Gender equality is not about us vs. them.
It’s not a blame game on men or judgment on their position.
It’s not about picking battles… it’s just being honest with where we stand with lack of gender parity, the pay gap and the adversarial difference between men and women, especially in the telecoms and tech industry!
It’s a fact that there is a 136 year gender pay gap and there are more men named John’s in CEO positions than there are women in total.
It’s also a fact that there are still numerous complaints around sexual harassment and discrimination on a regular basis.
To drive the much needed change, everybody needs to be a part of the solution.
Collectively, all genders need to work together to take the steps that are needed to create gender parity.
Just to be clear, women in the workplace don’t need male saviors or need to be rescued. Women are not damsels in distress and men are not our knights in shining armour… but women will never achieve equality in the workplace, or in life, if they’re the only gender working towards it.
Men need to be willing to show their support and hold themselves and colleagues accountable to create a healthier and more equitable work environment. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it benefits the whole organisation and everybody in it.
To help you do that, here’s 10 ways men can support women in the telecoms and tech industry.
How can men support women in tech and telecom?
Step 1) Understand and accept what privilege you have
Privilege is a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group, and not to others.
As a man, you need to understand and accept the privilege you do have.
If you look around the room and are one of many who look and have similar characteristics, backgrounds, etc… you are in a privileged position in the workplace, and probably society as a whole.
In particular, being born a white, heterosexual male confers an enormous amount of privilege compared to say women of other ethnicities, sexual orientations, religions, etc.
It doesn’t mean you haven’t worked hard to achieve what you have or that you’re guilty of doing something wrong.
It simply means that as a result of your privilege, through no fault of your own, you’re already ahead of others in the same game. For example, in an interview for a senior position, as a man you might already be ahead of other people that are in the same recruitment process.
Some people, who weren’t born with a similar combination of characteristics, will have to overcome life obstacles and challenges like you, but there’s also added obstacles around their points of difference. This means some people have to work much harder for the same opportunities that you are automatically, or at least more easily, offered.
Again, this isn’t something you can change… you are who you are! But you can take responsibility and accept your privilege
You need to figure out the configuration of the playing field and how it affects everyone.
Step 2) Recognise gender equality comes in many different forms
Most women face some form of gender inequality at work, but not all women face it in the same way.
For example, in the telecoms and tech industry different factors will come into play. So a white woman may be discriminated against for her gender, but also has the privilege of their race. Whereas a woman of colour may be discriminated against because of their gender and ethnicity… maybe even their sexual orientation.
As an ally, you need to understand that people within different minority groups are going to have different lived experiences. To be able to support women in the workplace, you need to understand sexism runs across different groups and requires different levels of awareness and action to address it effectively.
You need to listen to people and understand their perspective and lived experience… find out about those negative scenarios, discrimination and other challenges women face daily in the workplace. Then you can identify the best way to be an ally and support them.
Step 3) Review hiring, pay and promotion processes
Many of the problems women face in the workplace begin with hiring practices and the initial recruitment process.
It might be that the wording in job adverts is more masculine, the skills are attributed more to men than women, or there’s no flexible working mentioned during the hiring process.
All these things narrow the scope and make it harder to find suitable female candidates.
To make sure you have a more gender balanced hiring process, try attending college job fairs at female colleges or reach out to professional organisations that are focused on women.
Even if you’re not hiring, it’s important to review your hiring, pay and promotion processes and raise awareness around any gender imbalances.
Step 4) Advocate for fair workplace policies
Creating a diverse workforce and getting more women in the door is a good start for any company. But to retain top talent and create future leaders, organisations need to introduce fair workplace policies.
Fair workplace policies are a practical and tangible way to support women and other minority groups.
These could include things like:
- Shared parental leave
- Transparency around pay and salary guidelines
- Hybrid work and flexible work arrangements
- Remote work options
- Encouraging the uptake of onsite childcare to all parents
These types of policies help massively to support gender equality in organisations, but only if they are being used, demonstrated and role modeled by all.
Step 5) Take the parental leave
This relates to the point above, but is so important in terms of reducing the stereotype that women have to choose between having a family and having a career.
Shared parental leave is a workplace policy that helps to support women in the workplace… but only if men are taking advantage and demonstrating the benefits.
