Many companies still have male-dominated environments, and the glass ceiling remains intact. Rigorous male advocacy could help women break through so they can contribute a full measure of competency and leadership.
By Donna Chan

It is still a fact that in most businesses men are in charge. It is a vestige of the previous decades during which men rose all the way to board and CEO positions, while women made it to a mid-management level and could not seem to rise any higher.

The reality is that breaking through the arbitrary ceiling requires male advocacy for competent female managers, but the support also needs to extend to young women just starting their careers. Male advocacy equates to developing a rigorous culture of support for women, male sponsorship and mentorship, and a thorough review of the entire talent management process to remove bias against women.

Engaging the men in the organization is the first step toward gaining the competitive advantage that talented women create when gender equality and equity are core values.

Male Norms Persist
As women strive to build and enjoy careers in the industries of their choice, they are discovering that male norms continue to dominate in most organizations. The gender gap persists as a result, representing a missed opportunity in that much needed talent remains underutilized.

How can it be that in 2016, women’s progress in reaching senior management positions continues to be a struggle?

A Rosenzweig & Co. report found that, in 2015, women held 8.0 percent of executive positions at Canada’s 100 largest public companies. The prior year they held 8.5 percent. Out of 526 top executives, 42 are women. Of the 100 largest companies, 66 do not have a single woman holding a top leadership role. This is not progress.

Gender equality is an issue for women and men because progress is only going to be made when men become champions. Male-dominated corporate cultures tend to have gender bias built into talent processes, including recruitment, promotion, engagement, compensation and even team assignments. The bias is in favor of men, and it reaches to the young women interested in building careers.

The answer to overcoming this bias is not reverse discrimination. The answer is putting focus on female competency and potential without bias or stereotyping.

Making Women Part of the Fabric of the Organization
Savvy leaders today understand the workforce needs to reflect the demographics of the markets served or the country itself. Harnessing top-tier talent in order to remain competitive is crucial, so gender equity has never been more important. Companies that continue to exclude women will be missing out on needed talent.

So why does progress remain slow?
One reason is that the organizational culture may not see women as fully participating members of the workforce. They remain a special interest group with special needs. One of the ways companies are changing this dynamic is by creating Employee Resource Groups that are focused on women but consist of women and men. That is one approach to engaging men in the conversation on women and helping them understand the challenges women face.

Formal programs are important, but they too keep women outside the fabric of the organization. Men are left to make unconscious assumptions about women.

An inclusive culture, with all its implications, is required. The implications include an unbiased recruitment and promotion process, transparency, and authenticity. A diversity of opinions must be valued. Men must be educated and build self-awareness, and honest and authentic conversations between men and women are a key element of developing that awareness. Once again, men must be full participants in the conversations and not watching from the sidelines.

With a greater awareness and understanding, male leaders can become more effective mentors and sponsors. The days when women were told to “act like men,” only to be criticized for being “too male,” must end.

Women deserve the same productive feedback as men in order to advance their careers. Holding back on honest feedback keeps the mentor or sponsor from fully engaging in the development process, and that is not fair to the woman or the organization. It also perpetuates the male-dominated culture.

Out with Conformity
Tom Peters has written highly respected business books, and his premise is that execution is strategy. Talking and issuing commands is not an effective management style in an economy where power is dispersed. The changing corporate structures in which networking and building relationships across business functions have become important is an ideal environment for women.

Peters recommends top leaders give female managerial positions in independent business units, set goals, and measure results, and within five years there will be female leaders ready to move up. He also recommends that executives explain why a man was chosen over a woman to fill a particular position. Not only does this create accountability, it reveals bias when the explanation is inadequate.

Male-dominated organizations are traditionally more about conformity than innovation. Before men will become advocates for women, they have to recognize the existence of gender bias.

Surveys are one way to measure awareness. Males with higher rates of awareness can become the champions leading the cultural change. Champions can lead initiatives to close the gender gap, become mentors or lead mentoring programs, and advocate for women in various ways such as on a corporate website or leading awareness groups. One of the important qualities of champions is that they are recognized by female peers or leaders as strong advocates for women. Champions are change agents.

One of the interesting facts is that men have been the beneficiary of the male cultures. They understand it. They have learned how to thrive in it. They are conditioned to not look critically at it. It is not a simple process to bring change because change makes people feel uncomfortable about the impact it will have on their lives and their careers.

Male advocacy for women is clearly a critical requirement for progress in gender equality, but it must be developed with sensitivity to the differences between men and women.