I firmly believe that part of the lack of gender equality stems from leaders turning a blind eye to the thriving inequality within their organizations. The disparity begins with job postings. In the early stages of recruitment, we tend to favor individuals who resemble ourselves, laying the groundwork for further inequality. Companies must ensure job postings are not biased towards a male profile, using gender-neutral language, among other measures.
Furthermore, companies must invest more in raising the awareness of their employees on unconscious bias, which affects us all. Such increase in awareness will help address our blind spots and biases. There is nothing worse than hearing men say, "I don't see gender."
Let's start with leadership
However, unconscious bias isn't the only issue. We need to focus on gender distribution in corporate leadership, where men often hire other men. According to an EY report, only seven percent of CEOs in Denmark's 38 largest companies are women. Denmark thus ranks last compared to their Nordic neighbors when it comes to diversity and equality in the boardrooms. For comparison, 15 percent of Finland's largest companies have female CEOs, while Sweden and Norway have 14 and 11 percent.
A more balanced leadership structure in companies will lead to better team dynamics, bottom-line results, and enable current and potential female employees to better identify with the company's leadership.
Life begins at maternity leave - so does equality
I have often observed companies failing to plan maternity leave with their employees effectively. This leads to poor handovers and employees feeling sidelined. It's no wonder many women (and men) change jobs during their parental leave. Ensuring a good plan is worth it if it means retaining employees and welcoming back motivated and engaged colleagues after their leave. I believe women return from maternity leave with valuable skills and experiences, and they're an asset to any company if planned properly.
Furthermore, companies often overlook salary and pension adjustments during maternity leave, disproportionately affecting women, who typically take longer leaves. This is unacceptable.
Even worse, companies risk losing both young talents and experienced employees when they don't take maternity leave seriously.
However, it's a fallacy to believe that gender pay gaps only occur during maternity leave. My best guess is that leaders don't see the disparity because they don't systematically address the issue. Therefore, I welcome the EU's reporting requirements on equal pay.
We have our own challenge
Let me be honest: At twoday, we also face gender equality challenges. We operate in an industry where women are generally underrepresented. The problem is, without diversity and more women in our workforce, certain technologies and solutions won't be developed. We develop solutions for our societies and our solutions must reflect 100% of our society. Therefore, we need more female employees.
In twoday and the entire IT industry, we've been focusing on these challenges for years, but we're not there yet. However, I see positive developments. For instance, we have Graduate programs with equal gender representation. This allows us to help kickstart more women's careers in the IT industry.
It's my hope that one day, March 8th will transition from a day of battle to a day of celebration, marking our achievement of gender equality. But until then, it's crucial for us as business leaders not to ignore the gender equality challenges, we face today.
About the author:
Michael Assam is Group CFO, twoday.
Michael is a finance professional with broad experience in Finance, Performance management, treasury, legal, strategy and M&A. He firmly believes that fostering an inclusive workplace environment where gender equality is prioritized as essential for sustainable growth, innovation and profits.