How to Solve the Gender Divide in Talent

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Laurenzo Overee

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Gender parity remains a feat for many organizations, considering the issue’s deep-rooted origins. Cultural norms where women focused on child-caring and family-based roles resulted in limited access to education and professional representation. These inherent stereotypes and biases resulting in the gender divide have proven hard to reverse, even in the fast-paced digital age of technology and learning.

Statistics show that women still receive lower salaries and fewer work opportunities than their male counterparts. These employment trends have become more concerning in industries like tech, which struggle with skill shortages.

Inclusive hiring practices and talent management techniques can help decision-makers fill critical roles by expanding candidate pools. With women being the largest underrepresented group in many organizational situations, prioritizing inclusive and diversity practices could directly attract quality hires and boost company performance.

As industry experts forecast slow labor market growth into 2024, people leaders will encounter a lingering question: How can we make job vacancies more appealing to women?

This begs a second and perhaps more critical question: How can company leaders and managers finally resolve the gender divide that has restricted progress in the past? Our article examines gender-based employment issues, their impact on talent acquisition, and what hiring managers can do to overcome implicit biases.

Gender Divide Remains An Issue in 2024

Men and woman sitting together (Gender Divide) — Diverse male applicants looking at female rival among men waiting for at job interview professional career inequality employment sexism prejudice unfair gender discrimination at work concept

Gender division in the workforce is a long-standing issue resulting from generations of societal norms and discrimination. Inequities have led to women having fewer job vacancies and promotion opportunities. These biases gradually undermine the mental well-being, job satisfaction, engagement, and retention of women at work.

One UN report revealed that women dedicate, on average, three times as many hours of unpaid domestic and caring work as men. The average woman also spends nearly the equivalent of a full-time job in unpaid childcare.

The gender divide widened during the pandemic when a large number of women put their careers on hold to care for their families. Industry statistics show that the pandemic led to the loss of 4.2% of women’s employment compared to 3% of men’s.

Career hiatuses at the time also resulted in a lapse of skill and experience, further compromising women’s long-term career prospects.

The unpredictable landscape of 2024 presents decision-makers and hiring managers with the perfect storm to rethink gender in the workplace, improve team dynamics, and advance society as a whole.

Identifying Gender Divide and Discrimination

Gender-coded words persist in the modern workplace. These often unintentional phrases hinder talent acquisition efforts by turning away qualified women candidates. Gender-centric jobs ultimately lead to restrictive talent pools and a lower quality of hire as employers deal with the urgent need to fill a role with available applicants.

Gender shapes the workforce, although it does not impact the efficiency of these roles.

For instance, industry surveys show that women fill 95.65% of legal secretaries and 88.45% of receptionist roles. On the contrary, men occupy 96.4% of electrical and electronic technicians and 95.38% of telecoms engineer positions.

Gender Divide: Discrepancies in Educational Attainment

Gender discrimination becomes more apparent when considering educational attainment, affecting job search and employment success. UNESCO developed the gender parity score or index (GPI) to gauge gender fairness. According to UNESCO, a GPI between 0.97 and 1.03 indicates gender parity.

The World Economic Forum reported significant improvement in the Educational Attainment gap between 2022 and 2023. Academic research also reveals that 36% of men received tertiary education compared to 41% of women.

Yet, despite these progressive figures, women still generally earn less than men. The gender divide in talent does not seem to align with a candidate’s academic qualifications.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported that most countries have higher median wages for men than women. One major factor in this trend is that women spend more hours in unpaid work, such as housekeeping and child care.

The same OECD research also indicates that average women fit into a narrower set of job roles. Studies revealed roughly half of women work in only 11 out of 110 identified major occupation groups.

College degree specializations also reveal gender disparities. For example, while STEM occupations have grown steadily over the last three decades, women only account for 18% of new science degrees. According to Women in Tech Network, these numbers drop to 6% with Black and Hispanic candidates.

The Pay Gap Conundrum

The persisting gender divide has led to the normalization of unfair wages between men and women hired. Industry research reveals a global average gender pay gap of about 20 percent, according to data from 80 countries.

Gender payment disparities widen when coupled with racial biases. For instance, Hispanic women, on average, receive 55% of the salary of non-Hispanic white men. Similarly, the average Black woman receives 64% of the salary of non-Hispanic white men.

Industry experts have sorted the payment gap issue into controlled and uncontrolled categories. The former calculates the wage differences between males and females with similar roles, experiences, and qualifications, while the latter tabulate the overall difference.

