In January 2011 The Australian Stock Exchange’s (ASX) Diversity recommendations for listed companies came into force. Whilst diversity covers many forms the ASX recommendations are primarily focused on ‘Gender Diversity’. Amongst these recommendations companies now have to report on the percentage of women in the organisation as well as a breakdown of women holding senior management and board positions. Listed companies are required to disclose their Diversity Policy and failure to do so may result in a breach of ASX Listing Rules. There are pros and cons for these recommendations but the objective is clear, they are driven by a need for fair and equal workplaces.
This policy impacts me. I work for a large corporate ‘listed’ company. I am responsible for delivering an important piece of technology to Australians. I make technical decisions, I manage technical people and I am a woman. I am rare. In fact my female parts and I make up just 2-7% of the females in management in IT in my company. The ASX decision to have listed companies report on gender diversity has turned my world upside down. All of a sudden I have a voice; the sound cannot be coming from my conventional voice box as I’ve had that all along. I’ll leave it up to your imagination. I am being heard, I am being listened too, I am being asked to stand up and deliver and finally I am being asked to consider promotion.
I work as hard as my male peers, possibly harder as being a woman I have had to continually prove myself and then accept disappointment when I am overlooked for ‘one of the boys’. I have an ego and I would like to think that I have had something of worth to say before now.
I am a woman managing technology and I am good at my job. I’ve worked hard to be able to say that. You can’t dispute it because recently I received recognition for a successful result in the form of a $100 gift voucher. This validation proves I am good right? (I am not going to say ‘out loud’ that I did the math and this equates to $14,400 in overtime after tax .. because this is not the point to my message) I am going to say thanks for the recognition of my effort. Before now someone else would have taken the credit. What is of worth is that the story behind my achievement was told as well, this is where the true value resides. The ASX diversity initiative is spot on, productivity is greater with diversity, I’ve seen it firsthand. Regardless of whether this diversity is gender based a new perspective increases the scope of a discussion. Companies like mine can only benefit from appointing more women into decision making positions. My newly appointed female peers who have earned their positions based on merit are a testament to that.
The point of this article is that I am concerned. Recently I was ‘put back in my place’ as a subordinate by a male peer. It was a rude and degrading conversation and it didn’t leave any room for interpretation, I got the message loud and clear and knew ‘my place’ at the end of it.
It’s not lost on me that this conversation would not have taken place with any of our male colleagues. He wouldn’t dare. My peer, this person, sees me as competition and I feel his beady eyes questioning my new found vocal ability. It’s this exact behaviour that needs to change. I reiterate I am concerned. I am concerned how my next promotion will be viewed. Will the corridor conversation reflect I got the job based on merit or will ASX diversity legislation just send more resentment my way?
Women who are promoted into a role based on merit will soon prove themselves and make a difference. To my female peers and myself it’s important that the escalation up the corporate ladder is based on merit and not just because one is a woman or louder or blonder then the next. Women who are promoted based on their capability are talented, rational and will transform companies by bringing diversity to the decision table.
Whilst the ramifications of my next promotion are clear I still think that quotas are a great opportunity to allow those who are unseen to be considered. Whether that quota is because of race, gender, and sexual preference to name a few, this is an important message. The diversity quota brings another voice to the table that represents society and that voice is one of a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter or a friend and this is something we should all support.
Tracy Cantwell is a technology manager in Mobility internet with a strong technical background spanning 17 years. She lives in Sydney with her partner and two children
Do you think that quotas in business are a good thing?
Comments
18 Comments so far
The concept of merit based appointments is nice but it’s about time we realised they don’t work. If people were employed on their own wits then the concept of discrimination would be alien. Unfortunately, people are discriminated against all the time, for a myriad of reasons (not just gender) and this shows a need for stronger legislation and “quotas in business” ect.
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I agree on merit! I also think we drastically need to do something as companies have had time to self-regulate this and haven’t got far at all.
I also think that recruiters have alot to answer for – they have stereotypes on what they think their clients/companies want and filter out diversity.
Alot of recruitment and selection practices favour male oriented behaviours/competencies so there are females that are already on the backfoot at this stage. So, yes, I do agree on merit in terms of making sure it is a fair process for all. If a man gets it in the end, so be it.
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We’re at a bit of a tipping point with this topic I think, lots of talk about making things more transparent and accountable, and senior execs and boards figuring out how to implement. I heard recently of a board requiring a new member and they chose to only interview female candidates. Their exisiting board had only male representation, and they sought to redress the balance.
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I don’t like quotas because then if you DO get the job – you might think it is because of meeting a quota – or other people will think that you maybe got it through meeting a quota, and you might have less respect.
