Why traditional approaches to gender inequality aren’t working
By Jo Kandola, business psychologist
Evidence has shown that gender diversity significantly benefits businesses, but true equality has yet to be achieved.
Can we better Accelerate Action through exploring alternatives to the traditional approaches to gender inequality?
After exploring the history and statistics around gender stereotypes and bias in the workplace, we know the negative impact it has on both men and women, so what do we do next? As what’s being done isn’t having a big or quick enough impact - is it time to explore alternatives to the traditional approaches to gender inequality? The typical methods for addressing gender disparity in organisations include setting gender targets, implementing gender-diverse interview panels, and creating gender-diverse talent pipelines. However, these strategies often fall short of delivering the desired outcomes.
Gender targets
The Idea: Setting gender targets will address gender diversity issues by increasing the number of women in senior roles.
The Reality: While gender targets and a quota around the number of men and women you hire may seem beneficial, they can lead to tokenism. This approach often raises doubts about whether women are promoted based on their competence, or simply to meet quotas, leading to a 'stigma of incompetence.' Norway's 40/40 rule, which requires at least 40% of board members to be men and 40% women, highlights this issue.
With the rule in place, change is often only seen at the board level, with little impact on lower positions, and no opportunity for a trickle-down effect. Women are also more likely to hold non-executive roles, and so have no responsibility for the day-to-day running of the business, thereby limiting their overall influence.
Gender talent pipelines
The Idea: Increasing the number of women in talent pipelines will create a more diverse pool to draw from, enhancing the chances of promoting women to senior roles.
The Reality: Scarcity of resources hinders women's promotions. The Shifting Standards Model, developed by Biernat and colleagues, shows that when competition for limited resources is high, the standards for evaluating women change. While women in talent pipelines may be judged based on competence, during promotions, they are often compared to men and deemed less competent due to stereotypes. The standard being applied shifts and we judge women to be lacking in the core traits needed for successful leadership. As a result, having more women in the talent pipeline does not necessarily lead to more women in leadership positions, as ingrained stereotypes still point us toward men.
Gender-diverse interview panels
The Idea: Gender-diverse interview panels will promote fairness and reduce bias, increasing the likelihood of hiring women and improving gender diversity.
The Reality: There’s an assumption that the root of gender inequality lies with men - but what if women are also complicit in their own subordination?
Psychologist Herb Goldberg ran a series of studies where female participants were asked to read and evaluate a number of articles. Goldberg found women deemed the articles written by men to be of a better quality than those written by women, and research at Pearn Kandola also confirms this.
Implicit Association Tests also reveal that women often associate men more easily with competence than they do women. Gender-diverse interview panels are largely ineffective because group membership, in this case being a woman, does not protect a woman from stereotyping. This means they are as much at risk of making decisions that favour men as male members of the panel. To remedy this we need to be tackling the stereotypes that are driving decisions and causing the disparity.
Thinking differently about dealing with gender bias in the workplace
How can organisations start to address and eliminate gender bias while improving gender diversity?
1. Provide bias training opportunities for everyone
Reject the notion that men and women are inherently different in their skills and abilities. Bias influences how we assess skills, strengths, and potential. Recognising our gender biases, constantly reviewing our decisions, and striving for objectivity, rather than relying on stereotypes, will help secure the best talent and ensure fair development opportunities.
Online bias training enables organisations to provide quality training on a larger scale, reaching as many people in an organisation as possible. Innovative technology can help to reduce biases and stop ‘habits of the mind’ from forming. The digital solution K+NEGATE from Kandola+ enables users to intervene and stop bias at source by challenging implicit associations and stereotypes around gender identity and helping users to form new associations in their memory.
Implicit Association Tests (IATs) are also incredible insight tools that can be used by organisations to help their employees identify their unconscious biases. The tests measure how closely our brains associate different words and concepts, and in doing so help to uncover biases that may lead people to discriminate based on
gender.
2. Implement gender-neutral recruitment practices
Having standardised interviews (where all candidates are asked the same questions), anonymising resumes, and having name-blind evaluation processes can all help to reduce bias in selection and recruitment processes.
Research has shown that job advertisements using gendered language can put people off applying for a role – for example, adjectives such as ‘competitive’ and ‘strategic’ can discourage women from putting themselves forward for certain roles, as they are seen as being more ‘masculine’. Job specifications that contain
gendered language can also prejudice recruiters in favour of men or women before they even reach the interview stage. It’s also worth remembering that recruiters may also be biased by the gender of current job holders and may apply higher standards to applicants of the opposite gender.
3. Review salaries and standardise pay
Across all regions, women are paid less than men, with the global gender pay gap estimated to be 20%. The UK's median gender pay gap in 2024 was 13.1% in favour of men, with women earning on average 87 pence for every pound men earn.
A key element of achieving gender equality is to ensure equal pay by regularly reviewing salaries for gender parity, and ensuring transparency around pay and remuneration. When recruiting, set pay ranges based on a candidate's experience rather than previous salary negotiations, and clearly indicate if a salary is negotiable.
Research shows that women are as likely as men to negotiate their salary if they know it is negotiable, but are less likely to do so if it is not explicitly stated, fearing negative perceptions of being ‘too aggressive’ and violating gender behaviour norms.
In conclusion
Common strategies to address gender inequality are falling short due to deeply ingrained stereotypes and biases. Gender-based targets, talent pools, and diverse interview panels aren’t achieving the results needed, which means businesses are missing out.
To create true gender equality, organisations must adopt a multifaceted approach that includes comprehensive bias training, gender-neutral recruitment practices, and regular salary reviews to ensure pay equity. By challenging stereotypes, and promoting fairness and objectivity in decision-making, companies can harness the full potential of a diverse workforce, ultimately driving better business outcomes and creating a more equitable environment for all employees.
Dr Jo Kandola [pictured below is a business psychologist and MCIPD professional with extensive experience in the areas of diversity and unconscious bias. Jo is passionate about combating bias and developing ways we can use technology to reach deeper within organisations to create more inclusive and bias free environments. Jo has particular expertise on the subject of gender bias and is the co-author of the critically acclaimed book on this subject: The Invention of Difference: The story of gender bias at work. Her PhD involved research looking at implicit and explicit gender attitudes and whether these are predictive of workplace gender discrimination.