The latest controlled gap figures show that women earned 99 cents for every dollar earned by a man. Uncontrolled payment gap statistics reveal that women generally only earn more than men in three jobs (compliance officers, vocational nurses, and wholesale/retail buyers) and an 18.4% gender pay gap for entry-level positions.

The Gender Digital Divide

The gender digital divide, or women’s limited access to technological products and services, has also limited career progression.

A lack of access to information and communication technology (ICT) shuts candidates off from automation, data management, and global connectivity necessary for many digital roles. This is a major talent acquisition concern, considering how the World Economic Forum expects remote digital jobs to rise 25% to 92 million by 2030.

Common causes of the gender digital divide include:

Economic dependence – Women in many parts of the world depend on their spouses for economic stability. The UN reported that 60% of women serve as unpaid family workers. The continuous shortage of independent income prevents women from accessing communication technologies and related digital skills.

Restrictive social norms—Some societies may restrict women’s internet access due to long-standing traditions. In some cases (e.g., South India and Ghana), societies could assign fixed roles for women in managing family responsibilities. These practices confine women to stereotypical and family-based roles that deprive them of the digital literacy needed to utilize ICTs.

Geographical location—A country’s economic growth, location, and infrastructure could further affect women’s access to ICTs and remote solutions on top of societal barriers. For instance, 48% of women in Arab states lack access to mobile phones. The report suggests limited access to social media and other digital tools and platforms.

International governments, industries, groups, and employers have collaborated to mitigate the gender divide issue. Organizations like the OECD have developed workforce policy guidelines that empower women to overcome technological challenges in the Digital Age.

The OECD’s Going Digital Toolkit shares critical gender analytics and goals, including ten actions for monitoring digital transformation.

OECD’s proposed action plan can help employers encourage women’s participation and contributions through their careers. Companies in OECD countries can implement these standards to promote equal career opportunities and reduce the gender digital divide.

Gender Divide in Technology

Technology companies have recently revealed some of the widest gaps in the gender divide.

Industry studies revealed that while women comprise 47% of all employed adults in the US, they only represent 28% of mathematical and computing roles. Following the trend, statistics have shown a general decline in the ratio of female to male roles in tech over the last 35 years.

Workplace inequalities worsen when factoring in promotion opportunities. Although, on average, across industries, 86 women receive a promotion for every 100 men, the numbers dip significantly in tech, at just 52%

Solutions For The Gender Divide

Solving the gender disparity in 2024 requires team leaders and hiring managers to address various talent and culture concerns. A multidepartmental team should assess equity, pay, leadership, and representation gaps for comprehensive solutions. Your company can approach the multi-tiered issue by implementing policy changes and talent acquisition tools in each area.

Boosting Representation

Establishing a diverse workplace requires equal representation of women, which enhances collaboration, staff retention, and team performance. Companies can achieve this by openly acknowledging the issue. This is particularly important for industries like tech, where 72% of women report being outnumbered by men in business meetings by a ratio of at least 2:1.

Companies can promote DEIB training, highlighting the required skills and benefits of inclusive representation. These would include workshops and seminars that finetune the language used in recruitment and management policies.

Your hiring team could enhance the DEIB lessons by gathering employee feedback from talent via regular check-ins. Teams can develop purposeful DEIB sessions by including goal-setting, progress reviews, and leader-led feedback.

Companies can also partner with employee resource groups (ERGs) for insights into member experiences. Routine employee feedback sessions help assess women’s expectations, concerns, and barriers to ensure equal treatment and representation.

Increasing Women’s Mentorship

A lack of mentorship and sponsorship could affect women’s workplace satisfaction, resulting in disengagement and poorer performance. These pairings are especially critical for crucial leadership roles that could benefit greatly from peer guidance and real-world advice and support.

Tech industry research shows that 58% of women aspire to leadership positions. However, only 39% feel they have a mentor who empowers them to achieve their goals. Successful leadership roles require officeholders to align themselves with the organizational mission. Yet, only 20% of women reported feeling connected to their organization’s mission compared to 29% of men.

Additional mentorship opportunities from internal teams/leaders can help women familiarize themselves with the tasks and duties of advancing organizational expectations.

Some effective ways to boost mentorship outcomes for women include:

Tailoring the right support for each individual – Mentorship for women does not exclusively involve women mentors. Rather, talent management teams should identify the specific support women employees need, assessing common issues like promotion opportunities and work-life management.