I think what we need to do is to have it constantly questioned within organisations though. Have meetings at high management level to discuss the barriers to women getting to the top in their particular organisation – it will be different in every company and every industry.
With regards to the issues around working mothers, or women taking time off for childbirth and childrearing – Unless women start to loosen the hold on home duties and/or men start to do a more equal share – I don’t see how there can be equality at work. There needs to be equality at home first.
We need to get to a place where an employer can say
“ok, I need to choose out of this man and this woman, and since I have no idea which is going to take time off for parental duties, I will have to choose on merit”
I’m not saying all men need to be stay at home dads – but in my dream world there would be equal numbers of stay at home dads and stay at home mums.
We all need to be a part of a culture change in helping women be seen as ‘equal’ at work – so when choosing whether to be a stay at home mum or a working mum, I believe the personal IS political.
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Why does there have to be a stay-at-home anyone? I would like to see compulsory parental leave for *both* parents for starters, and a work culture that doesn’t expect 10-12 hours of “face time” per day – face time is meaningless when it comes to productivity.
I’m in total agreement about your point that there needs to be equality in the home, though. Why can’t parents share the parenting responsibilities equally? Surely Dad is just as capable of picking up the kids from long day care as Mum is? Or taking the kids to the Doctors when they’re sick?
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but no matter how equal/flexible parental leave is, won’t women will always require a certain period of time to give birth/recuperate?
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Some women need more time than others missy, it’s true. But that shouldn’t mean all women should be punished for it, whilst men get off scot-free! Geez, some men get sick, and need time off work, don’t they? Doesn’t seem to affect their career trajectory, though
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there are lots of jobs that have to be face time – doctors, police officers, customer service people. They can’t work from home, or sneak off early if it’s not busy.
It’s a matter of supporting each other within the home environment too, with mutual respect that what each partner contributes is valuable to them and the family, regardless of who earns more.
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It’s true that some people such as doctors and police officers must have face time – customer service though, NOT…..customer service is one of the most casualised roles in this country…and the most outsourced role to other countries….yet….many cops actually have time to work second jobs as security for VIPs (they work 4 x 12 hour days, then have 3 days off)…….as for doctors, my doctor seems to have more time off than I do! After working in a practice clinic, I’ve seen how doctor’s hours are “blocked out” if they have something else going on that interferes with their “face time”. Just sayin.
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I hate face time.
When I was full time, I had so many coffee meetings, lunch training, I hardly worked that much.
When I was part time, I worked long hours, at home but had to leave early to pick up kids etc. and didn’t have any professional development.
YES TO PRODUCTIVITY!
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I don’t think quotas will change anything. I’m sorry to say that I also suffer from discrimination in the workplace when it comes particularly to technical advice. A male colleague’s advice would be heard, whereas mine has to be proven over and over again before it is heard. I’m over it. I can’t see the situation improving, as with most fields even when the drones are mainly women, the management is mostly male because they haven’t taken time out of their careers to make babies. Fact of life. But guess what guys, we are onto you, and we don’t respect you. You are all knobs.
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Merit based over quota based anyday…
Education over quotas too…teach people how to hire/promote people on merit…
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Why is this post dated the 5/1 but only appeared today???
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No, I dont think quotas in business are a good thing. It will simply encourage ‘token’ female employee roles.
The only solution to the lack of gender diversity is to make recruitment criteria & outcomes more transparent. If you picked MrX over Mrs Y for the role, explain the reasons. If Mr X is genuinely more capable, then so be it.
Some organisations, such as the one im working in now, are transparent to a fault, which results in more paperwork and meetings, but overall the best people are chosen to work on their merits, not on their ‘bits’. If more companies took this approach, then gender ‘quotas’ would be unnecessary.
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Good point Cait. Would you say the gender ratio in your organisation fairly equal, especially at senior management level?
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To be perfectly honest, having a look at our Executive, there are 3 females and 4 males. Thats a pretty decent ratio, and its pretty decently continued right through the organisation.
Recruitment for a role here takes months of meetings, peer reviewing of meeting minutes, standardised referee questions (which have to be typed word for word – and kept), and a HUGE papertrail which could easily direct you to exactly whom was picked for a role, on what merits AND what they had that the others didnt.
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That IS a good gender ratio. I’m glad you work in a healthy organisation
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I am not a fan of quotas as it means that often the best person won’t get the job, male or female. Also, this reporting will at all times have to be taken with a grain of salt as some industries do not have enough women trained in the area to take up management or board positions. I have been lucky in my short career to have an employer that often felt that women could do the job as he wanted it better than most men and in fact we struggled to employ men when I was there. Making everyone think whether they are excluding women is a good thing – forcing them to employ them? Not so good.
And this conversation with this male peer – even though I don’t know the details – sounds absolutely appalling.
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