“A society that does not establish pathways to leadership for all its citizens is a society that is denying itself a possibility of excellence.”

I have been inspired to write this article following some engagements I had with my professional women colleagues who are in the business sector. Working women are said to face challenges and obstacles in the workplace than their male counterparts. Women who have children tend to experience more demands on time, energy and resources and in spite of these many challenges women still succeed. Women also struggle to find better ways to balance work and life and often this guilt comes from outside forces like pressure from husband, family and friends. More and more studies are being released that reveal these challenges women face in the office compared to male counterparts.

According to my colleagues, gender equality has been talked about, mainstreamed in all developmental projects but pointers are still there showing that this imbalance still vividly exists. The task to emancipate these women from some of the socially driven perceptions about women roles and abilities in the workplace seems to lie on organisational leaders. Why this imperative on organisational leaders?

Some of these challenges emanate from the fact that society has drawn gender lines early and the exclusion of women has continued throughout adulthood. Unfortunately, this discrimination has not only remained in the private sector but even in the public sector as well. Even in those instances where women have higher degrees than men, they are still passed over for low jobs that go to less educated and less qualified males and also receive less compensation than men for the same job. A study by UNDP confirmed this position.

It has been argued that while explicit gender bias may have largely disappeared from the workplace due to tougher legislation and increased focus on diversity issues, challenges still remain that take a different shape and form from those encountered by prior generations of women. According to my colleagues in most organisations women have to put more effort than their male peers in order to earn recognition and praise. Such perceptions have led women to overwork themselves just for thumbs up. One woman said she worked as the only senior member of management team in an organisation for eight years. She said, ‘I found many times my contributions had to be significantly larger   than my male counterparts to rent a public acceptance in front of various audiences’. She said this antiquated perception of women at work led to uncomfortable and gendered office relationships. She said during her eight years stint another woman then joined the organisation and upon seeing the subtle engendered behaviour she remarked to her, “stand up for yourself next time and you need to develop thick skin to tolerate the inappropriate judgements and comments.”

Such examples still do point to the reality women still face in organisations. To solve these challenges in the workplace, as employers we need to shift mindsets. Even at the national level, it is not enough to go through the motions with anti-harassment policies that do not really change practices. As leaders the challenge is to start thinking outside of stereotypes and evaluate individuals based on their work and value they bring to the organisation. Leaders should start thinking of making use of flexible working hours so that the absence of the woman on national duty whilst on maternity leave is not viewed otherwise. It is known that the attitude of a company starts at top and when we the leadership take action to reduce the daily challenges and help women feel more comfortable with their roles, that is when a culture can change.

One women corporate challenge which remains is that of sexual harassment. My colleagues argued that this is a real and persistent problem but one which can be actually very hard to identify.

While experts preach about where women have come from, it is unfortunate that stereotypes and outdated notions of traditions remain prevalent in modern corporate culture with glass ceilings continuing to be created for women. Pink collar jobs like cosmetology, waitressing and secretarial continue to be reinforced as women work. Who says!

For the leadership it is worth noting that several studies continue emerging highlighting the great strides women have made in terms of upward mobility. There are however still walls to be breached and hurdles to be crossed when it comes to true equality of women in the workplace. Together with the achieved strides, leaders in companies should start communicating the benefits that gender diversity has for individual employees, customers, organisations and the society at large. Continual gender bias affects talent planning, hiring, promotions and performance management. McKinsey and Company conducted a study “Women Matter” and it did provide factual evidence that supports that higher involvement of women in the corporate world leads to organisational stronger financial performance, improved corporate governance and stronger assessment of risk. Think about itǃ

Emmanuel Jinda is the Managing Consultant of PROSERVE Consulting Group, a leading supplier of Professional Human Resources and Management services locally, regionally and internationally. He can be contacted at Tel: 263 773004143 or 263 4 772778 or visit our website at www.proservehr.com