The story behind the Gender Balance Revolution
Would you call it a revolution? Or is it just that I seem to be in the middle of it and looking, so I see it more often.
I feel certain that we are hearing more lately about women wanting to become better leaders, women seeing themselves as more natural leaders, or women advancing more readily into the ranks of upper management.
The nation, and even more so many global regions, is seeing a tide of women in the workforce, climbing at a steady rate. Many more are advancing up the leadership ladder than they have before. And we also know that there are more women achieving advanced degrees like PhD’s and Master’s than men.
What is this gender balance thing?
Here’s my version of the recent history and what has led us to an increased awareness about the gender representation around us and a subtle keeping-score about how many heads of each there are.
The preceding generation of women was largely homemakers (the mothers of the baby boomer generation), and few entered the traditional workforce at anything more than an hourly job. Within a half-generation or more, the ones that advanced into management had no female role models. The only business styles they had seen at work were those of men.
Enter the viper – a woman acting like a man and taking on a leadership style that carries many gender-dependent traits like control, corrective action, and individual decision-making. The problem: it is unnatural for her yet she sees it as “the way you do this.” Many women do not realize that the leadership she deploys in a host of other areas like family and community are actually quite refreshing and beneficial to the work environment too. But they too often feel like an oddball if they don’t do it the way a man would do it.
Fast forward to present-day
The baby boomers are well-entrenched into leadership, leading many companies and realizing the success of their hard work. Yet, the female representation in leadership has still lagged behind. Of the Fortune 500 Companies, roughly ten are led by woman. Is it perhaps because that lack of role models has created a mental barrier? Is it that women opt out for family reasons? What?
It is a HOST of things that cause the imbalance, but what no one wants is a barrier that exists when a woman IS capable, IS experienced, IS a good fit for advancement, but IS held back by a culture that cannot picture her in that position.
Perhaps it is an old story
Maybe we are whining about old sores, but I don’t think so. But within the past five years, research has surfaced making an incredibly compelling case for all industries to look at the gender balance in their ranks because it is nearly a direct cause-effect to potential for success.
Yes, I said that … nearly a direct cause-and-effect in achieving success when you have more women leading at work. Research is telling us that those businesses with female leadership enjoy a different culture and engage employees differently. Women who are influencing as leaders can have a different and quite symbiotic approach to men. A balance would be perfect.
See our research tab for articles from McKinsey, Pax World, and others for more research, and how natural female traits like collaborative problem solving and empathy help to mature companies into thriving industries.
How to stay in the loop
Skirt Strategies was created to alleviate this dilemma of women not advancing in leadership. We are dedicated to keeping your skills honed and providing ongoing discussions about your development challenges. We are on it!
I you are not ON IT, the giddyup with us by subscribing to the free mailings. Easy. We will keep a tip or technique or leadership topic in front of you monthly.
I challenge each of you to open your mind to what is developing in your workplace to help build natural traits of both men and women.
Oh, and one final note. You heard many generalizations in this blog entry. We call them “genderalizations” – sweeping conclusions about something simply based on gender. I know, I know. There is a danger in it but we feel that using it to help identify the predictable patterns in a majority of situations is worth the risk.:-) namaste.