WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE
COMMENTARY
ACT NOW OR EXPECT MORE WOMEN LEADERS TO LEAVE
WOMEN WANT MORE FLEXIBILITY AND MORE FOCUS ON WELL-BEING, DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION
Culture, lifestyle, movements and business trends often take very little time to cross the Atlantic. A very notable exception was when it took around three years (2017-2020) for the #MeeToo movement to reach Denmark where it inspired brave individual women to expose predatory behavior, power abuse and sexual harassment in many Danish workplaces.
Part of the reason for this development was a sense that Danish women won equality in the 1970ies. That feminism was no longer needed. A poll conducted in 2018/19 by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project found that just one in six Danes consider themselves a feminist, a third said that wolf whistling at women in the street was acceptable, and two in five had an unfavorable view of the #MeToo movement. A prominent influencer even spoke in favor of more acceptance of workplace cultures where a young female intern’s butt is free to be grabbed! Wow.
This week, a national election was held in Denmark. A record 44,1 percent of the newly elected Parliament are women. This is wonderful news. But it only slightly makes up for the fact that the election campaign was largely silent on the fact that year on year Denmark has slipped down the ranking on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index. In 2021, my country ranked number 29 after dropping 15 places in just one year. Instead, other pressing issues such as rising inflation and energy prices, a health system under pressure, and war in Europe took center stage in the campaign.
This is worrying because a new report which was launched during the campaign month shows us that lack of political and business focus on a growing gender gap and other discrimination in the workplace could lead to more trouble ahead. Not only for individuals but for companies and ultimately for Denmark’s international reputation and competitiveness.
According to the latest Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey, in partnership with LeanIn.Org, women leaders in the USA are switching jobs at the highest rates ever seen, and ambitious young women are prepared to do the same.
The reasons women leaders are stepping away from their companies are telling – the report says. Women leaders are just as ambitious as men, but at many companies, they face headwinds that signal it will be harder to advance. They’re more likely to experience belittling microaggressions, such as having their judgment questioned or being mistaken for someone more junior. They’re doing more to support employee well-being and foster inclusion, but this critical work is spreading them thin and going mostly unrewarded. And finally, it’s increasingly important to women leaders that they work for companies that prioritize flexibility, employee well-being, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The McKinsey report has a strong call to action: “If companies don’t take action, they risk losing not only their current women leaders but also the next generation of women leaders. Young women are even more ambitious and place a higher premium on working in an equitable, supportive, and inclusive workplace. They’re watching senior women leave for better opportunities, and they’re prepared to do the same.”
The report this year also takes a closer look at women of diverse identities—including women of color,1 LGBTQ+ women, and women with disabilities. It unsurprisingly finds that many women experience bias not only because of their gender but also because of their race, sexual orientation, a disability, or other aspects of their identity—and the compounded discrimination can be much greater than the sum of its parts. As a result, these groups of women often experience more microaggressions and face more barriers to advancement. Notably, women of color are more ambitious despite getting less support: 41 percent of women of color want to be top executives, compared with 27 percent of White women. It’s critical that companies and coworkers are aware of these dynamics, so they can more effectively promote equity and inclusion for all women.
Is this ‘just’ another American trend or movement to be dismissed or ignored? Most definitely not. Already last year Danish author and company founder Charlotte Kirkegaard shared similar trends in the newsletter Mandag Morgen. Gender equality in the Danish C-suites has stalled. And if we look at leaders in their twenties alarmingly women’s share of leadership dropped from 43,5 percent in 2010 to 30,7 percent in 2019.
We also know that exceptional human talent is being lost in Denmark due to discrimination and outright racism. Research conducted by Copenhagen University in 2020 clearly showed that women of color and women who wear a headscarf need to send up to 60 more applications to even enter the workforce. And I have spoken to scores of women of color who recount multiple examples of being overlooked and excluded in their Danish workplaces.
So urgent action is needed now or more women leaders will leave.
Transforming leaders and workplaces is not easy but necessary. We can’t keep hoping that change will come without brave intentional effort. So, bite the bullet and
Make diversity, equity, and inclusion a top personal priority. Not a compliance issue, not a risk mitigation issue, but a strategic leadership imperative with action plans and accountabilities.
Face your fears and commit to understanding and acting on your own implicit biases, use your power and seek support to create an inclusive and safe culture for everyone in your organization.
Stand up and break the silence on microaggressions or discrimination.
Champion safe focus group discussions to encourage sharing, and mutual support and where appropriate and necessary provide a channel to surface issues relating to culture, behavior, processes, or structures which lead to discrimination or exclusion.
Invest in gender-responsive leadership development for all current and future leaders.
Initiate meaningful interviews with all leavers so they can be used to identify any systemic issues driving women from the workplace. Ask for an analysis of interview reports with suggestions for remedial actions on a regular basis.
Explore and act on feedback related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in your staff surveys.
AND embrace sisterhood and champion all talented women of all backgrounds in your organization and beyond.
First published on 3 November 2022