Gender equality through a more creative approach

Most Successful male leaders, whether in the financial sector, political sector, or elsewhere have a comparatively better support system for career development which includes their parents, siblings, spouses, and spouses' family and the employer. The time and resources given by a man for his career development are often seen as a natural and positive step. For a woman, this could result in sacrificing her time with her family, particularly her children, if she is a mother. For a woman, depending on countries and different working cultures, career development may not be as easy. Among other reasons, nature has also designed women differently (the details are being skipped as it is intensely discussed in many articles already). So flexible hours at the workplace, working from home, and letting women go home early may be seen as favours given to women and not being fair to men. However, it may be more appropriate to say that these favours or supports are given to the society as if women are forced to stay away from their motherhood role, and the whole society may see the effect in the long run which to some extent defeats the social structure, depending on countries and cultures. Flexibility around work does not necessarily mean less work but requires the organisations to be more creative in their talent management, their commitment, and dedication towards diversity and gender equality.
Broadly, it can be said that the extra support allowed for a woman at work is basically to compensate for her extra role as a mother and home management in society and not because she is less capable at work. In terms of capabilities and intellectual skills, both genders can have the same potential.
By giving these opportunities to women, organisations can gain more productivity, reputation, and satisfaction of employees. Many Global organisations have realised this and have been adding the provisions to their employee handbook. There have been some surveys and research showing how organisations are already doing better with women leaders and/or decision makers at the top along with the men. It is not a matter of competing or comparing, it is a matter of working wholeheartedly instead of halfheartedly, as the positive results of wholehearted engagement with genders are too obvious and supported by many researches and surveys. An article in The Guardian (March 6, 2022) cited McKinsey research that shows companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25 per cent more likely to have above-average profitability than companies at the bottom, while companies with more than 30 per cent female executives were more likely to outperform companies that don't, according to research from academics from the Universities of Glasgow and Leicester. But only eight women, and no women of colour, are currently employed as CEOs in the FSTE 100, while women hold only 14 per ent of executive directorships and 38 per cent of all directorships, according to the Fawcett Society's Sex and Power report 2022.
The data show that women-led SMEs contribute about £85bn to economic output, but Beis research shows that only 16 per cent of small business employers and one in three entrepreneurs are women. There is further evidence that fewer women get access to financing and business loans, with only 15 per cent of bank financing applications and 22 per cent of new primary business bank account openings coming from women.
Organisations that understand women's role and the positive relationship between women and the success of the company are making creative changes to their talent management policies to retain female talents. These changes are not seen as favours but they are seen as being efficient. Organisations are introducing new tools to manage talents more effectively. These tools do not have to be very expensive but require leaders who know how to utilise women's strengths and see the difference women can make for their organisations. Profit-making organisations cannot retain charity for long, so unless there are well-thought-out plans for women, the unique strengths cannot be identified and utilised appropriately. Superficial initiatives are not sustainable and are merely skin deep.
Organisations may be recognised through a prestigious platform for utilising the strengths of their female team members resulting in minimising the gender gaps. On the other hand, women may also, on a best-effort basis, try to embrace international best standards suitable for the work environment and invest more time in developing their knowledge, communication, and other soft and technical professional skills. It is high time women became more self-motivating, and confident, and demonstrated their commitment and dedication to maximising their strengths-- for example, dedicating more time to learn new professional skills.
Following are two such skills which are a combination of both internal and external factors and are crucial for women more than ever before.
PROFESSIONAL AND STRUCTURED NETWORKING: Effective networking requires a combination of both internal and external factors for developing a support system. There are networking opportunities at the workplace or social events.
Additionally, there may be networking groups or platforms, especially intended for people to network for their personal development and interest. Finding and connecting to a good networking platform can come a long way in helping tp minimise the gaps due to the absence of other required factors needed for developing a good support system. One should utilise these platforms with a carefully designed networking plan. Quoting from an article published by Forbes dated Jan 31, 2023 (14 Simple Ways to Expand Your Business Network in 2023) mentions, "To expand your network, entrepreneurs should make a plan and stick to it. If you are not persistently networking and meeting new people, you will not be able to grow and prosper. Always keep moving. The world is constantly spinning, so if you're standing still, you're moving backward." The promoters of networking platforms also need to have a genuine goal to serve their community and not only focus on their successes through making social media posts. This can be a real test for successful leaders when they work more to highlight and empower others at the cost of their own time and resources. Women may also need to prioritise engaging with such networks for developing their own "support system". One needs to carefully evaluate the networking platform they engage with and identify if the initiatives can truly help one meet their career goal in the right way and sustain it in the long run. Women can take training to learn how to best utilise these platforms which can help them in their career path and goal. There are networking platforms that can make one famous; however the question remains if it is helping them reach their career goal in the right way.
