10 Steps to Overcome Gender Bias and Gaps in Telecoms and Tech

“Balance is not a woman’s issue, it’s a business issue. Gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive and for businesses to profit from.”

Gender parity isn’t just with women to change.

It’s a benefit and competitive advantage for all organisations to have gender balance.

But to achieve balance, organisations need to overcome any gender bias and gaps that exist within their company.

Right now, the gender pay gap rests at a massive 136 years.That’s four future generations before we experience gender parity.

Despite progress being made, there’s still an obvious imbalance between the genders in the workplace.

Women tend to be few and far between the higher you get in a company structure, and in industries like telecoms and tech the numbers get even lower.

In many cases, women end up trapped at the ‘broken rung’. Research shows women continue to lose ground at the first step up to manager. For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 85 women were promoted. As a result, women remained significantly outnumbered in entry-level management at the beginning, holding just 38% of manager-level positions, while men held 62%.

When working, women are faced with bias and sexism on a regular basis. In fact, 62% of women in male dominated workplaces say sexual harassment is a problem in their industry.

In my own personal experience, there were some uncomfortable situations… inappropriate touches, sexist comments, remarks on my clothes, appearance and figure.

I’ve also worked with women who have been to take notes or make the tea or told they were ’over emotional’ or to ‘put on their big girl pants’… all indications that sexism is still alive and kicking in the workplace.

And a recent study reflects the bias…

Women at work are more than twice as likely than men to be asked to make tea or coffee for everyone… 42% of women compared to 16% of men.
Women are also more likely (50% against 21%) to be asked about the wellbeing of their children
37% of women, compared to 19% of men, are asked to do menial or admin-based tasks like taking notes
Women were made the target of sexist jokes almost three times more often than men… 43% of women compared to 15% of men.

It’s clear gender bias is still prevalent in workplaces, and organisations need to be taking proactive steps to tackle the bias and gaps within their own structure and start to make a positive change.

To get you started, here are 10 quick tips, practical steps that you can take right now to start to overcome gender bias and gaps within your own organisation.

1. Look at the recruitment process

To overcome gender bias in the workplace you need to start at the beginning… the recruitment process.

This is one area that might be not really noticed or stand out as something that needs changing, but it’s a common area of gender bias.

Even if it’s not a conscious discrimination, you may end up giving men an unfair advantage because of the talent pools and networks you recruit from, how you word your job adverts or the fact you have a more male-dominated interview panel.

By examining your recruitment process you can track the gender breakdown in new hires. Patterns emerge of overall numbers and also the gender balance in types of roles and seniority.

Look at where the recruitment of men and women is being made… Are women being hired more in junior roles and men in senior management? Can you be more diverse and inclusive?

2. Conduct regular pay audits

The gender pay gap is still significant in many countries and, as an organisation, conducting regular pay audits is one of the most tangible ways to reflect any gender bias within your structure.

Statistics show that women are being paid significantly less than males in their team doing the same job. So despite the fact women are working hard, doing a great job, delivering day in and day out, supporting their teams, they’re taking home less money than men in their pay packets.

Regular pay audits make sure you’re aware of whether any gender pay gap exists in your own organisation.

Pay audits show you where you are and involve listing your employees, their bandings and pay rates and seeing if there’s a gap between the average pay of women and men, especially as you get higher in the organisation..

If there’s a discrepancy in pay between men and women or inequality within other factors… like the gender balance for promotions or at certain levels… then that is something audits bring to light.

3. Enable flexible working

Rigid working hours makes it more difficult to do things like the school pick up and drop off, making it a subtle, yet incredibly powerful gender bias.

Although surveys still show that women shoulder most of the responsibility for children and household chores, flexible working isn’t just about women.

After the pandemic, remote, hybrid and flexible working structures have become standard practice for organisations all over the world. The demand from employees has continued to increase and research finds 76% of employees are more likely to apply for a role if flexible working is offered.

Offering it makes you stand out on the market as a go-to employer. And, lockdown has proved it works, people are happy and are more productive… with 52% reporting it was quicker to complete work and 53% said they had fewer distractions. Almost half also reported improved well-being and work life balance.

