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Women in the Workplace is the largest study on the state of women in corporate America. The study was launched in 2015 by McKinsey & Co. and Leanin.Org. The purpose is to give companies insights and tools to advance gender diversity in the workplace.
I have been presenting highlights of Women in Workplace Reports of the last few years. This is about the 2023 report.
Though the report is about the state of working women in the US, many findings and learnings resonate with other countries. In Pakistan, we have some additional challenges. For example, we are still grappling with the question whether women should work or stay at home. Meanwhile, girls are getting higher grades in studies, are beating the boys in admissions to professional degrees and are entering the workforce in large numbers. In this rather confused state, we cannot expect to have policies at national and corporate level for streamlining and directing things.
The highlights of 2023 report are here. I may draw some comparisons where possible. I may mention here that the situation for women in workplace is not very favorable anywhere in the world. At the entry level, men and women enter workforce in a ratio of 52% to 48%, but then the gap keeps increasing at every growth level, until it ends up at 72% men and 28% women in the C-suite. There has been good progress during the last eight years, but the chasm remains.
This year’s report debunks four myths about women’s workplace experiences and career advancement.
Myth #1 – Women are Less Ambitious than Men
Untrue. The data tells that women remain equally ambitious, and flexible work environment is helping them pursue their ambitions.
96% men and 96% women view career as important, however, in the younger age group of under 30, slightly higher number – 97% – consider career to be important.
81% men and 81% women are interested in getting promoted to the next level. At under 30 age group, 94% men and 93% women are interested in getting promoted.
Women who work hybrid or remotely or on-site compete equally with men in all sub-groups. Women’s ambition remains high even as they prioritize their personal lives more. Men are also prioritizing personal lives with their careers, and for both hybrid model of working is providing them opportunity to attain better work-life balance.
Myth #2 – The Biggest Barrier to Women’s Advancement is the Glass Ceiling
Reality is – the ‘Broken Rung’ is the greatest obstacle women face on the path to senior leadership. Glass ceiling was a term coined over 40 years ago to describe an invisible barrier preventing women from reaching senior leadership positions. Broken rung represents the inequality in promotion early in the career.
For the ninth consecutive year, women face their biggest hurdle at the first critical step – promotion to level of manager. In 2023, for every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, 87 women were promoted. Since it is US data, the number falls further to 73 for women of color; for black women, it is the lowest at 54. This is the classic broken rung presentation. If we have Pakistan data, the inequality will be much higher.
The companies must understand three points about the broken rung.
- Women are not responsible for it – the two old explanations: women are not asking for promotions, and they are more likely to step away from work, are not true. Women at entry and managerial levels ask for promotion as often as men do, and they are not more likely to leave their jobs. During 2023, 17% of entry level men chose to leave, as against 16% women at the same level.
- Bias a strong driver of the broken rung – women are often hired and promoted on the basis of their past accomplishments, while men are hired and promoted based on future potential. This unfair thinking, what social scientists refer to as ‘performance bias’ is particularly challenging for women. Early in careers, both men and women have short track record; it becomes a disadvantage for women but not for men. Almost a quarter of women 30 years and under say that their age has contributed to them missing out on a raise, promotion, or chance to get ahead.
- Until the broken rung is fixed, gender parity in senior leadership remains out of reach – because of the gender disparity in early promotions, men end up holding 60% of manager level positions in a typical company, while women occupy 40%. Due to this factor, there are fewer women to promote to director, and the number of women at every subsequent level.
Myth #3 – Microaggressions have a ‘micro’ Impact
Reality is – microaggressions have a large and lasting impact on women. Microaggressions are demeaning or dismissive comments and actions – rooted in bias – directed at a person because of their gender, race, or other aspects of their identity. The term microaggression was coined in 1970 by researchers to refer to the prejudiced and exclusionary acts that may be more subtle than overt discrimination. Due to this factor, they are more common and frequent. Their impact on well-being is big, nonetheless.
Self-shielding, also known as self-monitoring, refers to efforts to avoid or protect oneself from mistreatment by continuously modifying one’s behaviors. This includes code-switching, restricting self-expression, or hiding aspects of one’s identity.
The workplace is a mental minefield for many women, they feel psychologically unsafe, which makes it harder to take risks, propose new ideas, or raise concerns. 78% of women who face microaggressions at work, self-shield themselves, or adjust the way they look or act in an effort to protect themselves. The increasing trend of wearing hijab and abayas at workplace may be due to these reasons.
Microaggressions lead to negative outcomes for women; they are 4.2 times more likely to always feel burned out, 3.8 times more likely to feel they don’t have equal opportunity to grow, 3.3 times more likely to consider leaving job, and 2.6 times more likely not to recommend their company to others.
Myth #4 – It is mostly Women who Want – and Benefit from – Flexible Work
Reality – Men and women see flexibility as a ‘top 3’ employee benefit and critical to their company’s success.
A vast majority of employees say that opportunities to work remotely and have control over their schedules are top company benefits, second only to healthcare. Workplace flexibility even ranks above standard benefits such as parental leave and childcare.
Flexibility is also care to how employees view the future of the work. It has transformed from a nice-to-have for some employees to a critical benefit for most. Women value it more because they usually do a disproportionate amount to childcare and household work.
Hybrid and remote work are delivering important benefits to employees. Most women and men point to better work-life balance as a primary benefit of remote work, and a majority mentioned less fatigue and burnout.
83% employees say the ability to work more efficiently and productively is a primary benefit of working remotely. 29% of women and 25% of men who work remotely say one of the biggest benefit is having fewer unpleasant interactions with coworkers. Even more, 53% of women and 36% of men, point to reduced pressure around managing their personal style or appearance. When women work remotely, they face fewer microaggressions and have higher
It is worth noting that companies see this differentially; half of HR leaders say employee productivity is a primary benefit working smoothly. On-site work delivers benefits to employees, but with room for improvement.
Concluded.
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