PrintBring out the feminine side in men
The male approach to workplace issues has dominated business. It's time to put more stress on traditionally 'female' ways of working.
Improving Gender IQ
Venue Cisco's London headquarters
Keynote speakers John Donovan, inclusion and diversity sponsor UK and Ireland, Cisco; Tracey Carr, CEO, Gender IQ; Susan Vinnicombe, professor of organisational behaviour and diversity management, Cranfield School of Management; Alison Pothier, former managing director and chief executive for Europe, UBS; and Clive Pinder, commentator on business change and transformation
It is not exactly news that men and women approach issues in the workplace in different ways - but it is still accepted that the male way of thinking dominates in the way we do businesses in the UK. This roundtable event, hosted by Cisco, set out to discover why this is the case and investigated what business benefits could be had by understanding the differences in working styles between males and females.
Tracey Carr, CEO of Gender IQ, kicked off the debate by saying: 'For decades we have talked about equal opportunities supported by legislation. But it needs to change. At the moment a number of female leaders emulate the male working style and we need to widen the range of leadership styles.'
Susan Vinnicombe, professor of organisational behaviour and diversity management at Cranfield School of Management, added: 'This culture has to be led by a champion at the top. These are the same issues we have been discussing for 20 years, but they are hardly ever debated in the press.'
The debate followed research from Cisco that found 45% of working women believe 'women have to be better than men to succeed in the workplace - compared with just 26% of men who believe the statement to be true'.
And while 53% of men view ability as more important than personality in the workplace, only 39% of women agree this is the case.
John Donovan, inclusion and diversity sponsor UK and Ireland at Cisco, explained: 'At Cisco, we have set out on a path to stop encouraging women they have to feel they have to be like men.'
All of the roundtable participants agreed it is time for more employees to adopt a more 'feminine' approach to their work ethic. Alison Pothier, former managing director and chief executive for Europe at UBS, explained: 'We are no longer having the same debate about gender equality as we were having in the past. Creativity, aspiration and empathy are all traditionally 'female' characteristics.'
Clive Pinder, commentator on business change and transformation, added: 'It is time to send men on courses to adopt these characteristics.'
Turning to the idea of discrimination against women in the workplace, Donovan said: 'Discrimination implies the individual who discriminates is fully aware of what they are doing - but I think in a lot of cases this awareness is lacking and most companies find it difficult to talk about the challenges of being female. Even leading women in business are blind to these issues.' But he added: 'I prefer not to think about diversity; I think about inclusion. As an individual I believe in it, and our business will benefit from a broader and inclusive talent pool.'
But the panel agreed the issue of gender IQ and equality will become much more prevalent as female Generation Y employees rise through the ranks. Vinnicombe said: 'Generation Y women will be very angry when they start to hit their head on the glass ceiling. We need to go into schools and talk to young women to educate them about gender differences. If we look at the figures, there is still outright discrimination against women.'
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