barbara, Leverkusen.
Pearson, D 2008, Diversity, Xlibris Corp, Philadelphia.
Schermerhorn, J. R 2013, Management, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.
Tackling the gender pay gap in the European Union 2014, Publ. Off. of the Europ. Union, Luxembourg.
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