How the workplace has changed
Roll back thirty years and it was fairly obvious which were the traditional 'male' and 'female' professions. Women were generally still either in junior or part-time positions that reflected their primary roles as housewives. Female secretaries, HR assistants, clerks and customer service staff abounded. Pay was unequal, discrimination on the basis of gender was a frequent occurrence and males were expected to be in senior positions, earning the bigger salaries.
Modern equality in the workplace
A lot has happily changed since then to rectify the balance, although there is still a good way to go. Firstly legislation means that females now have equal rights in the workplace to men and in the majority of cases, it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender (with specific exceptions, generally related to the healthcare, religious or prison industries). Women are now commonly working in more senior roles, although the perception of the 'glass ceiling' is still very much in evidence. Young women are attaining better grades than the boys at schools and heading to further education in ever greater numbers. The issue of equal pay has still not entirely caught up, but the government is pressing for greater transparency to ensure that it eventually becomes an equal playing field.
Why the need for a gender balance?
The simple fact is that, legality aside, a mixed gender business or organisation functions better. Women and men do broadly offer slightly different skills and strengths although these clearly cannot be split down purely gender lines. Organisational psychologists generally talk in terms of 'male' type and 'female type' characteristics, which may cross genders in reality. Male type behaviours tend to involve risk-taking and quick decision making. Female type behaviours involve better communications, team building and creativity.
The benefits of shaking things up!
Witness the recent events in the banking industry. A typically male-dominated industry, the traders that ultimately contributed to the banks' struggles today would have displayed typical male-type behaviours of competitiveness, quick decision making and risky choices. A more female type of environment might have promoted a longer-term, more balanced gain, with less of the haste.
Of course there is no right and wrong in these behaviours which is why the balance is so very important. A balanced team will have both male and female, at all levels and a mix of character types as well. The need for female balance is now seen across industries, with female soldiers and officers now a common sight in the armed forces and police force. And this trend works both ways, with many 'traditionally female' professions now being entered into by males: childcare, hairdressing, creative and caring professions, as barriers and stigmas continue to call and the appreciation of the clear benefits of mixed skills, attributes and experiences continue to translate into recruitment policy.
The future
Legislation will only continue to support the increase of women in equal positions in the workplace and wider social norms and cultures will need to continue to evolve to accommodate the gender mix. Our children's generation will certainly have very different expectations and experiences once they begin to launch their own careers in an increasingly flexible and diversified working world.
This article was written by Mike Idziaszczyk from Business Psychology company Pearn Kandola. For more of Mike's writing please visit the Pearn Kandola blog.
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