Flexible work arrangements can come in a range of forms…

Job shares, especially in more senior levels, can help keep women and the experience and value they bring within the workforce
Generous and shared parental leave allows parents to split the responsibilities and joy of a new baby… rather than mum having to choose between that or her career
Programmes to help women returning from a career gap… whether that be sick leave, maternity, time off to be a caregiver, menopause, miscarriage, bereavement, etc.
Part time positions for senior leaders or condensed/flexible hours
Childcare facilities or childcare benefits to support women with their career and family

4. Analyse and equalise promotion opportunities

The glass ceiling for women is still there and unfortunately shows no signs of cracking just yet.

It’s most often seen in the Fortune 500 companies, where as you move up the levels in a company, the representation of women becomes much lower… almost like a pyramid effect, getting smaller the higher you go.

To know whether this exists in your organisation you need to be analysing the data and looking at different levels, roles and bandings… What is the percentage of women vs. men?

If you have a pyramid structure, you can tackle that in two ways.

By creating better opportunities for career progression and promotion within the company,
By hiring more women directly into those senior management roles so that you have clear role models that can address some of that gender imbalance immediately.

5. Lead by example

Leading by example and role modeling is hugely powerful when working to overcome gender bias.

If employees see women leading the company or in strong positions of power, they’re likely to take that lesson on board in their own roles. It’s easier for other women to open their mind to new opportunities they might never have considered possible for them.

For every woman breaking down barriers and leading the way, you’re paving the road for those behind you.

It shows women they can take a sideways move to a different area, ask for a pay raise, or go for that promotion if that’s what they want.

6. Establish clear company policies

As an organisation, policies set a framework for the behaviors that are tolerated and those that aren’t.

For example having a clear process in place to deal with any complaints of sexual harrassment, bias, or discrimination makes it easier and as painless as possible for people to report any issues (should they unfortuantely have to) but also sets a clear precedent that it is not acceptable behaviour.

Clear company policies help to create a safe environment for all employees, not just women.

7. Encourage mentoring

Mentoring is incredibly powerful and should be encouraged within all organisations.

It builds strong connections and opens eyes to new opportunities. Introducing a mentoring or buddy system of sorts enables people to share experiences and skills and can help develop skills within specific areas.

Mentoring establishes a support network that means women have someone who can encourage them, talk them up or advocate for them even when they’re not in the room.

It’s also an effective way of helping employees to work on their own gender biases.

If women mentor men, or men mentor women, they can start to break down some of those barriers, assumptions and unconscious bias, and gain a deeper understanding of the lived experience of someone in a different situation.

8. Use language consciously

Language is a powerful tool… it’s how we communicate and show up with the world.

Even if we don’t mean to display gender bias, there might be elements that are flowing through us unconsciously. For example, you might close a meeting by saying “thanks guys/girls!” or some other collective term that actually can exclude many different people.

A recent report found that women hear gender biased language in their workplace on average four times a week. Specific instances included “persistently being called lady, sweetheart, or darling” and “being referred to as a woman ‘of my age’ after requesting a fan”.

However, research also suggests that steps are being taken to tackle bias and challenge this type of vocabulary. 64% of people said they had done so, with 28% of those highlighting it to the person directly, 22% reporting it to their boss and 14% going to HR.

92% also said they were making a conscious effort to use inclusive language at work with terms such as ‘team’ and ‘all’.

To tackle any unconscious gender bias within your own language, think about how you talk to other employees, when you’re presenting to clients or writing emails. Are you using inclusive language and pronouns?

If you’re not sure, educate yourself – and those around you – on how you can use your language more consciously and be more inclusive.

9. Make sure gender equality is an absolute priority

To be able to overcome gender bias and gaps in your organisation, you need to make sure gender equality is an absolute priority.

This doesn’t happen in one initiative, programme or workshop. It takes building a strategy, sticking to it and delivering on it. It means consistently showing that gender parity is a clear focus and priority for your organisation.

It needs to be communicated to employees at every level and every opportunity. Update them with a progress report on your gender pay gap action plan or gender equality company goal… Share it in company meetings, on Slack Channels or in the newsletter.

Progress won’t be made unless it’s consistently communicated and made a priority.

10. You need to listen

As well as communicating your commitment to creating gender parity and overcoming bias and gaps in your workplace, you also need to listen.

Spend time with your employees and get an understanding of the lived experience of different minority groups of women, cultures and backgrounds.

Go and listen without questioning them, and be willing to make changes based on their feedback.

Keep up to date with what’s happening elsewhere in your industry and listen out for other initiatives that are helping other organisations to overcome gender bias and gaps within their own structure.