How Workplaces —Not Women—Need to Change to Improve Equality
BLUF
Leaders need to create an environment where issues that contribute to an inequitable workplace can be removed.Summary
Simply undertaking annual mandatory equity and diversity training may not help in creating gender-equitable organisations. King's academic research shows that diversity training and anti-harassment efforts address important issues but fall short of creating genuine gender equity in organisations. Leaders must identify any barriers to gender equity and develop strategies to remove these barriers. Promoting women and using that as an example of gender diversity, does not necessarily make the workplace more equitable. King suggests that leaders should try to create buy-in, whereby everyone has an understanding of the challenges faced by women and openly works on these challenges. Removing unncecessary obstacles, like inequities of any kind, will smooth the way to a more engaged and innovative force.