“Gender Diversity & Inclusion go hand in hand”
I came across the term “Diversity” at the workplace for the first time in 2005. It was a women’s day celebration and my outlook was inundated with multiple emails on “Women’s Day” and “Women leaders”. Now it been more than 15 years and still I see emails on the “Women Day” celebration and “ Meeting with Women leaders”. Well, I have never seen any emails titled “Men Leader” so far. No pun intended. Gradually, I grasped the concept of gender diversity at the workplace and after working with various renowned companies, I have also witnessed many initiatives these companies implement to promote Diversity at the workplace. It’s great to know that leadership wants to establish a cohesive environment, where everybody is treated the same and get equal opportunities to grow. But the reality is quite far from the truth. Do women get fair chances to show their talent? How many women are hired or promoted in a leadership role as compared to men? Do you think, these WIN initiatives and Diversity programs can help to turnaround the challenges, women face at the workplace.
It’s motivating to see the women leaders, who reached on top but at the same time, it’s discouraging to see appalling numbers. I am mainly concerned about the large number of women stuck at a lower level or in middle management. If you see the statistics, the number of women employees at the lower and middle level is very high as compared to a senior level. As a matter of fact, the research shows that girls are doing better than boys educationally across the world. Surprisingly, this positive trend and multiple initiatives focusing on Gender diversity have not translated into growth for women. Women are still highly underrepresented at the Senior level and in leadership roles.
Recently, my colleague from the office approached me and requested me to attend one critical client meeting for a potential opportunity. He got all my ears and I was very really thrilled to know that, I’m required to be present in this meeting. Before I could even absorb the moment of glory, he washed down my thoughts with his ridiculous comment that we needed to show more diversity in the team and therefore it would be great if I could make myself free on that day and time. I was furious to hear this and suddenly I felt so small and useless. I had worked very hard throughout my career to build my knowledge and experience of 19 years. I have my pride and ego and now I was being asked to attend one meeting, just to show a diverse workforce, to win a deal. How fair it is? If I say no then it reflects, I’m not a team player but If I say yes, then I must accept the fact that I’m just a showpiece in that meeting.
I have witnessed many such incidents in my professional life working with managers and peers who don’t even understand, what Gender diversity and inclusion mean? We all work for organizations, which have fancy goals of Diversity and where our inbox will be inundated with emails lauding, the success of diversity at their workplace but it seems this success is just on emails and posters only. Practically, still many women suffer to grow in their careers because they are not included and made part of critical assignments, thinking they won’t be able to handle or fit. But unless, women will be made part of such initiatives, how she would learn and be able to contribute confidently. Merely, by making the workforce diverse won’t help, the organizations need to be inclusive too. Diversity & Inclusion are intertwined -Diversity speaks to who is on the team, but inclusion focuses on who is really in the game.
Well, I didn’t join that meeting and declined to attend the same at the risk of being labeled as not a team player. I am glad that I took this decision but still waiting for the day, where rather receiving emails on Women day celebration or Gender diversity, more women will be asked to be part of bigger engagements because of their leadership qualities not just to show diverse workforce.
