Gibs smashes ‘add women and stir’ workplace myth

Simply adding women to your workforce will not automatically create an inclusive workplace. This approach, sometimes called “add women and stir”, won’t change the organisational structures and systems that benefit men more than women, according to a recent US study outlined in Harvard Business Review (HBR).

“Impact only emerges when the organisational culture is accepting of differences — or diversity, as it’s commonly referred to — and harnesses those differences to be innovative, inclusive and representative,” says Michele Ruiters, lead faculty at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) for its Leading Women programme.

“The business culture has to work on merit, not gender. If there are exceptionally skilled workers, they should get the opportunities and not be overlooked because they are women. Inclusion is not only about numbers, but about creating an environment built on belonging. There are highly capable women in leadership, but often the face of leadership is a man. We have to change the expectations of society and the conception of what a leader looks like. Businesses can be more strategic in their positioning of women leaders.”

The US researchers write in HBR how biases against women persist even in female-dominated workplaces. They found, for example, that women often aren’t acknowledged for their contributions. Even workplaces with a high female representation often have a boys’ club mentality, where the decisions are mostly made by men.

Furthermore, women are often held responsible for problems outside their control and tend to lack mentors and sponsors. The study’s authors say: “Lastly, some women found no other choice but to limit their aspirations due to personal obligations. In other words, their workplace was not supportive of combining work with family.”

Hindered by social expectations

Ruiters describes similar biases in corporate SA. “We still have businesses that expect women to ‘step up’ and conform to the dominant male culture,” she says.

“Some businesses use employment equity numbers as evidence that they’ve included women, but meetings are set up during care or family times. Women have to choose whether they can travel, because the business does not accommodate mothers or women who care for elderly family members. “Access is equal, but social expectations still hold us back in corporates that don’t understand that women have additional responsibilities.”

According to UN statistics, women spend on average three times as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men (4.2 hours compared with 1.7).

“More than a third of women say they feel the need to prioritise their partner’s career over their own, often because their partner earns more money,” says Deloitte’s Women at Work 2023 global survey. “However, even among women who are the primary earner, almost one in five still say they have to prioritise their partner’s career over their own. This may contribute to a cycle that diminishes women’s chances of earning more.”

Deloitte cites lack of flexibility as one of the top reasons why more women globally have left their jobs in the past 12 months than in 2021 and 2020 combined.

More flexibility correlates with loyalty, as two-thirds of women in highly flexible work arrangements reported wanting to stay with their company for more than three years, compared with only 19% of women who have no flexibility. Yet 97% of survey respondents believe requesting or taking advantage of flexible working would affect their likelihood of promotion.

Ruiters agrees that women benefit from flexible working arrangements, but says, “We need to recognise that all workers have a need for flexibility. The post-Covid world of work offers an opportunity to look at things differently.

We need more flexible work hours to have a balance in our lives. Families are no longer the conventional ‘mother, father and children’, but come in different configurations. By giving the parent or caregiver parental or care leave, we can remove the concept of ‘women’s work’.

“If we take gender out of the equation and think about human responsibilities and activities, what do we need to stay sane, balanced and healthy as workers?” she says. “We should ask those questions with a non-gendered lens. We need to share parental responsibilities.

"Sabbatical could be a reward rather than maternity leave. People often laugh when I say I want my maternity leave as a non-parent. I want the time to do things that are important to my wellbeing, just like parenting leave is important to parents.”

Mental health and wellbeing rank high on the post-Covid HR agenda. There’s an increasing focus on employee wellness programmes and structures addressing workplace bullying and inappropriate sexual behaviour. 

“We need allies,” says Ruiters. “Since there aren’t enough women at the top, men who support diversity, equality and belonging could also create the change that we want. It’s about having a critical mass fighting for equality and making companies change their culture in that regard.”

Gibs’s Leading Women (six month) and Women as Leaders (three day) programmes aim to equip female leaders to build the gender-neutral playing field critical in our volatile and uncertain world. Ruiters says, “We would like to challenge male leaders to join our women leadership courses to open up the conversation and address diversity and belonging in a holistic way.”

This article was sponsored by the Gordon Institute of Business Science.