PROFESSIONAL COACHING AND MENTORING AT ALL LEVELS: It is high time we acknowledged the importance of coaching and/or mentoring for achieving our career goals. Yes, they may be expensive at times. However a good networking community can help us find good coaches, and mentors who may be willing to volunteer hours of coaching, mentoring, etc. Reputed and successful leaders may also come forward to give back to their communities and one way of doing so can be through volunteering time to provide effective coaching to younger groups of individuals in the industry. Individuals working in a particular industry must try to find coaches belonging to similar industries for maximum benefit; however, coaches belonging to other industries may also make significant contributions to general issues. There may be coaches in their personal lives as well. It is up to the individual to take the initiative and find such help in their family. An article by Forbes dated January 18, 2023 titled "15 Challenges Coaches Will Work on With Executive Clients in 2023" talks about their predictions for the biggest challenges executive will focus on conquering in their coaching engagements in 2023. These challenges include some of the important prerequisites for having a successful career, such as --achieving a work-life balance, moving past the recession mindset, operating in a post-normal world, prioritising mental health, strategic problem solving, dealing with change, leading with heart, fulfilling DEI commitments, redesigning the work week, communicating with influence, adapting to the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world) world, restoring personal energy and enthusiasm, communicating across modes and generations, overcoming imposter syndrome, and developing new leaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
1. Achieving Development and Empowerment is closely connected to having a good support system consisting of internal and external factors. Having a well-thought-out plan can help us with the internal factors and to some extent influence the external factors as well.
2. Among the internal factors, having clear and measurable goals can be a starting point for women. However, determining the right path may be tricky. Once the path is determined the goal needs to be tracked. Every little action that we take can either help us get closer or fall behind our goals. Actions that help us have long-term results should be identified and preferred over actions giving us results only in the short term.
3. Focusing and investing in self development according to career goals, individual strength, and external factors can prepare us better and therefore prioritised.
4. Family support is very important. Women may utilise their professional skills such as relationship building, consistency, influencing, etc. to develop their family support.
5. Mitigating the gender gap needs to have a creative solution embracing both women's unique role in society and the advantages organisations can leverage in maximising profit. It is not about competing or comparing but about engaging wholeheartedly with all genders and recognising their differences that bring their unique strengths.
6. External factors include efforts by regulators, organisations etc., that can create an environment for utilising women's strengths not as a favour but for achieving the organisation's own financial goals, which has been shown in many researches and surveys by reputed companies. Organisations that have been successful in this may be recognised through suitable prestigious platforms. Regulations can only achieve their desired outcome if a suitable monitoring system is also there to ensure compliance.
7. Women's employment alone cannot ensure their financial inclusion, therefore statistical data need to add qualitative analysis as well for the complete picture. The financial decision-making may still be controlled by others in the family. Having regulations without proper monitoring tools may not gain desirable results.
8. Effective networking and coaching are two essential parts of the support system a woman needs to explore. Individuals need to take the initiative to find suitable platforms and coaches that can help them achieve their career goals in the right way.
Each year many great initiatives are taken for celebrating International Women's Month i.e., March. Organisations come forward to celebrate the month in many ways. We also need to see sustainable actions taken by individuals, organisations, and regulators that can survive in the long run through the required commitment and dedication including proper tools to monitor. The UN has already identified the cause through Sustainable Development Goal # 5 which is to "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. There has been progress over the last decades, but the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030."
It is great to see that many organisations have taken the initiative to address diversity issues by creating a women's networking group and promoting women leaders in more senior roles.
These organisations may be applauded and recognised through suitable platforms. Even at individual levels, one must acknowledge that the percentage of men supporting this cause genuinely has significantly increased over the years. Many times, men are even playing the role of a champion which is appreciated and should be recognised. At a personal level as well, I am happy to acknowledge that I have learned a lot from my male counterparts and am grateful to them. At the same time, it is quite safe to conclude that such great initiatives need to be multiplied many times, not only for social factors but also for economic factors. Given the fierce competition prevailing in the current financial world, it is necessary to develop and utilise the strengths of all the genders a country has, to grow, sustain and achieve its broader financial goals.

Shahnaz Sultana is Chief Consultant and CEO of FINS Alliance, Founder of WE Global
(FAFWBF: Financial Alliance for Women in Banking and Finance, since 2020)