Providing dynamic mentoring opportunities—An effective mentoring program could go beyond junior-senior relationships. Company leaders may promote reverse mentoring, where mentors and mentees can benefit from a mutual exchange of innovations, experiences, and perspectives.

Training the mentor—A reliable mentor should have access to the relevant information and skills that help them bring out the best in their mentees. These can help mentors ask the right questions and offer practical career guidance. Women-focused mentor training sessions can help identify and prevent inherent biases (e.g., gender and similarity biases) in mentorship assignments.

Diversifying leadership bench – Companies can foster mentorship environments by developing a pipeline of individuals with versatile leadership styles. An inclusive approach to succession management produces leaders with high cultural intelligence (CQ), enabling them to engage different employee groups while meeting company objectives.

Filling the Equity and Equality Gap

Ultimately, every step in resolving the workplace gender divide leads to equity— specifically providing each hire with the specific opportunities, treatments, and resources for success.

It is important to note that equity differs from equality. Equity is a delicate process that involves carefully understanding and fulfilling what employees seek. For example, childcare leave is a priority for a working mother, and wellness programs and incentives for highly active individuals.

Creating equity at the workplace is about monitoring the employee’s life cycle. Interests and priorities differ in various stages of the team member’s life. It is important for hiring managers to understand the challenges that emerge with each stage and offer proactive solutions in response. These include proposing research and development initiatives for self-development and engaging onboarding that eases hires into their roles.

Equity and equality must co-exist to solve the gender divide in talent. Yet equality and equity remain elusive in the modern workplace, as witnessed in sectors like the IT industry, where women hold only 27% of computing roles.

Biases in underrepresented groups

Additional biases also exist within other underrepresented groups of women. For instance, only 9% of LBT women IT workers report thriving easily in the workplace.

Removing equity barriers involves company-wide enforcement of DEIB policies, like enforcing transparency wage policies. By doing so, hires can openly disclose and discuss salary or pay information to ensure fair remuneration based on objective criteria.

Pay transparency promotes trust among team members and has gradually become law in talent acquisition. For instance, 17 states have applied various transparency laws for JD salary disclosure. California initiated a pay transparency law in January 2023, requiring employers to include pay scale information in job postings.

Companies can enhance payment transparency by publicly sharing equity targets (such as hiring X number of women for a specific role by a timeline). This keeps organizations accountable for their DEIB roadmap based on their promises to internal and external parties.

Inclusive Hiring and Recruitment – Start at The Beginning

DEIB hiring practices are among the top strategies for resolving the gender divide problem. A positive and inclusive work culture can help you attract and retain talent from diverse backgrounds.

In many instances, the language used in the hiring process significantly impacts the results. For example, Atlassian, a leading software company, saw an 80% rise in women hired for technical roles over two years upon rewording their JDs with neutral alternatives.

Gender-centric words may not appear obvious at first glance, yet they have been shown to carry gender connotations. For example, the words “strong,” “driving,” and “lead” have masculine effects. Neutral replacements for these terms include “steady,” “motivating,” and “grow,” respectively.

Enterprises may face seemingly impossible challenges when creating diverse and inclusive JDs at scale. Vetting ten JDs for non-biased elements differs greatly from reviewing fifty positions. The larger that number, the higher the risks of HR teams overlooking biases that could offend and repel candidates.

Revisiting The Hiring Process

Your HR team’s hiring matrix is the foundation for ensuring inclusive recruitment. Quality matrices should clarify the criteria for a position (e.g., soft and hard skills, culture fit, and relevant industry experiences). Systematic scoring systems can help hiring teams rate candidates’ suitability for a role while preventing inherent biases.

It is also important to assemble interview panels of interviewers with diverse experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. Diverse hiring teams reduce the risks of groupthink/confirmation bias, providing applicants a level playing field to leave a winning impression. As an added measure, consider having each interviewer sit through an Implicit Association Test (IAT), which detects subconscious biases and attitudes toward specific communities.

IATs support hiring teams by helping them become more aware of their implicit thoughts and how they may influence talent acquisition decisions. Hiring teams can further streamline fair interview sessions with interview guides that focus on candidate behavior. These references assess critical areas like value, capabilities, and cultural fit.

Partnering With AI Technology

Ongig’s Text Analyzer platform enables your enterprise to check against JD biases without missing a beat. The advanced program vets through your content for signs of biases (e.g., gender-coded or ageism-based words) based on the latest DEI practices.

