Most CEOs fail to take this issue seriously. Is it any wonder women can't progress? - Women's Agenda

Most CEOs fail to take this issue seriously. Is it any wonder women can’t progress?

Another week, another study to confirm that the majority of Australian organisations are failing to take gender equality seriously.

A survey, co-authored by Chief Executive Women and Bain and Company, shows that one of the most important factors determining whether or not a company is taking seriously its obligations to create gender inclusive workplaces is the attitude and behaviour of the CEO. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the statistics, most CEOs failed to show they were serious about gender equality.

Fifteen thousand Australian executives were surveyed and the findings show that most CEOs were not demonstrating willingness to tackle gender. The need for CEOs to demonstrate this willingness is twofold: first, CEOs need to show inclusive and tolerant attitudes on a day to day basis, but they also need to demonstrate a willingness to support women at critical times such as promotions and leadership changes.

Importantly, this failure of CEOs to demonstrate a commitment to gender equality has left female employees with the perception that their advancement in the organisation will be constrained as a result. Less than 50% of women surveyed agreed with the statement, “the leadership team at my company or organisation has made gender parity a visible priority”.

Bain partner and report co-author Melanie Sanders told Women’s Agenda the survey results make clear that CEOs have to personally take gender parity seriously before the organisation they lead can progress.

“I think it sends a clear message to CEOs about the need to personally role-model inclusive behaviour and show personal leadership on the issue. This is not something that can just be delegated to HR or can be addressed simply through setting targets and hoping people rise to the challenge. CEOs need to personally commit to this on an everyday level, and need their employees to see they are making this commitment,” she said.

Sanders said that this personal commitment is most important in settings such as executive meetings, where CEOs need to show they value all opinions and attitudes, and also at promotion points, when CEOs need to show a commitment to advancing women in their organisations.

“Everybody looks to their CEO to behave in a certain way. Women have higher engagement when they can see that other women are in critical mass in leadership, and when they can see their CEO is valuing everyone’s opinion in setting such as executive meetings.”

While inclusive behaviour proved to be incredibly important in the study, a CEO’s track record in promoting and supporting women is the number one factor correlating with women’s perception of the fairness of their employers.

“There is nothing like a CEO having a good track record or appointing women to senior roles, sponsoring women and creating opportunities for women. CEOs have to be to demonstrate an ability to take gender equality seriously at these key moments,” Kathryn Fagg, CEW Council member and report co-author told Women’s Agenda.

“Leaders who want sustainable business success with an engaged workforce can’t afford to ignore the benefits of actually practising inclusive behaviour.”

Sanders also said the study’s results show the importance of ‘walking the talk’ when it comes to CEOs attitudes towards gender equality.

“Employees are not content with rhetoric about equality from supervisors or the C-Suite. CEOs have to walk the talk by actively shaping employee impressions of their work environments and clearing a path to greater opportunities for women,” Sanders said.

Unfortunately, the ‘walking the talk’ element of CEOs approach to gender parity is largely still not occurring; the study also shows that when it comes to CEO positions in the ASX200, women still only make up 3.5%. In executive management, women make up only 9.7% and only 18.6% of board directors are women.

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