The Workplace Women Deserve: How to Create True Gender Equity
International Women’s Day is a time for reflection, recognition, and, most importantly, action. While we celebrate the incredible achievements of women in business, leadership, and beyond, we must also acknowledge the significant barriers that still exist. Too often, women enter the workplace full of ambition and talent, only to find themselves battling biases, outdated policies, and a system that was never designed with them in mind.
The reality is that, despite years of progress, women continue to face an uphill battle.
And here’s the truth: women are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for fair treatment. They are asking for equal pay for equal work. They are asking for opportunities based on merit, not outdated stereotypes. They are asking for workplaces where they can thrive without having to constantly prove their worth. And most importantly, they are asking for action—not just words.
This International Women’s Day, we need to move beyond token gestures and take meaningful steps towards breaking these barriers once and for all. It’s time for companies to stop seeing gender equality as a ‘nice-to-have’ and start recognising it as a business imperative. Because when women succeed, businesses succeed and when workplaces are truly inclusive, everyone benefits.
Let’s dive deeper into the challenges women face in the workplace—and the concrete solutions that will drive real change.
The Gender Pay Gap: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions
Despite years of advocacy, the gender pay gap persists. In the UK, women earn on average 14.3% less than men, with disparities even wider for women of colour, disabled women, and those in part-time roles. Several factors contribute to this inequity, including occupational segregation, undervaluation of work traditionally done by women, and biases in pay negotiations.
Root Causes of the Pay Gap
Occupational Segregation: Women are overrepresented in lower-paid sectors such as healthcare, education, and retail, while men dominate higher-paid industries like technology and finance.
Motherhood Penalty: Women who take time off for childcare often experience slowed career progression, while fathers generally do not face the same penalty.
Lack of Pay Transparency: In many companies, salary discussions remain opaque, making it difficult for women to identify and challenge pay discrepancies.
Negotiation Bias: Studies show that women who negotiate for higher salaries are perceived as aggressive, whereas men engaging in the same behaviour are seen as confident.
What Can Organisations Do?
Conduct regular pay audits to identify and rectify disparities.
Ensure pay transparency by openly sharing salary bands and criteria for raises.
Encourage salary negotiation training for both employees and hiring managers.
Offer flexible working options to accommodate caregiving responsibilities equitably.
Women in Leadership: Breaking the Glass Ceiling
Women remain underrepresented in senior leadership roles, with just 10% of FTSE 100 CEOs being women. Barriers such as unconscious bias, lack of sponsorship, and rigid workplace cultures prevent women from advancing into leadership.
Barriers to Leadership Advancement
Unconscious Bias: Women are often judged more harshly on leadership traits. While men displaying assertiveness are seen as strong leaders, women with the same qualities may be labelled as ‘bossy’ or ‘difficult’.
Lack of Sponsorship: Unlike mentorship, sponsorship involves senior leaders actively advocating for an employee’s promotion. Women are less likely to have sponsors championing their advancement.
Perceived Risk: Organisations may hesitate to promote women into leadership roles due to outdated notions that they may leave for family commitments.
Confidence Gap: Societal conditioning often results in women being more risk-averse when applying for promotions, waiting until they meet all the criteria, whereas men tend to apply when they meet only some.
Solutions for Leadership Equality
Establish mentorship and sponsorship programmes to support women’s career progression.
Implement leadership training tailored for women to build confidence and skills.
Review promotion criteria to eliminate biases and ensure fair evaluation.
Encourage diverse leadership teams, as businesses with gender-diverse leadership perform better financially.
Gender Bias in Hiring and Promotion: The Impact of Implicit Bias
Recruitment and promotion processes are often tainted by unconscious gender biases. Studies show that identical CVs with male and female names receive different responses, with women less likely to be hired or promoted for the same qualifications.
Types of Biases in Hiring and Promotion
Affinity Bias: Hiring managers may unconsciously favour candidates who share their background, personality, or interests—often benefiting men in male-dominated industries.
Prove-It-Again Bias: Women are often held to higher standards, needing to demonstrate competence repeatedly before being promoted.
Maternal Bias: Mothers are frequently perceived as less committed, while fathers are often seen as more responsible employees after having children.
Tightrope Bias: Women in leadership positions must navigate a narrow path between being perceived as too soft or too assertive, whereas men are given more leeway in their leadership styles.
How to Remove Bias?
Introduce blind recruitment by removing names and genders from applications.
Standardise interview questions to ensure consistency.
Train hiring managers on unconscious bias and inclusive recruitment.
Use diverse interview panels to reduce the influence of individual biases.
Parental Leave Policies: Levelling the Playing Field
Parental leave policies significantly influence gender equality in the workplace. In the UK, statutory maternity leave is up to 52 weeks, while paternity leave is just two weeks—a disparity that reinforces outdated gender roles and affects women’s career progression. Shared parental leave exists, but uptake remains low.
Challenges in Parental Leave Equality
Financial Constraints: Many families cannot afford for fathers to take shared parental leave due to pay discrepancies between maternity and paternity leave entitlements.
Workplace Perceptions: Men who take extended parental leave may be seen as less committed to their careers, discouraging uptake.
Career Setbacks: Women who take long maternity leaves often struggle with reintegration into the workforce, facing fewer promotion opportunities upon return.
How Companies Can Support Working Parents:
Enhance paternity and shared parental leave to encourage equal caregiving.
Create a supportive return-to-work programme for parents.
Normalise flexible working arrangements for both mothers and fathers.
Challenge cultural stigmas that deter men from taking parental leave.
Workplace Harassment: Creating a Safe and Respectful Environment
Gender-based harassment remains a serious issue, with nearly one in three women experiencing sexual harassment at work. A culture of silence and inadequate reporting mechanisms exacerbate the problem.
Barriers to Addressing Workplace Harassment
Fear of Retaliation: Many women hesitate to report harassment due to concerns about career consequences.
Lack of Effective Policies: Some organisations have policies in place but fail to enforce them, leading to a culture of impunity.
Bystander Apathy: Colleagues who witness harassment may feel uncertain about intervening, allowing inappropriate behaviour to persist.
Steps to Prevent and Address Harassment:
Implement clear, zero-tolerance policies on workplace harassment.
Establish confidential reporting channels to protect victims.
Provide mandatory training on recognising and addressing inappropriate behaviour.
Foster an inclusive culture where employees feel safe speaking up.
The Way Forward
Women are tired of being told to ‘lean in’ while the system remains stacked against them. They do not need more advice on how to navigate a biased workplace; they need workplaces that are free from bias in the first place. The responsibility for change does not lie with individual women—it lies with organisations, leaders, and decision-makers who have the power to reshape workplace culture.
If your organisation is serious about fostering gender equality, the time to act is now. We can help you take real steps towards building a truly inclusive workplace. Whether it’s conducting a policy review, running a workplace culture audit, delivering unconscious bias training, or facilitating leadership development programmes, our consultancy is here to support you.
Let’s not wait another year to have the same conversation. Contact us today or Book a Call and let’s start making meaningful change—together.