Gender Equality not only Liberates Women, but Also Men from Prescribed Gender Stereotypes

Part 1: 

Despite varying social and cultural contexts, gender equality challenges remain common in most international organisations, particularly the expectation that women are primary caregivers at home. This makes issues like work-life balance, care support, mental health, and work flexibility crucial for women to thrive in their careers. 

Gender socialisation refers to how we learn and internalise masculinity or femininity, which contributes to gender inequalities. Within an organisation, interactions between men and women in the workplace are influenced by local gender, cultural, and social norms. These norms impact career choices, growth priorities, and career development opportunities. For example, in country A, filling technical agri-finance positions with women candidates is challenging because fieldwork is perceived as unsafe, and motorcycle licenses, which are mostly obtained by men, are required. The work can also be seen as physically demanding with long hours, leading many women to avoid applying.  

Additionally, a lack of clear strategy or direction from leaders can result in employees, especially women, working long hours, including weekends and public holidays, often at poor pay standards and at the expense of work-life balance, causing mass burnout and turnover. The deep structure of an organisation glorifies working long hours and being available 24/7. Women across different levels may be paid 15-25% less than men in the same positions. Working long hours for career progression is also seen negatively for women due to the perceived neglect of family and caregiving responsibilities. 

Standardising gender policies and norms across an organisation’s projects, provinces, and country offices is a complex process. Disparities may exist between country teams regarding gender-inclusive practices. For example, in country B the office has a creche for babies and toddlers, allowing young mothers to breastfeed, bring their infants or toddlers to work, and work with flexible hours or from home. On the other hand, the country A office struggles with work-life balance for mothers, who work long hours under pressure to meet targets. The starting point for gender change, using the Gender at Work framework, would be Quadrant 1 – Consciousness and Capabilities. 

It is important to challenge and reimagine traditional gender stereotypes in the workplace through gender training, reflection, and focus groups with leadership. The first step is to provide an online training platform where employees, teams, and leaders can access gender equality training that addresses power relations, individual identities and the organisation’s structural support for complaints or feedback in case of issues. The platform could also serve as a space for teams to discuss reflections, attitudes, biases, and respect diverse opinions. This initiative could be led by a gender specialist in each country. 

 

Part 2: Gender Mainstreaming Action Plan 

Define 

Gender change in an organisation is needed in two areas: improving work-life balance, including mental health for women, and addressing the deep structure in gender inclusion for decision-making and workload distribution. This phase would involve data collection on current gender equity practices through online surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews with gender leads and employees across different regions and levels. A gender pay gap analysis, HR data disaggregated by gender, trends in attrition, career progression, complaints, and family dependents will be gathered to present evidence-based data to the CEO. 

Another focus area would be reviewing existing HR policies for gender-inclusive practices. Addressing mental health issues, which have increased after  the COVID-19 pandemic, would also improve productivity. This data analysis will help narrow the focus to 2-3 interventions that will have the most impact and move the organisation towards gender equity. This phase would be completed between June to August 2024. 

Plan 

The planning phase starts with securing buy-in from the CEO and global senior leadership at the head office and country offices by identifying specific gender issues, sharing an evidence-based approach, highlighting the risks of inaction, and providing possible solutions. The next step involves working with HR teams in each country to collect sample data on employee workload, project numbers, average work hours, attrition, salaries disaggregated by gender, roles and responsibilities, promotion history, employee feedback surveys, performance appraisals, dependents/family members, and care responsibilities at home. Given the large size of an organisation, a representative sample size would be more efficient than collecting data on each employee. 

The third step is to analyse the data and present a detailed plan to the top leadership to transition the organisation from gender-sensitive to gender-transformative, starting with work-life balance and addressing gender pay gaps. A gender budget would be presented for approval. Every step towards gender equity brings the organisation closer to a more inclusive environment. Resistance to change is expected, especially from some members of top management due to the organisation’s established history and financial constraints as a nonprofit. Another source of resistance may come from male leaders in some country offices due to local gender norms that make it difficult for them to accept equal pay for women or flexible work arrangements due to caregiving responsibilities. 

The gender sensitisation training, along with the support of allies and gender champions, will help address these issues. Gender indicators for measuring success include the number of flexible work arrangements for women, promotions of women leaders, work satisfaction levels, survey results on work environment and inclusion, reduced attrition, complaints filed through feedback channels, and improved mental health outcomes. The planning phase would take place between August and November 2024. 

Act 

In the implementation phase, the rollout of gender sensitisation training and the incorporation of new policies for work-life balance, flexibility, care, and career support adapted to each country’s context will be the first initiatives. Partnerships with local mental health practitioners and childcare facilities can be established, providing childcare benefits where there is sufficient demand. Gender leads in each country’s office can drive these new initiatives and work culture, leading both in-person and online training for all employees and leaders. They are integral to the gender change process and will be required to be involved in each phase, from design to monitoring. 

If the organisation implements fair performance appraisals and equitable opportunities for promotion, growth, and development, it could become a workplace of high trust, performance, and prioritised gender equity. Many roles do not require physical presence in the office, and flexible working hours and locations, along with learning and development time incorporated into the workday, would enable women to balance work and home priorities and create better career progression opportunities. This phase will also test pilot a single point of contact (spoc) for Africa, Asia, and the Americas to receive anonymous feedback on issues related to harassment, gender-based violence, discrimination, abuse, or work overload. The implementation phase would run from January 2025 for 12 months. 

Check 

In this phase, the outcomes of the gender change interventions will be assessed. The first step is to receive detailed feedback from each gender lead and gender champion leader in each country office. The second step is to collect end-line data through surveys similar to the baseline surveys and analyse the positive or negative changes resulting from the policy changes, gender training, work-life balance initiatives, and career progression interventions such as the women leaders’ mentorship programme. Ongoing monitoring will occur through monthly gender leads meetings and quarterly leadership meetings to share best practices, modify interventions, or design new ones as needed in each country office. Finally, a presentation on outcomes, budget utilisation, and future gender strategy at a global level can be made to the CEO and senior leadership. 

 

By Sabina Bharwani