Our society still has a long way to go in eradicating gender inequality within, as well as outside, the workplace. The inequity is evident in the presence of the gender wage gap and the significant lack of women in leadership positions. Contrary to these currently existing conditions, the presence of women in the workplace has been proven to positively affect company revenue. The most important way to close not only the gender wage gap, but also societal gender bias, is to encourage young women to pursue those positions that are traditionally male-dominated.
One of the biggest contributors to the lack of women in managerial positions is, of course, the gender bias that continues to exist in our society. The attached Pantene video highlights this bias, giving such examples as the stereotype that a man will be called a “boss” while a women in the same position will be called “bossy” [4]. It stresses the unfortunate reality of gender biases and labels within our society; it is not hard to imagine the negative effect it has on women’s confidence in entering a typically male-dominated field. As a result of this societal bias, women constantly, and usually subconsciously, underestimate their own skills and hard work – they are more likely than men to attribute their success to luck [1]. There is also a lack of strong, successful women (when compared to men) to serve as role models for young women. Fun fact: the highest-paid woman CEO, Martine Rothblatt, was born a man [2].
Empowering women to take on leadership positions and break through the glass ceiling will slowly but surely mitigate the gender bias deeply entrenched in our society. This will consequently lead to a shift in the societal gender bias and, consequently, on the gender lens on economic growth. It greatly benefits companies to have women in leadership positions because it is shown to increase organizational effectiveness [3]. A solution that can address these problems is the establishment of an organization dedicated to encourage leadership skills in young women. The process would begin with a student chapter at the City College of New York and involve college students and faculty members acting as mentors for interested high school and college students. CCNY is an ideal place to start such an organization because there are two high schools on its campus. The club would not be geared specifically for women in a certain field of study because possessing leadership skills are essential to advance in any field. We would gauge initial interest by visiting high school classrooms and distributing surveys. Ideally, as the members advance in their studies and later in the professional world, they would provide the existing club members with job and internship opportunities. This would create an continually expanding network of women and encourage young women to pursue that CEO position just as confidently as a man would.
References:
[1] https://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders
[2] http://www.businessinsider.com/the-highest-paid-woman-ceo-was-born-a-man-2014-6
[3] http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures#notes
[4] Pantene’s Video: “A Man’s a Boss, a Woman’s Bossy”
