Fighting Double Standards

Last December, a short youtube ad originally made for the Philippines went viral. It was created by Pantene Philippines. That could make you wonder for what reason the ad of a hair care company went viral!

The first time I saw the ad, I was pretty surprised to find out it was by Pantene. But have a look yourselves!

The idea for the ad is based on the 2013 Global Gender Gap Report where the Philippines rank fifth concerning gender equality. However, a survey in the country showed a different picture when women and men were asked about their opinion of both genders in the working place: gender bias and double standards are still prevalent.

Double standards at an early age

In my opinion, we have to work on the issue of double standards starting at an early age. As small children, girls are encouraged to play with their dolls and care for them whereas boys are given tools and a children’s workbench. Trying out each other’s toys is fine, but we still want our children to play the right role according to their gender. At this early age, we already start to implant double standards into the next generation. By judging children in different ways based on their gender when they are actually doing the exact same things, we show them that there actually is a difference between them.

The same issue some years later

About 15 to 20 years later, early in our careers, double standards play an important role again. The Pantene ad shows a woman who is seen as bossy whereas her male counterpart is “a boss”. It is hard to see what causes a difference in the perception of women and men. Usually, we expect women to be more caring and reserved than men. Seeing a woman who deviates from our expectancies is often seen as abnormal and negative. Men are usually the more direct and leading forces. It is not seen as natural when a man stays at home and cares for his children. It deviates from our expectancies, too. But where exactly is the difference? Both genders do something they have not been expected to do for centuries. They deviate from their usual role.

Why can’t we cheer both women and men on for doing what they feel like doing and not apply double standards? We should not only support women to realize their dreams, we should also support men if they want to stay at home and care for their family because applying double standards is wrong for both genders!

Carolin

Why good intentions just aren't enough

Ever since Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In, the topic of women in executive roles has been all over the media. By addressing the issue of a gender gap in leadership positions directly, she opened up a door for long overdue discussions and somehow managed to make the topic cool, hot and – most importantly – absolutely vital.

When bringing up the topic of women in the workplace, I have heard from a number of men that they are concerned, even afraid, that men will lack chances in the workplace “with all this pro-female training and coaching going on”.

Exactly this is the core problem. There is a wide range of formal mentoring, skills training and leadership development courses offered for women in the workplace. And companies deliberately communicate these efforts to the public. Hence the “fear” that men soon will be underrepresented in those sought-after corner offices.

In a study, the organization Catalyst found that despite formal measures, the gender gap in the corporate world is not improving. To illustrate their findings, Catalyst developed the 70/20/10 model, which shows that “leadership development occurs primarily on the job, not in the classroom”. Here is the key: “10% of an employee’s development happens in formal programs, with 20% coming trough networking, mentoring, coaching, and other influential relationships, and as much as 70% from on-the-job experiences – the ‘hot jobs’ that provide challenging opportunities to develop and practice leadership skills.”

It is not sufficient for women to work on just any project and thereby gain hands-on experience. What matters is that these projects are “hot jobs” which advance careers faster. These “hot jobs” can be characterized as:

• Highly visible projects
• With mission-critical roles
• Providing international experience.

Formal leadership programs must not be underestimated as they play a crucial role in the advancement of a career. However, only if paired with “hot jobs” will they help close the gender gap. And study findings showed that women are assigned to significantly fewer “hot jobs” than men. The good, formal, public intention of these programs just is not enough. As Catalyst puts it: "Formal development programs can promote advancement for women if they provide equal access to ‘hot jobs’."

This means that women need to actively seek out highly visible projects and be supported in doing so. Go beyond good intentions and show what you are capable of doing in practice, where everyone will see, notice, and remember you!

Annamarie