Dia, Annalou C. 12 - STEM A 07-18-18 Dr.

Castro

3 Reasons Why Gender Equality is an

'Everyone' Issue
Gender-diverse companies perform better.

The truth is out -- companies that embrace gender diversity perform better than those that don’t.
A McKinsey January 2015 report found that gender-diverse companies are 15 percent more likely
to outperform companies rated in the bottom quartile of diversity.
As the CEO of DDI, a leadership solutions company based out of Pittsburgh, Penn., Tacy Byham
says she's personally benefited from such environments. “Gender diversity among leadership
unleashes the collective genius of the organization,” she wrote via email. “It leverages a broader
perspective, which helps you to better understand your potential market, weed out bad ideas and
develop new, innovative ideas.”

To encourage its female employees to learn leadership skills and pursue high-ranking roles, DDI
provides them with their own leadership-development program. “Our program focuses on helping
early and mid-career women step up to broader leadership responsibilities,” said Byham.
However, the program still involves men, showing them how they can be allies in the
workplace. “They become critical partners to help overcome the unique challenges facing
women,” Byham continued. “We do this to make sure that the men who are in leadership positions
set an example [to show] that gender equality is a top business priority.”
When employers provide leadership opportunities to women and men alike, they motivate men to
get involved as supportive partners in equal opportunity.

Men benefit, as well.

Despite what many people assume, gender equality is not strictly limited to creating advantages
for women. "Gender equality" means simply that every employee has access to the same benefits,
which is why equality is an "everyone" issue.

To demonstrate equality for all, some companies, for instance, are now giving men the same
parental benefits women receive when they have children, such as child care and parental leave.

At Happy Medium, a digital advertising agency in Des Moines, Iowa, employees all receive the
same parental leave. Founder and CEO Katie Patterson said she learned the value of that precious
time following the birth of her own child.

“I was the first person to have a child, at my office, and my experiences through that incredible
life-changing event [weren't just] because I’m a woman,” she told me. “They are because a child
joined my family. Men also have these dramatic shifts in their lives, and we want to treat them the
same.”

As a result of Patterson's realization, the company now offers 12 weeks of paid parental leave to
every new parent. “We wanted to create a place that people think of as an extension of their lives,
and when life happens, I want to treat my team members like the friends and colleagues they are,
not like burdens,” she wrote.

“With full parental leave for all parents -- moms, dads and adoptive parents -- I wanted to show
appreciation to those who dedicate such a huge portion of their lives to the company’s success and
growth.”

Gender fluidity matters, too.

"Gender equality" also means being inclusive of trans and gender-fluid employees. Companies can
do this by reexamining their policies and seeing if those policies also benefit these employees.
Alaina Restivo, vice-president of talent for Upserve, a restaurant-management platform based in
Providence, Rhode Island, fully embraces her company’s family-first policies as well as its
LGBTQ efforts. “We had a staff member come on board about a year ago who caused us to
reexamine the systemic ways in which we were signaling to employees that our work environment
was both welcoming and inclusive,” said Restivo via email.

“We changed our people-operations systems to include the preferred pronoun, and eventually
added a gender-inclusive bathroom to further break down barriers that might keep anyone from
feeling fulling embraced or welcome to be their authentic selves at our company.”
In sum, every employee has the right to feel comfortable in the workplace. When employers adopt
a mindset of acceptance and inclusion, gender equality finally becomes a possibility.