Many men I know question whether men and women do in fact face different experiences at work. Isn’t everyone experiencing the workplace in the same way? The simple answer is no. If you don’t believe gender bias exists in the workplace, do this one test for a week: Listen and observe. In most meetings, women’s voices and ideas are talked over or ignored, as Susan Chira illustrates in her article, The Universal Phenomenon of Men Interrupting Women, in The New York Times.
Additionally, observe if women do more office housework such as taking notes, planning social events and getting the coffee. And if you want more data, all you need to do is ask: If you ask a woman in a genuine manner what these instances feel like, she will tell you. These workplace inequalities may seem minor, but when taken together, they can cause numerous hurdles and challenges for women.
Today, many organizations are taking a closer look at gender inequities and unconscious gender biases in the workplace and the impact they have on productivity and talent retention. If you’re a male leader and are committed to becoming an advocate to advance women in the workplace, you will notice these behaviors more frequently. When you’re aware of the harm it does to women (and frankly to your organizational culture, which should be attracting more women leaders in the fierce war for talent), you will want to address these issues when they happen. Here are some simple actions and steps male leaders, in particular, can take to change the unconscious gender bias dynamic in their organizations: