A New Perspective on Equality

In many of our previous articles we wrote about gender equality as a fundamental prerequisite to increase the number of women in male-dominated industries and in C-suites throughout the business world. Equality. Such a promising – and, at the same time, mystified word. Today, I got to thinking about the term. What do we actually mean by it, especially in the context of business? 

Quantitative and Qualitative Aspects
I started asking myself what equality really means while I was writing my Bachelor’s thesis on (you guessed it) a gender and business topic. I was reading a journal article about gendered social entrepreneurship elaborating quantitative and qualitative aspects of gender equality.
Here’s the scoop: quantitative aspects comprise an equal distribution of women and men in all areas of society, like education, work, and positions of power. On the other hand, qualitative aspects imply that knowledge, experience, and values of both women and men are granted equal weight and are used to enrich and direct all areas of society.

Theory of Equality in the Business World
That all sounds pretty theoretical. So let me break this down to the practical business world. We need quantitative equality in all businesses, in all industries. We already know that the current situation is pretty bleak. Less than 5% of women hold the top job at Fortune 500 companies in the US, and hold less than 15% of executive officer positions at these companies. We also need qualitative equality in firms so that on-the-job experience of women is valued equally to that of men. There should be a shift in values, especially in those businesses and industries dominated by males. Think of cutthroat venture capitalist investors, or massive oil companies. Remember the blowout of BP’s drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010? Men typically lead these types of companies, often with traditional male values such as self-interest and sole profit orientation. 

The Potential of True Equality  
If we think about gender equality under these circumstances, beyond quantitative equality, this provides a whole new dimension to equality. To me, it is also a paradigm change in the ways in which companies operate and people view the purpose of their jobs. 

Annamarie