The biggest myths about workplace equality
L’une des plus grandes erreurs que nous commettons aujourd’hui en tant que main-d’œuvre est de croire que l’égalité en milieu de travail n’est pas encore atteinte. Beaucoup liront cet article comme un déni de ce que vivent les femmes au travail. La discrimination de genre existe toujours comme le racisme ou toute autre discrimination, mais ce n’est pas l’état d’esprit le plus courant dans nos organisations occidentales.
Le défi est que le comportement ne correspond pas encore à l’état d’esprit et que les comportements inconscients biaisés ont un impact sur les femmes au travail.
Men and women are guilty of cultivating those behaviors. A client recently told me she could not trust any other women in the organization because they were competition to her. This limiting and unconscious behavior was leading her to discriminate other women by ensuring they would not get too close to reach her level.
In reality women in leadership positions still struggle to break the glass ceiling and assert themselves in a male-dominated professional environment due to lack of self-awareness and self-empowerment. On the men side, biases persist by habits and the solution as well is to focus on self-awareness combined with widespread education. A woman shared with me a story that reflect an unconscious behavior. While she was visiting a client with a male manager, she, a director, was discarded by the client for the entire first part of the meeting. During a break, the male manager leaves which left the client with the female director. The client realized its unconscious biased behavior and apologized. Gender biases are engrained in our culture and it will take conscious efforts from both women and men to create new beliefs and behaviors that support true equality.
Until then, the place to start is in debunking a few of the more persistent myths that hold women back in the workplace. Take a look and see if any of the following apply to you.
Myth 1: hard work and patience will get women promoted
While certainly a good foundation for workplace advancement, any woman looking to land that big promotion needs to do more than keep their head down in the back office. Making oneself more visible and open to new connections is key, and the most direct route to advancement. Think about it – if your boss barely knows your name, how likely do you think you are to gain recognition? The truth is that women need to become comfortable with sharing their talent and successes. Last year, I met with a couple of female attorneys and they mentioned it was very uncomfortable for them to be recognized in public for only doing their job. They feel visibility is too much about “bragging” about their accomplishments, but when men do, they realized they are totally fine with it!
Myth 2: workplace equality is just a women’s issue
It’s true that respecting women’s independence and personal development is paramount, but the reality is that gender equality will only be achieved by a combined effort from all sides. Drawing on men and women from different industries and bodies of government will be necessary to affect widespread change. The fight might not be the best course of action though. A collective effort to support education and reflection instead of blaming men for their unconscious behavior should be the most favorable action to take. It only makes sense—since the benefits gained from a more cohesive and balanced workplace help everybody by creating more diverse teams with a broader range of skill sets and perspectives.
Myth 3: we should leave the problem-solving to our superiors
Appealing to our higher-ups is a great strategy to take charge of our situation and make change happen. However, it is too easy to forget some of the smaller, more close at hand strategies that can promote workplace equality. Maintaining a confident executive presence will show coworkers your strength and capability as a leader. Finding ways to problem-solve directly with coworkers will help build connections and foster mutual respect.