If more men spoke up and insisted on taking parental leave to share obligations, it would lessen the stigma of women taking the time off to give birth. It helps to eradicate the motherhood bias against hiring women, since both men and women will have the potential to take time off if they want to have children in the future.
Step 6) Offer to mentor or sponsor
Men are 50% more likely than women to have a mentor or sponsor to guide their career path and support them.
Offering to mentor, sponsor and become an advocate for women helps to put down the ladder for other women to climb up.
You can speak up about how brilliant the person is, what they’ve delivered, what they’ve done and how they’ve made a difference.
You can be a sponsor, ally and advocate for the women around you by committing time to support them, speaking on panels or podcasts and pushing for fair policies.
As a male, especially if you’re in a senior role, you can use the privilege you have to support those around you.
Step 7) Be mindful of harassment
Back in 2017, the ‘Me Too’ movement took the world by storm.
It demonstrated that sexual harassment and assault is rampant in the workplace. It also highlighted that women have had enough and are no longer prepared to suffer in silence.
It’s not enough to make sure you are avoiding harassment like sexual innuendos, sexist jokes, or comments on a woman’s appearance… It’s also down to men to highlight or report a situation if they witness harassment happening.
Although you may not be participating, silence allows that type of toxic behaviour to continue. It implies it’s acceptable and the norm, and in a way, makes you complicit with the behaviour.
Whereas if you stand up and speak out, it shows zero tolerance for harassment in the workplace and shows that this type of behaviour is not accepted in any shape or form.
There’s no point implementing fair workplace policies and procedures for these situations if they aren’t going to be followed and victims aren’t supported.
Step 8) Give women credit for their ideas
A term that has gained popularity in the corporate world over the last few years has been ‘he-peating’. The word was popularised by US physics professor and astronomer Nicole Gugliucci who announced it to the world in a tweet after hearing the term from her friends.
She described ‘he-peating’ as when a woman suggests an idea and it’s ignored or met with silence, but then a man says the same thing and everyone loves it.
Unfortunately, most women have experienced this at some point in their lives but there are strategies men can follow to stop this from happening… one being amplification.
This is when a woman makes an important point or suggestion in a meeting, but that point is either ignored or immediately shot down, other women at the table repeat the idea, giving clear support and credit to its source.
However, often women are the only woman in the room in the telecoms and tech industry, especially as you climb the ranks. Therefore men should be actively using amplification to advocate for the women in their team and give them credit for their ideas.
Step 9) Don’t interrupt
Not only do women have their ideas stolen by male colleagues, but several studies show that when it comes to meetings, women are more likely than men to be interrupted and talked over.
Unfortunately, as that happens more and more often, those women become quieter and more introverted. They start to think… what’s the point in speaking up if I’m gonna get talked over? What’s the point in sharing my value if I’m not going to get heard? Why bother when I’m just being ignored anyway?
Allowing women the space to talk, without fear of interruption, opens the door to hearing more ideas or finding out about a particular zone of genius or expertise they might have.
Not only should you be mindful of yourself, but if you see others interrupting, make sure to give them a nudge and call them out on it.
Step 10) Speak up
One of the greatest challenges women encounter surrounding sexism in the workplace is silence. In particular, silence from men that have a good conscience, but are too busy or simply ignorant of the fact they aren’t being allies to women.
In many cases, some men just don’t know how to respond or they don’t want to rock the boat. But you need to understand, that when you’re silent in the face of harassment or discrimination, you’re almost being supportive and complicit in the bad behaviour of others.
By being silent, you’re allowing it to continue, become part of company culture and propagate.
If you see something wrong, it’s your responsibility to speak up, call it out and take a stand. Show your support to the women around you and take practical steps to show everybody that gender discrimination or sexism is not tolerated in any form.
Being an ally to women means noticing all the forms of injustice that women are exposed to and taking the action to call it out and support the person at the receiving end of the inequality.
Want to hear more?
I talked more about what men can do to support women in the telecoms and tech industry in an episode of the Women at the Top of Telecoms and Tech podcast.
Big love
Nic
P.S If you need my help supporting women in your organisation and closing the gender pay gap you can contact me below.
