10 Tips To Fight Gender Discrimination

Gender discrimination is alive and well. Here are 10 ways to fight it.

Sheryl Sandberg got people talking about gender equality at work with her best-seller, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (Knopf, 2013)—but why should women have to do all the leaning?

Every organization—and that means the men and women who run companies—must do more to ensure that women have an equal opportunity to lead.

Yes, we have come a long way since 1964, when gender discrimination became unlawful, but we still have a long way to go.

Below I offer 10 ways organizations can increase gender equality from the top down.

  1. Get Women on Boards

    Greater representation of women on boards of directors is critical. Boards with at least one woman are likely to crush the competition, according to a Business Insider article. Diversity matters!

    Having women on boards can also call attention to the elephant in the room at many companies—that there is a boys' club at the top or at least in certain silos. Power makes it easier to speak up, regardless of gender.

    In addition, the presence of women on the board sends a powerful message to executive women and customers that the company "gets it."

    Finally, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and most state laws do not apply to board positions, where there is no employment status. Therefore, employers can do what they generally cannot do for senior leadership positions—that is, take gender into consideration when filling board positions or even reserve a board position for a woman.

  2. Educate Senior Leadership

    Both the board of directors and the senior leadership team must understand the legal issues associated with gender discrimination (see sidebar).

    Training should also emphasize the business benefits of gender equality, including the talent imperative, connection with and access to customers, diversity of ideas, and supplier diversity. Where there is gender diversity among senior leadership, companies outperform their competitors.

  3. Hire and Promote

    To increase gender (and other) diversity of the applicant pool, work to:

    Ensure that the minimum job requirements are not so high that they exclude women simply because this group has been denied opportunities in leadership until relatively recently. This does not mean lowering standards but rather assessing them more realistically. Increase the diversity of the applicant pool through general and targeted recruiting. Word-of-mouth is not enough. Distribute applications to...

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