The automated platform highlights these terms to help your hiring team identify and replace words and phrases that could throw off talent and harm your company’s reputation. Text Analyzer utilizes a reliable algorithm that tracks linguistic data points, accurately detecting biases that avoid the untrained (or exhausted) eye.

Aside from fixing biases, Text Analyzer also helps enterprises create concise and punchy JDs that keep candidates interested in following through with their applications. For instance, Text Analyzer can trim the number of bulleted points in your JD and eliminate confusing jargon.

Text Analyzer also enables you to position specific employment terms to attract a specific group of hires. For instance, studies show that women are 20% more likely to accept job offerings for a senior role with flexible work options.

Your team can leverage the efficiency of Text Analyzer at a fraction of the time taken to craft regular JDs with built-in templates that you can quickly customize and launch at scale according to your hiring campaigns. Text Analyzer also makes it extremely convenient for your hiring team to refine previous JDs by scanning them through the platform.

Tackling Gender Equality: A Broader View

While payment is a critical factor in jobs, solving the gender divide in talent transcends fair wages. Gender equality requires strategic solutions involving human resources, finance, and leadership teams.

The PRRI American Values Survey revealed that 52% of people in the United States believe that there is a lot of discrimination against women. These findings reveal negative experiences that differ according to age groups. Young women reported experiencing greater discrimination than older women.

Combining resources and expertise enables your company to address gender biases in every aspect of the employee experience. Doing so empowers team members, regardless of level, with opportunities to overcome gender inequalities through greater engagement, acceptance, support, and involvement.

The Link Between Gender Equality At Work And Social Policies

From a broader view, closing the gender divide at work can help further the equality and inclusion of societal objectives, such as the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs).

DEI practice at the workplace directly advances SDG #5 on gender equality. The SDG includes objectives like ending discrimination against women and girls everywhere. SDG #5 also supports women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership on political, economic, and public decision-making levels.

Advancing SDG #5 could lead to a chain of progress across other societal areas. For instance, presenting women with additional career opportunities could resolve global poverty (SDG #1) and fulfill SDG #9, stimulating growth and contributions to industry, innovation, and infrastructure.

Gender Representation in Leadership

The Scarcity of Women in Executive Roles

Despite progress in some areas, there is still a clear gender divide in leadership positions. Only a small percent of women hold executive roles. This scarcity of women in top positions is a complex issue influenced by different factors, including traditional gender roles and gender-based violence.

Barriers to Advancement for Women

There are many barriers to advancement for women in the labor market. One major reason is the glass ceiling. So, this invisible barrier keeps women from reaching the highest levels of leadership.

In addition, women often face negative effects from life conflicts, such as balancing family responsibilities with work. However, parental leave policies, although improving, still often favor men today, which can further hinder women’s career progress.

The Impact of Gender-Diverse Leadership on Company Performance

Research shows that gender-diverse leadership teams can positively impact company performance. So, companies with more women in leadership roles tend to have higher global GDP contributions and better performance overall.

Gender-diverse teams bring different perspectives and solutions to the table, which can lead to more innovative and effective decision-making. This is especially true in digital technologies and other fast-evolving industries.

Broader Context and Global Trends

In many high-income countries, there has been significant progress in closing the gender wage gap and increasing women’s leadership. However, in low-income and middle-income countries, especially in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the gender differences in leadership roles remain stark.

The digital gender divide is another area of concern. Younger generations are more digitally savvy. But, there are still large gender gaps in digital inclusion, especially among older generations and in lower-income areas.

The Bottomline

The benefits of closing the gender divide at work are not confined to organizational settings. Inclusive and diverse hiring and talent management set the tone for society, and 2024 provides a suitable (slow-growing but less volatile) climate for implementing fresh policies and practices that bridge the gender divide.

Through a more conscious and data-backed HR effort, talent teams could finally end intergenerational gender inequality. Companies can also finally utilize the talent pool’s full potential to achieve newfound profitability and success.

Why I Wrote This:

Gender disparity is part of enterprises’ bigger diversity and inclusion challenge. Ongig empowers hiring managers and employers to fix the problem with AI technology that generates objective JD content at scale. Our Text Analyzer solution gives users an efficient algorithm that removes biases, broadening your talent pool for the best hiring outcomes. Request a demo to see it in action!

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July 25, 2024 by Laurenzo Overee in Diversity and Inclusion