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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions

Increasing gender diversity at work - I want to get involved but don't know where to start!

4 replies

ShotsFired · 31/10/2017 14:59

As per of a wider company discussion, my CEO has stated that he sees gender diversity as a specific area we are lacking in, and cites the lack of women in senior management or Board positions as one of those indicators.

For ref we are a small to medium sized company in a really hi tech industry with a global staff made up of a whole load of nationalities and cultures, yet our management team is exclusively “male, pale and stale”. It’s also quite flat so there isn’t really much scope for vertical or structured promotion like there would be in a massive company like, say, Barclays Bank. My own reporting line is me > my boss > CEO, for example. Sideways or new initiatives would be more likely I think. Internal mentoring is the obvious one but we have very few sufficiently senior women spread across diverse roles so it might be tricky.

I am choosing to see this as a positive and want to engage (at his direct request) with trying to offer solutions and ideas on this in a “How do you Eat an Elephant? One Bite at a Time!” way and would be very interested in hearing about any successes or ideas that have worked well for their organisations. Thank you.

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SpookghosttiAndMeatboos · 31/10/2017 15:15

Hiring methods is one that's a good place to start, with fairly easy, well researched ways to reduce gender bias, eg anonymous CVs, training, advert wording.

Admittedly if you're not getting the women's CVs in it's harder to demonstrate, but just by making it a priority with agents, or by checking the wording of your job specs you can make a difference to that.

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LeCroissant · 31/10/2017 15:55

So he and his peers fail to hire and promote women so his solution is to ask a woman to fix it for him?

Tell him to get his head out of his arse, address his own sexism and stop expecting women to do the heavy lifting for him.

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Thrubwell · 31/10/2017 20:11

@ShotsFired. I’ve pm’d you

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ShotsFired · 01/11/2017 06:59

Thank you everyone!

(@LeCroissant So he and his peers fail to hire and promote women so his solution is to ask a woman to fix it for him?

No, he directed his comments to the whole company. I probably won't be telling him to get his head out of his arse though Shock Wink)

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