3 Ways Men Can Help Close the Gender Gap

This past Monday was International Women’s Day and it brought up a topic that we’re incredibly passionate about in my family.

The Gender Gap in workplace pay. It was a topic I’ve been interested in for several years, but it became much more clear to me lately. I know an incredibly talented, passionate top level corporate executive who’s struggled with the gender gap in the workplace during her career… she also happens to be my wife and co-founder of StandOut Authority, Rachel B. Lee.

It’s something we’ve discussed at length at the dinner table, in the board room and at marketing events across the country.

Professional women are at an even greater disadvantage right now with the pandemic raging around us trying to juggle their careers and their families (especially with millions of kids at home doing distance learning.)

And the cards were already stacked against women. In the 2016 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report they reported that at the rate we’re going the gender gap won’t be closed for another 170 years.

That’s right, 170 YEARS. On what planet is that ok? That would mean that somewhere around 2186 that my great, great, GREAT granddaughter might get the same pay as the men she works with.

I’m not ok with that and you shouldn’t be either. I founded StandOut Authority to empower entrepreneurs to create value, purpose, human connections and growth in their businesses. And I realized along the way just how many men I work with all the time.

I know a LOT of female entrepreneurs, but haven’t connected with nearly as many of them as I should have in the way I’m connected to my male entrepreneur friends.

My question is always… what am I doing wrong? How can I do more to help bridge the terrible gender gap and empower these amazing women to step into their full potential?

Rachel and I have talked about this for a long time and there are some key ways that you can start to be more aware of this stigma and help you work more closely alongside women in your workplace or your business to help erase the gender gap forever.

 Rachel and I believe there are 3 KEY things you can do to accomplish this:

1. Know that somewhere deep inside you might have an unconscious bias you’re unaware of.

Rachel’s seen it time and time again, especially with women in tech – events filled to the brim with men, with a lot of them making inappropriate comments, blowing kisses and generally acting like untethered frat boys. Rachel has experienced it first hand, men assuming all she wanted to do was talk about hair, makeup and shopping – not the professional topics they might discuss with a male counterpart. As men and entrepreneurs we need to do better. At your next event, or the next one you attend (even virtually) take a look around – in most cases women are outnumbered by almost 10 to 1. It’s up to us to make them feel welcome, and feel like they’re a part of the real conversation. Look at your invite lists to your own events and see what you can do to bring in more women. Look at your staff and your interview process to see what you could do to create a better balance of men and women. It starts by recognizing that there IS a problem and then taking steps to keep yourself aware of your actions and the actions of other men in positions of power. Rachel reminds me, women in positions of power have to do the exact same thing. Many high level corporate professional women and entrepreneurs have made it to where they are by “playing by the rules” and dealing with the good old boys, so the same principles apply.

 2. Create safe zones in your business and your life to have open honest dialog and discussion with the women you interact with.

How many times have you been at an event or in a workplace environment where the boys club is hard at work talking exclusively about sports, beer and hunting? Yeah me too. We need to take the time to be more inclusive, introduce topics that everyone can relate to and bring women into the fold. Take time to 1 on 1 lunches or zoom calls with women. Some men do become worried especially during the new era of “Me Too” that taking a female co-worker or employee to lunch or for coffee might subject them to scrutiny. In fact I’ve had high level male entrepreneurs actually say that exact thing to me. But it still needs to be done to help heal the rift and gender gap. Take a smaller group, talk about things that both genders can relate to, like cooking, movies, family etc. Safe zones like this are crucial for women to feel comfortable opening up, feeling more confident and opening the door for more long-term success. You might be surprised at what you discover when you take these steps!

3. Celebrate their successes openly and freely.

The reality is, and Rachel has experienced this not only herself but with women she works with… many women suffer daily from self doubt and are overly self conscious about their roles and their ability to perform them. Even if they’re as good or BETTER than their male counterparts. They make decisions differently and are under far different pressures than men experience. When a manager or boss can support the success of the women in their workplaces, the boost in confidence can catapult careers and have HUGE impact. Face it, even now in the 21st century men hold most of the most powerful positions in business, in corporate America and the world. Even a simple “great job” or recommendation from someone can change the outcome of a woman’s career trajectory forever.

We owe it to our mothers, our daughters, our wives, friends and co-workers to do whatever is necessary to finally close the gender gap and empower the amazing women in our lives to be able to become whatever they desire. Period.

I’d love to know your thoughts! I realize that this article was largely geared toward men, and you know, that’s because there are a whole lot more men who need to hear this than women. But if you’re a woman reading this article, the same principles apply in your life and business as well, not to mention I figure you have men in YOUR life that might need to work on it too 😊

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Mark Your Calendar –

Join Joshua B. Lee LIVE on March 16th for a LinkedIn Strategy Q&A call – he’ll be taking all of your most important questions about your LinkedIn Strategy. He’ll also be dropping some great new tips and techniques on how to improve and strengthen your strategy too!

To Join, just send Joshua B. Lee a direct message on LinkedIn saying LIVE Q&A

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