Among many things at work, gender balance is very important because it shows inclusion- inclusivity of women in the workplace depicts the outlook of leaders and a strong human resource management.
Gender equality is key to achieving a sense of belonging for employees and guarantees that the company’s values are in alignment. It also means that in the workplace, employees of both genders have access to the same rewards, opportunities, and resources at a company.
Why is this important?
According to Virginie Lemay-Vriesde, a leadership development coach page, in this competitive environment, companies must have the right talent to sustain their positioning. Moreover, research shows that hiring more women has a positive impact on the organisation’s financial returns. This is because diversity helps companies.
Kevin Kayisire the co-founder of KAYKO a mobile application that helps SMEs to simplify their bookkeeping and operations says that gender equality in the workplace is essential for businesses, not only for the equality aspect but also for the culture of your business.
"Many people think of the company as just a place of work and nothing else; however, if you think about it, you spend a lot of your up-time at your workplace than any other place. So you need to live in a harmonic environment. Having a predominant gender would reduce work harmony; the company culture would tend to be biased towards one gender preference.
"And you would find your business not a suitable workplace for the other gender, which would raise unethical habits like sexual harassment and more. For start-ups, founders should care more about gender equality while building their team to grow a more inclusive and ethical culture for their company,” he adds.
According to Edna Umuhoza a human resource manager in a design company based in Australia, inclusion of gender equality is very important and not for the fact that that specific gender needs empowerment, but because they are also eligible to bring something potential to the company.
"I have seen this in many companies or workplaces where, because it is a clothing store or factory, only women are engaged or because it is a computing company only men are able to work there. But we all receive the same education; we are all capable of having the same skills and doing the same things. Equality in a workplace means giving any gender the platform they deserve, the positions they deserve, and being equally fair to the company’s values,” she says.
And this is why gender equality is important in a workplace according to Workplace, a business communication tool from Meta:
A wider talent pool
Different perspectives
Enhanced collaboration
Improved staff retention
A better reflection of your customers
Improved recruitment and reputation
Greater profitability
How to promote gender equality in the workplace
According to an Indeed article on ‘how to promote gender equality in the workplace,’ these are a few points to consider:
Increase diversity in hiring
Start by modifying your job descriptions to promote gender equality. Review your job descriptions and assess whether your job requirements need to be altered to broaden the pool of applicants.
Review equal pay laws
Many laws state that employers are required to provide equal pay for equal work, which includes the same skill, responsibility, working conditions, and effort.
Begin a pay audit
Next, consider conducting a pay audit to see if your male and female employees are paid comparably. This may help you identify if you offer equal employment opportunities to all employees.
Consider updating your training
You should then consider reviewing your training on gender discrimination and inequality. Check your current training programs to see if they’re informative and detailed enough to make an impact on the behaviour of your employees.