Despite the large strides we’ve made in gender equality in the workplace over the past decade, men continue to wield the most power in workplaces across the country.
According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, men are more likely to hold the CEO role in almost every industry in Australia. Meanwhile, just 22 per cent of CEOs and 42 per cent of managers in Australia are women.
At home, women continue to bear the lion’s share of domestic labour and caring responsibilities, and are far more likely to engage in paid work in a part-time capacity and in lower-paid industries. Female entrepreneurs are much less likely to secure VC funding and are more likely to face discrimination.
And as we learnt earlier this year, some of the country’s largest and most recognisable employers have a gender pay gap of 30 to 40 per cent in favour of male employees. Recent research from e61 Institute revealed that the bulk of the hourly gender pay gap is because women are being paid less than men within the same occupation.
Amid this landscape, how can we promote better and more gender-equal workplace practices that will allow men and women to thrive? It’s tough, but with true buy-in from men, there are certain activities, conversations and policies that can influence real change.
Here’s how:
Men can learn first-hand about the challenges facing women
One of the key ways workplaces can better address gender equality is by encouraging men to learn first-hand about the challenges facing women. This can be done in two ways.
First, men can be encouraged to take parental leave where it is available to them. Not only does this help normalise work and parenting for both men and women, in doing so, men tend to become more aware of the everyday challenges of balancing work and family responsibilities, a burden that is often shouldered by women. During parental leave, men can experience first-hand the systemic and attitudinal barriers that need to be overcome to normalise flexible work for everyone. This experience has been confirmed in Nordic countries where women are among the most employed in the world. The share of parental leave taken by fathers has grown steadily in the Nordics over the past 20 years changing workplace culture around parenting and working with it.
The other way that men can become more aware of the challenges facing women in their workplace, is by becoming a sponsor through a curated sponsorship program. Through Cultivate Sponsorship’s program, male sponsors undergo a two-way learning journey that can provide insights to the inequalities facing women. As one emerging female leader described, having access to a sponsor during parental leave helped her think differently about her career options.
“This program couldn’t have come along at a better time for me. I was on maternity leave when I applied. I thought that I would totally lose my identity when I came back to work. Who would I be if I was a mother and an engineer? My sponsor challenged me to think differently. Why can’t you do both?” said one female participant.
By giving men such an insight into the challenges facing women, we can create a shared understanding of how workplaces can better cater to the needs of men, women and families.
Role modelling of senior male leaders
Rob Sturrock, an author and advocate on fatherhood and gender equality, says one of the key ways men in positions of senior leadership can promote gender equality is by actively taking up parental leave options themselves.
This role modelling is an effective way to influence other men to take up these opportunities and normalise balancing work with caring responsibilities.
“In workplaces where you see a strong increase in the number of men taking up opportunities like paid parental leave, it’s often when they can genuinely see senior leaders promoting it, or even better, taking it themselves,” Sturrock tells Women’s Agenda.
“It’s one thing if it’s positive if you see a colleague do it but if male senior leaders and managers do it, it makes a huge difference.”
It’s important because men adopting paid parental leave is shown to be one of the key drivers of gender equality, so that child rearing does not solely disrupt women’s careers. And in 2024, it’s more accessible than ever.
The federal government has now legislated the expansion of the Commonwealth paid parental leave scheme to six months by 2026. The changes are designed to encourage families with two parents to share the care, with four weeks reserved for each parent.
And while many employers offer generous paid parental leave schemes and are making it more accessible for men and women, just 14 per cent of all paid primary carer’s parental leave last year was taken by men, just a tiny increase on the previous year of 0.6 per cent.
Encouraging men’s uptake of the paid parental leave available to them is beneficial to men, women and workplaces, Sturrock says.
“After parental leave, men come back to the workforce with such a deeper appreciation of the challenges and joys of home life,” Sturrock explains. “It makes them a better colleague, a better manager, and they bring back a set of soft skills.”
Male employers and leaders can offer flexible work options
Men’s uptake and leadership on flexible work, especially if they are parents, is a key part of creating more gender-equal workplaces. Gone are the days where women are solely responsible for organising their children’s lives, and the more men who take on these roles, the better.
“It’s almost impossible for anyone to do the ‘juggle’ without a flexible workplace practice,” Sturrock says. “Whether that’s being able to work remotely when we need to and being flexible with hours. It’s critical that men are able to do that.”
Sturrock says that it often comes down to creating a workplace culture that enables and encourages this, and that’s where senior male leaders have a key role to play.
“Creating a culture where it is totally acceptable for men to be caring for children, or to be working part time, or remotely, or leaving a bit early to do the school pick up, is really important,” he says.
“I still don’t think we’re quite there yet in terms of the big cultural shift. It’s happening in pockets but we are yet to see that big trend we would like to.”
Sponsorship can be the key to elevating talented female employees
Another key way that senior men can step up and truly buy-in to creating cultural shifts in workplaces, is by participating in curated sponsorship programs that are designed to create pathways for female employees.
One of the key reasons that Cultivate Sponsorship developed their flagship program was to help to create a ladder and confidence pathway for emerging female leaders. A massive part of this process is educating current male senior leaders about the realities of someone who may have a very different career and life to them.
Indeed, many senior male leaders who have participated as sponsors in the program, have said that they now think of their leadership legacy as being centred around supporting and elevating the talent around them.
“My leadership legacy is no longer about myself or my success. It’s about lifting my team members and folks that I sponsor to reach their career goals. And I am glad to advocate for more women after this exercise,” one senior leader said after participating in the Cultivate program.
Organisations can take on sponsorship programs to reduce gender equality, and empower emerging female leaders to break through the glass ceiling. Male leaders are critical to making it happen.
You can find out more about Cultivate Sponsorship here.