Last week I attended the Women on Boards Gender Matters conference with a group of sphinxx members and while there’s more coming on the educational outcomes in a subsequent post, the biggest a-ha moment for me was that this gender agenda is on a fast track to no where if we can’t get more men engaged in the conversation.
Around 200 delegates attended the conference in Sydney and from my seat during the first session I counted only 3 men in eyeshot. There may have been a few more about the place, but there clearly wasn’t enough to have a balanced conversation.
With the business case for gender diversity firmly established now, I wonder why more businessmen didn’t make the time to come along to what is widely regarded as a key fixture on the gender balance calendar, to join in the discussion and take away some learnings for implementation.
My guess is there’s a host of reasons why more men weren’t in the room, with a key issue being a prevailing perception that the advancement of women must come at the expense of men. This is something that the business community as a whole needs to address if we are to make progress in advancing women to leadership roles, into executive ranks and onto boards. And its something for conference and event organizers to consider in planning their delegate mix and marketing activities, lest all their good work be written off as just more “secret women’s business”.
We already know of course that at key executive ranks we are preaching to the converted. I see complete agreement among the mostly-male leadership teams I work with that they need and want more women in leadership. But from the top down this level of support wanes, with fewer men than women seeing gender balance as a strategic priority driven at least in part by self preservation and fear as well as an ignorance of the issues and experiences of women as they progress through the ranks or drop off the ranks altogether.
At this point I should say that its not just men who hold this view. This feedback from this female reader - who I'll refer to simply as "A" - to my blog about women-less boards illustrates that some women too are fearful of the change:
* * *
OK so I realise there’s some fairly emotional language here that’s probably not very helpful but it goes to the point that there are plenty of men and women too who really don’t want to see any challenge to the status quo. For now, anyway.
In advancing women to leadership roles, it’s our job to convince them otherwise. Which means we have a fairly significant engagement piece that we need to get right: with the men who fear the impact on their earning potential; with the women who fear the expectations gender balance may create for them; and for the women themselves who will be stepping up through the ranks.
It seems to me this will be eminently more achievable if we’re able to bring the genders together for the dialogue rather than engaging in separate conversations.
Your thoughts on the issue?
Lynn Harris commented on 04-May-2011 10:04 PM
They are not against more wome in leadership positions, bit neither are they interested in making it a cause worth their attention, time and effort. So the key question is, how do we engage men as allies?
Hugh Todd commented on 04-May-2011 10:27 PM
like WOB's event. I personally gained enormously from being there, learning about myself as well as about how to benefit from the strengths of each gender and how to create inclusive environments. And without being made to feel unwelcome (much the reverse
- the maturity of discussion and the willingness to use humour to lighten things up was just brilliant). I am shocked by the comments from your female reader. Reading it was literally jaw dropping. As a male, I have not experienced or felt any 'anti-male'
sentiment or witnessed any 'inflated view of yourselves as women'from Sphinxx or Women on Boards. Again, quite the reverse. This issue is characterised by respect, by presenting well thought out business cases, and if anything by excessive self criticism and
self doubt by women. Men, step up! Our companies face a serious shortage of leadership skills and talent. Getting involved in learning how to change, and how to help our companies to benefit from this excellent, diverse pool of talent, is both an enjoyable
and a productive activity. And it will pay significant dividends to those with the courage to participate. Rewarding on every level. Turn up next time!
Lyndel Short commented on 05-May-2011 11:11 AM
parents, children of aging parents... Men have these same responsibilities too, so the reality is not that different. It's more a matter of perception - both your view of yourself, your capabilites and what provides fulfillment to you, and your organisation's
preconceptions about ability and limitations and 'suitability'. I'm reminded of those experiments where resumes are submitted under both male and female names, and how differently they're assessed. If anonymity were somehow possible for executive and board
appointments then we'd surely see a more balanced representation!
Madge commented on 15-May-2011 05:34 PM
make any difference to anything. we all know what the issues are. if the recent conference had been serious about getting men along just to look listen and learn it might have considered giving a discounted price to anyone who brought a man, whether from her
own organisation, or elsewhere. i chose not to go simply because i knew i would have heard it all before and quite honestly didn't need a lecture on the Norwegian quota experience. my experience is that men's view of women getting together for women's conferences
is that those conferences are by definition and content exclusionary, though not in an active sense; rather that they just aren't a place for men because none of the messages about them says that they are. i have also long believed that language used to promote
events such as these is tired and pejorative. what is more off putting than reading about "gender" and "equity" and "balance" in the one sentence? if it deters me then i imagine it would do the same for men.
Comments
{tag_commentlist}