(c) emberin
Earlier this summer, I wrote and edited a white paper for emberin, around the significance of teaming with men for success and how getting the opposite sex on board with gender diversity and change programmes was the only real way to make progress.
To support their work, emberin undertook a survey of male Australian business leaders and asked them some tough questions about their attitudes, behaviours and views on gender diversity.
Here’s an extract from the paper’s Executive Summary:
Earlier this year, the New York Times published an article entitled The Feminism of the Future Relies on Men. The author argued that twenty-first century programs focused on increasing gender diversity will only succeed if the men in the company are on-board with the idea in ideological terms and also support it in practical ways, suggesting that:
“The feminism of the future is shaping up to be about pulling men into women’s universe — as involved dads, equal partners at home and ambassadors for gender equality from the cabinet office to the boardroom.”
Gender diversity is now no longer about women smashing the glass ceiling and forcing their way into the men’s world; instead, it’s time to reverse twentieth century thinking and ask: what do the men want, think and feel about gender diversity? And if men listen to other men – how can we help to change the way in which they think and speak when it comes to levelling the playing field?
emberin, as Australia’s leading gender diversity consultancy, is already very aware of this school of thought and has undertaken pioneering, award-winning work to support the concept that we call Mostly Men. We know, via our qualitative research and our feedback from emberin programs such as my mentor – mastering gender leadership, that getting the guys on board and creating great male role models for other men (men who leave the office on time, men who promote and support women, men who convert their male colleagues to these behaviours) can make a real difference in Australian corporate life.
In 2008 emberin conducted the first Australian piece of qualitative research on the view of senior men who were champions of gender diversity. In conjunction with Telstra we then created a program for men. In the last two years almost 2000 men have completed that program and we have received significant feedback from them as individuals.
This report shares our findings with you and forms a pioneering piece of research on the current state of men in business in Australia today.
(c) emberin 2010
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For more on this line of thought, click here to read an excellent article on theGlasshammer.com in which they pose the question:
“Would you want your daughter to work here?”
- and then go on to suggest that, for men in the corporate world, answering “no” to that question has to mean that they need to be part of the solution. A senior partner from Deloitte US continues with her belief that considering the question helps senior men see the work environment and culture from a very different and personal perspective.
Tags: Articles, Australia, Collaboration, emberin, leadership, men, research, theglasshammer
As the debate around the use of quotas to increase the number of women on UK boards continues, so does the need to look at what’s working around the world to shift the gender diversity needle.
Beyond the business case: gender diversity in corporate Australia
27 Sep(c) emberin
Over the weekend, I completed the final edits for the latest white paper in my series of global diversity reports for emberin. It’s a crisp 4000 word exploration of the business case for increasing and improving female representation at all levels of corporate Australian life – here’s an extract from the Executive Summary:
In 2006, the Economist magazine declared:
“Forget China, India and the Internet. Economic growth is driven by women.”
Four years later, how much of that message has been taken on board by corporate Australia?
Judging by the EOWA numbers which tell us that, at the time of writing, only 10% of women are currently at board director level in ASX200 companies (having risen to that level only very recently, after stagnancy for many years), it seems that we still have much to learn from both the published research around the business benefits and implications of having a more gender balanced workplace – and from other countries who have adopted and adapted to this new, twenty-first century understanding.
But what is the business case for adopting and integrating a broader and more diverse workforce?
In this paper, leading global gender diversity expert emberin explores the research and current thinking around the business case for gender diversity and examines the business, economic, customer service and talent management drivers.
What can a more gender balanced organisation do for your company’s:
And why might Australia’s leading companies want to think about moving beyond the business case and learning not only how to market yourself better to women but how to make the women in your own ranks feel more welcome, better valued and as if progression and leadership opportunities are within their grasp?
Tags: Australia, emberin, Global