Hello? Where are the men in the gender diversity debate? - Women's Agenda

Hello? Where are the men in the gender diversity debate?

A few months ago I was invited to attend a forum about gender diversity. The keynote speaker and the expert panel provided interesting insights about problems, issues and potential solutions. There would have been about 100 participants, but less than a handful were men if you exclude the waiters and the photographer. Yet, men were at the center of the discussion.

Since the event I have been browsing through the names of conference speakers, experts, consultants, researchers and other people who are active in the debate. Again, the men are largely missing. So, it seems like there is not enough diversity among the people participating in the gender diversity debate. Isn’t that ironical? Just imagine how much further and faster the gender diversity situation could improve if participation was more gender neutral.

If it is really true that men are missing from the gender diversity debate, I guess the question is: Why? Are we deliberately being excluded? Do we not care? Are we simply not motivated to participate?

Kim Ball from the University of Griffith is conducting some very interesting research into the effectiveness of intra-company network activities just for women, and if these activities actually help or hinder women through their careers.

What is of particular interest is that these ‘women only’ activities apparently scare the men away. ‘Secret’ clubs only reinforce the image of women being a special group, that must be dealt with differently. Isn’t that what is happening more broadly in the gender diversity debate?

One could argue that the problem here is that the participants in the gender diversity debate are doing exactly what they claim is the problem. They talk with and ‘recruit’ like-minded people, thus creating a distance to those who are different, which in this case are the men.

However, it is too easy to point the finger at the women for not letting the men in. That’s just an excuse to maintain equilibrium. Men need to start getting more involved, and not wait for the invitation to participate.

So what is the business case for us men to participate?

Firstly, if we don’t have a seat at the table we can’t influence the discussion. Simply avoiding or ignoring the gender diversity debate doesn’t allow us to contribute. More importantly, it means that we men don’t really understand the issues, as we are not exposed to all relevant views.

Women can also help by actively encouraging men to participate. I’d like to see the next gender diversity forum have more men participating. It also helps the women get more awareness of what the men are thinking. Let’s make it a goal to have equal participation.

Secondly, community pressure is mounting, and it is better to act now than being pushed later. This means that we can set the direction and speed to suit our needs rather than someone else’s. The recent changes to the ASX reporting requirements (‘If not – Why not’) on diversity is an obvious example of community pressure being applied when companies left to their own devices aren’t making sufficient progress. It is inevitable that this type of regulation is a bit rough on the edges, but is the result of seeing not enough action.

Finally, we could learn more about what we can do in our business to make them more attractive for women. Facing an ageing population we can’t afford to cater for only half of the population. From a productivity and innovation perspective it also makes a lot of sense to make our businesses more attractive for both genders. In my university years as well as throughout my career I have been working in teams that were either male-dominated, female-dominated or 50/50. My own experience is that the best productivity and innovation comes from the 50/50 teams.

We need men on board to get women on board. Let’s start now.

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