Lipstick or Chapstick? — My Take on Gender Equality in the Corporate World

Several weeks after International Women’s Day, there’s still so many inspirational stories, pictures, videos, and quotes floating around social media. It only means one thing — gender equality and women empowerment is a big deal in the corporate world. What I did realize was that there were more inspirational stories than ever before, which means there are more women embracing employment and most organizations have made it easier for women to integrate into the system. This is absolutely encouraging and definitely a step in the right direction. But, are women happy in general? Are we missing something? Is there much more to do? This is subjective and some will say everything possible has been done, while others will feel there’s a lot more to do.

So, here’s my take on gender equality. Firstly, I ask myself have corporates done enough to ensure gender balance and diversity and ensure gender discrimination doesn’t happen in the workplace and women are given equal opportunity? My view — hell yeah! At least the organizations I have worked for have done everything possible to maintain gender balance and give women equal opportunity. Promotions and recognition have been based purely on performance, irrespective of gender. Times have changed and corporates too have evolved to place more emphasis on gender equality. Almost every organization I know has a plan or program in place to make women feel special, appreciated, and recognized for their contribution to the respective organization through their corporate roles. Senior leaders in traditionally male-dominated industries are focusing on striking the right balance more than ever before — mostly because they see and feel the importance. Women today too are embarking on a wide variety of professions, thereby pushing corporates to look at ways of integrating women into roles that were earlier thought to be more ‘appropriate’ for men.

Corporates vs society

So what’s the problem? What’s all the fuss about? Why are we still screaming and shouting about gender discrimination in the corporate world? While organizations have done the right stuff to encourage and empower women, there might be a few outliers in the system (men, of course), who are too traditional and old-fashioned with closed minds who cannot deal with the changes. What this means is that society hasn’t evolved and has a typical stereotyping of what women should be doing with their time and life (i.e. cook, clean, take care of kids, and other stuff within your homes). While we’ve come a long way, it will take a lifetime for these structured ‘mindsets’ to change, at least in very traditional societies like ours. It’s not a quick fix, unfortunately, and it may take several generations to realize and raise their kids in a way that doesn’t differentiate between men and women. Once that happens, behaviors will change too!

How do we (women) deal with unacceptable behavior? I don’t know the right answer. But I can tell you how I deal with it, personally. I don’t like confrontation and getting into gender-based arguments. It’s a losing battle that will end with (generally the woman) feeling isolated.

First things first — you’ve got to understand that these mindsets have been created by society, not companies. And companies are trying in every possible way to ensure parity in everything they do — from recruitment policies to equal representation in senior management, to empowerment through various unique and creative ways. Then why is there still a gap? Again, because society has not allowed women to breakaway from stereotypes and ‘choose’ to do something else with their lives. Yes, it’s changing, but not at the same pace corporates would like it to happen. When society has molded ‘people’ to think in a certain way, it’s only natural that they would bring these mindsets into the office as well.

First, fight back at home

Most of my fighting, I do at home. Sometimes, it’s the little things that bug me like the woman always being responsible for all household chores. Start with your kids and break those stereotypes. It’s harder to convince and change older generations, but don’t let them influence the future. Teach your boys to cook, clean, do laundry — share responsibilities and do things together. Times have changed and it doesn’t matter who becomes the breadwinner in a family eventually, because someone’s gotta work and someone’s gotta do the dishes. And it doesn’t matter who does what. Break those stereotypes and silence the judgmental verbose.

Educate vs confront in the office

So, it’s no point taking an activist or confrontational stance to fight the problem. Rather, an educational approach (sprinkled with a bit of humor) that fosters awareness might be your best bet. It’s a tough one because you’re probably dealing with swollen egos or arrogant personalities, but understand first that it’s society that has probably created this monster and you need to deal with it tactfully. Start with addressing the remarks. There was once an incident where a guy I worked with made a bad joke directed at me and said ‘oh I don’t think she’ll be able to handle it’ and I knew it was because I was a woman. I could have snapped back and made a big deal about it, but it would have blown out of proportion and I didn’t want to be known as ‘the girl who can’t take a joke.’ It was bothering me though and I awaited my turn to strike back. A few hours later, the same guy asked me to do something and I joked back saying ‘oh, I’m sorry, I’m a girl and I’m weak and I can’t possibly do that for you.’ He felt like an ass and I pat him on the back and said, ‘buddy, you’re a nice guy, so please don’t make jack-ass statements like you did this morning.’ It’s my lean-mean approach and it worked! We became best friends and he never did it again.

Confrontation will only further sour already strained relationships — it’s true in any situation. Reasoning and communicating openly to attack the root cause is the better approach. Gender equality, in my opinion, has been given the highest priority in the corporate world today and we (when I see we, I refer to girl power) need to be mindful and tactful when dealing with potential ‘trouble’ by using the lean-mean approach, and not full-blown war. Focus instead on tackling the bigger issues like sexual harassment and gender-based violence — and we need male support to fight these monsters for sure.