LEADERSHIP JESS STUART
Address the gender confidence gap Strategic Pay’s analysis of 187,000 workers shows an overall gender pay gap of 18.5 per cent. At CEO level it’s higher, at 32.7 per cent. We know it’s worse still for Māori and Pasifika women. Jess Stuart writes here about what is within our control to lessen this gap and how we can own our space when we get there.
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nternational research shows that a more diverse workforce leads to better decision-making and a healthier bottom line. Worker satisfaction and retention are much higher when pay and opportunities are fair. Our aim is for inclusive workplaces that flourish due to diverse skills, experience and backgrounds. So why aren’t we there yet? Many organisations now conduct their own pay audits; we have policies around leadership quotas, pay transparency and flexible working. We undertake unconscious bias training, mentoring and sponsorship programmes and focus on our diversity and inclusion agendas. The progress has begun, but there’s more work to do. 38
HUMAN RESOURCES
SUMMER 2021
Initiatives like Mind the Gap are pushing for public reporting to get Aotearoa on the same page as Australia and the United Kingdom, which are mandated to report their pay gaps. It’s made a difference with what gets measured getting done! Then there’s Iceland, which in 2018 became the first country to make it illegal to pay women less than men. As we continue making progress, what can we do while we wait for our organisations to catch up? I’m an advocate for focusing on what we can control and, as individuals, that is often ourselves! I believe a big part of closing the gender gap in terms of leadership,
pay and equal opportunities lies in our ability to close the gender confidence gap. It’s not just about being given seats at the table but believing that we deserve to take them and are capable of doing so. I have worked with many leaders in my years in senior HR roles across the globe, and I’ve been one myself. Apart from our organisational ecosystems, the biggest barrier to women succeeding in leadership can sometimes be our own thoughts and expectations. We can place massively unfair expectations on ourselves. To work hard at work but not feel guilty if we can’t be at the school gates at 3pm
